Pieces Of Us

by Elks, Carrie

  “I heard you had a shoe thing.” Ally leaned on the counter. “How many do you have?”

  “Here or in New York?”

  Ally’s smile widened. “I need a total.”

  Autumn took a sip of coffee as she made the mental calculation. “Um, maybe a hundred?”

  “Seriously?” Ally’s mouth dropped open. “I have about twenty and Nate already complains about them taking up too much space in the closet.”

  “I guess that’s the beauty of being divorced.” Autumn shrugged, her eyes dancing. “Or maybe the reason for it.”

  Ally chuckled. “In that case, we definitely have to go shoe shopping. I know a couple of great places. The mall’s open until nine, and the restaurant is open until midnight. It’s meant to be.”

  “You had me at shoe shopping,” Autumn told her as her phone beeped with a message. A glance at the screen told her it was from Griff.

  “Great. I’ll pick you up once I close up at seven. Don’t wear anything too glamorous. It’ll put me to shame.” Ally beamed.

  “See you later.” Autumn lifted her free hand, carrying her coffee with the other.

  When she got outside, she unlocked her phone and read the message.

  I missed you last night. My bed’s too big without you. – G

  She shook her head, a smile on her face, and quickly tapped a reply.

  Your bed is big, but so are you. I’m pretty sure you survived okay without me. - A

  Almost immediately, another message flashed up.

  I have to work late tonight. A friend’s taking his boat down the coast for repairs and asked me to crew for him. But I still want to see you. Will you hate me if I turn up at your place after midnight? – G

  Like a booty call? – A

  Pretty much. ;) - G

  In that case, you’re on. See you at midnight, Cinderella. – A

  * * *

  “These shoes are amazing,” Ally said, lifting them to the light and turning them around. “But where the heck will you wear them around here? One step on the beach and they’d pin you to the ground. And if the tide came in you’d have to call the Coast Guard out.”

  Autumn laughed as Ally handed them back to her, carefully placing them into the dust bag and back into the box. She was sitting with Brooke, Caitie, and Ally around a table at Pancho’s Taqueria, sipping at ice-cold margaritas and nibbling on tortilla chips while they decided what food to order.

  “I have no idea where I’ll wear them,” she said, lifting her glass and taking a sip. “But they were too pretty to pass up.”

  They’d shopped at the mall for almost three hours, and though the time had passed quickly, Autumn’s feet were aching from walking on the tiled floors. She’d slipped her sensible two-inch heels off and was circling her bare feet under the table. Maybe Griff could give them a rub tonight.

  “You don’t need to wear them anywhere. Just put them on for Griff and he’ll fall at your feet. You ever notice what a thing most guys have for high heels?”

  “Aiden loves them,” Brooke admitted, lifting a tortilla chip between her lips. “He’s always asking me to wear them, but they’re so damn uncomfortable.”

  “I like the extra height they give me,” Autumn told her. “And I’ve been wearing them since I was a teenager. It’s second nature now. It’s different here, but in New York power dressing is still a thing. Your clothes are the first thing everybody notices.”

  She glanced down at the pile of shopping bags beside her chair. Two pairs of shoes, some cosmetics she was desperately in need of, and a black, white, and pink striped bag that contained the skimpiest lingerie she’d ever seen. It was pretty, though. Silky black lace, weaved with pink ribbon across the hem of the panties and the center of the plunging bra. She was planning to greet Griff wearing that and the shoes tonight.

  It was fun to go shopping. For the months after her separation she’d felt too low to indulge. She didn’t really want to do anything, apart from work, and that was taken away from her pretty early in the process.

  Trying on clothes and shoes had made her feel pretty. Alive. She couldn’t wait for Griff to see them.

  “When are you planning on going back to New York?” Caitie asked her. She was sitting across the table from Autumn, next to Brooke. Harper and Ember couldn’t make it – Alyssa had a cold so Harper was staying home with her, and Lucas was working the night shift, leaving Ember without anybody to look after Arthur on short notice.

