Inn Dire Straits

by Dixie Davis

  Lori handed her a binder with the date 1932 on the cover. Annie gasped. “Is this really from 1932?”

  “The binder isn’t, but the recipes inside are.”

  Annie flipped open the cover and began leafing through the pages, individual recipes and newspaper clippings encased in plastic page protectors. “Wow,” Annie murmured.

  Lori gave her a moment to enjoy the notebook before she made an attempt to bring up the elephant in the room. “You know Val’s son?”

  “Yeah, we went to high school together.”

  Lori nodded. “I figured that much.”

  Annie flashed her a smile. “Sorry, that’s just part of my life I try to forget.”

  Lori nodded. Who hadn’t done stupid things in high school? None so stupid that Lori tried to wipe the whole experience and all her friends from her memory, but maybe Annie was more sensitive. Or maybe she’d done more wrong.

  Lori lowered her voice even more. “Do you want me to send Brett away if I get to him first?”

  “Oh, um.” Annie wiggled her head from side to side, silently debating. “Maybe? I don’t know if he’s really gotten over everything that happened, either, so . . . I just don’t know what to expect if I see him again.”

  Lori nodded. She didn’t know how to be a mother-in-law yet, but she did practically have a PhD in listening to people’s problems. “Did you leave things unsettled?”

  Annie shook her head. “I think things were crystal clear. But the past . . . sometimes has trouble staying in the past.”

  That it did. Lori let the subject die and returned the binder to its shelf. “Come on, you should see the Mimosa Café and the museum.”

  Annie smiled in consent, and they collected Doug.

  Annie seemed fine now to Lori. Her smile was easy and she wasn’t clinging to Doug’s hand anymore.

  Lori certainly hoped whatever Annie’s past was wouldn’t come back to haunt her.

  After pointing out the pink historic home now the Mimosa Café on the opposite corner from the Book Cave, Lori took Doug and Annie across the street to one of her favorite hidden treasures in Dusky Cove: the Dusky Cove Museum. The curator, Andrea Hopkins, had worked harder than anyone Lori knew to remind them of their heritage.

  Lori walked in and the little boy behind the desk perked up. “Hi, Mrs. Keyes,” he said.

  “Hi, Marcus. Where’s your mom?”

  “She’s on a tour. She said I can take money for tickets though!” His dark eyes shone bright with the pride of being treated like a grown up. “Would you like a tour or self-guided?”

  Lori beamed back. “Great, we’ll take three adult tours.” She held out exact change in cash.

  “Yes, ma’am.” Marcus accepted the bills and tapped on the hulking cash register on his desk. He deposited their payment in the drawer and handed her three tickets. “I can make change, too,” he said, counting out the coins. “I’m eight now.”

  “I know.” Lori couldn’t help but smile again at how eager he was to help. Doug had been very much like that at that age.

  Well, it wasn’t just the age at play. His little brother Adam had been a regular handful by the time he was eight.

  Marcus rubbed at his close cropped hair. “Um, so, the next tour starts on the hour. You can wait here if you want, and Mama — I mean, Mrs. Hopkins — will be in after a minute.”

  “Thank you, sir.”

  Marcus grinned at her again. Lori, Doug and Annie settled into padded chairs in the waiting area.

  Doug leaned over to Lori. “Somebody’s got a crush.”

  Lori covered her cheeks. “Oh, am I that obvious?” she teased back. “He’s a good helper. Remind you of anyone?”

  “I plead the Fifth.” Doug held up his hands like he needed an actual defense against his mother’s teasing.

  “Nobody I know,” Annie leaned in to murmur. “But the kid is cute. You’re not hiring, are you, Lori?”

  They all laughed, though Lori was pretty sure Marcus would be more help to her than Serena had been today. A clock bell chimed and, precisely punctual, Andrea walked her tour group back to the entrance, thanking them for coming.

  Lori, Doug and Annie stood, ready for their turn through the museum, but before they could turn away to follow Andrea, someone in the departing group grabbed Annie by the arm. Annie jumped and tried to pull away, breaking free from a small, dark-haired woman. “Annie?” the girl said.

