Love Finds You in Carmel by-the-Sea, California

by Sandra D. Bricker

  “If I know you as well as I believe I do, I think it’s about to start beating much faster,” Nick said casually as he slid across the bench and stared off toward the horizon.

  Deke looked to Annie and asked, “What has he done?”

  She laughed as Nick told Deke, “You’d better sit down.”

  As Franklin Usher’s offer unfolded, Deke remained steady, and Annie examined his face for some trace of a reaction.

  “That sounds interesting,” he stated once Nick had finished. “I’ll set up a meeting with him first thing Monday morning.”

  “I took the liberty,” Nick replied. “You’re expected at his Pacific Grove office at eleven a.m.”

  Annie couldn’t help but think about how strange men could be. If she’d delivered this sort of news to Zoey or Merideth, they’d be hugging, jumping up and down, and maybe even doing a silly victory dance. But Nick checked out the view while Deke tended to meat he probably shouldn’t eat, and Annie decided they were missing out on a lot of fun.

  Conversation flowed steadily over the delicious dinner, running from Deke’s medical instructions for the immediate future to the damage at Nick’s place from the earthquake to some special project Nick had been spearheading at the youth center.

  “Are you going to make it on Sunday, do you think?” Nick asked, and Deke nodded.

  “I’m signed up for the ring-toss booth from noon until four.”

  “I have someone standing by in case you’re not feeling up to it.”

  “You kidding me? I’m looking forward to it.”

  “Are you holding a carnival or something?” Annie asked them.

  “Festival,” Nick explained. “We do it every year to raise money for the various inner-city charities associated with the center. There’s even pie-eating contests and old-fashioned games.”

  “And some of the finest soul food you’ve ever tasted!” Deke added with a shake of his head. “Some of the ladies in the hood sure can cook.”

  “Again with the food,” Nick teased. “Ham for dinner and fried chicken and greens on Sunday. Do you want to be back in for heart surgery before your meeting on Monday morning?”

  “This boy sure can nag, Annie. How on earth have you been putting up with him?”

  “Wait until you see the fridge at work!” she exclaimed. “My Diet Cokes have been replaced with bottled water and fruit juice.”

  “Oh-ho-ho-ho-ho,” Deke marveled with a broad grin. “I’ll bet she had your head over that one.”

  “At least she’s listening. You could learn a thing or two.”

  “Oh, she’s listening, huh?”

  They both turned toward Annie as she guzzled down the last of the soda from the can. She shrugged and made a bank shot into the trash can at the end of the table.

  Chapter Twenty

  “We’ll always have Paris.”

  Humphrey Bogart, Casablanca, 1942

  The Ferris wheel and Tilt-a-Whirl could be seen from far away, the bright California sun glinting off them as they beckoned. Parking proposed a challenge, but Annie finally found a spot in the dirt lot adjacent to the center.

  She fluffed her hair and straightened her camel Eugenia Kim fedora, tossed her bag over her shoulder, and took off toward the entry gate. She hadn’t expected such a huge crowd, and she began to wonder if she’d be able to find Zoey and Mateo in its midst.

  As she passed the carousel for the second time, she spotted Zoey beside the steel gate, waving her arms above her head.

  “Hey! You made it.”

  “What a great festival,” she said. “Are you having fun?”

  “Just arrived. But it looks great.”

  “Mateo is over there playing the ring toss. Want to come?”

  “Absolutely.”

  Just about the time they reached his side, Evan and Jenny were there too, and Jenny gave Annie a warm embrace. “Have you seen Nicky?”

  “No. Do you know where he is?”

  “He and Deke are running the pie-eating contest in about fifteen minutes.”

  “Pie eating! Can we go watch?” Zoey exclaimed—and suddenly the group of them was on the move.

  Remembering that she’d meant to ask Jenny about Murphy, Annie turned back but stopped in her tracks at the way she and Evan walked along, lost in one another.

  Zoey linked arms with Annie and patted her own heart. “Evan’s in love.”

