Tanner

by Dale Mayer

  “Yes, with the sun setting, it will be. And it should be all secured off at this point too.”

  “So then I suggest drinks and food, or food and drinks,” he said with a grin.

  “Did you see anything or think of anything you wanted for dinner?”

  “I saw a seafood place we passed when we came down to the beach.”

  “Right. That’s Rossellini’s.”

  “I thought it was seafood, not Italian.”

  “It’s both, but they’re really good.” She turned and headed back the way they’d come.

  She hadn’t realized how far they’d walked. By the time they hit the sidewalk again, the sun was completely down, and the streetlamps were on. “It’s really beautiful here,” she said with a smile. She tilted her face up, letting the cool breeze wash over her skin. “I’d forgotten how nice it was to be here.”

  “You don’t seem like the crowd type, but you seemed to really enjoy yourself.”

  “You’re right. I’m not the crowd type. I’m one of those people who does well in crowds, but then I have to recharge in privacy away from everyone. I’ve known lots of people who seem to absorb the energy from those in a group and light up like a Christmas tree and stay that way until an event is over. I’m not like that. I’m good for a couple hours. Then I get tired and want to go away and be alone.”

  “I’m more like that too,” he said. “I’m not great in big crowds but happy to do an hour of socializing. I’d rather have a smaller group of friends and a barbecue than a big fancy sit-down dinner with people I hardly know.”

  She glanced at him. “I bet you and your unit do that a lot, don’t they?”

  He nodded. “Absolutely. Some of our best events are backyard barbecues.”

  It was just after nine when they approached the restaurant. “Do you think it’s still open?” Tanner asked.

  “Oh, it certainly will be with the Blues Festival and the paragliding competition this weekend,” she said. She headed inside, and luckily they got a small table in back. As she sat down, a candle was lit on the table for them. She smiled. “This reminds me of how long it’s been since I’ve been on a real date.”

  “How long has that been?”

  “Before Todd’s accident.” She laughed. “After that first year of his recovery, as he got better, I went out with some of the people from work—as a group, you know?—just to get Todd off my back about not having a social life. Early on, one guy got the wrong impression, but I shut him down really quick. It’s not wise to date your coworkers. Then another guy and I did stuff together, apart from the group, but just as friends.”

  “Was it Tom who got out of hand, the guy who didn’t want to look at you today?”

  She lifted her gaze. “Wow, that’s very astute.”

  “It was pretty hard to miss. Everybody else was friendly and talking, and he had a sneer on his face most of the time.”

  “Yeah, he’s like that a lot. I don’t think he ever forgave me for refusing to date him, but Tom wasn’t my type. His brother is much friendlier.”

  “One of those guys was his brother?” Tanner asked in surprise. “I saw Tom arguing with Kirk at the warehouse. Remember? I told you about that. Is that his brother?”

  She grinned. “Yes, and they do fight all the time.”

  “Wow, I didn’t see that coming.”

  “They don’t look anything alike. They’re always competing with each other too.”

  “Not a lot of companies will hire brothers,” he said. “I never understood that nepotism policy myself.”

  “Well, the school can do whatever the hell it wants, considering those two brothers belong to Charlie.”

  Tanner lifted his head from the menu and slowly placed it on the plate in front of him. He leaned forward. “Are you saying that they’re the boss’s sons?”

  Hearing something odd in his tone, she looked up and nodded. “Yeah, so?”

  “So,” he said, “that would have been nice to know beforehand.”

  “What difference does it make?” She really didn’t get it. “It’s a fairly common practice to have your children work for the family business.”

  “Yes, it certainly is, although generally they’re in an elevated position, not a mere grunt on the bottom level. But it’s a good place for any kid to start in and to work his way up.”

  “I don’t know about working their way up, as those two prefer to be in the warehouse rather than doing any paperwork, and they’re not salesmen types. Or finance wizards. In fact, I’m not sure they have had any formal education at all.” Something was still off in Tanner’s expression. “I don’t understand, but you’re acting like there’s something much deeper to this.”

