Summer at the Shore

by Carol Ross

  “Nope. Not going to happen, Levi. I’m glad you got a job, but the money you make is for you—and for college. I would advise you to buy what you need and save the rest for a car—and for college. But you are absolutely not going to help me support this family.”

  Levi slowly lowered his burrito. “What do you mean? Why not?”

  “Because...” Because the memories were painful and Jay didn’t want to share them—not even with his own brother. Especially not with his brother, whom he had sacrificed so much for. He didn’t want to add that to the weight Levi already carried on his young shoulders. Jay worked hard every day to ensure that he didn’t have to. So instead of explaining, he reached over and stole a tortilla chip off his brother’s plate. “Because that’s my job.”

  CHAPTER NINE

  A COUPLE AFTERNOONS LATER, Mia hung up the phone in her office, let out a whoop and gave her chair a couple of cheer-filled spins. George lifted his head from where he was sprawled across his bed. He barked his approval.

  “Guess what, Georgie? We’ve got the green light.”

  She tossed him a cookie.

  The police officer involved in the hoarding case had called to say that he’d contacted the homeowner’s daughter. She lived out of state, but after his initial call she’d come home to check on her mom. Long story short, the poor woman hadn’t realized how her mom’s habit had gotten out of hand. She was staying in town indefinitely to clean up her mom’s property. She’d convinced her mom to give up the rest of the cats.

  Mia really wanted to share the news, but Charlotte was out of the office and her mom was at a doctor’s appointment. Impulsively, she picked up the phone and dialed Jay. She was disappointed when the call went to voice mail. “Jay, hi! It’s Mia. I’m calling to let you know that I heard from Officer Dunbar. We’ve got permission to confiscate the rest of the cats! It might be a couple weeks, but I’m really excited and I know I probably sound like a rambling maniac. But anyway, it’s all good news and I thought you might want to know because you asked me to keep you posted. So... Call me back here or on my cell if you have any questions.”

  Sighing, she set the phone down, picked up a pen and tapped it on the desk in front of her.

  Her cell phone buzzed. A combination of nerves and excitement flashed through her at the thought of Jay returning her call. The excitement part faded a tiny bit when she saw it was a text from her mom. But it reappeared when she read the news: Woohoo! Doc says I’m cleared for yoga.

  She tapped out a reply: Great news!

  You want to meet me at class? We can grab a bite at Tabbie’s after to celebrate?

  Mia thought for a second before she responded. What she wanted to do was sit here and see if Jay called back. Or maybe even swing by his house and make sure he got her message. She had his address from the forms he’d filled out at the clinic as Coastie’s foster parent. Would it be weird to stop by? Do you stop by other patients’ homes, Mia? she asked herself. No, you do not.

  She stood and headed to the front of the clinic and was surprised to find Charlotte was back from her appointment. “You’re here!” She shared the news.

  Charlotte was suitably excited. “Oh my goodness, that is wonderful! Hopefully, we’ll be able to get in there soon.”

  “What are you doing tonight?” Mia asked her.

  She shrugged. “Unless a really hot guy with a decent job comes in and asks me out in the next five seconds, I have no plans.”

  “How about yoga? Mom has been cleared to go back to class and I kind of want to keep an eye on her. Class and then dinner at Tabbie’s? My treat.”

  “Sure. I’ve got my workout clothes in the car. I hope Coby is teaching tonight.”

  “Really? I hope he’s not.”

  “Are you crazy? That body of his... Those muscles can’t all be from yoga, can they?”

  “I find both his tight pants and his intensity off-putting.”

  Charlotte laughed. “You just don’t like him.”

  “He doesn’t like me. He picks on me. How many times does he have to ask if I’m sure I’m related to my own mother? It’s embarrassing.”

  Charlotte laughed while Mia tapped out a response to her mom: Sure! Can you save Charlotte and me spots in the back? THE VERY BACK ROW, MOM, PLEASE!

