by Carol Ross
“Your mom never intervened?”
“No. I didn’t give her any reason to. I mostly stayed out of his way, which wasn’t difficult really. We had nothing in common. He spent all his dad time with Kyle, fishing, scuba diving, sports. I wasn’t interested in any of that stuff, anyway. My mom loved me. I know she did her best to make up for it.”
“And you’ve really never talked to her about this?”
Mia pushed up a shoulder, clearly uncomfortable with his questioning. “No, not in any detail. I’m sure she knows how I feel in a general sense... What would be the point? It would only make her feel bad.”
“But Mia, you feel bad. You’ve spent your life feeling bad about this. It shouldn’t be your job to make everyone else comfortable when you’re in misery.”
“I’m not miserable. I’m fine now. The past is the past.”
Jay could feel the pain behind her words. She seemed so confident, so outgoing, so together. He’d seen snatches of this vulnerability before, and he couldn’t help but wonder how much of what she chose to show to the world was real and how much she worked hard to create.
He wanted to wrap his arms around her. He planned on it soon. “Do you think your resistance to falling in love with someone in the military is due more to your dad than the military itself?”
Mia froze, her face a blank slate as she stared back at him. Nervous that he’d offended her, he was trying to think of what to say when she finally let out a chuckle. She nudged his shoulder and said, “Nice try. I went to therapy, remember? Sure, it’s about him. Partially. But it’s also about stability. I’m the kind of person who needs that. I crave structure and continuity. It’s also about reassurance and acceptance. It’s about not feeling invisible.”
“Hmm. So you want to marry a building?”
“As long as he’s home for dinner and doesn’t make me move every year, it would be a step up from my father.”
CHAPTER FOURTEEN
THE FIRST TIME Laney came home late, Jay let it slide. After all, she was the new girl in town, busy making friends and wanting to fit in. The second time he wrote it off to a miscommunication. So he’d established some ground rules, including a clearly defined curfew and restrictions on where she could spend her time. The third time warranted a call to Josie. He hated to bother her, as he was determined to handle this transition on his own. But he needed some advice.
“What do I do? She’s an hour late.”
“Well, what would you have done if I had done that?”
“You never would have done that.”
She paused. “Only because I couldn’t. Believe me, I wanted to sometimes. But if I had, what would you have done?”
“I would have gone looking for you.”
“There you go.”
“I don’t want to humiliate her in front of the new friends she’s making.”
“If she’s making the right kinds of friends, they will understand. This situation tells me she’s not. Because if she was, those parents wouldn’t be letting their fifteen-year-olds stay out this late, either.”
“Good point.”
Jay hung up the phone and asked Levi, “Do you have any idea where to find her?”
Levi shrugged. “Not really. She doesn’t tell me much.”
Jay suddenly realized how much she wasn’t telling him, either. He knew the last names of exactly two of the girls she’d met here in Pacific Cove, Elise and Brianna. Maybe Mia was right and he needed to keep a closer eye on her. Concern welled inside him as all the worst scenarios played out in his mind.
“I’m going to go out and look for her.”
“Where?”
“I have no idea. I guess I’ll drive around and ask...”
Levi answered with a skeptical look. “That seems pointless. Do you want me to help?”
“How?”
“I could see what she’s doing on Instagram. Those girls put everything they do on Instagram.”
Why hadn’t he thought of that? “Yes. Do that.”
Ten minutes later Levi had pulled up photos of Laney and Elise from earlier in the evening at a place called Radio Beach. “I have no idea where that is,” he murmured. There wasn’t enough background detail in the close-up photos. How many selfies could a person take? It looked like a million other beaches.
“I’ll call Aubrey.” She’d grown up in Pacific Cove and seemed to know everything about the place. He explained the situation, then forwarded her a few photos.
After a few moments, she said, “I don’t know, Jay. Kids find these secluded spots you have to hike into or maybe because of the cliffs you can only get there at low tide. They give them these nicknames thinking other people won’t know where they are. Word eventually leaks out and they find a new place. I mean, there’s only so much shoreline and accessible beach. You need to talk to a teenager. Someone who goes to the high school. See what’s popular right now. What about Levi?”
“He doesn’t go to the high school yet. And he hasn’t really met that many people.”
“I’ll ask Eli and my sisters and call you back if we can think of anything. Keep me posted.”
“Maybe call Dr. Frasier,” Levi said when he hung up with Aubrey.
“Why would Mia know?”
“Well, you should call Nora, actually. I’m friends with her on Instagram. I know it sounds weird, but she’s friends with that girl Ty. Ty knows everyone...”
Twenty minutes later Jay, Levi, Mia and Ty were driving toward a secluded stretch of coast known as Radio Beach.
* * *
“TAKE A RIGHT up by that cedar snag,” Ty instructed from her spot in the backseat next to Levi.
Mia steered her SUV off the highway and onto a rutted dirt and gravel drive.
“This is it,” Ty said when they reached a tree-lined dead end. “You have to hike down that trail through the Scotch broom. It’s pretty steep but I can show you—”
“We’re not letting you go,” Mia said. “Your mom was nice enough to let us steal you for this trip. I doubt she’d appreciate me bringing you back broken. Especially when you haven’t quite healed.” The girl was still wearing a brace on her arm.