  He shrugged at Wynn as the waitress walked over then, bringing a cutting board with a loaf of sourdough and pots of different butters. He looked at it appreciatively. “This looks lovely.”

  The waitress smiled and asked, “Are you ready to order?”

  With a nod from Wynn, he waited while she ordered the mixed seafood pasta, and then he ordered the shrimp fettuccine for himself.

  Wynn returned the menus and waited until the waitress was just far enough out of hearing before cutting the sourdough bread and said, “Please explain.”

  “This just hits me as wrong. Tom doesn’t like you, and Kirk is friendly to you.”

  “What’s that got to do with sabotaging my gear?”

  “Opportunity and motive.”

  Picking up her buttered bread, she sat back and studied his face. “But they don’t have motive.”

  “Well, you spurned the one, right?”

  She shrugged. “He got the wrong idea and tried to kiss me. Made a move on me out of nowhere. I explained to him that I don’t date coworkers.”

  “Right. That’s a motive right there. Did either of them ever paraglide?”

  “Both of them did,” she said shortly. “They competed for a while.”

  “How good were they?”

  “Not good enough.”

  *

  Tanner’s mind was trying to fit all the different pieces together. At the moment they wouldn’t, but he knew they would eventually. These two men worked at the same paragliding school she’d been fired from. That was a connection he hadn’t known of before, and yeah—damn it—it did make a difference. It connected the owners, as sponsors of these competitions, and one owner’s sons from her former school to her paragliding accident and to these two other paragliding accidents with her brother, Todd, and her friend Steve. What Tanner didn’t know was the whys or the hows.

  His thoughts still working away, he cut another slice of the sourdough bread. It was really, really good.

  Wynn leaned forward and whispered, “What are you thinking?”

  He shot her a glance. “A lot of things but nothing’s fitting yet.”

  She thrummed her fingers on the table and settled back for a bit. “I don’t think Kirk or Tom would have anything to do with that.”

  “Yeah? Why not?”

  She shrugged. “Basically they’re lazy. I don’t know that they would have jobs with other companies or that they’d keep them for very long if they continued to work the way they do at their father’s school.”

  “I think that’s a common problem with a lot of family members working at a same company. They aren’t expected to maintain the same standard as all the other employees. Resentment builds, and all kinds of problems come out of that unjustified favoritism.”

  She nodded. “They were better at paragliding though. But they weren’t competitive level.”

  “How high up in the rankings were they?”

  She shrugged. “I’m not sure they made it to the ranking level. I never looked into it.” She stared at Tanner in horror for a long moment. “You’re not thinking they might have tried to reduce the numbers above them, are you?”

  “Well, somebody sure was,” he said.

  “It could be that somebody just hated the winners. Figured somebody was flyi
ng so high that they needed to be proved they were nobody,” she exclaimed in a low voice. “Resentment, jealousy, envy, whatever you want to call it.”

  He took a big bite of sourdough bread. “That’s a very good point,” he mumbled. He tilted his head. “I’d never considered it from that angle.”

  She sighed and raised both hands in frustration. “Nothing about this is normal,” she said. “You can’t look at it from a normal perspective.”

  The waitress returned with their meals and placed the steaming hot plates in front of them.

  Tanner sniffed the air appreciatively. They hadn’t chintzed on the shrimp either. At least fifteen big ones topped his pasta. He smiled and thanked the woman as she walked away. He leaned forward and asked Wynn, “I forgot to ask, but did you want a glass of wine with dinner?”

  She shook her head. “I rarely drink.”

  “I do like a good glass of wine every once in a while, but I’ll be fine without one tonight.”

  “Don’t avoid it on my behalf,” she said. “I don’t mind if you want to drink.”

