by Tonya Kappes
I looked behind me. Kelly was getting their order together.
“Are you the only company employees here in Honey Springs?” I asked Mike.
“Yes. But I hear you’re really trying to keep the Bee Farm.” He reached around to his pocket and pulled out his wallet.
“I am. It’s just that a big resort will run off the bees. I’m sure if you’d like to see other property along the lake, my mom can show you.” I handwrote their total because I didn’t want it to go into the cash register. “She’s a realtor in town.”
“I think we are going to stick with the Bee Farm. It’s like a little piece of paradise and it’s fun to take the ferry over.” Sharon stepped up and talked over Mike. “Don’t worry. We’ll be very neighborly.”
When Mike handed me the money, I knew I needed to give him change. I carefully watched where his fingers were when I took it.
“I’ll be right back with your change.” I scurried into the kitchen and grabbed a plastic bag along with a pen. I carefully drew an arrow pointing to the outside of the area where his thumb had been and placed it into the baggie.
I was going to do the same thing with the other two men and rushed back out to the coffeehouse before they could pay Kelly.
“My change?” Mike was standing at the register.
“Oh, that’s right. Duh.” I giggled and opened the register, giving him change.
He looked at me like I’d lost my mind and I wanted to tell him that he was right. but I pinched a smile.
“Macchiato latte.” The taller of the two men handed me a ten dollar bill. “Keep the change.” He nodded.
I ran back into the kitchen and did the same thing with his money.
When I got back to the register, all of them were staring at me.
“Macchiato?” I questioned in a chipper voice.
The shorter one handed me a ten and also told me to keep the change.
“Do you have this now?” I asked Kelly.
“I do,” she answered.
I couldn’t tell by the look on her face if she was scared or entertained, but I didn’t have time to ask.
“Come back and see me when they’re gone,” I told her as I disappeared into the kitchen to change my clothes.
Sassy, Pepper, and Norman all pushed through the door to look for me. I was standing over the workstation eyeballing the three baggies labeled Mike, Tall Guy, and Short Guy.
“Bev has left town, which means that Spencer let her go.” I wrote on the whiteboard. “There was a guy that went to the costume shop to purchase a wig. He has to be the same man that went into the bank with Ron. Let’s look at the fingerprints.”
I tapped the marker on my temple.
“Think, Roxy, think,” I encouraged myself with my eyes closed. “You didn’t work your way through law school and pay it off just to forget everything you learned.”
Instead of writing more, I headed into the bathroom and quickly changed into a little red dress that Patrick had always liked. A little fluff of the hair, a swipe of lipstick, and a change into heels and I was ready to go.
“Did you want to see me?” Kelly was standing next to the island and looking at the whiteboard.
“I did. Is it all locked up out there?” I asked.
“Of course.”
“What was it that you learned in science class about fingerprinting?” I asked.
“It’s the coolest thing. Why?” She stopped after she realized I wasn’t asking her just to make conversation. “Does it have to do with these baggies of money?”
“Yes. I know that it’s hard to lift prints off money. It’s a long story about a client of mine when I was a lawyer. It has to do with grease on the finger and contact on the paper.” I waved my hands in front of me. “I need to lift their prints.”
“You need wart cream,” she said as if it were something I should’ve known.
“Wart cream?” Now I was the one looking at her funny.
“Yeah. The way my professor explained it is the silver nitrate in the cream that infiltrates the paper. It reacts with the sweat in the fingerprint to make it silver chloride. You have to let it dry overnight and then expose it to ultraviolet light. Then you’ll see the print.” She rattled off the directions like it was the easiest thing to do.
“Say what?” I was all sorts of confused.
“Okay. Let’s act like it’s a recipe,” she said.
Now she was talking my language.
Seventeen
The twinkling lights draped all over the boardwalk were just as magical in the fall as they were in the summer. Or maybe it was the romantic dinner at the Watershed I was getting ready to have with Patrick that sent my heart racing and filled my heart with joy.
The floating restaurant was on the opposite side of the boardwalk from the marina. I loved walking by the stores along that side of the boardwalk. The Knick Knack was a fun place to find unique gifts. The Walk In The Bark Pet Boutique was Pepper’s absolute favorite. I’d yet to go to Touched By An Angel Spa for a treatment, but it was on my list of things to do soon. Next to the spa was the Crooked Cat, my favorite shop in Honey Springs.
I’d spent a lot of time there as a child, sitting at the same front window in probably the same bean bag. Aunt Maxi would leave me there for hours when I visited each summer. Even Patrick started to hang out with me there. He had to if he wanted to spend time with me. I’d read and he’d watch. That’s when I knew he loved me.
The Watershed was so romantic. It had glass walls that let you take in the beauty of the lake no matter what time of day. Tonight the stars had already started to pop out and the moon was shining brightly. It was a nice clear autumn night. Perfect for snuggling later.
“Good evening,” the hostess smiled. “You must be Roxy.”
“I am.” I was excited to hear my name, knowing Patrick had already told her to look for me.
“Right this way.” She had me follow her through the restaurant.