  “I don’t know,” Autumn admitted. “At first I thought I’d only be here a little while. Long enough to get the pier up to speed. But I like it here, even if you guys don’t wear high heels.” She grinned at them all.

  “I’d wear high heels if you agreed to stay,” Brooke offered. “It’s nice to see Griff happy.”

  “It really is.” Caitie nodded. “He’s like a different guy. Have you noticed he’s always smiling now?”

  “Let’s make a toast.” Ally lifted her glass. “To new friends who make our old friends happy.”

  “I’ll drink to that.” Brooke grinned. They clinked their glasses together, and Autumn swallowed another mouthful of her margarita, looking over the rim of her glass at her newfound friends.

  It felt as though she finally belonged somewhere, after years of searching for a place to call home. Maybe she’d been looking in all the wrong places.

  And trying to please all the wrong people.

  Her life in New York had felt like a constant battle. To be the best at work, to make her father happy, to be a better wife for Josh whenever he criticized her. Sometimes it felt as though she had so many plates spinning, if she took a moment to breathe they would crash to the ground. It was exhausting. She hadn’t realized how much, until she’d walked off the airplane and driven into Angel Sands.

  Yeah, she still had challenges to face. The pier was still losing money, and it would take a hell of a lot of work to make it profitable. And then there was her relationship with Griff. It brought her so much pleasure – in more ways than one – but the scars from her divorce were still raw. She didn’t want to be hurt again.

  But those things all felt surmountable. They were little foothills compared to the mountains of problems she’d left behind in New York.

  She loved being here. It really was beginning to feel like home.

  And a lot of that was thanks to the big guy who’d be in her bed right after midnight.

  19

  A loud bang on the front door jolted Autumn out of her dream. She blinked her eyes open, looking around the darkened room. She was wearing the lingerie she’d bought and nothing else, having put the pretty bra and panties on after the shower she took when she got home from her night out with the girls. She planned to give Griff a sexy surprise.

  Another bang on the door knocked some sense into her brain. That had to be Griff. Had she really fallen asleep while she was waiting for him? Those margaritas were stronger than she thought.

  She grabbed her robe and wrapped it around herself, then slid her feet into those gorgeous shoes she knew were going to make Griff’s eyes pop out. But before she made it to the living room, she heard a shout.

  “Griff, are you in there?”

  Why the hell would Griff be talking to himself? She shook her head to try and clear away the muddiness of her sleep. Thank god she had enough sense to tie her robe up tightly and kick off those shoes, because when she opened the door, Lucas was standing on the top step, wearing an Angel Sands Fire Department t-shirt and dark blue utility pants.

  “Hi. What’s going on?” Autumn asked, her voice croaky and deep.

  “Is Griff with you?” Lucas looked over her shoulder. She noticed a tic in his jaw.

  “No.” Autumn frowned. “He’s supposed to get here a little after midnight.”

  Lucas’s face paled. “It’s three a.m.”

  Three a.m.? She looked over her shoulder to the clock on the driftwood side table, but couldn’t make out the hands.

  “I fell asleep.”
She frowned. Had he changed his mind? “Come in. Let me check my phone.”

  She pulled her robe tightly around her as Lucas followed her inside, all too aware of how little she was wearing underneath. Not that Lucas would look – he was too in love with Ember to even notice another woman – but she was embarrassed at being caught wearing so little.

  Her phone was next to her bed, and she quickly unlocked it with her thumb. There were no messages at all, just three big numbers telling her it was exactly 3:21 a.m. More than three hours after he’d promised to be here.

  “He hasn’t left any messages,” she told Lucas as she walked back into the living room. She pressed the phone symbol next to his contact details. “I’ll try calling him.”

  “I’ve been trying for the last hour. I went to his place and let myself in with the spare key. He’s not there.”

  “You went to his place to look for him?” she asked, frowning. “Why?”

  “We got a call from the Coast Guard. They found a boat half submerged about five miles off the coast. It belongs to one of Griff’s dad’s old friends, and I wanted to let him know before anybody else does.”

