Love Finds You in Holiday, Florida

by Sandra D. Bricker

  “No,” she replied. “Until you said you’d seen him this morning, I’d assumed he’d gone back to New York.”

  “He and his cousin are supposedly in charge of the music.”

  As he pulled the door open, they were smacked right in the face with KC & the Sunshine Band and the call to shake-shake-shake their booties.

  “Well, I can say one thing for him,” Cassie yelled over the audio. “He sure does that right!”

  A smile masked the silent prayer Richard was sending upward as he looked into her sparkling hazel eyes.

  Lord, this is the most adorable creature I’ve ever spent thirty seconds with. I don’t know how You’re going to work this out or if You’re even inclined to work it out. But I’m in love with this woman, and I’m asking You not to make me spend another day without her.

  She turned around and tugged at his sleeve, clueless about his thoughts.

  “Are you hungry?” she asked him. “They have chicken wings! I love chicken wings.”

  Richard watched her hurry to the buffet table and grab a large plastic plate.

  “C’mon,” she said, nodding him toward the food. “Chicken wings.”

  She snatched a pair of tongs from the platter and started to load her plate.

  “Happy New Year, Cassie.”

  Hunter Nesbitt.

  “Same to you,” she commented, focusing on her plate and then glancing at Richard tentatively. “I didn’t know you were still in town. You remember Richard Dillon?”

  “Yeah. How are you, Dillon?”

  “Nesbitt.”

  A dozen scenarios flew through Richard’s mind, not the least disturbing of which was the memory that this guy had laid his lips on Cassie’s. Since that seemed like the lamest one to bring up at just that moment, Richard took a different tack.

  “Saw you over at Smitty’s golf course this morning,” he stated without inflection. “Who was the suit with you?”

  “Oh, uh, that was a guy I know from New York. We thought we might play a round of golf but then found out the place is closed down. Apparently in foreclosure.”

  “It seems like Stella might have told you that,” Cassie piped up. “Before you went over there, I mean.”

  Nesbitt just stood there, his beady little eyes darting back and forth between Richard and Cassie. “Yeah,” he said at last. “Well, Happy New Year.”

  “Same to you,” Richard said as Hunter turned away.

  “Have a good night,” Cassie called.

  Cassie stepped up next to Richard, holding her full plate with both hands. “Oh yeah,” she said, both of them watching Hunter meld into the crowd. “He’s up to no good at all. Did you see his reaction?”

  “It’s good to know for sure,” Richard answered. “Let’s eat.”

  He’d just filled his plate when Maureen appeared on the other side of the table, a crooked pirate smile on her face.

  “Hey, Maureen,” Cassie said. “Have you tried these wings? They’re amazing.”

  “Yes, I have,” she replied. Richard thought her tone was quite odd. “They set up some tables outside, and some people are eating out there. Marvin’s already settled, and we were hoping you could join us for a minute, Richard.”

  “Let’s do, Richard,” Cassie exclaimed.

  “Actually, we just wanted to speak to Richard, if you don’t mind.”

  “Uh…oh. Okay.”

  He realized that Maureen and Marvin had something to tell him about Nesbitt. “Cassie knows,” he said quietly.

  “Oh, good.”

  “I know what?”

  “Let’s go outside,” Richard said. He placed his hand on the small of Cassie’s back and led her through the doors behind Maureen.

  Marvin’s wheelchair was parked at the farthest table, with no one at the other tables nearby. The three of them made their way over to him, and Richard smacked Marvin’s shoulder in greeting.

  “Happy New Year.”

  “Same to you.”

  “Do you know Cassie?”

  “Not officially,” he replied. “How are you?”

  “Great. It’s so nice to meet you.”

  Once they were all seated, Maureen could hardly contain herself any longer. “They’re after Stella’s house,” she whispered, leaning forward.

  “What do you mean?” Richard asked her.

  “Stella told Marvin just a few minutes ago. Some guy approached her this afternoon and offered her ten grand more than her home is appraised at.”