  He shook his head and dug into the pasta. At his first bite he stopped and just savored the mouthful. And when he could, he said, “This is great food.”

  She gave him a cheeky grin. “It sure is. Haven’t eaten here since the last time I competed. It’s not that far away, but, at the same time, a lot of other places are closer.”

  “It’s all about location, location, location,” he said.

  The rest of their meal was eaten with small talk and great companionship, like a real date, a normal date. She seemed really comfortable around him, and he was happy about that. That he had Todd’s permission to carry on in this direction was also interesting. He felt like he’d asked Wynn’s father for permission and been granted it. The trouble was, he hadn’t asked Wynn, and he had an idea she’d prefer to be asked herself, not her brother.

  He decided to bring it up. “When I was joking with your brother earlier, he told me how you’re a great person.”

  She chuckled. “Did he try to set you up on a date with me? For some reason he’s got it in his head that I need somebody in my life. Otherwise I’ll waste away just looking after him. Todd’s really afraid that he’s holding me back.”

  “That’s probably a normal way to look at life when handicapped, like he is right now.”

  “But he won’t stay that way. He’s made a ton of progress already. It’ll continue to get better.”

  “You’re a very positive person, aren’t you?”

  “Yep, sure am,” she said. “It’s way better than being negative all the time. How depressing is that?”

  “A lot of people would say it wasn’t depressing but that it was being realistic.”

  “Well, realists can be positive thinkers too,” she said with a smile. She put down her fork and knife and pushed away her plate and then sat back. “I forgot how big the portions were here.”

  “We can get yours to go, if you want.”

  She nodded. “You never know. That might do for a nice breakfast.”

  He shook his head. “I’m not sure I could stomach seafood pasta for breakfast.”

  She chuckled. “Maybe a midnight snack.”

  “A midnight snack, yeah, if you exercise between now and then,” he said drily. “But otherwise I can’t imagine what would give you the munchies in the middle of the night.” He lifted his gaze and caught the heated and teasing look in her eyes. Instantly his body responded. He settled back, letting out a slow breath. “Wow.”

  She raised an innocent eyebrow and said, “What?”

  He shook his head. “You are dangerous. You’re damn dangerous.”

  She chuckled. “Sorry. I shouldn’t tease you.”

  “Well, it depends if it’s a tease or a promise,” he said.

  “Good question,” she said honestly. “No doubt I’m interested. No doubt we’re spending some time together to get to know each other. But I do have to admit that I haven’t been able to get my mind off that single bed we have to share tonight.”

  He closed his mouth and tried to control his breathing. He needed everything in his system to calm down, as it was all on high alert, especially his groin. When he could finally talk again, his voice was still strangled. “Neither have I. Neither have I.”

  She leaned across and gently stroked the fingers of his hand just lying there on the table. Her fingers slid up and down his heavy fingers, her soft skin smooth and silky against his. He wasn’t sure just what was going on, but he was more than willing to see where it went. He wanted to believe they were heading down this particular path together.

  When she slid her fingers once again down his, he slid his through hers and gently grasped them. “Your fingers are really soft,” he commented. He scooped up another big shrimp, yet studied the plain but neat and tidy nails at the end of her fingers. “Do you ever wear nail polish?”

  She smiled. “Sometimes. But not very often. I find it chips too quickly.”

  “I was wondering how women could keep it all looking so neat and tidy,” he said.

  “Lots of work, lots of touch-ups. When you’re active all the time, nail polish isn’t something easy to maintain.”

  He finished off his plate and set it aside. His stomach was happily full. He glanced around, loving the atmosphere, the candlelight, the murmured conversations in the far corners. “This is a lovely restaurant, especially at nighttime.”

  She squeezed his fingers and started to withdraw her hand. But he held it tight.

  He asked her, “Are you ready to go?”

  She stared at him, and then she licked her lips.

  Instantly his blood boiled again. He shook his head. “You so have to stop doing that. As far as I remember, the hotel is a good four blocks away yet.”

