Dire Straits

by Melissa Pearl

  “I’m still waiting for you to tell me why you’re up here,” Trina said.

  Jarrett grinned again. As amusing as it was to watch Jess squirm under the direct questioning from her mom, he decided it was probably time to put her out of her misery. This time when he reached out, he gripped the handle and slid the door open.

  Both women looked up at him, one with mild interest and the other with a look of absolute relief.

  He held up his glass. “Decided to get a little more to drink while I was inside,” he told them. “You ladies need more?”

  They shook their heads. He settled back into his chair, stretching his long legs in front of him.

  “Jessica and I were just talking about work,” Trina said.

  Jarrett knew it was a blatant lie, but he just smiled and nodded.

  “I was telling her that she needs to make sure she’s doing something that makes her happy.” Trina fixed her brown eyes on Jarrett. “What do you think?”

  Jarrett tried not to frown. Maybe she hadn’t lied. Maybe there was a part of the conversation he’d missed.

  “I would agree,” he said.

  Trina smiled. “So, sweetie, you didn’t answer the question,” she said to Jess. “Does work make you happy?”

  Jarrett was sitting on the other side of Jessica and saw her stiffen.

  “Of course it does,” Jess said.

  Jarrett studied her. Her voice sounded almost robotic, her expression almost pained.

  He didn’t believe her for a second.

  “That’s the only thing we wanted for you, you know,” her mom said. “Your dad and I. We just wanted to make sure you lived a life that made you happy. No matter what you did, no matter where you lived. Life is too short for anything less.”

  Jess swallowed and gave her mother a slight nod. Jarrett thought back to their conversation earlier that afternoon, when he’d learned the details surrounding her father’s death.

  He had a feeling the conversation they were having now was somehow tied to that, because the man these two women loved had been taken from them too soon. Jarrett hadn’t gotten a ton of details, and he certainly hadn’t wanted to pry, but he’d learned that Jessica’s dad had died in a car accident when she was young. And that he’d been a dedicated police officer.

  He’d wondered immediately how much that had played into Jessica’s decision to go into law enforcement. She was certainly following in her father’s footsteps in that regard, which was probably why her mom was so focused on making sure her daughter was happy in her career. Making good choices.

  Choices that would make her happy now. Not later.

  Because sometimes later never came.

  Jarrett glanced into his glass of tea, watched the ice cubes bob up and down in the amber liquid.

  It was good advice. Advice I should consider, he thought.

  His mind immediately went to his own dissatisfaction. Not with his job—he loved being a reporter—but with the types of stories he was often forced to write. He thought about the resentment that had started bubbling to the surface, feeling like he was in Aspen Falls because he had to be and not because that was what he wanted. It wasn’t an absolute truth, of course. He loved a lot of things about Aspen Falls. What he didn’t like was feeling like he couldn’t leave, like he was bound to it by some thick, invisible chain tethering him to the place.

  He swallowed. He knew what that chain was.

  His mother.

  His gaze drifted to Trina, and he felt his throat constrict as he compared her to his own mother. They both had lost their husbands, his own mom much more recently, so they had that in common with one another. From his conversation with Trina, he knew that they shared some of the same interests and hobbies. And if he had to guess, they weren’t that far apart in age.

  But health? Jarrett’s mother was a shell of the woman Trina was. It was almost painful for him to watch Jessica’s mother bustle about the kitchen and man the grill, to get the table set and drinks for everyone, insisting that she didn’t need or want help. Her energy seemed limitless.

  And Jarrett’s mother could barely get out of bed. He immediately flashed to the last time he saw her, struggling to move from her room to the couch, refusing to eat, and instead forcing down tiny amounts of liquid instead.

  He’d texted her twice already today, and even though she’d told him she was fine, he didn’t believe her.

  She wasn’t fine.

  And he wasn’t sure if she ever would be again.

  A sound rumbled in the distance and they all looked skyward. The northern sky was decidedly sunny, but the southern horizon had grown dark and angry.