  “So she is in the dark!” Cassie exclaimed.

  “I thought as much, when we saw her nephew at the golf course this morning,” Marvin said to Richard. “That guy is a slug.”

  “You all were at the golf course together?” Cassie asked.

  “Marvin is a landscape designer,” Richard explained. “I drove over there with them hoping he might get some inspiration for a redesign once I purchased the course.”

  “That’s when we saw Stella’s nephew,” Maureen added, “all cozied up to Smitty. And he was with someone else. We think it’s the guy who’s been going around making offers on all the properties.”

  “It makes sense,” he said to Cassie.

  She shook her head. “And he’s using Stella as a front for it. That’s despicable.”

  “They’ve offered to buy out his own aunt, and she probably still doesn’t even know,” Marvin told them. “Stella told me the news tonight, and she’s really shaken up over it. She’s completely against this whole idea of a big corporate takeover of Holiday, but she also doesn’t want to stick around if everyone else caves in and moves away.”

  “Well, at least one person isn’t caving in to the offer,” Richard said with pride, and he smiled at Cassie. “Cassie has decided to reject it.”

  “Oh, that’s wonderful,” Maureen told her. “I hope the others will follow your lead.”

  “Any thoughts on how best to proceed from here?” Marvin asked him. “Maybe we should tell Stella it’s her nephew behind all this drama.”

  “That will break her heart,” Cassie said. “But if someone was using me like that, I’d want to be told.”

  “Me, too,” Maureen commented.

  “Me, three,” said Marvin.

  His own interests aside, Richard had a clear picture of what had to be done. “But we need to figure out how to handle this delicately. And no one says anything about this to anyone until I’ve had time to dig a little. Agreed?”

  “But, Richard, why?” Cassie asked him. “We should confront him and tell Stella. We need to make sure she isn’t strung along any further.”

  “I’ll see that Stella’s not hurt in this,” he promised. “But I need everyone’s word here. We don’t tell anyone what we think we know. Not yet. Agreed?”

  “Yes!”

  “Proceed with caution.”

  “Agreed.”

  Maureen had that look again. She stared into Richard’s eyes so hard that he could feel the burn on his eyelids. Then, without a word, she offered him her hand and smiled.

  “Right,” he said.

  And then the four of them joined hands and bowed their heads. Cassie squirmed a little.

  “Father, we need Your guidance in this situation,” Maureen began. “Please lead us on how best to proceed for Stella’s benefit and for the benefit of everyone affected.”

  “Shine Your light in the dark places,” Marvin added. “Don’t let anyone get away with deception or underhandedness.”

  “Let the truth come out in that gentle way You have, Lord Jesus,” Cassie stated, and Richard opened his eyes and glanced at her just as she opened her eyes, too. The smile she gave him was like a gift, all packaged up with ribbon. “And send Your ministering angels to do Your will, so that the crooked places will be made straight and Richard’s dream will come to fruition, anointed with Your grace.”

  “And let that happen, Lord,” Richard said, his voice hoarse from the emotion of the prayers of these good people on his behalf, “with Your protective
hand guiding the outcome.”

  “In Jesus’ name, we pray,” said Maureen, and they all added their amens.

  “Does anyone mind if I eat these chicken wings?” Cassie asked them afterward, and they all laughed in unison.

  “The woman is obsessed,” Richard teased.

  “I’m just starving,” she corrected before biting into one of them. “And they’re so good!”

  Chapter Sixteen

  9 ACROSS: Without a flaw; porcelain-skinned; beautiful

  “Richard Dillon, I have a bone to pick with you!”

  Cassie turned around and watched as Stella Nesbitt stomped her way up to Richard at the drink table, planted her hands on her bony hips, and stared him down. Cassie hurried to his side, but Stella glared at her.

  “This doesn’t concern you, Cassie,” she said. “I’m about to give Richard Dillon a piece of my mind.”

  Cassie looked at Richard, wondering if she should walk away, but Stella slid into her tirade without waiting for her departure.

