Dancing Tides

by Vickie McKeehan

  He gave her a withering stare. “Rattling chains like the ghost of Christmas past you mean? The first night I spent at the B & B he managed to scare the bejeezus out of me. Had me thinking I was back in the drunk tank. Then when I took the job here, that first night, he bugged the hell out of me. I almost packed up.”

  She dumped the egg mixture into the pan. “Hmm, interesting. Maybe he’s focused on you for some reason. Maybe he knew you were in a bad place and wanted to help in some way.” She picked up her coffee cup off the counter, took a sip, considered. “When did you say you tried to, uh, when did you…uh, pick up the .22 and it misfired?”

  Cord turned to stare at her. “New Year’s Day. You think he did something to the gun so it wouldn’t fire that day?”

  She finished with the eggs and divided them onto two plates. “Can ghosts do that? Do they have the ability to fiddle with a tangible object? I don’t know. I’m thinking out loud here. Think about it. Was he around New Year’s Day—the day you tried to—?”

  “Kill myself,” he finished. “It’s okay to say it. According to Dr. Pontadera I have to own it. Twice.”

  They sat down at the table to eat, both thoughtful. There were a few minutes of silence, of trying to figure it all out before Keegan finally supposed, “Okay, so maybe you get here, he sees how depressed you are, a former buddy in distress, grieving, and he hangs around you for safety reasons, protecting you—”

  “From myself.”

  “I think I’d like to have a talk with Jordan. What exactly is the proper protocol for bringing up a woman’s dead husband into a conversation?”

  “I don’t think you should. She’s six months along. Nick will have your head if you upset her.”

  Keegan sighed. “You’re right. Well, it was just an idea.” She glanced at the clock. “And I’m running late. In less than an hour I open the gate to what I hope is hordes of people willing to donate to a good cause and keep the center going for another six months.”

  “Are things that bad?”

  “It takes a lot of money to run a rescue center like this. Without the generosity of people who love animals I’m afraid we’ll have to close our doors by summer if I can’t think of some way to keep donations up.”

  “I’ve got some money saved. Nick used to be an investment banker. When we were in the Guard together, he set us all up with investment accounts. Turns out, Nick knew his stuff.”

  Keegan smiled. “You know something, Cord?”

  “What?”

  She ran a finger down his face. “I adore you. But I won’t take your money, a reasonable donation, absolutely, but anything over one hundred dollars is forbidden. You and Wally have generous hearts.”

  “Wally? Wally at the service station? You and Wally?” A little spurt of jealousy circled his heart and he did his best to tamp it down.

  “Friends since kindergarten. Absolutely. You know, Wally and Lilly are getting married in June, don’t you?”

  “The cute brunette who works at the station? I didn’t know that, but I’m glad to hear it.”

  “And it was Wally who suggested the open house. I might’ve thought of it if I hadn’t been so down in the dumps lately since losing my grandmother that I haven’t been able to think straight.”

  “Ah. I’m sorry, honey. Go on. Go have a successful open house. I’ll get the dishes.”

  “Are you coming in later?”

  “Sure. How can the newcomer afford to miss his first Pelican Pointe parade?”

  “But you were here at Christmas. We put on a helluva Christmas parade.”

  “I don’t know what I was thinking but somehow I managed to miss that.”

  She laughed and kissed his cheek. “Aw, it’s just a matter of time before you get used to the ins and outs of small towns. Make sure you make it by ten. I’ll save you a front-row seat. Plus, I’ll buy you lunch. We’re selling bag lunches donated from the Diner.”

  “Sounds yummy.”

  “Anything for a buck,” Keegan teased as she called to Guinness before dashing out the door, already going over in her head the dozens of things she had to do to kick off the open house.

  But when she got to her truck, she automatically scanned the grounds for Scott Phillips. And couldn’t help wondering why the man’s spirit refused to leave this place or the town.

  It wasn’t until Keegan got to work that she heard the buzz about how Harold and Drake Boedecker had found what they believed was Sissy Carr’s body floating in the bay.