  “Was there anybody on it?” Autumn asked, her voice tight.

  Lucas shook his head. “They said it was empty.”

  She swallowed hard, rolling her lips between her teeth. “Griff said he was crewing for an old friend tonight. Helping him take a boat up the coast.”

  “Did he say who it was?” Lucas asked urgently.

  She shook her head. Her throat felt so tight it was hard to talk. “He just said an old friend. You don’t think…”

  “It was Sam?” Lucas blew out a mouthful of air. “It seems too much of a coincidence not to be. Let me talk to the Coast Guard, okay. Tell them there are two people missing.”

  Missing. She covered her mouth as Lucas talked with a low voice into his crackling radio. His usual easy-going demeanor was completely absent, replaced by tight lips and narrow eyes, his back stiff as he held the handset to his lips.

  “Okay, I’ll meet you there.” He clipped the radio back on his belt and blew out a mouthful of air. “They found Griff’s sweater in the water about a mile away from the wreck. I’m heading down to meet them. They’ll need an EMT crew if they find him or Sam.”

  “If,” she repeated the word, tasting the bitterness on her tongue.

  Lucas ran his palm over his buzz cut. “I meant when,” he said, his voice tight. There was a dimple in his cheek from where he was grinding his teeth together. “I’ll call you when we hear anything, but try to get some sleep. Hopefully everything will be cleared up by morning.”

  “I’m coming with you,” she told him. “Just give me a second to get changed.”

  His eyes flickered over her silky robe and bare thighs. “Okay.”

  She turned on her bare heel and ran to the bedroom, narrowly avoiding tripping over the new shoes she’d planned to wear for Griff. Only one side of the bed was messy, a new occurrence for her. After her separation, she’d made it a point to sleep starfish in the middle of her king size mattress. When had she started sleeping on the left again?

  Ugh. She didn’t have time to think about that. Shucking off her robe, she grabbed a pair of yoga pants and a tight hooded sweater, pulling them over the stupid lingerie that wasn’t going to see any action tonight. Then she twisted her hair into a messy bun and slipped her feet into a pair of sneakers.

  Lucas was by the door when she emerged from the bedroom, talking fast into his cellphone. “No, sweetheart, you stay at home. Arthur needs you, and there’s nothing you can do here.” He glanced up at Autumn. “Yeah, she’s here.” Another pause. “Okay.” He held the phone out to her. “It’s Ember. Can you walk and talk?”

  “Yep.” She took the phone from his gentle grasp and lifted it to her ear. “Hi, Ember. You’re up late.” She followed Lucas out of the house, slamming the door closed behind her.

  “Arthur was awake so I thought I’d check in with Lucas,” Ember said, her voice trembling. “Oh god, Autumn, I can’t believe what’s happening with Griff. Are you okay?”

  “Yeah,” she lied. “I know he’s going to be fine. This is Griff we’re talking about.” She tried to laugh, but it came out strangled. “No ocean would mess with him.”

  “Are you sure I shouldn’t come and meet you? Or you can come and wait here with me while they search. You shouldn’t be alone.”

  “That’s so kind of you,” Autumn said, as Lucas opened the passenger door and she climbed inside. “But I want to be there when they find him, you know?”

  “I know. When this is all over I’ll tell you about the time Lucas disappeared for days fighting forest fires. I had to be there when he came back. My heart couldn’t take it if I wasn’t.”

  Her heart. That’s what the strange aching in Autumn’s chest was. It felt like the muscle had expanded to fill her ribcage, pushing on her lungs until she could barely keep a breath.

  Arthur let out a wail. “He’s teething again,” Ember said, making a cooing sound. “I should go, but call me as soon as you know anything, okay?”

  “Of course.”

  “And tell Lucas to be safe. He’s usually so calm, but he didn’t sound it a minute ago.”

  Autumn glanced to her left. He was holding the steering wheel so tight his knuckles were blanched, and that tic was still pulsing at the edge of his jaw. “I promise,” she said before they ended the call.