The tables were covered in white linens with the fancy white napkins rolled to perfection with the utensils inside. It was all sorts of fancy. The votive candles in the middle of the table were the primary light source after the glass ceiling. Its automatic shades had been opened completely, letting the customers take in the magnificent view of the sky that blanketed Honey Springs.
“Miss, this way.” The hostess opened the door to the outside and held it for me.
Hesitant, I walked out. Patrick was standing on the bow of a cabin cruiser, dressed in a button-down shirt with a sweater over it and khakis. He had a bouquet of red roses in one hand and the other outstretched for me.
“Patrick,” I gushed. “Are we. . .” My voice cracked when I realized he’d rented the cabin cruiser for our special dinner.
“We are going to eat and stay on the lake tonight.” He hoisted me up on the bow and handed me the flowers.
“Stay on the cruiser?” I asked with excitement. This had been something I wanted to do so badly since we’d started dating and gotten engaged.
“I know you’ve wanted this and now that I’m your husband, I’m going to make sure you get everything your heart desires.” He pulled me into his arms. His lips found mine and I accepted the softest and warmest kisses that started the evening off just right.
Ahem.
We parted and looked to see who was staring at us.
“I’m sorry to interrupt, but here are the babies.” Kelly was standing on the dock with Pepper on one leash and Sassy on the other.
“I asked Kelly to bring the dogs after you walked down so we didn’t have to go back and get them.” Patrick jumped down to the dock and picked up them up one by one.
“Roxy, Spencer showed up at the last second and I got him to take Norman home for the night.” There was a sneaky smile on her face.
“You are so good. I was thinking the same thing.” I knew she too knew that Norman belonged with Spencer, even though Spencer didn’t know it yet. “Both grouchy. Both smell in their own unique way
.”
We all laughed.
“Did he say what he wanted?” I asked.
“Don’t answer that.” Patrick hoisted himself up on the bow of the boat and curled his arm around my waist. “We aren’t talking about anything but us tonight.”
“I’m going to leave you two to this romantic night.” Kelly waved goodbye and took off.
The dogs ran around for a little bit while Patrick and I enjoyed a glass of wine. The captain of the boat had untied us from the dock and glided us through the no-wake zone going the opposite direction of the boardwalk.
I lay back in Patrick’s arms to enjoy the slow movement of the boat. We had a big quilt laid over us to help ward off the crisp air. Sassy and Pepper had settled on a couch across from us. They’d really taken to this sibling thing.
“I can’t believe you did this.” My heart was overflowing with joy. This was the reason I knew I shouldn’t stick my nose into Ron’s murder investigation. I had everything I had ever wanted in my life on this boat.
“I love you, Roxanne.” His warm breath tickled my ear, clashing with the cool breeze from the lake.
The cruiser never came close to its top speed. The slow pace of the boat barely made any waves as it pulled into our cove. A smile swept across my face.
“Is this good, sir?” The captain came up to the front of the boat.
“This is perfect.” Patrick couldn’t take his eyes off of me. “This is our cove.”
“I know it is.” Memories of us as teenagers slipping out of church and sneaking down to the lake played like a movie in my head. “Our first kiss.”
“It changed my life. You changed my life that summer.” Patrick looked at me as if there was nothing else in this world to see. “At that moment, I knew I was going to bring you back here as my wife one day. I made that promise and kept it to myself and when you surprised me a couple of nights ago, it was all I could think about.”
The captain reappeared with a small cart with plates covered by silver domes on the top, middle, and bottom shelves. There was another bottle of wine chilling in a canister. He rolled it over to us.
“Madame?” The captain had grabbed a napkin and placed it into my lap. “Sir.” He did the same to Patrick. He plucked the lids off the plates. “Dinner is served.” He plucked another two domes off. “Sassy and Pepper, dinner is served.”
“You thought of everything.” I leaned over and kissed Patrick.
“That’ll be all,” Patrick told the captain. He disappeared to somewhere on the boat.
“Did you tell the inn that we wouldn’t be there tonight?” I asked Patrick while I enjoyed the amazing steak dinner he’d picked out for me.
“I did. I had a drink with Walker before I got here and he’s just beside himself. He mentioned you’d stopped by the station and chatted with Camey.” Patrick’s face glowed from the light of the moon. The crickets and bull frogs played romantic background music for us.
“I really don’t think she did it and I’ve gotten some. . .” Patrick lifted his fork to my mouth to shut me up. I enjoyed a bite of the mashed potatoes. “I get it. No talking about the murder.”
“No. But I do have some good news.” His brown eyes reminded me of the yummy chocolate mocha from the coffeehouse. Deep, dark, delicious. “Cane Construction is donating ten thousand dollars to the Bee Farm.”
“Patrick,” I gasped. “That’s so close to what Andrew and Kayla need to buy some new colonies.”
“I know. That means this whole thing will be over and you can move on so we can start our life.” Patrick reached over and placed his hand on mine. “I told you that I’m giving you everything your heart desires and that means no resort. And I thought that maybe you’d like to donate some of the proceeds from the sale of the cabin to add to it.”
“The sale of my cabin?” I questioned.
“Were you thinking of using it as a season rental?” He asked with a very serious face.