  “Serena?” Lori and Annie said in unison. Lori glanced at Annie. She looked even more disoriented than she had when Val identified herself.

  Brunswick County was a very small world if you grew up there.

  “What are you doing here?” Annie asked.

  “Yes,” Lori added, though she managed not to mention the fact that Serena was supposed to be working at the inn right now. “I texted you.”

  “Oh, sorry, Miss Lori. That’s probably my apartment phone.” Serena gestured at the little girl at her side. “My sister left me with my niece for the afternoon.” Before Lori could point out telephones worked both ways, Serena turned to Annie. “The real question is what are you doing here?”

  Annie glanced at Doug. “I’m here to meet my boyfriend’s mother.”

  Serena raised a thick eyebrow. “And that’s all?”

  “Yes.” Annie’s voice was tight.

  Serena hmphed and turned away.

  “Wait,” Annie called. Serena looked over her shoulder. “Is anybody else in town? Nate? Trey?”

  “The rest of us are all still local. We’ve had to live here —” Serena cut herself off and strode away. Lori opened her mouth to call after her, but Serena was too quick. Annie simply watched her go.

  Lori shot a quizzical look at Doug. He could only offer a small shrug.

  At least she wasn’t the only one who was clueless.

  Lori would have to deal with Serena later. She turned her attention to Andrea and smiled at her friend. “How’s it going?” Lori asked.

  Angela lifted one foot to stretch her ankle and then the other. “Let’s just say I’m glad to have a small tour this hour. With friends.”

  Lori introduced her friend to her son and his girlfriend, and vice versa, and they were ready to begin their tour.

  Andrea had wisely brought back the most popular exhibit from the end of the summer last year: shipwrecks. Annie seemed more interested in checking out who was coming in and out of the museum. Lori had seen most of the artifacts before, but she still found it fascinating to picture the German U-boat sunk off the coast, or the pirate wrecks that had foundered on the numerous sandbars up and down the North Carolina coast. It was almost like the state, with its rivers and islands, had been working against the people trying to sail through.

  Of course, the pirate gold was very popular, even if there were only a couple pieces to display. The equipment from other ships was interesting, too, as well as things like full bolts of cloth or barrels of wine that had been recovered from the ocean floor.

  There was even an interactive game on an iPad where you could try to navigate your ship through the sandbars off the coast to see if you would have survived.

  “It’s like a miniature Oregon Trail,” Doug murmured, completely absorbed by the game. “Where did you get this?”

  “Oh, it was on a North Carolina public education website. Thought the kids might enjoy it.”

  “Well, this kid enjoys it.” Doug grinned.

  Lori chatted with Andrea while Doug played and Annie read the exhibits a few minutes longer. Once Doug had had his fill, they thanked Andrea and left. On the way back, the crowd at Dusky Card & Gift seemed a little thinner, so Lori thought they should risk it.

  As soon as they opened the door, making the bell clang, Lori saw that her guess was totally, completely wrong. People filled every aisle, nook and cranny, selecting Dusky Cove and Night Lights shirts, oohing over the sea glass, comparing the dried starfish from the display basket, stocking up on mugs and towels and totes.

  The crowd seemed to
unnerve Annie the most. She scanned the room as if looking for exits.

  “Maybe we should come another time,” Lori murmured.

  “Miss Lori!” Ray called to her over the crowd. “We haven’t seen you in an age!”

  Lori waved back. “It’s been busy!”

  That was obvious for both of them: tourist season was in full swing, peaking this week, and that kept both of them working too much to socialize. But it was also not easy to spend time with her friend knowing that he was like family to Mitch, at least not until the awkwardness that followed a breakup would pass.

  Ray left the counter and came around to weave his way through the crowd to them. “Are these guests?” he asked once he was close enough to nod to indicate Doug and Annie.

  “Better,” Lori said. “This is my son, Doug, and his girlfriend, Annie.”