“I’ll stay here with her,” Levi volunteered. “I don’t think Laney will appreciate me showing up down there. She’s already going to know I ratted her out.”
Mia asked Jay, “Do you want me to come?”
He looked up from where he’d been rummaging around in his backpack. “I do. If you don’t mind.”
She’d been hoping he’d say that.
They got out of the car and he handed her a headlamp and a flashlight. She slipped it over her head and adjusted the strap to tighten it. He reached over and turned it on. She was surprised by how well she could see with it.
“This is great,” she said, tipping her head up and down and back and forth.
“SAR necessity,” he said.
Mia spotlighted his face in time to see his amused half smile. Of course. Search-and-rescue was a huge part of his Coast Guard work. Mia felt vaguely nauseated at his use of the term. She was nervous about what they would find down on the beach. Best-case scenario was a bunch of kids having fun around a campfire. Worst case... No point in thinking about that yet. Ty had told them that there was no cell service once you dipped over the hillside and descended about halfway down. Memories of Flame and his hostile attitude kept running through her mind. Just because Charlotte had heard that he uses drugs and had a child with a sixteen-year-old doesn’t mean he did...
Mia followed Jay down the hillside, grateful for the light. The trail was definitely one that had come about from use and not strategic design. It was steep and covered in loose rock with shallow roots protruding at irregular intervals.
They could hear the kids long before they ever g
ot to the beach. As they moved closer, Mia could make out comments and questions from the group: “Do you think it’s Justin? What if it’s the cops? This is private property, man! Can the cops come down here? Cameron, what are you doing? I’m not sure this is private property, moron. Don’t run. There’s nowhere to go...”
Jay stopped. He turned toward Mia, placing a finger over his lips indicating for her to stay quiet. He reached over and flipped off her headlamp. She followed his lead and did the same to her flashlight. Then he strode purposefully toward the group huddled around the fire. She was almost startled when his voice rang out.
“United States Coast Guard. Stay where you are. No one is running anywhere.” As he spoke he lowered a large flashlight to the ground and Mia was impressed by how effectively it spotlighted the crowd. She quickly counted twelve bodies, but none of them appeared to be Laney. Or Flame.
A boy’s voice responded, “Hello, sir. What can we help you with this evening?”
“The Coast Guard? He can’t arrest us,” a boy with a backward baseball cap said, and then spit into the fire.
“Yes, he can, you dipwad.”
Jay interjected. “Tell me your ages?”
A couple brave voices spoke up with “seventeen” and “eighteen.”
“Is there any underage drinking going on here tonight?”
Silence.
Jay walked toward the fire. The voices became quieter as Jay began to question the kids.
That’s when Mia heard a weak voice off to the right. “Dr. Frasier?”
She moved toward the sound. “Laney?”
“It’s Elise, but Laney is—”
“I’m here, too...” Laney’s voice trailed off with a quiet sob.
Mia turned on her flashlight and found the girls sitting on the sand leaning against a large rock. Mia hurried over and knelt beside them. “Laney, are you okay?”
She shook her head with that floppy back-and-forth motion that only small children and drunk people did. “Jay is going to kill me.”
“No, he’s not,” Mia said quietly. “He’s going to be happy we found you. Are you okay, Elise?”
Elise nodded. “Yeah, I’m fine. Laney had a little too much to drink. She wanted me to call you, Dr. Frasier. But there’s no cell service down here. And I didn’t want to leave her and climb up the hill by myself. We were getting ready to try to head up when we saw your lights. We decided to wait here and see who it was first. I’m so glad you’re here.”
“Did you guys have anything besides alcohol?”
“No. Laney had three beers, but I didn’t have any. It tastes so disgusting.”
Mia prayed the girl was telling the truth. She stood, shone her flashlight in the direction of the fire and called out, “Jay? Over here.”
In a matter of seconds, he was beside them. “Laney? Thank God! Are you okay?”
“I’m sorry, Jay.” Laney began crying quietly.
Mia explained, “She appears to be fine other than being a bit intoxicated.”
Handing Elise a flashlight he said, “Elise, you follow me, okay? Stay between me and Mia.”
He bent, scooped Laney into his arms and carried her up the hill like she weighed nothing more than a bag of chips. He was barely breathing hard when they reached the top, where he set Laney on her feet beside the car. She swayed and Elise put an arm around her.
Jay said, “Mia, I hate to ask you this, but is there any way you can take the girls home? I need to call this in. It’s not that I want these kids to get into trouble, but I don’t want any of them driving home.”
“Yesss,” Laney slurred. “I wanna go with Dr. Frasier anyway. Maybe sheel keep me since you don’ wanna.”
“Laney, what are you talking about?” Jay asked.
She flailed a finger in his general vicinity. “You won’t lemme...test and fry. Tha’s be cuz you don’t really want me.”
Jay scrubbed a frustrated hand across his jaw. It was the first time all evening he’d shown anything but his usual calm. His voice was low and menacing as he told her, “Okay, drunk girl, we are not going to have this conversation right now. Get in the car. We will talk tomorrow.”
