A Dead And Stormy Night

by A. R. Winters

  You survived a near-death experience. You’re delirious.

  “So now you’re grateful for my help, Detective Reid? That certainly is a change.”

  “Telling you it’s not allowed isn’t the same as not being grateful. Is that a yes?”

  I nodded too quickly, triggering another wave of throbbing pain.

  “Give me a few more days to rest. Then you’re on.”

  I ended my phone call with Reid then dug into a breakfast of toast, sausage, and cold cereal. I decided then and there that a trip to the grocery store was the first thing on my list when the roads were clear and my muscles were working again. I was dying for a plate of scrambled eggs.

  After breakfast I took another nap. When I woke up the rain had finally stopped, but there was no sign of the sun yet.

  I eased my still-sore body out of bed and gathered my breakfast dishes. Slowly, I tiptoed down the hall. I didn’t know if the Jepsens were still there or how they felt about what happened, but I was sure the situation wouldn’t be helped by them encountering me in my pajamas.

  The kitchen was deserted except for Danielle and Andrew. Danielle sat at the table, clutching a mug of tea in her hands. Andrew stood at the sink with his back to us.

  “Of course. I understand,” Andrew said to whoever was on the other line. “But I don’t see how there can be environmental damage directly attributable to our business. We’re on top of our maintenance, and we don’t run any secondary businesses that could pollute.”

  I turned Dani and brought my hand to my ear, pantomiming a phone call. She gestured for me to follow her into the hall, out of Andrew’s earshot.

  “The Paraiso Chamber of Commerce,” Danielle said. “They say a concerned citizen reached out to them and now they need to do an audit of the Paradise.”

  “What kind of audit?”

  Danielle scowled. “Everything. They want to look at everything. Starting with the grounds. If we refuse, they hit us with the maximum fees.”

  “How much is it?”

  “More than we have liquid.”

  It didn’t make any sense. What concerned citizen would reach out to the Chamber of Commerce instead of just talking to Danielle and Andrew? It couldn’t have been any of our neighbors. Until that weekend, we hadn’t had a seriously disgruntled guest in months.

  There was only one answer that made sense.

  “Nicholas Lloyd?’ I asked.

  Danielle nodded. “Looks like Lobster Man is making his move.”

  She didn’t say anything else, but I could feel the tension rising in my sister. The Paradise was more than a business to her. So much more.

  Whatever the cost, Danielle was going to fight for the Paradise and the Loper legacy.

  Until she didn’t have any fight left.

  Chapter Thirty-Five

  Departure days for guests that had fully booked the Paradise were a feat all their own. According to Danielle’s philosophy, it was our last chance to make a good impression and therefore the perfect excuse to pull out all the stops.

  The breakfast that morning was usually the fanciest, unless guests had to catch an early flight. If she really wanted to impress them, she had us all gather outside and wave as their cars pulled away from the parking lot.

  Once the guests were gone, we would go back inside, strip all of the guest suites, and start the two-day process of getting the hotel back in pristine shape for new guests.

  In the best of times, it was an endurance trial. On the day after I confronted Emily Jepsen, it would have been torture. The remaining Jepsens were scheduled to check out after lunch.

  I ate in my guest room to stay out of the way. I heard Danielle and Andrew helping the Jepsens gather their belongings, but I stayed in my suite. The rush of feet across the upstairs bedrooms went on over my head, first in the hurried rhythm of last-minute packing then the slower, steadier beats of Ashley and Granny starting the standard cleaning routines.

  I stayed in the empty room.

  When the voices died down and moved outside, I figured it was safe to come out. Since I didn’t have much energy, my plan was to set up in the reading room. It was always one of the last rooms we cleaned. I expected to find it empty, but Jeremy Jepsen was inside, staring out at the ocean one last time through the large windows.

  I hesitated a few steps from the door. It wasn’t until that moment that I realized I’d been hoping to avoid the Jepsens.

  Gently, I rapped my knuckles against the glass pane. Jeremy turned and, when he saw me, nodded.

  That’s as warm a greeting as I can expect… considering the circumstances.

  “Sorry to bother you,” I said as I stepped into the room. “I figured it would be empty in here.”

  “Almost. I just couldn’t resist taking one last look.” Jeremy slid his free hand into his pocket and turned back to the window. “But to tell the truth, I’d hoped to bump into you.”

  “You had?” I braced myself. Granted, I had good intentions at the time, but my actions had helped rip Jeremy’s world apart. Maybe in ways that couldn’t be fixed.

  “Your sister and brother-in-law said you were okay, but… I know how things can get when families don’t want to talk about something. Especially with strangers.”

  I shrugged, even though Jeremy had his back to me. “I’m hanging in there. Thanks for your concern. How about you? Are you… okay?”

  For a long time, he didn’t answer. Then he sighed heavily and let his shoulders slump forward. “I always knew it had gone farther than flirting. I think I didn’t want to admit it to myself. Or I wanted to believe that Emily was…”

  “Okay with it?”

  He nodded. “I can’t explain how, but that made it easier to look the other way. Turns out, I wasn’t turning a blind eye. I was abandoning my wife.”

  “I don’t think any of this is your fault, Jeremy.”

  “I’m not saying that because I do. We’re all responsible for our own choices, but what’s the point of family if they don’t help you make the right decisions when things get murky? Hal needed that and I couldn’t figure out how to reach him. Emily needed it, and I didn’t try. Now our baby needs it, and I won’t fail again.”

  “‘Our’ baby?”

  This time, when Jeremy turned around, there was a genuine smile on his lips. “All of ours. Catherine and I had a long discussion last night and into this morning. There’s going to be some big changes in our family, starting with her and the girls are moving in with me. She’s been a better sister to me than Hal ever was a brother, and right now, we all need each other. Being together will help us all start moving forward. And Cathy and I both want the girls to be as close to the baby as if he were their brother, while legally being their cousin.”

  “Catherine agreed to that?”

  “Not at first. I don’t think she wants to become her brother-in-law’s housewife. But I offered to take a six-month leave from work.” Jeremy laughed. “That got her attention. Besides, if I don’t start giving Kenneth some extra responsibility, the company’s going to lose him.”

  His smile was infectious. In no time at all, it was on my lips too.

  “What will you do with the time?” I asked.

  “Maybe take that trip to Malibu. Maybe buy a new house—Melody really gets a kick out of looking at architecture. I’m sure Catherine already has a detailed itinerary for a holiday trip she’s been itching to take for years.” Jeremy looked back to the ocean and sighed, but there was no sadness in it.

  For the first time, he sounded relieved.

  “We’ll live. We’ll heal. We’ll move on,” he said. “I don’t imagine it will be easy, and I don’t imagine it will be fast. But we’re all going to have to find a way. At the very least, we can help each other through it.”

  “That sounds… like a healthy outlook, Jeremy,” I said. “Admirably so.”

  He shrugged. “When you waste your life dying and spontaneously recover, it tends to put things in perspective.”

&
nbsp; Jeremy Jepsen went back outside to join his family. To guide them on the first steps in their new life together. To be the leader his brother never cared to.

  I curled up on the couch in the reading room. Just as Jeremy had, I stared through the windows, watching the storm clouds break apart over the ocean and finally let the sun through.

  The Jepsen family’s storms were over. But with Nicholas Lloyd and now the Chamber of Commerce lying in wait for us, I couldn’t help but wonder if my family’s troubles were just beginning.