  “Was that thunder?” Jess asked.

  Jarrett pulled his phone out and opened the weather app. He looked at her. “Uh, apparently.” He spun the phone around and showed her the red watch box covering Duluth and points southward. Including Cloquet.

  “Good heavens,” Trina murmured. She leaned close, squinting at the phone. “Is that a watch or a warning?”

  “Tornado watch,” he said. “Looks like the line of storms is coming up through Moose Lake. Lots of thunder and lightning.”

  Jessica glanced at her mother, her brow creased with worry.

  Another rumble sounded, a little closer this time. A jagged streak of lightning lit the sky off in the distance.

  “We should probably get inside soon,” Jessica murmured.

  Jarrett’s phone buzzed and he pulled it out of his pocket. It was the auto shop.

  He listened to the man on the other end as the two women grabbed the remnants of their outdoor meal and brought the dishes inside.

  Five hundred dollars and his car was fixed. A new fan belt. Jarrett clenched his jaw, vowing for the hundredth time that he was going to learn how to do car repairs himself so he wouldn’t have to shell out ridiculous amounts of money for someone else to do it for him.

  “We’re closing up here in about twenty minutes,” Tony, the mechanic, told him.

  Jarrett glanced inside to where Jess and her mom were and then back at the sky. The storm clouds were advancing rapidly, a dark blanket spreading quickly across the sky.

  “We’ve got some weather coming in here in Cloquet,” Jarrett told him. “Hang on just a minute.”

  He set the phone on the table and opened the sliding door. “Car’s ready,” he said.

  Trina’s face lit up. “That’s great news!”

  “Only problem is they’re closing up shop in less than a half hour.” Jarrett looked outside. “I’m not sure we want to be heading out in this to go pick it up.”

  Trina wiped her hands on the dishtowel she was holding and set it on the counter. “Nonsense. We can go right now and get back before the rain starts. You two can follow me back here and stay put if you don’t want to start driving back right away.”

  A flash of lightning illuminated the room, which had darkened considerably as the clouds blocked the evening daylight. A boom of thunder immediately sounded, a steady rumble that seemed to go on for minutes.

  Jessica gripped the countertop. “No,” she said, shaking her head. “I don’t want you going.”

  Trina frowned. “What are you talking about?”

  “It’s storming, Mom. I don’t want you driving.”

  “The storm is miles away,” her mother said. “We’ll be fine. If you don’t want to come, you can stay here. We’ll be back in forty minutes, tops.”

  “No.” Jess’s voice was higher now, and Jarrett shot an alarmed look at her.

  Her eyes were wide and her jaw trembled. He’d never seen her this upset.

  “No,” she said again. “I…I don’t want you to go.”

  “Honey,” her mom said gently. “The place is closing. If we don’t get it now, you can’t get it until the morning.”

  “That’s fine,” she said. She looked to Jarrett for confirmation. “We can head back in the morning, right?”

  Jarrett stared at her. There were several very obvious things that
made it not such an easy decision. They weren’t prepared for an overnight trip. Neither of them had a change of clothes, much less toiletries. And they hadn’t actually been invited to stay.

  This thought must have occurred to Jess, because she turned to her mom and said, “If it’s alright with you, I mean. For us to stay.”

  “Of course it is,” Trina told her. “You know you are always welcome, honey. Both of you. But…”

  “Then we’re staying.” Jess’s tone told Jarrett that she’d made up her mind. “Do you need to call the car place back and tell them we won’t be coming tonight?”

  He nodded slowly, trying to wrap his head around what had just happened in the course of a two-minute conversation.

  One thing stuck out.

  One thing only.

  He was spending the night with Jessica Claret.

  23

  Sunday, July 1

  8:00 pm

  Jess was a nervous wreck.

  The storm had shaken her.

  They always did, even the ones that rolled through Aspen Falls during their turbulent springs and stormy summers.

  But the ones up north were different.

  The memories would come flooding back. Every single time.

  The driving rain and wind, the sky lit with lightning, the sharp crack of thunder.