“I wasn’t going to do anything other than have us live in it.” I hadn’t realized until the words left my mouth that the cabin was where I wanted to stay.
“What about my house?” He asked.
“I don’t know. I love that house, but I don’t see me owning it.” Something about owning a house that Aunt Maxi loved and had to give up because of the bad economics of Honey Springs at the time didn’t feel right.
“I never thought you’d feel that way.” He picked up his napkin and wiped his mouth.
“There are a lot of things we haven’t talked about that we probably should’ve.” I could see the confusion on his face. “Like where we do want to donate. Church. Kids. Kids’ education,” I rattled off a few things that were sitting in the forefront of my mind.
“I like what we’ve done so far.” He took my hand again. “Maybe I’m a dreamer, but as issues come up, I feel confident that you and I can take them head on.”
“Like where we’re going to live?” I asked.
“No. If you want to stay in the cabin, we can do that.” He squeezed my hand before letting go. “The house would be a great rental for a big family reunion or company retreat.”
A sigh escaped me and my heart flipped over. He stood up and helped me to stand.
“Thank you for picking me, Patrick Cane.” I wrapped my arms around him and knew I’d always be safe in them and everything would always be right in our world.
Eighteen
The next morning the coffeehouse still had to open and four-thirty a.m. came very quickly. When I got up to shower on the cruiser, I’d realized we’d already pulled back into the boat slip at the Watershed. After a night of drinking wine and talking about our future, I fell fast asleep and never felt the boat move.
Patrick, Sassy, and Pepper were still asleep, like they usually were when I left this early. I had such gratitude in my heart and knew that no matter where life took all of us, we would always be together.
On my walk down the boardwalk, I turned my phone on and a text from Kelly immediately came through. She let me know that she had gone ahead and done the wart cream experiment since she knew it would have to dry overnight. She left with instructions on how to get the fingerprints, but I had a different idea. One that Patrick wouldn’t like, but it was my only option.
Call my favor into Kirk. My ex-you know what.
“Roxy, are you OK?” Kirk answered in the dead asleep voice that I’d gotten to know so well when I’d call him in the middle of the night and he pretended to have fallen asleep at the office when he was really down at the Motel 8 with his fling of the month.
“I’m fine.” I put the key in the door of the coffeehouse and entered, flipping on the lights as I went through. “In fact, I’m more than fine. I just got married.”
“Congratulations?” He asked.
“No need to hear that from you. I’m calling in the favor you owe me.” I turned on the commercial coffeepots behind the counter and made my way back into the kitchen to turn the ovens on.
“I don’t owe you a favor.” He seemed to be more alert.
“You owe me more than one favor. You owe me several for giving up the law practice to you and not slandering you in public by giving you a nice quiet divorce,” I reminded him.
“You’re still a good lawyer,” he told me something I already knew. “What’s the favor?”
“You know your guy in the FBI in forensics?” I asked and looked at the little experiment Kelly had left on the kitchen island.
“Yeah.”
“I need you to meet me in Central Park in Honey Springs around ten this morning. I’ve got something I need you to take to him and have him process as soon as possible as in yesterday.” I left no room for negotiation.
“Roxy.” Hearing Kirk call me that hurt my ears.
“You owe me. Ten o’clock sharp.” I ended the call and proceeded to get all my morning chores done. Before I knew it, Bunny was waddling through the door.
The morning went smoothly. There was some talk about the resort
and Ron’s murder, but mostly it was about how beautiful the foliage had changed with the cool front that’d come through. How the trees painted the most gorgeous backdrop for the cozy town. It was as if we lived inside of one of those magnificent paintings that’d hung in a very high end art gallery.
Bunny was all set for the next few hours. I headed out to meet Kirk in Central Park before going to Hill’s Orchard to pick up the donation for the Bee Farm from Jean and purchase some new jams I needed for the coffeehouse’s November goodies.
Kirk was already waiting for me in the gazebo in the middle of Central Park. I made sure that I parked where no one would see me meeting with Kirk. The last thing I needed today was a phone call from Patrick about it. I would tell him, but after I’d gotten the information I needed.
“So you really did it.” Kirk handed me the newspaper. It was already open to page six, with that awesome photo of me bobbing for apples. “I can’t believe you did it. You look good.”
“Thanks.” It was hard for me not to give a smart comeback, but in that moment, I realized what I had in my life and was grateful for Patrick. Those feelings completely overrode any sort of animosity I had towards Kirk.
Luckily, Kirk and I were never truly in love. But there was still the fact that he’d cheated and that still really hurt.
“I’ve got all the information he needs in the packet.” I handed him a big envelope that contained the three baggies of money, a note to his FBI guy, and my contact information.
“What’s this about?” Kirk asked as he looked at the sealed envelope.
“None of your business. Just take it to him now. After this, you’ll never hear from me again.” I wanted to let him know that this was the last favor I’d ever ask of him.
“Got it. I’ll text you after I drop it off to him.” He took his cell phone off of his belt loop. “I’ll call him now and take it to him before my first deposition this morning.”
“I’ll be waiting for your text,” I called over my shoulder, fully aware he was totally thinking about how he’d messed up the best thing he’d ever have in his life.