  “You cannot just appear in this community one day, stick around for a couple of years, and then act like you own the place,” she told him, pointing one skeletal index finger at his nose. “Those of us who live in Holiday are here because we love the place. Oh, it might not be all upper-crust and ritzy, Mr. High and Mighty, but we like it just fine.”

  The confrontation was beginning to draw a crowd. Cassie watched as Hunter noticed, then scurried through the nest of gathering people and placed his hands on Stella’s shoulders.

  “Aunt Stella,” he croaked, “this isn’t the time or place. It’s a party.”

  “How are we supposed to celebrate?” she asked him. The question seemed all the louder because the music had faded to silence with Hunter’s absence from the DJ table. Then Stella turned to the others. “Are we supposed to let this individual flit into our town and act like he’s one of us and then shake us out of our homes like ants on a tablecloth?”

  “Stella,” Cassie interrupted, but Stella waved her off with a violent thrash of her arm. “You’re really out of line here, Stella. Honestly, you’re going to be so embarrassed.”

  “I’ll be embarrassed?” she sort of screeched. “Me? I think Richard Dillon is the one to be embarrassed.”

  “First of all, Stella,” Richard began, “I rarely flit.”

  “Don’t you dare be flippant with me, young man!”

  “And secondly, if you would like to have this discussion privately, I would be more than happy to do that.”

  “So you can get me away from any witnesses?” she accused him. “Why? Then what?”

  “Aunt Stella, please calm down,” Hunter said through clenched teeth.

  “This man is creeping around trying to buy up property until he has enough land to put together a big, gaudy development. He won’t stop until all of us are out of our homes and replaced by hotel villas, s–spa treatments and—and—a golf course!”

  “Richard,” Millicent asked him from the sidelines, “is this true?”

  “No, Millicent, it is not,” he said. “Thank you, though, for bothering to ask me.”

  Cassie touched Richard’s arm. When he looked into her eyes, she recognized the pain of betrayal shining back at her.

  “I think I’ve had about all of the happy ’70s that I can stand,” she told him. “Will you take me home?”

  “Glad to.”

  “Millicent? Do you want a ride home now?” Cassie asked.

  “We’ll get her home,” Maureen assured her. “You kids go on.”

  “That’s right,” Stella snapped. “Put your tail between your legs and go running home.”

  Anger swelled inside Cassie, and she turned toward Stella, poised and ready to fire back, but Richard shook his head in one short jerk. She swallowed her fury somehow—she wasn’t quite sure how—and she and Richard walked out the door.

  “I don’t understand!” she yelped the minute the car doors were closed. “Why didn’t you tell them? You could have exposed Hunter right there and then and gotten everyone on your side. Why didn’t you?”

  “It’s not time.”

  “What does that mean?” she pressed. “How could it not be time? Stella Nesbitt, that old shrew, stood right there and talked to you like that, disrespecting you in front of everyone. Why, Richard? How could that not be the right time to tell that selfrighteous old—”

  “Cassie,” he said softly. He rubbed her arm before turning over the engine. “Sometimes we have to keep things close to the vest. Timing is everything.”

  “Yes, but—”

  “I know you don’t understand at the moment,” he told her. “You’ll just have to trust me. Can you do that?”

  Her heart was pounding, her mind was racing, and Cassie’s mouth was gaping open in a perfect round O. And then she growled and tossed herself back against the passenger seat and closed her eyes. “Whatever.”

  He let a few minutes of silence act as a balm, and then Richard asked her, “Did you really just say ‘Whatever’ to me again?”

  “You are very frustrating,” she admitted.

  “And you are very sweet. But my skin is thick enough to bide my time with this.”

  “But why?” she asked him again.

  He only smiled at her and then shifted into REVERSE and pulled out of the parking space.

  Every time she thought about it, she wanted to scream. She spent the whole drive home trying to suppress the proliferating throb of bitterness and resentment toward Stella, toward Hunter, toward all of them who just stood there as Richard was accused. Just about the time she would start to breathe normally, Stella’s pointy features would hop across her mind’s eye once more and she’d feel herself infuriated all over again.