  Unlike her mom, Mia was hopelessly inflexible. Nora insisted that Mia just needed a spot up front where she could see better. Mia kept telling her mom there was no correlation between the front row and proper extension in the half-moon pose.

  Mia helped Charlotte with the last of her tasks and then locked up for the night. They climbed into Mia’s car, dropped George off at home, and a half hour later Mia was pushing her hips back and up into downward dog. Upside-down with her hands on her mat, head between her elbows and hoping her phone wouldn’t fall out of her top if Jay decided to call her back.

  “That’s it, feel the extension,” Yogi Coby went on in his melodic, soul-soothing tone that made her want to take a nap. “Palms down, fingers spread nice and wide, pushing those heels into the floor beneath you. Feel your muscles lengthen...” He kept up a string of monotonous murmuring as he strolled toward the back of the room.

  He paused and she heard him sigh. “Come on, Mia, push those heels into your mat.”

  “I am. Heels are pushing.”

  “You’re on your tiptoes,” he said as if she wasn’t aware of her terrible form.

  “Thank you for pointing that out,” she muttered drily.

  He lingered to flirt with Charlotte while Mia’s Achilles tendons screamed in agony. “Beautiful extension, Charlotte. Your calves are looking long and lovely. Have you been working on them?”

  “Thank you, Coby,” Charlotte cooed. “I have.”

  “Liar,” Mia murmured after he moved on. “Stretching your long and lovely calves to reach the top shelf of the freezer for the ice cream does not count.”

  Coby whipped around, his stare narrowing in on her like a heat-seeking missile. Raising a hand, he pressed his thumb and fingers together in the universal symbol for “shut it or I’ll shut it for you.”

  She flashed him a semi-apologetic expression, lifted a hand to wave and nearly fell over.

  Charlotte’s perfectly aligned shoulders shook with laughter.

  Coby didn’t take kindly to anything less than total concentration in his classes. Mia was pretty sure she was incapable of that when it came to yoga. Instead of clearing her mind, she tended to fill it. She found it the perfect opportunity to multitask—planning her day, forming extensive to-do lists, running through surgical procedures, not thinking about Jay or his little brother Levi, whom she’d hired to be her kennel assistant and who was apparently staying with him. She wondered why and for how long.

  At least for the summer, but what was the deal with Jay, anyway? He seemed all carefree and easygoing on one hand, yet he was standoffish and private on the other. By his own admission, he wasn’t an animal person; however, his actions spoke otherwise. He’d come over and fixed her door for goodness’ sake—who does that? Either he had a romantic interest in her, he really liked fixing things or he was a nice guy. The first two explanations made her hope for his return call feel that much more ridiculous. She was going to go with the last one. She’d been a little overexcited about the cat hoarding news and she’d wanted to share it. Jay was the logical person to do that with as he’d been in on the project from the beginning. There, she was going to quit thinking about it now, about him. Because thinking about him wasn’t constructive no matter what his intentions were...

  Coby instructed the class to move into some kind of headstand move that she couldn’t pronounce.

  Mia attempted to follow instructions when she felt her phone buzzing from where she’d tucked it inside of her sports bra. Unfortunately, she heard it, too. And so did the rest of the class.
Right before the phone wiggled loose and plopped onto the hardwood floor beyond the edge of her mat.

  Beside her, Charlotte snickered.

  “Surely no one in this class has been thoughtless enough to bring an electronic device into my studio?” Coby asked while the phone continued to buzz throughout the room like a swarm of killer bees.

  As gracefully as she could, Mia lowered onto her hands and knees, grabbed her phone and began crawling toward the door.

  “Mia!” her mom whisper-shouted from her coveted spot in the front row. “Is that you?”

  “Hi, Mom! Serious meditation going on back here. Promise.”

  Coby’s horrified glare told her that not even a tsunami warning would be worthy of this interruption to his class.

  She stood up and pointed at her still-vibrating phone. “Um, sorry, Coby. Pet emergency. Very sick puppy. Poor, tiny, tiny, little Chihuahua,” she lied, knowing Coby owned two of these dogs himself. “Distemper, I think.”

