That Unexpected Kiss

by Tamara Ferguson

  “We were only able to talk to two. Jill Benton, who was the checker at the grocery store at the time, and Kyle Sanderson is still living in town. He was the lifeguard at the beach.”

  Sam looked at Jake first and then at Dylan. “You know what I think would be helpful?”

  Dylan raised a brow.

  “Talking to the former police chief about all of this.”

  Jake sighed heavily, glancing at Dylan. “That’d mean one more person knowing who you are?”

  Dylan shrugged. “Truthfully? I think it’s a good idea Jake. It’ll take forever trying to catch people at home, which means we’d almost have to call ahead. It’s going to get around town anyway that we’re looking back at that day.”

  “Alright. Call Jim Edmonds. Let’s speak with him before we interview anyone else then.”

  * * *

  When Dylan got home later that night, he paused, walking into the unusually quiet house. “Shoot, Buster,” he said looking down at the cat. “I don’t know why I expected Julie to be here waiting for me when I only said something about staying through the weekend.”

  “Meow,” Buster answered, apparently unconcerned.

  Moving into the living room, Dylan turned on some music before sitting down at the kitchen table, spreading out the files Jake had compiled for his mom to go through. Dylan glanced through the pictures, trying to sense some sort of recognition. But, at ten years old, Dylan had only met Wallace Brewster a couple of times when he and his mom had been visiting his father’s office.

  “Nope,” he muttered, shoving them back into the briefcase. He checked his watch. “Might as well hand them over to Mom right away.”

  He stashed the briefcase in a large backpack he liked to wear when he drove his bike. Occasionally, he’d stop for a few extra groceries, and he’d also needed a place to store files after leaving Jake’s.

  No doubt about it, Dylan thought, a few minutes later revving up his bike; he was lonesome without Julie.

  At that moment, Dylan heard tires crunching along the gravel road as Julie pulled her convertible into the driveway.

  Shutting down his bike, he gave her a huge smile.

  She looked slightly nervous. “Did you find anything out today?”

  His smile turned into a frown. “Is that the only reason you’re here?”

  Julie shook her head no and grinned.

  This time Dylan smiled wider. “How about going for a ride first?” He winked. “I need to drop some paperwork off to my mom. We didn’t learn much, but I’ll tell you what we found out once we get back.”

  Julie’s grin turned wry. “Alright,” she answered, pulling the convertible into the garage and stepping out from inside.

  Dylan walked further into the garage, and grabbing a spare helmet hanging from a hook, he handed it over to Julie.

  Fortunately, she was dressed in jeans and a matching jacket, so Dylan tugged off the backpack he was wearing and helped Julie put it on over her shoulders.

  This wasn’t Julie’s first time on a bike, and Dylan tried hard not to think about that while they were taking the curves and heading towards town. He’d never been the jealous type before, but it was totally different now.

  She was smiling when he looked into the rearview mirror and Dylan smiled too. They made their way through town, following the two-lane highway leading toward the Dragonfly Pointe Inn. When he pulled into the driveway of his mother’s cabin, his mother’s car wasn’t there.

  “She might still be at the Tap,” Julie reminded him. “Dad probably didn’t ask her to come in until after lunch.”

  “Oh, yeah. I can’t believe I forgot she was going in today. Fortunately, she gave me her spare key.” Dylan had Julie turn around, and he unzipped the backpack, pulling out the files and USB device from inside. “Be back in a sec.”

  Approaching the cabin door, Dylan unlocked it and strolled inside. Instead of putting the files out in the open, he went into the bedroom and tucked them into the nightstand drawer. He’d give his mom a call later and tell her where they were.

  When he walked back outside, Julie was leaning against his bike. She’d pulled off the helmet and was studying the trees and sky, and she grinned when she saw him walking towards her.

  “How about some ice cream from the concessions?” he asked.

  “Sounds good,” she answered.

  Getting back onto the bike, Dylan pulled his helmet over his head and waited for Julie to slip onto the seat behind him.

  Revving up the engine and taking it slow on the gravel driveway, he drove onto the blacktop turning left toward the beach.

  They parked near the concessions and waited in line. It was a warm summer night and a couple of weeks before school would begin, so there were a lot of kids wandering along the bike trail and scattered across the sand. Music echoed from the speakers above the concession stand, and a few sets of parents with their families were sitting at the tables nearby eating ice cream.

  Once he and Julie were handed their double dipped cones, they decided to go for a walk along the beach since the sky looked breathtaking with the sun beginning to set.

  Taking a moment to appreciate the view near the edge of Dragonfly Pointe, they halted before approaching Crystal Rock.

  “You have some ice cream on your chin,” Dylan said. He couldn’t help bending down and licking it off with his tongue.

  Julie grinned, popping the rest of her cone into her mouth. “You have some chocolate on your face too,” she said, kissing a spot on his cheek.

  Their lips met like a duel and a dance, and with the golden amber light shimmering across the lake, every kiss they shared felt like magic. Dylan was wondering how he’d managed to make it through life all these years without her. He couldn’t imagine going on otherwise.

  But it was beginning to get dark.