  “Wow, where’s the body been all this time?” Keegan asked.

  “Sounds like maybe ol’ Kent and Sissy didn’t get along as well as people thought they did. I always said they couldn’t last too long without one of them killing the other.”

  “You seriously think Kent had something to do with killing her?”

  “Sissy had a mouth on her. Kent had a temper. Bad combo,” Pete stated.

  “Does Ethan think Kent did it?”

  “Ethan’s been tightlipped. But he does want to talk to you when you get a minute.”

  “Me? Why me?”

  “Because he knows you patrol these waters more often than the Coast Guard.”

  “Luckily, I never stumbled across anything like that. I’ve seen dead dolphins, a shark or two, even a whale once wash up on shore, but never, ever a dead body. I’m glad it wasn’t me that found her.”

  “There you go. That’s all he wants to know.”

  From that point on, Keegan put Sissy Carr out of her head.

  There were last minute things to prep. After going over everything with her staff a second time, Keegan made certain the animals had been fed and treated for their ailments and as ready for visitors as she could get them.

  To her amazement, people started lining up at the gate before nine a.m. Parents brought children. Grandparents brought their grandkids. Turns out, teenagers vied for one-on-one, face time with the animals the same way a three-year-old did.

  Because of the steady stream of visitors, there was no sitting or standing idly around watching the parade. The staff had to put that off. In fact, all the activity kept every one of them hopping from one end of the compound to the other.

  So when Cord arrived, Keegan put him to work.

  While she played tour guide, he acted as information director, pointing the way to the observation deck so they could see Minnie and Bumper in action. He also handed out information packets and at one point, he even took turns manning the camera to take pictures of the kids with the mammals.

  He found delight in watching each kid’s reaction to the playful, animated sea otters, especially when the animals amused themselves with a ball or a rock. Drawn to the antics, the children stared in fascination as Jack, who had a fondness for his little rubber ball, lay on his back and tossed it back and forth in his furry, little mittens.

  Three weeks of TLC had the little ball of fur healing nicely and very energetic. Jack would never go back in the wild though. His eye had been injured too severely to know if he could see well enough to forage for food on his own, although everyday Jack got better at learning the basics in that department, too.

  And as always, Minnie and Bumper were crowd favorites, especially when mom nestled her baby boy on her tummy. But when she groomed the fur of her three-week-old pup, Cord could tell the kids were pulled in for good.

  During a break between tours, Keegan looked up and spotted a very pregnant Jordan Harris pushing her toddler daughter in a stroller down the middle of the compound.

  Even though she still wasn’t sure how to pursue the line of questioning about her former husband, Keegan headed her way.

  “When’s the baby due?” Keegan asked cheerfully.

  Jordan rubbed a hand over her belly. “June tenth. And before you ask, it’s a boy.”

  “You read my mind.”

  “Most people want to know. And Nick is so hands-on with everything. I’m pretty sure he sent out an email to half the state of California.” She paused to look around a
t the crowd and commented, “The center is absolutely bursting at the seams today, busier than I’ve ever seen it.”

  “It is. I had no idea we’d have such a huge turnout.”

  “The town wants to support the center, Keegan. Sometimes they have difficulty showing it.”

  “I’ll say one thing, this time they really came through for me. We put this thing together on a shoestring. Wally and Murphy were instrumental in getting prizes out of most of the merchants but it was Wally who was able to pry open Ferguson’s wallet. And you know Ferguson. I swear that man is tighter than Scrooge with his money or giving anything away for free.”

  Jordan smiled. “Go ahead, say it, the man’s a major tightwad. He rarely has a sale at the hardware store.”

  “Are you feeling okay what with the pregnancy and all?” Keegan asked, feeling a little awkward at the question.

  “So healthy and happy I’m full of nothing but bliss these days. Two years ago, I was miserable and could only dream my life might turnaround. Now—” Jordan stopped, stared at the younger woman. Keegan wasn’t exactly subtle. “What’s on your mind? I recognize that look in your eye.”

