Amber Affairs

by Patricia Rice

  Mrs. Garagiola took Amber’s hand in her gnarled ones. “This is a truly beautiful gift you have, dear. Don’t waste it. I feel so much better. When I came here today, I was so depressed and unhappy, and now I feel as if you’ve given me rainbows. Thank you!”

  Amber blushed and pushed the cards at her. “The cards aren’t always as happy as yours. You have earned your sunshine and rainbows. This is an old deck. Why don’t you keep it and remember this day anytime you’re feeling sad.”

  By the time she looked up, they had a small crowd around them, listening.

  And Josh stood there, too, a bemused look on his face and his ever-present camera in hand.

  Josh had known Amber had a talent for reassuring people with her Ouija boards and tarot decks and the other charms she once wielded. He’d figured she just used that talent to make him feel better when he’d been angry or depressed. But then she’d turned up that terrible spread for him the day Willa died. . . and he’d thought she was taking out her anger or depression on him.

  But no, Amber simply spoke whatever came into her head—and what came into her head could be wickedly on target.

  People started to crowd around her, and she looked a little frightened. Josh grabbed her shoulders to gently nudge her toward the exit. She stiffened at his touch, as she had the other night. What the hell was with that? “We need to go now, before Zeke gets hungry again.”

  Zeke had been waiting, watching with interest as well. All budding teenager, Zeke instantly took this mention of him as permission to chatter. “Josh bought me a suitcase and filled it up!”

  Amber hurried toward the door but glanced at the metal rolling suitcase. “Good heavens! We may need a garage to park that thing!”

  “We had to buy the whole set,” Josh admitted. “I made a deal with a couple who was looking at the same set. They wanted the smaller pieces, so we split the cost, and we took the big one. He can use the thing as a dresser and closet, all in one.”

  Amber perked up a little at that. “Ingenious! Do I owe you my first-born child for whatever you’re carrying in there?”

  Josh held the suitcase open for the clerk marking receipts at the door. He ignored Amber’s gasp until they were outside again.

  “Josh bought me a Nintendo,” Zeke cried in excitement. “He said you don’t have a TV or cell reception, and I had to keep myself entertained.”

  “My gift,” Josh said hurriedly. “I don’t expect you to repay me because I indulged my inner adolescent.”

  “I was thinking underwear and toothpaste,” Amber said, marching for the car.

  “We got those too, really cheap,” Zeke said happily, trotting along behind. “And socks and some really cool hoodies. Granny would never take me to Costco. She said it was for peasants.”

  Josh looked around at the BMWs and Mercedes in the lot and chuckled. Amber laughed out loud.

  “Granny was born on a dirt farm outside Bakersfield. They don’t come any more peasant. There’s nothing wrong with working for a living and cutting costs. In Hillvale, I shop at the thrift store so I have enough money for things I enjoy more than clothes.”

  Josh threw the suitcase into the trunk of his car, then let Zeke slide into the back seat while offering his hand to Amber. As before, she dodged touching him and settled in without his aid.

  Josh preferred worrying about why Amber wouldn’t touch him than thinking about Willa and the parking-lot video Ernest had shown him. He was grateful Amber had been too worried to ask questions.

  “I’d rather have the Nintendo than clothes,” Zeke countered. “And we saved enough money to buy pizza and more hot dogs.”

  “Not your money,” Amber corrected, although amusement laced her voice.

  Josh was enjoying this slice of mundane life. It kept him from dwelling on what waited for them back in Hillvale. But Zeke’s sturdy presence was a reminder of the filth slithering underneath the world the kid inhabited. “Zeke, you want to tell us more about what sent you running to a bus station?”

  Uncomfortable silence emanated from the previously chattering back seat.

  “You don’t have to tell us,” Amber reassured him. “But I’ll have to call my lawyer and let her know you’re with me. If you don’t want to be returned to Granny, she’ll need good reason to block it.”

  Josh glanced in the rearview mirror. The football-player-square kid was staring pensively out the window. “Does Dell still have that big swimming pool with the water slides?”

