“Ah. Yes, long time ago. Last summer. I come here to comfort.”
Tanner rolled his eyes and elbowed Mitch in the ribs. He leaned over, whispered, “Let’s see how he gets out of this one.”
Mitch in turn snickered and said, “Five bucks says he grovels.”
“You’re on.”
Jackson cut his eyes toward the two of them, held up a hand indicating he was in for five, as well. He angled toward his mom and discovered Lenore was doing her best to stifle a laugh.
Instead of laughter, his mother went with manners. “Well, why don’t you sit down and eat something? You must be tired after such a long trip from Barbados.”
Dominka stared at the food on the table, her eyes growing wide at all the carbs. Horrified at the idea of putting anything like that in her body, she shook her head at the Southern-style spread. In broken English, the model explained, “No chicken. I eat green salad. Only.”
“The only salad we have here is potato salad,” Jackson revealed. “Made it myself.”
Dominka puffed air in her cheeks. “Potatoes make me too fat.”
Ignoring her declaration, Tanner dished up the pasta casserole onto a plate, handed it toward the too-thin woman. “We call this comfort food. Take a bite. Mitch and Garret put a lot of hard work into it. I supervised.”
Once again, Dominka stared down at the macaroni and shook her head. “No…cheese make me fat.”
During Tanner’s pitch, Anniston got up to leave. “If you’ll excuse me, Sebastian and I need to get back to work.”
Garret blocked her path. “No, you don’t. Let me explain. This is a completely innocent thing. I had no idea Dominka would come to Florida. Ever.”
“I think it’s a good thing she showed up. It tells me a lot about you as a person.”
That boosted his temper into overdrive. “What does it tell you exactly? That I have a friend who cares enough to come all this way to see if I’m okay after a death in the family? That I’ve had girlfriends before? That’s a given. I’m twenty-eight years old. I haven’t lived a life of celibacy since I was fifteen.”
Out of desperation, Garret turned back toward Mitch. “Tell her this is completely harmless.”
Mitch smiled and repeated the mantra, “It’s completely harmless.”
Garret rolled his eyes and went with desperation. He grabbed Sebastian by the arm and dragged him toward Dominka. “Meet the lovely Dominka Karetnikov who graced last February’s cover of the swimsuit edition. Dominka, this is Sebastian. He’s a real fan of yours. He went on and on about you not two days ago.”
Dominka looked confused. “I come at bad time. I took taxi. I go back to hotel now.”
“Which hotel?” Sebastian asked quickly.
“Uh. Lodging in blue and yellow building near water.”
Sebastian’s lips curved up into a grin. “That’s my hotel. I’m happy to take you back there.”
Dominka sent him her most charming smile and put an arm through his. “That would be good. We order salad, yes?”
Mitch slapped his brother on the back. “Way to think on your feet. For a minute there I thought you’d drowned in the middle of losing the war.”
Garret grinned and turned back to Anniston, spread his palms out face up. “See. Problem solved. Dominka doesn’t care anything about me other than as a friend. She was simply trying to do a nice thing and show up for emotional support.”
Anniston made a face and put her hands on her hips. “You call solving the problem foisting your girlfriend off on my brother?”
“Former girlfriend. You were about to leave.” He lifted a shoulder. “I choked.”
“More like groveled,” Mitch pointed out. To his dad and brother, he added, “Pony up the ten bucks, guys.”
But Anniston wasn’t so easy to placate. She punched him in the arm.
“Ow! What’d you do that for?”
“Principle.”
Lenore had held her amusement in check long enough. When she started hooting with laughter, everyone else followed suit.
Raine put down her fork. “You know who would’ve found this scene hilarious? Livvy.”
“Oh, she definitely would have,” Lenore agreed. “Then she’d have taken Garret into the house and read him the riot act.”
Garret felt he had to defend himself. “What did I do wrong exactly? I’m sitting here eating lunch, minding my own business. I didn’t ask Dominka to jump on a plane and come to Florida.”
