Nadine laughed. “I do. The future of Jake’s mackin’ bod all over you again did it.”
Marshall snickered. “Okay, okay. We’re moving on now and at least I can inform Jake and Bobby that she wasn’t around, and that I tried.”
My stomach sank. “What do you mean? You tried?”
He looked at me guiltily. “When Jake found out I was coming to Miami with you, he asked that I check on Sienna.”
10
Alyssa
We spent the next two days chilling at the beach, shopping, eating, and drinking way more than I was supposed to. In the cool of the mornings, I’d managed to slip in a few volleyball sessions with some players my coach hooked me up with. With putting Sienna behind us, we settled down into vacation mode. It was 7:30 AM on the day we were departing for Key West, and Marshall was still asleep. He wore a bright, blue eye-mask to keep the morning light from disturbing his beauty rest. I could also see little pink earplugs poking out from his ears. It made me wonder if I snored.
I began to gather my things to pack and noticed the screen lighting up on Marshall’s phone sitting on the nightstand – JAKE.
My heart pounded and I hit Marshall’s sleeping body. He jumped, pushing up the mask onto his forehead. I stood there, frowning over him.
“What’s happened?” He said, groggily.
“Why is Jake texting you?”
He looked at me bewildered and rubbed his face. He shook his head. “I have no idea, Aly.”
I grabbed his phone and handed it to him. “What does it say?”
Marshall took it from me, staring at it like it wasn’t his. Then he looked at me. “I swear I’m not doing anything behind your back.”
He read the text and by the uneasy look on his face, he didn’t like what he read. “Look.” He stared me straight in the eye. “I swear I didn’t know anything about anything until we pulled up into that driveway the first day I saw you at Jake’s new house.”
“What does the text say?” I felt panic rise inside me.
“He wants to know if I checked on Sienna.”
A mix of anger and betrayal, once again, rose inside me. “Call him.”
“What?”
“Call. Him.” I said, sharply.
Marshall gulped, fiddled with his phone, and handed it to me. I pressed it to my ear as my heart raced. I collapsed on the bed next to Marshall and I put it on speaker phone so he could hear Jake, too.
“Marsh. What’s up?” Jake’s voice rasped.
Hearing Jake’s voice made me stiffen. “No, it’s not Marshall. It’s Aly.”
“Hey.” His voice pitched high. He was surprised to hear me. “How’s the trip?”
“It would be relaxing. Except we’ve been knocking on the wrong doors.”
There was silence on the other end.
“Aly. I just wanna know what she’s up to because of the book. You can’t blame me.”
He was right, but I still didn’t like it. It brought up the blistering past. “You could have arranged to do this some other way, without ruining my vacation.”
“I didn’t force anything. Am I on speaker phone?”
I looked at Marshall. “Yes.”
“Dude, I only asked you to check into it if it wasn’t an inconvenience. I didn’t mean for you to drag Aly into this.”
Marshall frowned at me and I spoke. “Jake. He didn’t drag me into it. I was curious, too.”
“I’m sorry.” Jake said, remorsefully. “I didn’t think twice about asking. It was an off the cuff request.”
“She’s not here. I guess she left with her family.” I informed.
“I hope it didn’t take you out of your way.”
“No, the address you gave was literally down the street from where we’re staying.”
“Good…I’m sorry for asking. It won’t change anything, anyway.” There was a long pause. “Hey, take me off speaker phone.” His voice turned smooth and Marshall nudged me and rolled over tugging the mask back down over his eyes. I moved to my bed.
“What’s up?”
“What are you wearing?”
His playful inquiry made me smile. “Nothing.” I looked over to the heap that was Marshall, buried under his covers.
“I wish I was wearing nothing laying next to you.” He breathed heavily into the phone and chuckled. “Sorry. I can’t help myself. This trip is dragging by on purpose. I can’t wait to see you.”
Same ol’ Jake. Even his cheesy little lines made my pulse quicken. I giggled. “Yeah.”
“Why so short?”
“I think you know why.”
