by Peggy Dulle
“What happened to it?”
“I ate it.”
“How many times?”
“Just twice.”
Tom shook his head. “I’ve never met anyone else who makes something and then eats it until it’s all gone. No one else would eat it twice in a row.”
“If it was good once, then it’s good twice.”
“Most people eat something else in between.”
“Well,” I huffed. “I’m not most people.”
He reached around my waist and pulled me toward him. “And I’m grateful you have your own way of doing things, honey.” He kissed me on the nose.
“Nice sidestep.”
“I do the best I can.” He smiled and pointed toward the kitchen table. “Have a seat and I’ll bring your breakfast.”
“Oh.” I winked at him. “I love to be waited on, especially by someone as cute as you.”
“Just get over there and sit down.”
“I’m going, I’m going.” I sat down and Tom brought me a plate with two waffles, two eggs over easy, and three slices of bacon. I pointed to the plate. “Hey, this is too much food.”
“It’s what you usually eat.”
“I know, but I’m going on a cruise. The food is supposed to be fabulous and I need to lose a few pounds before I get there.”
Tom lowered his head and grimaced. “You think the food is going to be better than mine?”
“No.” I took a deliberate bite of eggs, then continued, “But I hear you can eat twenty-four hours a day.”
He set his own plate next to mine. It had one waffle, an egg, and no bacon. “I see. Does that mean we’re going to go from one food table to another the entire cruise?”
“Maybe.”
He shook his head. “I hope they have a gym on the ship.”
“I think they do.”
“Good. If I’m going to be eating all day long, I’ll need to exercise.”
“Maybe I’ll exercise with you.”
Tom leaned his head back and his eyes went wide. “You, the Never Exercise Queen?”
“Maybe.” I shrugged.
“This trip is sounding better and better.”
Shelby sneaked up and I gave her a piece of bacon. Tom frowned at me, but I ignored him. “Hey, by the way where did you leave Duke?”
“Jessie is watching him.”
“Oh, that’s great. She loves him.”
“Yeah. She still calls me Sheriff D and spends many hours at the station. I think she might become a K-9 police officer.”
“You never know.” I didn’t want to burst his bubble, but Jessie told me she was going to be a teacher. She was an amazing girl. There aren’t too many who can be kidnapped at five, brainwashed, rescued ten years later, and just pick up their lives again.
Tom interrupted my thoughts. “What time do you want to get going?”
“As soon as we can. I made reservations at a Long Beach Motel for tonight. They know we won’t be there until late afternoon. We can’t get on the ship until one o’clock on Sunday.”
“That’s fine. Do you have a map to the motel?”
“No. But I’ve got the address.”
“Perfect, my SUV has a GPS system.”
I still hadn’t bought a new car since I crashed my 1962 red VW bug into a ditch several weeks ago. I just couldn’t decide what kind to get. I had bought the VW used and it had worked well for the ten years I owned it. But I didn’t like the new VW bugs, so I needed to spend a few days going from car dealer to car dealer, test-driving cars — an experience I didn’t want to endure. Maybe I could get Tom to wear his uniform and take me. Who would lie about the price to a cop?
Tom and I enjoyed his wonderful meal and then he loaded our suitcases into his car while I cleaned up the kitchen and showered.
After giving Shelby several doggy treats, we were finally on our way! The drive was long and boring. We drove down Highway 5, where every mile looks exactly like the last, brown hills covered in ugly scrub oak trees. I filled the time by telling Tom the latest news about Justin and my call from Jordan. Later I tried to doze, but I was never good at sleeping in a car. Tom hummed along to the radio, which was another deterrent to my falling asleep.
We stopped for lunch at a fast food restaurant, not Tom’s favorite food.
“Can’t we just go to Denny’s?” he begged.
“No, I want to get to Long Beach and settle into the motel.” Actually, I wanted to see if any of my parents’ friends were staying at the motel, but I wasn’t ready to share my real reason for taking the cruise with Tom, just yet.
“But fast food is just that, fast and terrible.”
“Not really, some places have salads and wraps, now.”
“We’ll see,” he huffed.
We drove past one fast food restaurant after another, while Tom complained about their menu choices. Finally I got him to stop at Quiznos. He ordered a huge salad with flatbread. I had a Chicken Carbonara. It was hot and oozing with cheese, mushrooms, and carbonara sauce, whatever that was, and it was good.
“This is pretty good,” he said between bites.
“See, I told you all fast food isn’t bad.”
He frowned at me. “I wouldn’t exactly call this a fast food restaurant, honey.”
“Why not? The food was fast, wasn’t it?”
“Yeah but,” he pointed outside. “No drive-through.”
I shrugged and resumed eating my yummy lunch. I wasn’t much of a sandwich eater, unless it was hot. But this was quite good.
Thirty minutes later we were back on the road and the scenery was as monotonous as the last several hours. “So tell me how things are in Gainesville,” I asked Tom after only a few miles down the road.
“Things are the same since the last time you asked. That would be before lunch.”
I sighed.
“Are you bored already, Liza?”
“God, yes.”
He laughed, “You just can’t stand the silence, can you? Always need to fill it up.”