  Stepping out into the hall, she swiped at the screen, not bothering to check who was calling for fear it was Jay and she’d miss the call completely. Desperate much?

  “Hello?”

  “Mia?” a voice asked.

  Not Jay. Disappointment settled over her. “Yes?”

  “Hi, it’s Sara. I have some news.” Her heart sank to brand-new depths as she realized her friend was crying.

  “Sara, what is it? What’s the matter?”

  “It’s McKenzie. She’s come down with an infection. They’ve hospitalized her. They’re going to have to wait a few days before they can do the treatment.”

  “Oh, Sara, I’m so sorry...”

  They discussed the situation for a few minutes before Sara added, “Obviously, we’ll be staying here in Portland. But Ted wanted me to let you know we left Gustav with my sister Carly. But if someone could see to Tumble and Downy, that would be great. Ember will be fine staying at the office.” Gustav was the Anthonys’ golden retriever mix. Tumble and Downy were their cats.

  “I’ll send Levi over to take care of them. Don’t worry about a thing.”

  * * *

  JAY WAS LYING on his back, his head and shoulders underneath the kitchen sink, trying to remove the piece of ancient galvanized pipe that was leaking badly. He’d planned to replace the kitchen faucet and the pipes below it, so he couldn’t get overly upset about his current predicament. He just wished he had the parts to temporarily fix it. He’d sent Levi to the hardware store almost forty-five minutes ago and he should have been back by now.

  Coastie sat patiently by his side as if waiting for instructions. He told her, “I feel like if I asked you for a Kongsberg wrench, you’d give me one.”

  She responded with what he’d termed her happy whine.

  “They’re made in Norway, did you know that?”

  Her answer was a low woof.

  “Of course you did. But why did I wait till there was a problem to work on this?”

  “Woof.”

  “I agree. It’s my own fault. I should have done it already. But I had this grand idea that I’d do it all at once.”

  She stuck her head inside the cupboard, sniffed his elbow and then stared at him with her wide brown eyes.

  “You know, I appreciate your support on this and you’re right, no one’s perfect. Where is Laney, do you know that, too? Are you also telepathic, sweet girl?”

  Laney hadn’t gotten home from school yet. Only a week left and she’d been hanging out with classmates and/or future volleyball teammates every day after school. Jay was glad she was making friends, but she should be home by now, too. It was getting close to dinnertime and the only rule he’d really laid down was that she be home by dinner on school nights, and if she wasn’t she needed to check in. Maybe the call had been from her.

  “Where is Laney, huh?”

  Coastie barked enthusiastically and trotted away, her toenails making a tapping sound on the worn vinyl floor. He heard the door open.

  Relief seeped into him when Laney’s voice rang out to greet the dog, followed by, “Jay?”

  “Right here, Lanes.”

  “What’s going on? What are you doing?” she asked, stepping over his toolbox and tools to get to him. She crouched to peer at him.

  “Taking a nap.”

  She laughed. “Is the water broken?”

  “Yes, temporarily. I shut it off outside.”

  Levi’s face appeared beside Laney’s. “Sorry, Jay. The hardware store is in Astoria.”

  “Levi, what are you talking about?”

  “That’s what the sign in the window said. ‘Gone to Astoria—back tomorrow.’ So I ran over to Able’s Plumbing, but they were already closed.”

  Jay let out an “ugh” of frustration. “Bummer. Thanks, Levi. This will have to wait until morning.”

  “Does this mean we don’t have water?” Laney’s voice sounded close to panicked. “How will I get ready for school? Can I text Elise and ask if I can stay the night with her?”