  The streets were empty as they headed out of Angel Sands, Lucas driving his truck past the Silver Sands Resort toward the rockier coastline where Griff’s sweater had been found. She twisted her fingers together and stared out of the window, trying not to notice how dark and foreboding the ocean looked.

  It was just her imagination. It always looked that way at night. But she couldn’t help but shudder at the thought of Griff being out there somewhere.

  “He’s a strong swimmer,” Lucas murmured as he parked his car on the grassy lot that led down to Cutter’s Cove. It was like he was reading her mind.

  “Yeah. And he knows the water like the back of his hand.”

  “He’ll be fine.” Lucas climbed out, Autumn scrambling after him across the rocks toward a group of people standing at the beach. Somebody had set up a row of spot lights, enough for her to see the faces of the people standing there.

  Jackson and Breck looked up at them as they walked across the sand. Lucas left her standing with them while he went to talk to a man wearing a blue uniform, his cap pulled down over his brow.

  “You okay?” Jackson asked Autumn as she watched Lucas walk away.

  She shook her head.

  “Me either. When Lucas called I couldn’t stay at home and wait, you know? I needed to be here, see if I could help.”

  She nodded, knowing exactly how they felt. Her jaw was tight, her teeth gritted together as she felt her body shiver. It was so cold out here tonight.

  Lucas walked back, his face grim. “The Coast Guard is still patrolling the water. They’re gonna send a chopper out at first light.”

  Jackson shook his head. “I feel so fucking lame waiting here. We should be out there, looking for him.”

  “No you shouldn’t. You’ll just give the Coast Guard more people to search for.” Lucas checked his watch. “It’s only a couple of hours until the sun comes up. If we don’t find him before, we’ll form a search party then.”

  “He was out with his old man’s friend, right?” Breck asked. “Sam Hawkins?”

  “Yeah.” Lucas’s eyes were on the dark water. “That’s right.” One of the lieutenants from the fire department called his name, and Lucas walked over to talk to him.

  “What the hell were they thinking, sailing a wreck like his boat at night?” Breck asked. “Anybody who looks at it could tell it’s an accident waiting to happen.”

  “I heard Sam lost it in a poker game,” Jackson said, his eyes narrow. “He probably wanted to stash it before the winner got ahold of it.”

  “Griff said
they were taking it to the boatyard for repairs,” Autumn said. They all turned to look at her.

  “You spoke to him?” Jackson asked. Three deep lines were furrowed in his brow.

  “He texted me yesterday to say he was crewing for a friend.” Her lips tasted salty from the spray in the air. “He was supposed to be home by midnight.”

  “So he was definitely on it,” Breck said, his voice low. “I was hoping he’d just fallen asleep somewhere.”

  “His sweater was in the water,” Jackson said. “Do we need any more proof than that?”

  Autumn turned her head so they couldn’t see her blinking back the tears. Was he out there in the darkness, his muscles battling to keep his body afloat? He had to be. The alternative didn’t bear thinking about.

  “You okay?” Jackson asked, rubbing her shoulder. “You’re shivering.”

  “I just had something in my eye,” Autumn said, lifting her hand to wipe away the tear escaping down her cheek.

  “Yeah, I had that problem earlier,” Jackson said, his voice thick. “Must be a lot of sand in the air.”

  A car door slammed and Aiden Black walked along the beach, lifting his hand to greet them. He was wearing a fitted blue suit, with no tie, his white shirt unbuttoned at the collar. “I came straight from the airport,” he told them, his dark hair lifting in the breeze. “Are there any updates?”

  The director of the Silver Sands Resort, and Brooke’s husband-to-be, Autumn knew Aiden and Griff had become friends over the past couple of years.

  Breck shook his head. “Just what we messaged. They found his sweater in the water just up there.” He pointed along the rocky coast. “No sign of Griff or Sam, though. The coasties are still looking, and the fire department, too.” He glanced over at the group Lucas had joined.

  “I’ve got three helicopters waiting for first light,” Aiden told them. “And I’ve called in every staff member I can get. We’ll find them.”