  Her face crinkled up in a laughing grin. “What’s the matter? Not sure you can go the distance?”

  At the double entendre he grinned. “I know I can. But I hate to hit the finish line before I even get started.”

  She squeezed his fingers and this time pulled her hand away. “I don’t think we’ve hit the starting line or the finish line yet.”

  “No, but I have high hopes.” He motioned to the waitress for his bill, and, when she brought it, he snagged it up. When Wynn tried to pay for her dinner, he shook his head and said, “You wouldn’t even let me pay for the hotel.”

  “Nope,” she said. “That’s a rule of mine. I always pay for my hotels.”

  “Well, I consider this a date, and I always pay for dinner on a date.” He signed for it, left a generous tip, stood and held out his hand.

  Without hesitation she rose, but, instead of grabbing his hand, she slid her arm through his and snuggled up close. When they had to separate enough to get through the tables, he motioned her ahead. Outside in the cooler air, he wrapped an arm around her shoulders. When she came willingly, his heart beat that much faster. They stood for a moment, just holding each other, staring out at the lights.

  They were out of the way of the restaurant’s main entrance, around the corner. He smiled and said, “You’re so beautiful.”

  She tilted her head back, smiled up at him and said, “Thank you. You’re not too bad yourself.”

  That startled a surprised laugh from him. He leaned over, kissed her on the nose and said, “I don’t think you’re quite right there, but I’ll let it slide for now.”

  “You do that,” she said. “But I’ll remind you again later.”

  With his arm wrapped around her, they meandered toward the hotel.

  Lots of traffic still traveled up and down the road. He waited to make sure no cars were coming, then led her across to the other side where the hotel was.

  Another set of headlights came toward them. The vehicle slowed down when they reached the sidewalk, then suddenly veered toward them and gunned it.

  Tanner didn’t have time to do anything but react. He quickly shoved her to the side and dove after her. The vehicle bounced off the
sidewalk, raced to the corner and turned superfast, its tires squealing. That had been as deliberate of an attack as any he’d ever seen.

  He hopped to his feet and raced to Wynn. “I’m so sorry. Are you okay?”

  Dazed, she sat up and looked at him. “He deliberately tried to run us down,” she cried out. “He drove up on the sidewalk and tried to hit us.”

  “I know. I figure he must have seen who we were in his headlights, made a sudden decision and then gunned it.”

  “Did you recognize the vehicle?” she asked.

  He shook his head. “It was a white Dodge pickup truck. But I didn’t catch the license plate.”

  “I don’t know anybody who drives a white Dodge truck,” she said.

  “A lot of people are here with rigs like that. Not to mention the driver might not be the owner.”

  She nodded. “All of a sudden I’m not feeling so good about being here.”

  He helped her to her feet and waited until she tested her weight on both ankles and was relieved to see she wasn’t in any pain. He wrapped an arm around her, held her really close in a hug and then whispered, “I’d feel better if we got back to the hotel.”

  Silently the two hurried to the hotel. Back inside the building, he led the way to their room. Checking to make sure nobody was loitering around the hallway, he unlocked the door, held up his hand to stop her from entering and did a quick search of the room. Finally he returned to the door and let her in.

  “Was that really necessary?” She searched his face. “Are we really expecting to be attacked in our room?”

  “No way to know but better safe than sorry,” he said quietly. “What I won’t do is take any chances with your life. I had thought that potentially whoever had sabotaged your gear might have moved on. But tonight says that not only have they not moved on but they definitely are targeting you. That was no random act of violence back there. We were seen, and somebody made an impromptu decision to go on the attack.”

  “And that’s damn scary,” she said. “I mean, there was hardly time to react. If you hadn’t pushed me out of the way …”

  He wrapped his arms around her and held her close. “Don’t even think about it. Brush it off for the moment. Otherwise it’ll take you down that path of fear.”