“What kind of person doesn’t eat potato salad?” Tessa wanted to know as she scooped up a second helping.
“That’s what I was thinking,” Raine noted as she dug into the pasta. “And who wouldn’t want to try Mitch’s casserole?”
Mitch gave her a wide smile. “I do make good macaroni and cheese. It’s the real cream and cheddar that sets it apart from everyone else’s.”
“If you ever give up salvaging, there’s a job for you in the kitchen at the restaurant,” Raine added. “I’ll put the Indigo specialty on the menu.”
Mitch leaned back in his chair, took a swig of beer. “Go ahead. You have my permission to use my recipe. I should post it on my blog.”
Garret took exception to that. “Now wait just a minute. Your recipe? I’m the one who came up with how long it needed to bake and at what temperature in order to come out of the oven with the perfect crispy crust.”
Despite her previous anger and jealousy, no one enjoyed the banter more than Anniston. She realized then that she fit in with these people, maybe even this man. Like Tessa and Raine had done, she went back for seconds of everything and sat down with her plate, more content than before. “Everyone should eat up. We have stakeouts to plan.”
Chapter Eighteen - Heat
Like most everything else, the surveillances over the next three nights turned out to be a team effort. Lenore and Tanner stuck to Boone during the day. Tanner stationed himself out front in a discreet spot, while Lenore covered the back alleyway. Jackson and Tessa took over at night when they did the same at the pastor’s personal residence down the street from the church.
Mitch and Walsh covered Baskin during daylight hours, watching him at his repair shop, and at the back near the body shop.
That meant Garret and Sebastian kept track of the man’s whereabouts at night. They would always end up at the same place, the sprawling Buchanan estate where Sebastian watched the front gate, while Garret kept his eyes glued to the guest cottage and its back entrance.
Anniston and Raine were left to do most of the legwork on their own.
It made for long grueling hours and short tempers all around. When things got too tense, they switched up the pairing.
Added to all their other activities, Raine and Tessa spent the weekend putting the finishing touches on the memorial service. They’d put their heads together to come up with a simple, low-key service Tanner and Lenore could be proud of.
The brothers rehearsed over and over again in between their shifts until they were happy with the songs.
So when Monday morning arrived they were all grateful the day started out warm and muggy with blue skies overhead.
With help from Jackson, Mitch, and Garret, the women arranged the stage, put up portraits of the family, and lined up friends and family to speak.
Having just gone through this with her brother, listening to the grief of friends was almost too much of a reminder for Tessa. But she stood spine straight next to Jackson and handed out the little keepsake booklets they’d printed up. Each had a bio of what Livvy and Walker and Ally and Blake had cared about in life. Raine had added some of the artwork from the kids, pictures Blake had drawn of the sea, of dolphins, of fish. Ally’s love of horses was evident in her drawings. It also seemed she adored mermaids and turtles.
By nine-thirty, the park started overflowing with people who’d known the family the longest. The media showed up with their cameras from as far away as Pensacola. Noticeably absent were people like Boone Dandridge and anyone from the may
or’s office. But no one seemed to miss them or care if they were no-shows.
Anniston had put on a black skirt and jacket with a white shirt for security detail. Her brother had worn similar attire—what she called his “Secret Service” suit. In the glaring sun, brother and sister had slipped on polarized wraparound sunglasses. With weapons strapped to their bodies, they were prepared for anything. They maneuvered through the crowd looking for anyone who might have an agenda.
The processional began when the nineteen-year-old twins Quentin and Joss Kade took the stage. Despite the dozens of magazine articles written about them starting at the age of six, the kids with Seminole roots were as down to earth as they come. Most locals referred to the siblings as prodigies. When it came to instruments, the pair played a variety—violin, cello, and the flute. Plus, they could tickle out the tender strains of Chopin on the keys of a Steinway.