  Richard pulled into her driveway, cut the engine, and flipped off the headlights. Then they sat there in the dark, both of them staring straight ahead.

  “Is there anything I can do?” Cassie asked in a raspy whisper.

  “There is.”

  “Oh, good!” she said, turning sideways in her seat. “What is it?”

  “You could invite me in for coffee.”

  “Coffee? You want coffee?”

  “I do. Very much.”

  “Should I spike it with something really strong?” she asked, letting out a nervous laugh.

  “No need,” he replied. He turned and smiled at her. “Just your company and a latte at midnight will be just fine.”

  She gasped and her gaze darted to the clock: 11:36.

  “It’s nearly midnight! Come on.”

  Twenty minutes later they stood out on the dock in their shiny disco clothes, each with a steaming mug of coffee in their hands. Sophie sat at attention beside Cassie.

  “Why did you want to come out here?” Cassie asked him.

  “We’re waiting for midnight.”

  “How will we know? Are you wearing a watch?”

  “I am. But that’s not how we’ll know.”

  “How then?”

  Richard leaned toward her and bumped her with his arm. “You really have to work on the whole patience thing, Cassie. Are you cold?”

  “No, but what time is it?”

  Across the canal from them, people stepped out onto their

  docks, and the one next door was dotted with silhouettes, as well.

  “Happy New Year!” Cassie called to them, and they waved at her.

  “Same to you!”

  “Richard, what are they all doing out here?”

  “Waiting.”

  “For what? Will you please tell me what’s going to happen?”

  “Just watch and see.”

  “Well, what time is it? I just want to know when it turns to

  midnight.”

  “You’ll know, Cassie.”

  “But how?”

  Richard set his coffee on the wooden dock beneath them and then took Cassie’s cup from her and did the same. Slipping one arm around her shoulder, he glanced at his watch.

  “Are yo
u ready?”

  “What’s happening?”

  “Just wait. Wait for it.”

  And just as Cassie opened her mouth to ask him what on earth she was waiting for and why so many people were gathered around the canal, it happened—something that sounded like the pop of a cannon. A long, sputtering wheeze preceded the explosion of color.

  Oh, of course, she thought. “Fireworks.”

  One after another after another, fireworks crackled in the distance, filling the dark night sky with explosions of color.

  Ooohs and ahhs stemmed from all around them, and Cassie added to their harmony on instinct. An enormous, shimmering blue star popped above them, and then a wiggling green kite with a spiral tail. Reds, golds, and silvers darted upward, popped open, and then shimmied downward.

  Cassie dropped her head to Richard’s shoulder. He nuzzled the top of her head with his chin and drew her deeper into his embrace.

  “It’s beautiful,” she said. “They do fireworks in Boston, too. We went into the city one year to watch, but traffic was a zoo. And our house is just too far out to see them very well from there. This is spectacular.”

  “See what you’ve been missing by staying away at this time of year?”

  Cassie didn’t reply. There were a lot of things in Holiday that she’d been missing. Earlier in the car, Richard had told her, “Timing is everything.” She felt those words resonate somewhere deep inside of her.

  “Happy New Year, Cassie.”

  She tilted her face up toward him and grinned. “Happy New Year, Richard.”

  As his warm lips touched hers with a tender kiss, a tight fist clenched inside Cassie, pressing against that hollow just above her ribs. Her knees went weak, and her head started to spin ever so slightly.

  As they parted, she found that her eyelids were so heavy, she could hardly lift them. She felt like a rag doll in Richard’s arms, and she looked into his blue eyes and sighed. She tried to peel her gaze away from his to no avail. She was stuck there. Trapped. And Cassie realized at that moment, as she swam around in the blue waters there with no real hope of breaking free, much to her surprise…she didn’t actually mind the imprisonment.

  “Oh, Richard,” she breathed. “I…love…”