  “No water until tomorrow.” Jay confirmed her fear, scooting out from underneath the sink. “And yes, you can. But I’ll need to meet her parents.” He sat up and reached for his phone. One missed call from Pacific Cove Vet Clinic. Why would the clinic be calling him? He dialed his voice mail. As he listened to the message from Mia, he chuckled, both due to the good news and the excitement in her tone. He hit the number on the screen to return her call, but it went to the clinic’s voice mail. He didn’t have Mia’s cell phone number, so he left a quick message of his own letting her know he’d received hers. How could he get her cell phone number? Would Aubrey have it? How could he ask for it without her thinking he wanted it for romantic purposes? When he climbed to his feet, he realized his siblings were both watching him curiously.

  “Are you dating this Dr. Frasier vet lady?” Laney asked.

  “What? No, I’m not.” Jay wondered how she’d gleaned that from his behavior. What else had he said? He’d come home on Saturday and told them all about the cat hoarder. But he’d stuck to the facts, and they’d both been eager to sign on as volunteers. The message he’d left had been completely professional. “Remember those cats I was telling you guys about?”

  “The hoarder,” Levi said knowingly.

  “Yeah, Dr. Frasier got permission to confiscate the rest of them.”

  “That’s awesome. When?”

  “She’s not sure yet.”

  “I’m excited to help some cats,” Laney said and then cleared her throat. “I actually have some good news, too. About me, but still, it’s pretty great.”

  Jay picked up a towel and wiped his hands. “Let’s hear it, kiddo.”

  “The volleyball coach came up to me today after gym class. She asked me what position I played when I lived in Portland. I told her and she said they could really use a middle hitter on varsity and that she sure hopes I’ll be trying out for the team this fall.”

  By the time she finished the story she was bouncing up and down on her toes with a smile as bright as the sun. “I know Pacific Cove is small and everything, but can you imagine me playing varsity middle hitter as a sophomore?”

  Jay felt a fresh welling of happiness and satisfaction. The very idea of watching her take on that position filled him with pride. Even with his plumbing problem, this was shaping up to be an excellent day. And so far, so good as far as having his teenage siblings living with him went. It had only been a couple weeks, but still, he was killing it.

  “Congratulations, Lanes. That is awesome.” He pulled her in for a quick hug.

  She stepped back and Levi reached out a hand for a fist-bump. “Way to go, L-Dog. I can’t wait for you to introduce me to all your hot teammates.”

  Laney returned the gesture with a horrified glare. “I will pretend like I don
’t know you. You do know that, right? I will tell them all how gross and smelly you are.”

  “You’ll have to. Because otherwise, they won’t leave you alone trying to use you to get to me. I apologize for that in advance.”

  Laney rolled her eyes.

  Jay laughed and stretched his aching shoulders. “No water makes it kinda tough to cook, huh? How about we go out for dinner? I’m feeling like we’ve got a lot to celebrate around here.”

  Levi and Laney exchanged grins. Eating out was expensive and not a luxury that any of them got to indulge in very often.

  * * *

  MIA COULD NEVER get enough of the seafood chowder at Tabbie’s. Creamy and thick and teeming with shrimp, crab, clams and fish, it was served piping hot in fresh-baked sourdough bread bowls. With several “healthy options” on the menu, Tabbie’s was also a place she and her mom could agree on. Charlotte liked the generous selection of Pacific Northwest microbrews, not to mention the fact that it was a popular hangout for Coasties.

  “Great class tonight, huh?” Nora said as they waited for a booth.

  Tabbie’s catered to locals, but living on the Oregon coast, there was no escaping the tourists. And ever since Pacific Cove’s participation in the DeBolt Crazy for a Coast Christmas competition last December, tourism here was on the rise.

  Even though Pacific Cove hadn’t won, it’d been awarded the Judge’s Choice prize. The town had been featured in several media outlets, including the travel section of several newspapers and numerous popular online tourism sites. A national travel magazine had done a cover story. Tourists had responded. Then Tabbie’s had gone on to win “best chowder” in Northwest Cuisine magazine a couple months later. In fact, business was booming all over town. The mayor, who headed up the ongoing crusade to put Pacific Cove on the map, was beyond thrilled.