  “He sure is.”

  At the contest site, Deke greeted Annie with a hug, and she told him, “These are my friends, Zoey and Mateo.”

  “Enjoying yourselves?” he asked them, and their enthusiasm lit him up. “Excellent! That’s just excellent.”

  “Nick around?” Annie asked.

  “Right there.” Deke pointed him out at the contest table; several custard pies were stacked in his arms.

  When Nick saw Annie, he nodded and grinned then pretended to prepare to eat the pies himself. Once the contestants found their seats and Deke got things underway, Nick ambled to Annie’s side and tugged on the brim of her hat.

  “Good to see you. I’m glad you came.”

  “It’s a spectacular festival,” she told him. “I’m very impressed.”

  Nick faced Annie, holding both of her arms gently. “Listen, Annie, I wanted to talk to you about something, and I thought—”

  “Nick!”

  Interrupted by the Penélope Cruz–alike Annie had seen with Nick when she attended the fund-raiser at the center, Annie watched the woman dart toward them and toss her arms around his neck.

  “How did it go?” he asked her.

  “It was fun. You were right; I enjoyed it.”

  “Lisette, this is Annie.”

  “Oh, you’re Annie?” she asked. “It’s so great to meet you.”

  “You too.”

  “Nick is an angel, isn’t he?” she asked.

  Annie spontaneously expelled a burst of a chuckle. “An angel? Well, I don’t know about that.”

  “Oh, take my word for it, he is. He’s helped my kid brother more than I can tell you. In fact, this man has single-handedly turned Jose’s life around.”

  “Jose has turned his own life around,” Nick corrected. “I just helped to show him the way.”

  “Well, you’re a very lucky girl to have someone like Nick interested in you,” she said—and Annie’s heart began to pound out a rhythm in double time. “I’ll see you both later. I’m off to help at the Ferris wheel.”

  As she ran off, Nick raked his hair with both hands and looked at Annie.

  “Am I?” she asked him.

  “Are you what?”

  “The girl you’re interested in.”

  He puffed out a breath and shook his head. “You don’t know that by now?”

  I hoped.

  “Look. I feel like it’s time I throw my hat into the ring. Put my cards on the table.”

  “Fish or cut bait?” she teased.

  “A stitch in time saves nine.”

  “Waste not, want not,” she added, and they both started to laugh.

  Nick placed his arms around Annie and pulled her toward him with a sigh. “You are a very special girl, Annie Gray.”

  He briefly glanced down at the ground between them and then raised his eyes provocatively.

  “Annie, you’ve got to see this!” Zoey rushed toward the two of them and grabbed Annie by the wrist. “Hey, Nick. Annie, Mateo is going to eat pie. You have to come watch!”

  Annie looked at Nick. He gave her a weak smile and nodded.

  “Go ahead.”

  Dog-clock told Annie that midnight had just passed, and she asked herself why she sat on the kitchen counter, swinging her legs and watching Sherman sleep underneath the table at this time of night.

  She never did find Nick again before she left the festival, never heard what more he had to say, and her imagination pulsated with possibilities. It had sounded like he might declare his intentions… issue an invitation. Maybe a date? Love? More?

  The un
questionable chemistry between Annie and Nick could not be denied. But what else did they have? They both appreciated Lakers basketball and classic film. And they had their work.

  But he’ll be returning to the force now that Deke is coming back.

  She wondered. Would the relationship grow, or even manage to be sustained, without the daily contact?

  Annie racked her brain, reaching in every possible direction for something to add to the list of things that might hold them together.

  “Is Nick Benchley The One?” she asked out loud, hoping someone might hear her and answer.

  She listened intently. Aside from the thunderous pounding of her own heart—silence. And of course the ticking of Dog-clock on the wall as he swung his paws and smiled at her.

  “Am I going to die alone, then?” she asked the thing.

  Still nothing more than a creepy little dog smile.