  At her name, Annie whirled around from craning her neck for a view of the door. Ray’s bushy white eyebrows lifted and his eyes lit up. “Well, hello! We’ve heard so much about you!”

  Doug cast a wary glance at Lori. “And you still want to talk to me?”

  “It was all good,” Ray said. Then he leaned closer to add, “Mostly” with a wink.

  “I just wanted to bring them ’round to meet you after you’ve been so welcoming and helpful to me,” Lori said. “But I know you’re very busy right now.” She gestured around at the press inside the store.

  He chuckled. “That’s a light crowd for this week. I swear, it gets crazier every year.”

  “But we love it,” Lori said.

  “Yes, we do.” Ray signaled that he was going to get back to his spot behind the counter and Lori motioned for him to go before herding Doug and Annie back out the door.

  “Annie!” a voice called from behind them just before the door shut.

  Lori saw Annie’s reaction: she visibly tensed, clenching her fists. And then she pretended she hadn’t heard, continuing down the stairs.

  Lori glanced at Doug, who’d definitely heard it. He raised an eyebrow but followed Annie.

  The door to Dusky Cove & Gift burst open, the bell clanging against the metal of the frame. “Annie!” the person called again.

  She slowly turned back. “Nate,” she said, with the note in her voice that said I have to acknowledge you and pretend like I’m happy but I’m not going to pretend hard.

  “How have you been?” The boy — well, young man — with light brown hair charged down the stairs after them, and the quartet moved to the sandy shoulder of the road in between a couple parked cars.

  “Good.”

  “What are you up to these days?”

  “Accounting.”

  Nate waited for her to reciprocate the question, but when she didn’t, he tried again. “That’s awesome. College didn’t pan out for me, but the boat factory treats us right. Great benefits, anyway.”

  Annie nodded, biting her lip. The reason she might be uncomfortable was obvious this time: Annie had gone to college, pursued a difficult program, gotten a high-powered job, while Nate seemed to have given up and settled for whatever came easiest, based on that single line description of his life.

  “You married?” Nate asked. There was a tone in his voice that Lori couldn’t quite read, but it almost sounded like . . . hope?

  “Uh.” Annie glanced at Doug. “I’m dating Doug, actually.”

  Nate nodded, like that was great, just great. Annie’s smile still seemed forced.

  So Lori looked for a way to extricate her from this conversation. “Annie, Doug, we’d better run in and make sure there are snacks on the sideboard in the parlor.”

  “Yes, we should,” Annie said so quickly that her relief was obvious.

  To everyone except Nate. “Oh, I’ll come with you.”

  Annie glanced at Lori, and Lori was pretty sure she read gratitude there for her attempt — and something else.

  There were plenty of people that Lori wouldn’t particularly care to speak to again from her high school class, but none of them would make her quite this uncomfortable. What was going on here?

  Did she dare ask Annie later? Or did she need to? If any man made Annie this uncomfortable, Lori could only guess what their relationship had been like ten years ago.

  Lori was certain she’d already set out the afternoon snacks on the sideboard. With the inn full this week, however, it was entirely possible that those snacks had already been snapped up — again — and she needed to refresh them.

  More than that, she needed to get rid of this Nate boy. “So, Nate,” Lori asked as they reached the back of the inn, “you’re from around here?”

  “Yeah, I’m from Hinckley.”

  Lori nodded. The town was about half an hour away, on the way to Wilmington — and it was where Annie had grown up as well. “You know one another from high school, I take it?”

  “Yep. Looks like a lot of us are in town today. Night Lights is worth it. Don’t you think, Annie?”

  She gave him a vague nod and smile combination, so that it almost looked like she hadn’t been listening. Lori doubted that was the case. She led them down the gravel driveway around the side of the inn, underneath the sprawling live oaks.

  “Hey, speaking of high school, isn’t that Brett’s mom’s new bakery?” He pointed past the inn toward Salt Water Bakes, which wasn’t all that new. “We should —”

  “We spoke to his mother earlier,” Lori cut him off.

  “Oh yeah? We should all get together.”