  Keegan puffed out a breath at her own uneasiness. “Well, I don’t know how to say this, but—twice now I’ve seen Scott, big as life—last night he was wandering around the farm.”

  Laughter glistened in Jordan’s eyes. “He scared you? That man can be such a pest. Since last fall, I see him around The Cove all the time. He comes and goes. Sometimes guests report seeing him, too, sometimes not.”

  “You’re certainly calm about it.”

  “Now I am. It’s…he’s rather obstinate at times. You know there was a time I couldn’t see him at all. But Scott was persistent while I was resistant. I guess that sort of sums up our entire relationship when he was alive. Even when we were married we didn’t always communicate very well. That’s how I ended up here. Don’t misunderstand me. I loved Scott with all my heart. But what was a problem for both of us back then were big dreams and not enough conversation about making them a reality. I just wasn’t as savvy about picking up on how much Scott really needed to come back to his hometown to raise his family here. Maybe there was some premonition on his part that he didn’t have very long to live. But now, he’s here for good.”

  “Why? Why do you suppose he’s still hanging around? Shouldn’t he want—to get to the other side—or something?”

  Jordan narrowed her eyes. “He loves this place, Keegan, the town, the people. He cares for them in a way I never could have predicted. In my opinion, with Scott it’s the ‘or something.’ I don’t want him to leave, Keegan. This is his home. Why don’t you ask Hayden how he got to her last fall right after she got here?”

  “Hayden’s seen him, too?” That was a revelation she hadn’t seen coming.

  “Oh, yeah. According to her, Scott got her through a really rough time last year. They forged a bond.”

  As Keegan chewed on that the rest of the afternoon, she thought the whole thing with Scott just kept getting weirder by the day.

  But the scientist in her, plus a heavy dose of old-fashioned curiosity needed some detailed answers.

  Robby Mack Stevens woke late in the afternoon in a seedy motel room in Reno, Nevada, with the hangover from hell and Candy, a hooker leftover from the night before.

  He’d somehow gotten sidetracked on his very first visit to Reno. He thought he’d been so clever sidestepping Las Vegas for the smaller arena that claimed to be “The Biggest Little City in the World.”

  Robby had tested John Gold’s luck and gotten pulled into gaming, which he discovered he wasn’t very good at because blackjack had pretty much kicked his ass.

  He hadn’t had any better luck at craps or for that matter poker or the slot machines.

  On the other hand, he’d found cocaine and meth readily available to anyone with the bucks to pay the going rate on the street.

  No wonder he’d gone through Terri Lynn’s saving accounts in less than three weeks. Because of that, today was the day to exit Dodge. Or in this case get the hell out of Reno, put the city and his experience in his rearview mirror for good. It was past time for him to find this backwater town called Pelican Pointe and take care of Cord Bennett.

  But first he had to get rid of Candy. He kicked at her butt a couple of times before she groaned in annoyance.

  “What? What time is it?

  “Time to get your ass out of my room, that’s what. Now!” he hollered when she continued to lie there.

  He’d managed to buy an old Saturday night special, a .25 caliber Bryco off Candy’s pimp for fifty bucks.

  As luck would have it, Robby was armed, motivated and ready for a long, overdue showdown.

  Chapter Twenty

  March went out like a lamb and gave way to the roar of April showers. Spring storms already assured that the month got a jump on rainfall. As a result the landscape around town came to life, making everything pop with an array of colors. Wildflowers bloomed in major doses of Indian paintbrush, poppies, and purple thistle.

  Even the sand dunes seemed to come alive with fresh crops of thriving beach grass. There was still no sign of Robby Mack Stevens.

  Cord began to think the guy had headed south, down to Mexico and avoided California altogether.

  He stayed busy as he watered down the troughs, dumped grain into the feeders, cleaned the stalls. It was good, sweaty work that kept his mind from worry.