  “Have you ever been to the top of Crystal Rock?” Julie asked as they strolled across the sand towards his bike.

  “Nah,” he answered.

  “I used to hike up there all the time. There’s such a beautiful view.”

  “I haven’t spent much time seeing the sights. I used to love camping out.”

  He unhooked Julie’s helmet from the bike and handed it over.

  “Me too.” Julie smiled. “Maybe when things settle down a little, we can make the time to do some of those things together?”

  “It’s a date,” Dylan answered, tugging his helmet over his head and sliding onto the seat.

  Julie slipped onto the seat behind him, wrapping her arms around his waist as Dylan revved up the engine and took off.

  A half hour later, Dylan was making Julie sit down at the kitchen table before pouring them each a glass of wine.

  Sitting down beside her, he sighed heavily looking into her eyes. “There’s something I have to say that might be a little painful to hear. We talked to Jim Edmonds, the former police chief?”

  “Yes?”

  “There’s a chance your mother might’ve been...uhh—seeing another man who was living here in town.”

  Julie looked stunned.

  Dylan gave her a minute to absorb the information, and then he stood up and tugged her from the chair.

  “Are you okay?” he asked, pulling her into his arms.

  “I’m trying to be.”

  “It could’ve just been a rumor Julie. Jim wasn’t sure what to think, he said, when a couple people mentioned it during his investigation. He’d never seen your mother with anyone except a few of the friends she’d made while she was living in town. Did you know that Kate’s mom was a good friend of hers?”

  “No, I didn’t,” she answered, looking dazed. “Just find out the truth, Dylan.” She took in a deep breath. “I’ll have to deal with whatever comes along with it.”

  Dylan hesitated, still staring into her eyes. “Julie?”

  “Yes?”

  “Will you move in with me? You wouldn’t believe how depressed I was tonight when I came home and you weren’t here.”


  She suddenly gave him a mischievous grin. “There’s a suitcase filled with clothes in the trunk of my car.”

  Laughing and pulling her closer, Dylan gave her a blistering kiss.

  CHAPTER

  TWENTY-ONE

  By the end of the week, Dylan and Sam Danielson were nearly finished interviewing everyone on the list. Since Marilyn and Brent Bradshaw were town gossips, Dylan had mentioned he and Sam were saving them for last, along with a few others.

  Speak of the devil, Julie thought as she was getting ready to step into her car and drive to school.

  Brent Bradshaw pulled up in his Mercedes, and after stepping out from the car and grabbing his briefcase from inside, he approached Julie, looking strangely surprised.

  “Julie? I didn’t realize…” He stared into the open garage where Dylan’s truck and bike were sitting side by side. “Is Dylan home?”

  “Yes. But he doesn’t have much time. He’s going back to work today.”

  Brent nodded, slowly checking Julie out. “I’ll make it quick.”

  At that moment, Dylan opened the back door.

  Julie grinned. He didn’t look very pleased to see Brent. She held up her hand and waved goodbye to Dylan. Stepping into her car and starting up the engine, she was soon on her way.

  Although Brent Bradshaw was supposedly a likeable guy, there was something about him that had always struck Julie as off. Plus his wife was equally strange. Everyone in town complained about Brent’s son Bart, and what a jerk he was to do business with because he worked in the real estate business with his dad. But personally? She’d take Bart over Brent any day.

  Ten minutes later, she arrived at school, and her thoughts became focused on the special students she’d be entrusted with in less than two weeks.

  She began unloading the boxes of equipment and toys Dylan had insisted on donating to the school, since his family was a major contributor to the school’s funding. Dylan had made her take him shopping, and he’d ordered a couple of expensive items online. After Julie had mentioned it wasn’t fair for her to have all this updated equipment to use for her students when the other teachers at the school might not, Dylan had simply said bring home a list.

  Even now, she felt overwhelmed thinking about his generosity.

  Julie got to work setting up the classroom. It was all about the senses, since the kids she would be teaching were the youngest and smallest and had literally no communication skills. Julie would begin with pictures, although Dylan had donated a very costly communication device with hundreds of programming buttons that all the kids would be able to use. Pictures on each button of the device could be paired with recorded words or phrases, and the child could express his or her needs verbally, simply by pressing them.

  A few hours later, Julie was nearly finished and her eyes searched the room. There was a bunch of brand new toys, which were actually learning tools, set up throughout the space. A long cloth tunnel ran around the back of the room for the kids to either nap or escape.

  At her previous school, Julie had taught a child who’d preferred isolation, but as the school year moved forward, he’d become more curious and had spent less time in hiding. She’d been so proud when finally, after two years in her classroom, Will had been sociable enough to move up to the next level; although he’d still refused to speak.

  Sometimes there were a few similarities between the kids she worked with. But every child had been totally different, and Julie had learned something new from each and every one.

  Sitting at her desk, she propped her head up with her hand. This stuff about her mom had really thrown her, and when her cell phone rang unexpectedly, it was like she’d send out a signal for help.

  Julie answered the phone. “Grandpa. How are you?”

  “Hi, ya, Jules. How are you doing, Sweetie?”

  She hesitated. “Okay.”