  “I don’t think so,” Annie said, fast and firm.

  Nate nudged her playfully and she withdrew, clinging to Doug more than ever. Doug bristled, glaring daggers at Nate. Lori and Doug both moved to make sure Nate couldn’t get close enough to touch Annie again.

  “Come on,” Nate cajoled. “I just want to talk. Thought it’d be nice for us to catch up — you, me, Brett, maybe Serena and Trey if they’re around.”

  They’d already seen Serena, but Annie’s body language was clear: this was already more than she wanted to see of Nate.

  “I’m sorry,” Lori said, “but we have some plans as a family.”

  “I just want to talk.” Nate’s expression turned pleading. “Just for a few minutes.”

  Annie held out her hands, helpless. “I don’t know what you want me to say, Nate.”

  Nate shot furtive looks at Doug and Lori, then leaned a little closer to Annie. Doug and Lori leaned closer, too, a wall of defense.

  Nate persisted. “We can’t pretend nothing happened.”

  “Why not?” Annie replied through clenched teeth. “That’s what we agreed to.”

  “Not all ‘agreements’ last.”

  “It’s time for you to go,” Doug said, fully stepping between Annie and Nate.

  Nate pursed his lips, trying to see around Doug. Doug matched his motion perfectly, screening Annie from him.

  Around the side of the inn, the gravel crunched in the staccato rhythm of footsteps, and they all turned to look. Serena rounded the corner. “Okay, my sister picked up my niece, so I can work now.”

  She could work now? Like the schedule was about her convenience? Lori shook her head and took her cue and Annie’s arm. She led her up the stairs behind them, leaving Doug to run interference as they headed in.

  “I’ll see you tonight!” Nate called just before they closed the door. Was that a promise or a threat? Or both?

  Annie and Lori made it to the kitchen before raised voices reached them. With a glance at one another, Lori and Annie hurried back to the sitting room to peer through the lace curtains.

  At the foot of the stairs, Doug still stood, screening the inn from Nate. But next to him was Serena, shouting at Nate and pointing for him to leave. Nate raised his voice right back. Finally, he turned on his heel.

  Not content, Serena stalked after him, following him out of sight.

  Doug turned around and walked in, hardly surprised to find Annie and Lori watching through the window.

  Doug sighed, shaking his head
. “Was he like that in school?”

  “Way more obnoxious,” Annie said. “But so was I, so I can’t really say much against him.”

  Lori laughed and checked the sideboard. With only two pieces of cheese and a couple sad apple slices left, the guest snacks had been pretty well picked over. She wasn’t sure how fifteen people [check!!] could go through food that quickly. Were they bringing friends over? Had they brought some teenage boys Lori didn’t know about? Lori took Doug and Annie to the kitchen to prepare some more snacks.

  Lori pretended not to notice that Annie’s eyes were on the windows that looked out over Front Street and Dusky Card & Gift, where Nate must have parked. Hopefully Serena had chased him off. Hopefully she’d be back to actually work soon.

  Worry worked its way across Annie’s furrowed brow. There was definitely more going on there than she wanted to admit. But if she wouldn’t even talk to Nate about it, odds were low that she’d spill her guts and her past to her future mother-in-law — potential future mother-in-law — no matter how many other people had done the same to Lori over the years.

  And that gave Lori a vast treasure trove of outlandish ideas to invent and adapt to fill in the blanks of Annie’s past. Nate featured as a villain in most of them.

  Serena appeared in the kitchen at last. “Have the rooms been cleaned?”

  “Yes.” Lori tried not to snap as she scanned the cheese shelf in the freezer. She wasn’t sure whether she was more annoyed with Serena or being reminded that everyone had a past. It was part and parcel of any relationship, no matter how old or how young you were.

  Or how nice he was. Or how handy he was. Or how much he listened to her ideas and respected her and encouraged her.

  Lori reached to the back of the cheese shelf and grabbed what were probably the oldest two she had. She had to stop thinking of Mitch, and work was always safe.

  Even if he was kind of part of work as the entire maintenance staff of her inn.