Quentin showed his skill by picking up his maple violin and matching the soulful strings of his sister’s cello. With their long black hair trailing down their backs and dressed in their Sunday best, Quentin and Joss switched to flutes, teasing out the Native American tunes they’d learned as children. The lilting melody flowed from the woodwinds, an original song Joss had written just for Blake and Ally. The tribute hung in the air in a timeless serenity, a reminder that life is precious.
Later, it would be Mitch at the piano, Jackson on guitar, and Garret on drums as they played a string of Livvy’s favorite songs.
Halfway through a refrain, Jackson made the mistake of looking down from the stage at his parents. There was such sadness in their eyes, he didn’t think it would ever dissipate. From that point on, he had trouble getting through the lyrics without tears rolling down his face.
When it was time for Tanner to speak he took the stage with slumped shoulders, heart breaking, and tears already forming.
“No father ever wants to stand where I stand today. No father should ever have to bury a child. I come here today with the daunting task of having to say goodbye to my only grandchildren. Many times, they’d beg me to bring them to this very park. I always relented. I’m glad I did. I used to do the same with their mother. Livvy grew up down the street. She roamed this park as if it were her own personal playground. I remember pushing her on those swings right after the city first installed them. Her mother and I were sure she’d be safe here where she grew up. We thought that same safety and security extended to Blake and Ally. It didn’t. And here we are. I could tell you Livvy was a great mother, but you’d just think I was biased. The truth is Livvy was a wonderful human being. She was kind and loved helping people.”
As Tanner went on, Tessa stood to the side, moved by the man’s homage to his daughter and grandchildren. She turned to Raine and whispered, “I’ve never been to anything like this before, where the loss included kids.”
Raine said nothing as the melodic flutes brought out memories of another time and place. It wasn’t Danny’s funeral that came to mind, not today. Emotion bubbled up inside her and she swallowed it back.
As if Tessa understood that she was thinking about her brother, she squeezed Raine’s hand. “I tried to push out thoughts of Ryan to get through this. I know these past few days have been hard. You’ve had to do the same with Danny. It hurts to revisit all that pain.”
Raine decided Tessa deserved a hug for that. She put her arms around her. “You know, you’re the first person I’ve met in a really long time who totally understands that about me. For years, my mother was a basket case after losing her son. To some degree she still is. I get through the hurt by working practically night and day at the restaurant.”
“I’ve seen you do that. Don’t ever feel like you have to hide your feelings from me. You aren’t mad at me for moving out, are you?”
Raine sent her an understanding little grin. “It was certainly the shortest roommate agreement on record. But I would’ve done the same thing. How do you like living in Nana’s cottage?”
“It’s such a homey place. I’m going to do my best to keep up her garden.”
“That’s the one regret I have about living on the houseboat. No dirt around to plant a seed. I make do with containers.”
“That’s what I did back in Nags Head.” Tessa suddenly put her hand over her mouth as she realized Jackson was having a tough time singing the words. “Look at him up there, I feel so bad for what he’s going through. He was so upset last night he couldn’t sleep a wink. And look at him now, he can’t even get through the song.”
“You two are so cute together.”
Tessa beamed back at that. “We are. Imagine finding him during the worst time of my life. Jackson’s made this so much more bearable for me. Do you think you’ll ever give Mitch a second chance?”
Raine let out a huge sigh. She glanced up on stage at the man in question sitting at the piano—and found him staring back at her. “I’ll tell you something about my friendship with Livvy that most people don’t know. And it says a lot about what kind of person she was. She knew the reason I was so angry with her brother. And yet, all this time she kept my secret. She never once tried to interfere or play peacemaker or matchmaker. Livvy just let the history between Mitch and me…be…without judgment or prejudice or trying to mend fences.”
“Is that a polite way of telling me to butt out?”
Raine smiled. “Haven’t you heard? No one can rewrite history. What I’m saying is that there’s no point in trying to get us together. What’s done is done.” Uncomfortable with the topic, she changed the subject to something much lighter. “What do you think of Anniston’s brother?”