  Zeke turned to eye the back of his head. “Yeah. The place had a lot of kids playing in a pool. The guy granny talked to told me I could borrow swim trunks and join them.”

  “Did you?” Amber asked.

  “Nah, I saw the cameras. They were everywhere. I’m not getting naked in front of cameras and swimming with a bunch of models.” Zeke sounded worldly-wise and cynical, but Josh heard the doubt behind the bravado.

  “Yeah, I never got in either,” he told the kid. “I was always skinny, and the other kids looked as if they lived in gyms.”

  “Were they all actors?” Zeke asked. “My mom told me I shouldn’t follow in Aunt Amber’s footsteps, I should go into math or science or something. I was lousy in the school play.”

  “Most of them are would-be actors,” Amber acknowledged. “You can be anything you want to be, but you have to be choosy about how you get there. Dell is not a good choice.”

  “So why did Granny take me there?” he demanded. “I heard them yelling at each other. I don’t think they’re friends.”

  “They’ve known each other for a long time, but I don’t think either of them knows how to have friends,” Amber explained. “It’s all about business for them, and that’s how they talk business.”

  Josh would have said a lot worse, but Granny Crystal wasn’t his mother. “So what did they say that sent you running?”

  Silence again. Then the kid reluctantly replied. “It was the films he kept in his theater. I thought I’d find something to watch while I was waiting. I popped in one that sounded like a super-hero flick.” Silence again.

  “And it was nude kids, right?” Josh asked, knowing how hard it was for a kid that age to speak about sex.

  “Yeah. So I went to Granny to tell her I wanted to leave, and she was telling him that if he wanted me as his next star, he would have to do better than he did for Ginger. She actually called Aunt Amber Ginger. That’s when I got to thinking something wasn’t right and left.” He slumped sullenly in the seat.

  “That’s exactly what your mother would have wanted you to do,” Amber said proudly. “I don’t think Granny understands what Dell is. She probably just wanted you to earn enough to go to college.”

  “That’s what she told you, wasn’t it?” Josh asked, keeping his voice down while the kid pondered that fairy tale.

  “I wanted to go to New York and acting school,” she said with a shrug. “I thought TV credentials would help me get in. And Dell was fairly legit at the beginning, I think.”

  “He was always a pervert,” Josh said angrily. “He just mostly left us alone because we had voices and knew how to use them. I think our websites and social media following scared him to death.”

  She went as silent as her nephew, and Josh got a really bad feeling deep down in his gut.

  Once he’d left for Europe, she’d had to face Dell on her own.

  Amber had Josh drive her to the private street where she lived so she and Zeke could climb out without reporters noticing. Josh insisted on hauling in the suitcase, and nervously, she allowed him inside her safe haven.

  “Zeke, I’ll need to clean out the back room and fix up the futon for you. You’ve grown so much, you’re almost too big for it.” She tousled his carrot-colored curls. “Why don’t you go back and see what you need to set it up like your new home?”

  Once Zeke was out of sight, she turned to Josh. He was studying the art she’d collected since arriving in Hillvale. The artists who still lived here often bartered for services with
their work.

  “Eclectic collection,” he said with what sounded like admiration. Then he turned around and glared. “If you don’t call your lawyer right this instant, I’m calling mine. This time, Dell is going down.”

  “I have Alicia on speed dial,” Amber admitted. “I have to establish guardianship before I can even think about Dell.”

  “Fair enough. I’ll call my guy about Dell, see what he says. We need to get our hands on those films and show them to a few of the mothers of those kids.”

  Unable to face the horror of confronting the past, Amber shoved at a straying strand of hair. “I think we both have a little much on our plates right now. Don’t you have a project to save? What did Ernest find out from the parking lot video?”

  “You focus on Zeke, let me handle Willa. I just need you to back me up on Dell, and I’ll set wheels in motion. It’s like you told that old woman—you have to open your heart and let life in and help others.”

  Faced with what she should have done long ago, Amber gulped. Going after Dell would destroy her anonymous comfort.