I laughed with him, “That’s true.”
He handed me a box. “I brought you a book on CD.”
I smiled. “Great.” I flipped it over and started reading about the book, the story of an ex-FBI agent who worked as a sheriff in a small town. “Small town sheriff?”
“It probably gets everything wrong about being a sheriff in a small town, but I thought you would enjoy it. She saves the town, I’m sure.”
“Okay,” I opened the box, took out the first CD, and put it in the player. The story started immediately. It began with bones floating down the town’s main street. It should be good, I thought.
Listening to the book made the time go quickly. Tom kept his scoffing at the sheriff comments and swearing at the LA traffic to the minimum. It was around four when we pulled off the freeway and headed toward the hotel.
“So where are we staying?”
“It’s called the Nordic Inn.”
He frowned.
“What?”
“I try and stay in places with names I recognize, like Holiday Inn, Best Western, and the Marriott.”
“Then this will be an adventure for you.”
He glanced out the car window at three women walking down the street. “Oh yeah, it’s going to be an adventure, all right.”
Their skirts were a little short and the tank tops out of style, but they looked nice enough. “They’re probably tourists, like us?”
“You think?” Tom smirked and we continued down the road.
A few miles later, I pointed to the left side of the street. “There it is.”
Tom pulled into the parking lot. It was a quaint motel with a Scandinavian flair with peaked roofs and even a large white windmill at one end.
“How did you find this place?” Tom asked, with just a hint of sarcasm to his voice.
I could have said it was where my parents stayed, but revised my answer, “I found it on the Internet. They gave it four stars out of five.”<
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He raised one eyebrow. I wish I could do that. The kids in my class would get a kick out of it.
It was true about the Internet, but as we pulled closer I could see the place was in need of new paint and a landscaper.
And bless Tom’s heart, he didn’t say a word when the door to the office squeaked and shook as if it would fall off its rusted hinges. He just pulled it open and stepped aside for me to enter. Behind a tall counter sat a young woman dressed in what looked like a Scandinavian barmaid costume, suspenders, white frilly shirt and all. Her nametag said, “Brenda” and she was totally engrossed in a paperback with a picture of a bare-chested man carrying a scantly dressed woman slung over his shoulders on the cover. I’m a big advocate of reading, but I’m not sure this girl was old enough to read an “erotica” novel.
Tom cleared his throat, which startled Brenda. She jumped and gave a little gasp. But I have to give her credit; she composed herself quickly, set the book on the counter, tucked her long blonde hair behind her ears, and smiled. “May I help you?”
I stepped forward. “I have a reservation.”
“Name please,” she said.
“Liza Wilcox.”
She typed on her keyboard and then said, “Oh yes, here you are. King size bed, no smoking.” She frowned and bit her lower lip.
“What’s the matter?” Tom asked, his tone lowered with each word.
“Well,” Brenda looked up. “There was a water leak in the room assigned to you.”
“Okay,” Tom said. “Just give us another room.”
“I’m sorry, sir. The only room I’ve got left has twin beds.”
Tom shook his head. “Let’s get another hotel, Liza.”
“No!” My voice rose with the panic I felt. How was I supposed to find the people who traveled with my parents if we left this hotel?
He frowned. “Why not, for God’s sake?”
“I really want to stay here.” I pointed outside. “It’s so quaint.”
His frown deepened. I didn’t think it was possible, but it did.
I put my hands on his chest, locked eyes with him and pleaded. “Please, Tom. Pamper me.” I gave him my biggest smile. “I’ll share my bed with you.”
He sighed, chuckled, and turned back to the clerk, “Fine, we’ll take it.”
“Wonderful.” She extended her hand.
Tom looked sideways at me, “I’m not paying for this dive. If you want me to pay, we’re moving to the nearest real hotel.”
I handed Brenda my credit card.
She pointed, “I’ve put you in Room 186. It’s our corner room and much larger than the others. There’s even a sitting area in it.”
“Thank you.”
“Enjoy your stay at the Nordic Inn.” She smiled, handed me back my card, and went back to her book.
“It’s nice to see people reading on their downtime,” I said as we walked back to the car.
“Maybe we can borrow it.” He grinned and his eyes glistened. I’d seen that look before and my body reacted with its typical spiked pulse and warmth.
I blushed and he laughed as he opened the back of the SUV.
He looked at the two huge suitcases. “Do we need all of these in the room?”
I picked up my overnight bag. “Nope, I only need this.”
“You could have told me to bring a small bag with clothes for tonight, Liza.”
“Sorry. You want to open up your big suitcase and take a few things out?” I pointed to my small bag. “I’ve got room in here for them.”
“Nah, I’ll bring in my big suitcase.”
“It’s a good thing we’ve got the biggest room in the place.”
He rolled his eyes. “I can’t wait to see it.”
I followed Tom to our room. When he opened the door, even I let out a little gasp. The clerk was right; it did have a small sitting area, with the smallest couch I’d ever seen. It matched nicely with the nine-inch television set on the side table.
Tom threw his suitcase on the couch; it covered it. And thankfully he didn’t make one single comment. “I’m exhausted from driving in LA traffic. I think I’ll take a nap,” he said.