“Okay.” He sighed. “I’m really not gonna let you down this time, Alycat. It’s all falling into place.”
I felt hope hanging on his words. “I’ll see you soon.” I said, trying not to get my hopes up.
#
Nadine waited for us curbside, with her bags already loaded into the car. She was uncommonly cheery. All through our continental breakfast, she was head down into her phone. As soon as we slammed the doors shut and she pulled away from the curb, I had to ask.
“What’s going on? Why are you so happy? You were grumpy as hell the last two days. What’s changed?
“You know how Marty’s mom is like super controlling? Hence part of the reason we haven’t set a wedding date yet?” She rolled her eyes as she changed lanes to get on the interstate. “Marty finally stood up to her a few days ago. I’ve been going back and forth with converting to Judaism because it means more to them than it does to me. I’m not a religious freak, but Marty’s Jewish upbringing and practices are a huge deal, and it’s been a fight to be accepted by his family.”
“And did you set a date?” I asked, with my mouth eagerly hanging open.
“Yes.” She squealed. “I’ve found my forever, Aly!”
“I’m so happy for you, Nadine.” Marshall said, reaching out from the back seat and patting her on the shoulder. “I didn’t know Marty’s family was giving you a hard time.”
She sighed. “It wasn’t something that Marty talked about. He didn’t tell his parents about me for a long time, which was fine by me because I didn’t know if I wanted to marry some dude who was afraid of his mommy.” She laughed. “But it wasn’t that at all. He just respects her beyond words. He’s heavily involved with his community and elders. He was brought up entirely different than me and I find it fascinating.”
“Um, forget about all that! When’s the date?” I butted in.
“Saturday, March twenty-fifth, two-thousand and seventeen.” She beamed, wildly. “I’m getting married! Holy shit!”
Excitement coursed through me, and then shock. I gasped. “Nadine, will you be moving to New York?”
She bobbled her head. “I don’t know, but we’re getting married in New York.”
“Oh my God! I’m so excited for you!” I clapped.
I was undeniably happy for my friend – my best friend. Nadine continued with her story of how it all went down with Marty and his mother. I knew about most of it. Marshall didn’t know anything at all. Marty’s mother was a huge influence in his life and he was expected to marry a Jewish girl, preferably from a family that they knew. Kind of like an arranged marriage. That’s how Marty explained it to Nadine. Marty was set up on a hundred dates in his short adulthood and even more so when his mother had a hunch he’d met someone – a non-Jewish someone. Apparently, Jake was a huge influence in Marty’s decision to defy his parent’s wishes. Nothing surprising there.
Nadine would convert and she was looking forward to it. She would be taking an adult-level introduction course and explained that all of the classes were offered at Marty’s synagogue and synagogues across the United States.
“Wow. So you’re gonna do this? You must really love him.” Marshall said, dreamily. “I get it. I would do anything for Bobby.”
“I just don’t see what the big deal is.” She shrugged. “Marty’s a sane guy. He’s ambitious, loyal, and respectful. He made a great impressio
n on my parents and since I wasn’t raised in any certain religious way, and it’s important to him, I’m fine with that. He makes me happy and I want to make him happy.”
“Wow is right, Marshall.” I said, glancing sideways at Nadine. “I never thought you’d do anything like this.”
“What we do for love and a happy ending, right Aly?”
Maybe.
11
Alyssa
The drive from Miami to Key West took us over five hours. We stopped along the way to eat at a seafood restaurant, and then stopped again at a resort to check out the sights and dip our feet in the water. Our entire plan changed during our drive. Originally, Nadine had booked a quaint boutique hotel with two queen beds and a living room, but Marshall insisted on booking something else after he poked and prodded both Nadine and me about Jake and Marty. He asked me when Jake was arriving and then asked if he minded if Bobby joined us all, too. It was turning into a full-on class reunion of sorts and a part of me was relieved.
Baby steps with Jake.