“What’s not to like? I’m on record as wanting more hunky Italians coming to town.”
Raine stifled a laugh. “That isn’t fair. You don’t get to have more than one hunk.”
“Says who?” She bumped Raine’s shoulder. “Truth is I’m good with the one I have. I couldn’t believe Garret got out of that thing with Dominka. I could see him sinking into quicksand right before my very eyes. It was painful to watch. I wanted to throw him a rope but…”
“That boy always was clever. Even when he was twelve, he could think on his feet.”
Lenore made her way over to where the women stood and took the time to admire the sea of faces in the crowd. “Look at this turnout. You have no idea how wonderful this is, so much better than holding it inside Life Stone. I can’t thank you enough for all your hard work.”
Tessa gave her a hug. “How are you two holding up?”
“Tanner and I are doing okay. The tough part will be the final goodbye tomorrow at the cemetery.” She turned to Raine, who had agreed to hold the wake at The Blue Taco immediately after the service today. “Are you all set at the restaurant? Is there anything I can do?”
“Nope. All set. As we speak, my assistant manager Charlotte is putting the finishing touches on the food. Don’t worry. It’ll go off without a hitch.”
“Oh, honey, I’m not one bit worried. You and Tessa have been lifesavers through all this. I’m not sure what Tanner and I would’ve done without both of you pitching in every day with ideas and suggestions, things I never would’ve thought of, like the little handouts. I’m forever grateful.”
“That’s what we like to hear,” Raine said. “In fact, I think I’ll run over there now and check on everything.”
Raine needn’t have worried. When she walked in, her assistant manager had the eatery all ready to go, the food all set out. The place looked like it could handle the crowd.
Charlotte Townsend had been like the sister Raine had never had. During the four years since she’d taken over running the restaurant, the perky brunette had been crucial to its success.
“They’ll be coming this way within ten minutes or so,” Raine noted, looking around at Charlotte. “You did a marvelous job. Thank you.”
“I didn’t mind even though it was a lot of extra work. In fact, maybe we should add catering in the near future. Who knows? It might take off.”
“We could do it.”
Raine smiled. “You’re always encouraging me to think big. Trouble is,” she threw her arms out wide. “This is about all I can handle. I’d need ten of you to keep up.”
Charlotte hugged the woman she thought of as a sister. “Oh look, they’re starting to drift this way. How was the memorial service?”
“Big crowd,” Raine said, drifting toward the front window. She wasn’t surprised when Mitch was the first one through the door.
He bent to kiss her cheek. “My mother is grateful you’re providing such a unique venue like this where people can relive stories about the family.”
She patted his arm. “Don’t be silly. I’m happy to do it.” Raine turned her attention to the others who streamed through the door behind him. Greeting each one personally, she took her role as hostess seriously, pointing them toward the buffet-style food set up on two tables.
As soon as Garret walked in, he repeated what Mitch had done and pressed his lips to her cheek. “Thank you for this. You’re an angel.”
She patted his face. “You’re welcome. And I’m glad I could help. Anniston came in a few minutes ago. She didn’t look happy.”
That prompted Garret to go looking for her. He found Anniston sitting on the patio among the honeysuckle and orange blossoms. Her eyes were distant. She seemed preoccupied. It wasn’t like her to look so glum. “What’s wrong?”
“I just got an email from the man who does the voice analysis. He hasn’t completed his evaluations yet, but I asked for a preliminary report. In his professional opinion, all four men were lying the day you guys went face to face.”
“He said that?”
“Pretty much.”
“You can’t be that shocked.”
“Shocked? No. But I am disappointed. I thought maybe he could zero in on one man. One, Garret. I certainly didn’t expect him to tell me that he recognized stress in all four, enough that the point system he uses was pretty much off the chart. He looks for changes in their voice pattern and it was enough to indicate their word, their statements, are all useless.”
The Indigo Brothers Trilogy Boxed Set Page 53