“Maybe I’ll turn on the television and see what the weather is supposed to be tomorrow when we sail.”
He laughed. “Get a magnifying glass so you can see the screen.”
He opened the door to the bedroom. I heard him mumble, something, then go in and flop down on the bed. It sounded like he went all the way to the floor, but I ignored it and the spew of cussing that came from the bedroom.
I turned on the TV, but couldn’t get a news station, let alone a weather station. When I heard Tom’s slow and steady breathing, I took out the pictures. Would the clerk recognize them?
I might have gotten all the way to the lobby, but when I opened the door, a police cruiser pulled into the lot with its sirens blaring. Tom flew out of the bedroom, with his gun drawn.
Chapter 4
I slammed the door shut before he could go outside.
“Get out of my way, Liza.” He was in pure cop mode, fully awake and ready for action.
“You’re a cop in Gainesville, not Long Beach.” I stood my ground. We did not need to get involved in anything or we might not make our cruise tomorrow. He hesitated, but his face showed determination, so I added, “At least put the gun away. They don’t know you’re a cop, they might think you’re the bad guy.”
Tom frowned at me like that wasn’t even a possibility, but he put the gun in his back waistband and used his hand to signal to me. “Get back.”
I stepped aside.
He opened the door and started laughing.
“What?” I asked.
“Your three tourists are getting arrested.”
“For what?” I pushed him aside and peered out. The three women we’d seen earlier were being cuffed and put into the back of a patrol car.
“My guess, prostitution.” He chuckled, turned, and walked back toward the bedroom. “Wake me when you get hungry. I’ll buy you dinner.”
I heard the bed squeak again, more cussing, and then silence.
The door was already open, so I grabbed my pictures and walked toward the lobby.
Brenda stood by the front door watching the cops. I slid in next to her. “Some excitement, huh?”
“Not really, just Sherece, Deidre, and Charlene. They are hassled by the cops all the time.”
“Oh.”
She got behind the counter again and picked up her book.
I stepped up. “Can I ask you some questions?”
“Sure.” She set down the book. “What?”
“My mom and dad used to stay here every year.”
“They did?”
“Yes.” I held up the most recent picture of my parents.
Brenda shook her head. “I’ve only been working here a few months. You need to talk to Ramon. He’s been here for years.”
“The last time they were here was four years ago.”
“That’s okay, Ramon’s been here for ten years.”
“Great.” I put the picture back into the envelope. “Where is he?”
“Out by the pool.”
“Thanks. How will I recognize him?”
“He’s the only one out there.”
“Okay, thanks again.”
“How’s the room?” she asked.
“It will do.”
“How mad was your boyfriend?”
“He’ll live.”
“I like a woman who is in charge of her man.” She picked up her book.
I wouldn’t say I have any power over Tom, at all. Although he had agreed to stay at this dump, so maybe I had a little control.
A Latino man reclined on a lounge chair by the pool. The clerk was right, he was the only one there. The gate around the pool squeaked, but he didn’t even look up. He was asleep.
When I sat in the chair next to him, he opened his dark brown eyes and looked apprehensively at me, “Yes?”
“Brenda, from the front lobby, said I’d find you here.”
“Your toilet needs fixing?”
“No.”
He sat up. “Then it’s your shower.”
“No, the room’s fine.”
He chuckled, “None of these rooms are fine, lady. They’re just cheap.”
I took out the picture and handed it to him. “Do you recognize these people?”
He studied the picture for a moment. “Sure, isn’t this Joyce and William?”
I smiled. “Yes, they were my parents.”
He looked at me and then back to the picture. “I guess you look a little like your dad, maybe.”
“That’s what people say.”
“How are they doing? I haven’t seen them in several years. I guess they finally got tired of this dump.”
“No, they’re dead.”
He frowned, “Oh, I’m sorry. They were nice people.”
“Thanks,” I nodded, then continued, “they used to come here with a group of people.”
“Yes. Usually around ten of them, right?”
“Yes.”
“Sure, they’d get five rooms next to each other and run back and forth. They always looked like they were having a blast.”
I smiled, “It sounds like my mom and dad. Do their friends still come here?”
“Not for awhile. I think they were all here several years ago.”
“It was four years ago and the last cruise my parents took.”
“Yeah, that’s a summer I won’t easily forget.”
“Why?
“That’s the summer I walked in a room and found a dead body.”
“What?”
“Yeah, your parents were here then, too. Maybe that’s why none come anymore.”
“Who died?”
“I don’t know. She wasn’t a guest; she was a visitor. I never got her name.” He pointed to the lobby. “The people who own this place paid big bucks to keep it out of the papers. Dead bodies aren’t good for business.”
“I’m sure,” I pulled out the rest of the pictures. “Do you recognize these people?”
He flipped through them. “Sure, these are the people in your parents’ group. He pointed to one. “This is Carmelita Ringdon. She was always here, but with a different guy each time.”
“Anyone else you recognize?” I asked.
He scratched his head, “Let me think.” He flipped through the pictures, again. “Not really. I remember your parents because they always gave me a fifty-dollar tip when they left and Carmelita because she was such a…”