  After that, morning came much too quickly, and Annie’s heart still raced a bit as she woke up feeling as if she hadn’t yet slept at all. As she brushed her teeth, she remembered that Deke would be meeting with Franklin Usher, and she hoped Nick might utilize the free morning to finish the discussion he’d tried to initiate at the festival.

  Instead, though, he’d left a voice mail message at the office saying that he wouldn’t be in until noon. Disappointed, Annie filled the time by finishing up the overflow of filing from the previous week.

  When the door popped open at 11:13 a.m., she expected to see Nick entering with his usual flair. However, when she looked up from the filing cabinet, she met a different scenario entirely.

  “You Annie Gray?”

  She nodded at the young African-American man standing before her, who looked a lot like a bull getting ready to snort at any moment.

  “You the one who told Tyra’s mom about me?”

  Marques DeLeon.

  “I did an investigation into your background, but—”

  “That’s an invasion of my privacy!” he exclaimed, and he picked up the stapler from her desk and held it over her head.

  Annie’s heart lurched, and her mouth went completely dry.

  “You had no right!”

  “Look, Mr. DeLeon, it’s nothing personal. We’re an investigation agency, and a client came to us requesting—”

  “Requesting private information about me, and you gave it to them, didn’t you?” He followed with an insulting expletive just before he drew back the stapler and—

  “Wait—”

  Wham!

  He…hit…me? Annie decided that seeing stars wasn’t just something “they say”—because she saw a million of them. Just before they stopped shimmering and faded to black.

  “Annie?”

  Her head throbbed, and she wondered why her right eye didn’t open. Her left one began to focus, and she saw Nick standing over her, looking more worried than she might have thought he knew how to be. A gray box with green-and-white lights behind him blinked Hospital into the path of her thoughts, and she looked down at the IV taped to the top of her hand.

  “Can you see me, angel?”

  It came back to her in a rush. Marques DeLeon. Mark Lyon. “He hit me. With my stapler,” she told him.

  Nick grinned. “Yes, I know.”

  “Wh–why did he do that?”

  “Because he was angry.”

  “Better call Tyra and make sure she’s all right.”

  “She’s just outside,” Nick told her. “Lyon is in jail. And if you can believe the gall, he called Tyra’s mother to come bail him out. Which, of course, she did not.”

  “They caught him already?”

  “I pulled up outside and caught him trashing the office, with you on the floor behind your desk.”

  “You’re the one who got him, Nick?”

  “Yep. I got him.”

  Annie thought that over and let it process for a long moment. “Thank you.”

  “You’re welcome.”

  “You’re always saving me.”

  “Only when you really need it.”

  “What’s wrong with my eye?”

  “It’s swollen shut, and you’ve got some kind of shiner there. But aside from a nasty headache for a day or two, you’ll be fine.”

  “Why is it always my head?” she asked.

  Nick squeezed her hand and smiled. “Better your hard head than something softer.”

  Tyra floated into the room, wafting on apologies that started before she even hit the door. The high pitch of her voice nearly reduced Annie to tears, and the instant she raised her hand to her temple, Nick stepped in as if he could read her mind.

  “She’s a little fragile right now, Tyra. Why don’t we just let her get some rest?”

  “Oh. All right,” she surrendered. “But, girl, I am so sorry.”

  “Nobody blames you,” Nick reassured her. “Let me walk you out.”

  “Annie? You call me, okay?”

  “I will.”

  When Nick returned, he inched up next to Annie on the hospital bed and placed his arms around her. It felt so good to sink into him and just let him hold her. She closed her eyes and listened to his heartbeat thump against her ear.

  “What about Deke’s meeting with—”

  Nick shushed her softly, caressing her hair and holding her close. “Shhh.”

  “Did they strike a deal?”

  “Annie. They struck a deal. And you’ll know all the details soon enough. Just relax and let the pain medication work, angel.”

  “What about Sherman?”

  “What about him?”

  “Gram left for Los Angeles this morning.”

  “I’ll take him to my house.”

  “Did you call Zoey?”