  She clenched her fingers with indecision. In a way, he was right. It would take everything she had and then some just to gear up for returning to the real world. But she wanted to help Josh. Working together again would have bolstered her confidence. . . Don’t go there, Amber.

  “If they love their kids at all, the mothers won’t want to push their Little Johnnies into the slimelight Dell’s come-down will produce,” she warned. “You’ll have difficulty persuading them to testify.”

  “If I can find just one, the others will come forward. Herd mentality works. Dinner with me tonight? Your swimsuit should have arrived.” He opened the door, prepared to take all that restless male energy out of her cozy nest.

  “I have Zeke,” she reminded him.

  “I bought him a suit. Bring him with you.” He walked out, closing the door before she could make excuses.

  Watching his car pull away, Amber sighed. Josh had always been focused on his goals. She’d forgotten that about him.

  Not wanting to be accused of kidnapping on top of all her other troubles, she punched in Alicia’s number.

  Twelve

  Emotionally drained after Zeke’s rescue and calling her lawyer, physically exhausted from moving furniture to set up a room for Zeke, Amber gazed into her empty kitchen cabinets to plan dinner and gave up.

  “We’ll have to go the grocery,” she told her nephew. “Why don’t we snack at the health food bar so we don’t shop hungry?”

  Zeke dropped his computer game and shot out of the chair. “Do they have hot dogs?”

  “Hot dogs are a onetime thing,” she said, trying to sound severe and maternal. “They’re not good for you. You can have a smoothie. The café kitchen is closed at this hour and all they have open is the health food bar.”

  “A smoothie is good. Can I have Frosted Flakes for breakfast?” Having showered and put on his new clothes, he looked squeaky clean with his red hair slicked down. His was a brighter, more carroty orange than hers. He would have made a handsome Jack—if it had been anyone but Dell running the production.

  “Our grocery store is pretty small. We’ll have to see what’s available. But you need nutrition more than you need sugar. You don’t want to grow up weak, do you?” She didn’t like being obsessed with food, but it had become a way of life in her childhood, and a medical necessity now. So she was more or less stuck fretting over every bite.

  “I’ll work out,” he said with enthusiasm as they entered town.

  Picking up angry vibrations inside the café, hearing muted, furious voices, Amber halted in the parking lot. “Why don’t you run over to the grocery and start picking out your favorite food while I order our smoothies? Sometimes, there’s a long line at the juice bar, and Pasquale will be closing the store soon.”

  “Mango,” he told her. “I want a mango smoothie.” He trotted across the street, eager to be helpful—or choose sugary cereal.

  Amber cautiously pushed open the café door. Mid-afternoon and the crowd was small. Most people took their juices and left. One or two tourists sat on the stools at the counter or in the vinyl booths, snacking on some of Fee’s bakery items and surreptitiously eavesdropping on the argument.

  The center of the fury emanating from the café was Mayor Monty’s mother, Carmel Kennedy. Tall, with a carefully coiffed golden mane, wearing designer clothes that showed off her model-thin figure, Carmel was leaning over the counter in a most unladylike posture, snarling at small, quiet Fiona.

  “I will break you, you little slut,” Carmel sneered. “I will not allow another of my sons to marry a piece of worthless shit and ruin his career. Monty could be governor of this state, maybe even president. I want you gone, now!”

  Remembering Monty and his brother were in the city on business today, Amber wrinkled her nose in distaste. She raised her crystal-headed walking stick to salute Fee, who sent her a small smile. Fee wasn’t shy. She just didn’t talk much.

  “Monty left you running his juice bar today, did he?” Amber asked, taking a seat as close to Carmel as she dared.

  Carmel was not entirely sane, especially if she thought her jock son with the concussed brain had any intention of running for anything more than mayor.

  “Lucky me,” Fee said, following Amber’s example and ignoring the hurler of insults. “The kale is fresh today. I’m testing a few new ingredients if you’d like to try it.”

  “Kale for me and mango for my nephew,” Amber agreed.

  “You’re not listening to me!” Carmel slammed her palms on the aging Formica counter.