  After finishing in the barn, he went to wash up and noticed his cell phone dinged with a new text message and voicemail.

  One glance at the digital readout told him it was from Gabe Bennett. The guy had kept his promise to keep in touch. In fact, hearing from him had become a weekly occurrence. It was tough enough getting used to the idea of having a father, let alone one who insisted on keeping him in the loop.

  Cord couldn’t say he minded though. Hell, on some level it gave him a kick. Here he was in his mid-thirties and he could admit a thrill every time his phone rang and it was Gabe.

  What a difference thirty days could make in a man’s life.

  He had a woman he cared deeply about in his life. For the first time he had a father, a connection to family, someone who seemed like he genuinely cared for him despite the wasted years of not knowing each other. But with every phone call, every text message from Gabe, father and son seemed to grow just a little closer, a little easier with each other. They’d go over their day, or exchange a work-related incident, even a joke or two.

  For the first time in two years, Cord had a steady job, a place to live, a woman in his life, and a future. He had to admit he was happy.

  What more could any man want?

  At lunch time, Keegan decided it was time to talk to Hayden Cody about Scott. She had several ruses she could use to stop by the shop. For one, Keegan hadn’t thanked Hayden for all the children’s book donations she had provided that they had given away as door prizes during the open house.

  Two, there were any number of books on plants she could pick up under the guise of trying to become a better gardener.

  And three, she could pretend to check out all the little knickknacks Hayden had stocked since her last visit.

  Even though her budget was tight, it didn’t mean she couldn’t indulge in an herb-scented candle or two, the ones Hayden had taken to making and selling herself. The woman even had an online store.

  Keegan went over all those ploys as she walked along Ocean Street with the smells of the sea at her back, courtesy of the spring breeze drifting in off the water.

  When she reached a golden-colored, Spanish-style stucco house with a red-tiled roof, she read the brand-new, hand-painted shingle outside the brightly painted, red front door that read, “Hidden Moon Bay Books.”

  Lilly’s work, Keegan decided. It was nice to see the people in Pelican Pointe taking care of their own for a change. She knew it hadn’t always been that way.

  She entered the store to the jingle-jangle of a bell and loo
ked around. The place had undergone a dramatic renovation. No longer the empty shell of a house belonging to Ethan’s grandmother, Autumn Lassiter, it was now so much more than the town’s first and only bookstore.

  In addition to books, the chic little boutique offered homegrown herbs, gift baskets stuffed with homemade soaps, an array of scented candles, and a line of creams and lotions.

  The minute Hayden appeared from the back, Keegan exclaimed, “Wow! You’ve done amazing things with this place in such a short amount of time. This isn’t just a bookstore.”

  “I know,” Hayden said with pride. “Once I opened the doors, I couldn’t stop ordering things to stock and set around. And I really lucked into finding this wonderful lady in San Sebastian who helped me discover just the right process for making the soaps and candles.”

  “Ah, I thought you were using Autumn Lassiter’s recipes for that.”

  “I was, but after a couple of months playing with the formula, I wasn’t getting the quality I wanted or felt comfortable selling. Shelly and I were able to play around with the ingredients enough to finally come up with a product we could both be proud of and market.”

  “Is Ethan still writing? Is he still trying to find a publisher?”

  Hayden got a moony look on her face. “He is. And one day he’ll be a famous mystery writer with a wife who owns her own bookstore.”

  “What happened to the idea of self-publishing? For awhile it was all around town Ethan planned on going that route.”

  “Self-publishing isn’t easy no matter how many people say it is. It takes commitment and hard work. Right now, Ethan’s been a little too busy with his official duties to dedicate time to promoting and marketing his books. But he’ll get there. You wait and see.”

  “I’ve no doubt he will.”

  “I have something for you.” Hayden reached under the counter and took out a blue envelope with Keegan’s name scrawled on it. “Lilly and I are planning a baby shower for Jordan. This is your invitation, my house in two weeks.”