  “I left her a message with my cell number and asked her to call me back.”

  “And there’s—”

  “There’s nothing else, Annie. There’s just you and me, and peace and quiet. Just be quiet, angel, and give in to the sleep. It’s good for you.”

  Annie took a deep breath, and as she released it, she felt her entire body begin to relax. Her ears tingled, and her skin felt as if it vibrated.

  “Nick?”

  “Annie. Go to sleep.”

  “But, Nick, just this one more thing.”

  “Okay. One more thing. What is it?”

  Chapter Twenty-One

  “That tears it.”

  Fred MacMurray, Double Indemnity, 1944

  Returning home from the hospital turned out to be a community event. Zoey and Evan made food, and Evan propped a large card on the kitchen table with get-well wishes written inside. Deke and Jenny filled the living room and kitchen with bouquets of helium balloons, and Jenny sent word that she would be stopping by later in the day. Tyra baked a cake, and Merideth decorated it.

  And Nick? Well, he stocked the refrigerator with bottled water, fruit juice, and, miraculously, a few cans of Diet Coke.

  Sherman could hardly contain himself when he saw Annie, and he nearly knocked himself over with his own wagging tail when Nick brought him through the front door. Murphy trotted close behind, and Annie noted that the little thing had grown since she’d seen him last.

  “Hey, buddy!” She smiled at Sherman, and he took a flying leap at the couch and landed on Annie with a thump. Murphy quickly followed, and the two of them began arguing over which of them would get to greet Annie first.

  “All right, enough,” Nick told them, and he picked Murphy up, took him to the wingback chair, and sat down. “Let Sherman welcome her home first.”

  Murphy whined before reluctantly settling in next to him while Sherman panted at Annie’s face, not the graceful victor.

  “You look awful,” Merideth stated. “What do you need?”

  “I already know what she needs,” Zoey announced, a tall glass of soda over ice in her hand.

  “Whaddya know? She really did know what I needed.”

  “No, she didn’t,” Nick interjected with a laugh.

  “I feel just t
errible about what happened,” Tyra told her, sitting down on the other end of the couch.

  “I keep telling her it wasn’t her fault,” Deke said. “But she just wants to own it.”

  “Come on, Ty,” Annie told her. “You know better.”

  “I just wish I hadn’t brought him into your life.”

  “It’s a black eye,” she replied. “I’m not blind. I didn’t need surgery. He thumped me with my own stapler. I’ll live.”

  “This girl has all kinds of guardian angels watching over her,” Zoey told them. “You wouldn’t believe the kind of messes they get her out of.”

  They laughed, and Tyra joined in at the last. Annie reached over and squeezed her hand to reassure her.

  “How about some cake for everyone?” Tyra suggested.

  “I’ll help you,” Zoey said.

  “Me too.” And Merideth followed them to the kitchen.

  “So, Deke. Tell me about your meeting with Franklin Usher on Monday. Nick hasn’t spilled a single bean, and I’m ready to burst with curiosity. Are we movin’ on up?”

  “We are indeed.”

  Annie found herself growing weary once the cake had been served and conversation began to wane. When she made a move to get up, one might have thought she’d started a project like painting a room or building an addition.

  “I’m just going to the kitchen,” she told them. “I can still walk.”

  Various shapes and colors of plasticware filled an entire shelf in the refrigerator, and Zoey explained as Annie inspected them.

  “The red ones are single servings of vegetable lasagna, and the blue is chicken orzo with spinach, mushrooms, and snap peas. There’s salad in the big bowl, and Evan’s rice pudding is in the yellow container in the back. It’s fantastic, by the way.”

  “Good grief. Did someone die?”

  “You know me. This is just what I do.”

  “Thank you, Zo.”

  “You’re welcome. Just don’t go getting yourself all banged up anymore. You scared me to death.”

  “I’ll do my best.”

  Annie tried to smile at her, but only half of her face complied. Zoey cringed.

  “You look like a raccoon.”

  “Better than a skunk.”