  “You’re not fooling me. What’s wrong? Is something up with the new boyfriend?”

  “How did you hear about that?”

  “Take a guess?” he answered dryly.

  “Dad?” Julie hesitated. “He’s concerned?”

  “Nah. From what he says, your dad actually likes this guy for a change. Dylan, is it?”

  “Yeah.” She paused. “It’s a lot more than like. He’s talking about marriage.”

  Her grandfather cleared his throat. “And this makes you nervous?”

  She asked him abruptly, “Was my mom seeing another man?”

  There was a long pause from the other end of the line.

  “Gramps? Are you still there?”

  She heard him sigh. “I knew you’d be curious someday.” He paused. “I never thought your mother was seeing anyone. She might have become close friends with another man, but she had a certain strength of character. Although your grandma was always prone to believe the worst because of the gossip.”

  Julie sighed with relief.

  He continued, “But I think I might be able to help you find a few answers.”

  “How so?”

  “Your grandmother wanted to get rid of everything, but I wouldn’t let her. There’s a journal, along with most of your mother’s personal effects upstairs, in the attic of the cottage at the lake. Everything written in the journal was too cryptic for me or Jim Edmonds to understand, plus she didn’t mention any names. You never know, maybe you might be able to decipher its contents better than we were able to.”

  As soon as she disconnected from her grandfather’s call, she tried to call Dylan. But Dylan would be working nearly nonstop on the lake over the weekend. Although he’d had to be careful while he was working out, his wound was healing nicely and hardly bothering him at all.

  There was nothing stopping her from driving out to the cottage right now. Dylan’s mom wouldn’t be moving in until next week. Julie had a key for the place on her ring since she and her friends had hung out there a lot during the summer when she’d still been living here in town.

  Standing up from her chair, she took a final glance around the classroom and smiled. She was as ready as she could be for school to begin.

  * * *

  Twenty minutes later, she pulled into the driveway of the cottage. Wow, she thought, it really looked great. When she and Dylan had driven by in the boat the previous weekend, the front of the place was beginning to get a facelift, but now it was done.

  The Callahan crew had swapped out the rotting wood around the entire cabin and painted the siding after scraping away the peeling paint. The cottage looked almost brand new.

  The inside had been given a huge facelift as well, Julie noticed, glancing around the kitchen. They’d replaced some of the appliances with modern replicas of the style that’d originally been used. The flooring had even been sanded down, Julie realized as she walked through the kitchen and living room toward the staircase, and began climbing up.

  She took in a deep breath opening the door leading into the attic. Julie remembered playing up here when she’d been very young, and it wasn’t as dusty as she’d expected. Her father used to bring her here sometimes when he felt like he needed to get away from her grandparents. Julie had a sneaking suspicion it’d been her grandmother he’d wanted to get away from the most. It must’ve been really difficult living with his parents for Julie’s sake.

  Despite the fact that the attic was enormous, she found her mother’s things fairly quickly. There were four huge dormer windows up here that allowed in lots of light. Apparently, after the cottage had been built in the early nineteen-hundreds, the attic had been used as living quarters for the help.

  All of her mom’s effects seemed to have held up nicely. Clothes were packed away in garment bags and hanging on a couple of racks. There were some older trunks stacked up, along with several suitcases, and when Julie began opening them up, she could see there were personal items inside, including a hairbrush and makeup.

  By now, the tears were running down her face. She would come back sometime soon and take a better look th
rough everything. Julie dug through one of the trunks that contained books along with a couple of notebooks, and soon she discovered what must’ve been her mother’s journal. What the heck, she thought, grabbing the notebooks along with the journal. Rather than relying on everyone else’s accounts or opinions, Julie would hopefully be able to discover who her mom had been herself.

  As she went to close the trunk, she hesitated, discovering a picture of her mother and father that looked like it’d been taken here outside of the cottage. Julie decided they looked incredibly happy, staring at the picture.

  She’d take it along with her too.

  Noticing a stack of old newspapers piled near the door leading out from the attic, she paused. Was that Brent Bradshaw on the front page of the paper laying on top? Wow, he’d had hair back then. Blonde hair too. What was it about that picture that seemed so familiar?

  Julie shrugged. She’d been having all kinds of weird flashbacks during the past week, so it probably had something to do with a memory from the past. She looked around one last time, before walking through the doorway and down the stairs with the notebooks and picture under her arm.

  CHAPTER

  TWENTY-TWO

  After Julie had driven off to school, Dylan had been reluctant to sit down with Brent Bradshaw to discuss the adjoining property Brent would soon have for sale. Jerry Scott had died from blood loss resulting from his freakish boat accident the week before, and since his widow wanted to get rid of the property as fast as she could, Brent would be representing her.

  Dylan was interested, but studying Brent, he got to thinking how much commission would the Bradshaws be making from the sale? Dylan felt like they were being mercenary here, and it wasn’t the first time that thought had crossed his mind when he’d been dealing with Brent.

  For a moment, he thought about asking Brent what he remembered about Julie’s mom. Apparently, the entire family had seen her and Julie twenty years ago on the day she’d disappeared.