* * *
MIA DROVE LEVI and Ty home before heading to her house. Between tears and apologies, Mia and Elise managed to get Laney into bed. It took about twelve seconds before she was snoring softly. Mia was incredibly relieved that it didn’t appear she was going to be spending the night cuddled up next to the toilet. Elise had said she’d only had three beers. She was beginning to think the count was probably accurate, which hopefully meant this wasn’t a habitual thing.
Elise opted to stay the night, too.
“Thank you for your help, Elise.”
“This isn’t like her, I promise. She told me tonight that she’s never drunk before. She’s very antidrug and alcohol. She wants to get a volleyball scholarship and she wouldn’t do anything to screw that up. She was really upset and she kind of lost it...”
Mia could only hope this was true. “What happened?”
Elise looked down, fiddling with the seam of the bedspread. “Um, I know it has to do with her family. With her brother and stuff...” She met Mia’s gaze and Mia could see the anguish in the girl’s eyes. “She talked to her sister Josie today and she got bad news. Laney asked me not to tell anyone, but you...”
“No, no.” Mia held up a hand, palm up and out. “Don’t tell me. I’ll talk to Jay. I don’t want you to break her confidence. Aside from Laney’s hangover, things will be better in the morning. Good night, Elise.”
Elise puffed out a loud sigh of relief. “Thanks, Dr. Frasier. Good night.”
Mia smiled at the girl. “I can see why Laney likes you so much. If you keep up this kind of loyalty you two will be friends for life.”
Tears sparkled in her eyes. “Laney is really great to me, too. I know we’ve only known each other a couple months, but she’s already like the best friend I’ve ever had. I’ve had some problems with my boyfriend and she’s been there for me. I just know she always will be.” Elise fluffed her pillow and put her head down. The next words were spoken so softly Mia barely heard them. “If she gets to stay.”
If she gets to stay? Why wouldn’t she? Mia pondered those words, suspecting that simple statement might hold the answers to a lot of Laney’s troubles.
* * *
JAY WOKE UP the next morning grateful for the fact that it was Sunday and he was off duty. Telling himself not to overreact, he tried to analyze Laney’s behavior. Kids did things, stupid, impulsive things. But they also acted out. Jay had been doing everything he could to make sure Laney was happy here, spending time with her but also allowing her plenty of time to get out and socialize. He thought about how Mia had intimated that maybe he was allowing her a little too much freedom. Yet she appeared to be thriving. She was outgoing, talkative, cheerful—usually. Teenage girls could be moody, he knew. And she hadn’t abused her privileges, except for those couple times... Was she struggling and he wasn’t aware of it?
In the other room, he heard the door open. The tapping of Coastie’s paws and then the lapping of water from her dish suggested that Levi had taken her out.
Walking into the kitchen, he found Levi cracking eggs into a bowl.
“Hey, good morning, you want an omelet?” He picked up a whisk and went to town on the eggs. “I walked Coastie already because I figured you were going to be occupied with Laney. I’m working for Dr. Anthony today.”
“Thank you. Yeah, but I’ll pass on the omelet. You know, you don’t have to take every extra hour that comes your way. You could go out and do some fun stuff.”
Levi shrugged. “I like working. I’m saving for a car like we talked about.”
Jay nodded. Levi had definitely adopted his work ethic, which was a good thing, he t
hought. He just wished his little brother would see that he didn’t have to. A conversation for another day.
“Okay, I’m going to head over to Mia’s and pick Laney up in a few minutes. You have any idea what’s going on with our sister?”
Levi paused for a beat, his gaze flickering upward to meet Jay’s before focusing on his breakfast again.
A twist of his gut told Jay that something was going on. “If you know something, Levi, you need to tell me.”
“I know she’s scared.”
“Scared? Of what?”
Levi’s eyes latched onto his and the anguish there made Jay’s breath catch.
“Of the future. We’re both worried about this custody thing. We don’t want to go back, Jay. I won’t go back.”
“Oh.” That was a relief. Fear, he understood. Fear, he could deal with.
* * *
LANEY AND ELISE didn’t sleep in nearly as long as Mia thought they would. They showed up downstairs, chatting away and looking surprisingly chipper, giving further credence to their story from the evening before.
Mia told Laney, “I talked to your brother and he isn’t planning on picking you up until ten. Do you want me to call him or do you girls want to hang out here for a couple hours?”
They opted to stay. After Mia fixed them a huge breakfast of pancakes, bacon and eggs, they took George for a walk on the beach.
“Thank you, guys, for taking George,” she told them after they returned. “He loves the beach.”
“He’s the sweetest dog ever, Dr. Frasier.” Elise was scratching his neck. “Laney was telling me about how you rescued him. I totally cried. Will he have this scar on his neck forever?”
“Well, he’s still growing, so we’ll see. But I have a feeling that hair might not ever grow back.”
Laney gave George another pat and asked, “Is it okay if we walk to the clinic and see the cats?”
“Absolutely. Mom can drop you off if you want. She’s heading to yoga class soon. You can either walk back here or I’ll send Jay to get you at the clinic.”