  “Oh, the whole town is listening,” Amber said courteously while Fee fixed the smoothies. “You’re not very quiet. Have you tried yelling at Teddy yet? She enjoys a good brawl.”

  Teddy was married to Kurt, Carmel’s oldest son, the one who was supposed to be running the family resort and had quit to start his own architectural firm.

  Carmel turned her snarl on Amber. “She, at least, has money and contacts. This. . .” She gestured at poor, orphaned Fee. “This slut knows no one but criminals. I’m putting an end to this nonsense now.”

  At the juice bar, Fee lifted her left hand to flash a diamond. “Monty asked me to marry him. We’re still talking dates.”

  Knowing Fee wasn’t fond of hugs, Amber threw up her arms and cheered. Carmel looked as if she would spit. Amber now understood the trigger that had set off this explosion.

  “I can take you and that murdering boyfriend of yours down too.” Carmel turned her fury on Amber. “Stay out of this.”

  Murdering boyfriend? Amber wanted to sink under the counter as heads turned in her direction. But she was still an actress. Praying there were no reporters and no one would recognize her, she flashed her famous Ginger insouciant smile. “Oh, it’s soap opera you want? Excellent. Offer Fee a fortune to leave town. That’s how they do it on TV.”

  Fee returned with two smoothies, flashing her diamond in the process. “But we all know she doesn’t have a fortune anymore, which is the whole problem, isn’t it? Monty said they have to cut the corporate budget. The chauffeur has to go and they’re selling the condo in Hawaii—or one of them has to marry someone rich.”

  Looking like a curly-haired elf, taught to be invisible, Fee might never engage in a shouting match, but she got her blows in as needed. Carmel paled beneath her artificial tan.

  “You have not heard the last of this,” she said in a low threatening voice. “I will bring you down.” She didn’t waste her breath on Amber but merely shot her a withering look before marching out—to her chauffeured car.

  “If you had more Lucys in here, we’d give you a standing ovation,” Amber murmured, sipping her drink. “I’m trying not to call attention to myself though.”

  Fee snorted and took the cash Amber slid toward her. “No one paid a bit of attention to me until you walked in. You’re like this wonderful warm sun that brightens a room when you enter, shining light
on dark corners. You’re still riding to the rescue, just like your alter ego.” She kept her voice low so others couldn’t hear.

  “You wasted your childhood watching that show,” Amber complained, picking up her order. “That wasn’t me riding to the rescue. That was a character in a script. And you don’t need rescuing. I’ve just had a rough day and wanted to needle a public nuisance.”

  Fee chortled, and Amber left to check on Zeke. She had always felt a bit sorry for Carmel Kennedy. Her husband had died, leaving a legal, political, and community disaster on her hands. Carmel had turned the resort around while raising two boys on her own. She’d never looked less than gracious and elegant while doing so. But over the years, she’d apparently become brittle and cracked. Or if Lucy legend had any meaning—Carmel had absorbed evil. Her sons bore the weight gallantly, but they deserved their own lives. How much longer could the Kennedy brothers deal with the vicious woman determined to control them?

  Spotting camera-wearing strangers walking down the lane from the vortex, Amber darted into the grocery store. That crack about the murdering boyfriend would circulate. Carmel could easily have discovered that Amber and Josh were using the pool after hours. She owned the lodge, after all. The epithet had just been meanness, but that wouldn’t stop gossip.

  She located Zeke in the cookie aisle and steered him toward the meat counter in back. “Always avoid the middle aisles,” she told him. “That’s where all the non-nutritious, chemical-laden junk resides. Fruits, vegetables, and meat are what we need, and they’re all on the perimeter of the store.”

  “I like chemical-laden junk,” Zeke told her happily.

  Glancing at the basket, Amber rolled her eyes. “You have enough chemicals in there to pollute an ocean. Let’s find real food now.”

  Josh had invited them to dinner, but she didn’t want to bring Zeke into the craziness around Willa’s death, and she didn’t want to take Josh’s invitation for granted. She and Zeke needed to develop their own routine.