  Followed by silence.

  And then a knock at the door.

  The police.

  No, not the police.

  Her police. The men she’d grown up with, who had served as honorary uncles. Her father’s friends.

  But this time, they weren’t there to hoist Jess onto their shoulders or bring her candy and ice cream, or give her their hats to play with and pose in.

  No, this time they were there for a different reason.

  To tell her that her father was dead.

  Even now, almost twenty years later, sitting in that house during a summer storm managed to wreck her nerves like nothing else could.

  Her mother knew this. It was the reason they’d gone immediately inside and headed into the basement. Not just because it was the safest place to be during a tornado watch, but because the sights and sounds of the storm would be muted.

  The alcohol her mother was plying her with was helping, too.

  Jess cradled her drink, some fruity concoction her mother had pressed into her hand. It was a delicious mix of strawberries and pineapple and vodka, and Jess knew she was sucking it down entirely too quickly.

  She tried to slow her pace.

  They’d spent the better part of the last couple of hours in conversation, trying to forget about the storm raging outside. As far as thunderstorms went, it had been a long one, but the tornado watch had expired early on, so Jess could at least relax about that.

  Jarrett was impressed with the fact that the cabin actually had a basement.

  “I didn’t know that was an option,” he’d said as they descended the stairs into the spacious family room.

  “It is if you decide you want one and the land you have to work with can accommodate it,” Trina had told him.

  He’d looked around appreciatively before settling himself in one corner of the brown corduroy couch. Jess’s mom had taken a seat in the recliner near the fireplace, which left Jess the option of sitting next to Jarrett.

  Once Jarrett’s questions about the house had been satisfied, they moved on to other topics. He had dozens of questions about Cloquet, about growing up near Duluth, about living on the North Shore in general. Jess let her mom field most of the questions, which she knew she was happy to answer. Her mother loved company, and loved to talk, and Jess was still warring with herself over her reaction to the storm and her brash decision to stay the night rather than go and get Jarrett’s car.

  In hindsight, with the storm now safely behind them, she wasn’t sure she had made the right choice. They could have gotten his car. It would have been a little harrowing going to pick it up, but they would have managed. And they could have ridden out the worst of the weather at the auto place or somewhere nearby before getting back on the road to Aspen Falls.

  Instead, they were at her mom’s house.

  Overnight.

  Jess sipped her drink, frustrated with herself and how she had overreacted. She hated that a crack of thunder and flash of lightning had the ability to send her back into the body of her ten-year-old self, scared and vulnerable. She wondered if it would always be like that. She wondered why she could face any call from dispatch with firm resolve and fierce determination, but the hint of an incoming storm rendered her pretty much helpless.

  She hated it.

  She was stronger than that.

  She took another longer drink. The alcohol was relaxing her, making her sleepy. Good, she thought. Morning would come quicker that way, and then they could get on the road and she could apologize to Jarrett for ruining what was left of his weekend.

  She grimaced. She hadn’t even considered how her demand to stay the night might impact him. Maybe he had plans for that evening. Hell, for all she knew, he had a girlfriend waiting for him. Her heart hiccupped at the thought. She didn’t want to think about him having someone in his life. Someone he looked at with those heated hazel eyes, that sweet, delicious smile. Someone he touched with those warm, firm hands.

  She blinked and swore under her breath, then gulped another mouthful of her drink.

  “Everything okay?”

  Jess looked up.

  Both Jarrett and her mother were staring at her.

  She felt her cheeks warm. “Yeah, fine,” she mumbled, embarrassed that she’d somehow made herself the center of attention.

  Her mother stretched. “Well, now that the storm is good and gone, I think I’m going to call it a night.”

  Jess looked at the clock sitting on the fireplace mantle. “It’s eight thirty,” she said.

  “So?” Her mom yawned. “I’m old. I get tired easily. Besides, that’ll give you two some time to yourselves.”

  Jess’s eyes widened. She didn’t want time alone with Jarrett. Not here. Not now.

  “Stay up with us,” Jess said. “We…we can talk. Play a game or something.” Her gaze flew to the bookshelf across the room, its shelves stacked with a variety of board games from her childhood.

  “Nonsense,” her mother said. She stood up. “The guest room down here is all made up. It’s not technically a bedroom since there is no closet, but we’ve used it as a guest room for years. I have spare toothbrushes in the bathroom down here. Top drawer.” She glanced at Jess. “Your room upstairs is ready, too. If you need it…”

  Jess’s mouth dropped open, and she saw Jarrett tuck his head to his chin to hide his grin. What on earth was her mother suggesting?

  “I’ll be sleeping in my room,” Jess managed.

  Her mom gave her an innocent smile, but Jess saw the laughter in her brown eyes.

  She just shook her head and rolled her eyes. “Good night, Mom.”

  Her mother padded up the stairs, and Jess was alone with Jarrett for the first time in several hours.

  They both spoke at once.

  “Are you okay?”

  “I’m sorry.”

  Jarrett chuckled and waved his hand. “You first.”

  “I’m sorry,” Jessica said again.

  “Sorry for what?”

  “For everything,” she said. “For forcing you to stay here, for—”

  “You didn’t force me to stay.”

  “Yes, I did. I was the one who didn’t want to go and get the car.”

  “It was the right decision.” He smiled, and her heart flip-flopped. “The storm was bad, and it was a good decision to not go out in it.”

  “We probably would have been fine. And we would have been on our way home.” She blew out a breath. “So I’m sorry if I ruined any plans of yours or if it screws up work for tomorrow.”

  “Jessica.”

  Her heart thrilled to the sound of her name on his lips.

  “You
didn’t ruin anything,” he said quietly. “I had nothing on the agenda tonight, and my work is flexible. I promise.”

  She sipped her drink and nodded.

  He smiled. “I’ve had a nice evening. Better than nice.”

  “Me, too.”

  It wasn’t completely true. The storm had freaked her out, and she’d been worried about the hasty decision she’d made and how it would affect Jarrett. But when she’d forgotten about those things, when the conversation had grabbed her attention and she’d let all that go, she had enjoyed herself.

  Immensely.

  “Your mom is great,” Jarrett said. He was holding a glass of wine, some merlot her mom had pulled out of the wine rack, and he took a sip. “And it sounds like your dad was a pretty good guy, too.”

  Jess managed a small nod. “He was.”

  “You miss him.”

  It wasn’t a question.

  She nodded again. “I do.”

  “And the storms…” His voice was quiet, his eyes locked on hers. “Are they related?”

  She hesitated. He was doing it again. Pulling information out of her. Why did she feel this desire, this compulsion to share with him?

  She was too tired to fight it. Too emotionally drained. “He died during a storm,” she said softly. “A summer one. He’d gotten off work and was heading out to take some photos. He… Photography was one of his hobbies. He loved taking pictures of the lake. Said she had a soul like no other.”

  “The lake?”

  Jess smiled. She could hear the words from her dad as if it were yesterday. He had grown up in Duluth, and the lake had always been a part of his life. Fishing her waters, climbing her rocky shores, even trying his hand at surfing the impressive breaks at Stoney Point—he’d loved everything the lake had to offer. But most of all, he loved trying to capture the essence of that great body of water. The waves that howled across the vast expanse of water and crashed into the shore, the icy shards that gathered on the beaches in winter like ivory sea glass. There wasn’t a season on that lake that wasn’t worth capturing.

  “The waves were really big that day,” she said. “Which is such a weird thing to say about a lake.” She smiled in spite of herself. “Mom told me he probably wasn’t going to be home for dinner and I was disappointed, because I wanted to have a campfire and make s’mores as soon as we were done eating and I knew I’d have to wait.” Her throat constricted and she swallowed a couple of times, trying to dislodge the lump that had suddenly formed. “And then I got mad because it was almost my bedtime and he still wasn’t home, and I knew we weren’t going to have s’mores at all. And it was all his fault.”