By the time we reached our new hotel destination at the Sunset Key Cottages, Nadine’s Marty was joining us, too. Marshall wanted to “Go big” to celebrate Nadine’s official engagement, and wouldn’t shut up about wanting to help Nadine with her wedding plans. My head spun. Jake was gonna die.
The Sunset Key Cottages were pretty exclusive. “Marshall Lawrence, what have you done?” I said, with breathy amazement.
I couldn’t believe my eyes when we rolled up in front of a two-story yellow clapboard house with white trim, meeting a furniture-filled veranda, and a grey brick path to the entrance lined by lush trees. Colorful foliage and two white wooden rocking chairs with foam-green pillows sat like bookends at the front door.
“I can tell you right now, Marshall, I can’t afford this.” Nadine shook her head.
“It’s on me…and Bobby, of course. Congratulations on your official engagement, Nadine.” He said, smiling happily. Then he tapped me on the shoulder. “And Aly, thank you for including me. I just wanted all of us to be together. It was too perfect not to try.”
I smiled, feeing happy and a bit nostalgic as I thought about how far we’d all come. “Thank you, Marshall. I think Nadine and I would agree that we’ll pick up stocking the house.”
When Nadine burst through the front door with me fast on her heels, the very first thing I noticed through the window at the other side of the house was a sliver of a blue shimmering swimming pool.
“There’s a pool. No way! We have our own pool!” I darted to the back door, staring out at four lounge chairs perfectly placed side by side next to the swimming pool. A teak wood table sat under the patio awning. I slid open the door and stepped out.
“Oh my God! Look at the kitchen!” I heard Nadine’s voice yell out, faintly.
We would be there enjoying this luxury for a full week, I thought, as I dipped my feet into the cool water of the swimming pool. I stared out at the ocean just beyond the green bushes that lined the perimeter like a fence. Nadine and Marshall joined me.
“Aly, I brought in your bags.” Marshall informed.
“Thank you. I’m sorry. I just had to check this out. I mean, look at the view!”
The house and pool looked out over the ocean and white sand beach. “I’m pretty sure this is where the Gulf of Mexico meets the Atlantic Ocean.”
“I think you’re right.” Nadine agreed. “Hey, I know you wanna relax, because I do after that drive, but let’s get the store run out of the way.”
We left Marshall to relax and went to find a market. A little store was easily found just a few blocks away; however, parking wasn’t. Key West was made for walking and biking. We rounded the block at least eight times before finding a parking spot.
We filled two small carts with everything from cheese and crackers, to wine and a rack of lamb. Nadine had been taking cooking classes and wanted to try out some new recipes. I took off in a different direction to find water and locate some ginger beer, vodka, and lime - the ingredients for my favorite drink, a Moscow Mule. There weren’t many people in the store, but I nearly ran my cart into a child as he ran past the aisle I was coming out of. I heard his mother scold him, “No running in the store.” The boy stopped next to her and she put her arm around his small shoulder and bent down whispering in his ear. I wheeled along, staring at the butter choices, grabbing a pack. I glanced over at the slender woman with shoulder-length blonde hair and my heart froze.
She looked like Sienna, but with blonde hair.
I turned my cart around so fast dashing to the aisle I’d just come from. I stopped with my heart in my throat and peeked around the corner. The boy was bouncing and pointing at the yogurt selection and my brain could barely comprehend what I was seeing…and hearing.
“Mommy, mommy, that one, that one!” His little voice said, excitedly.
“Shush, no screaming indoors, Jackson.”
The woman brushed her hair behind her ear, allowing me a better look. If it wasn’t Sienna, then it was someone who looked just like her. It couldn’t be her. I was seeing things. I stared at the little boy with white blonde hair. He couldn’t be more than three years old. He spun around, looking at his flip-flops, and then as if he knew I was staring at him, he stopped dead still and his bright blue eyes locked on mine.
“What are you doing?” Nadine said, coming up behind me, and I must have jumped as high as the store shelves.
“That lady looks like Sienna.” I said, backing against the cereal shelf, knocking boxes over. I could barely spit the words out. Nadine frowned and stepped to look around the corner. I reached out grabbing her. “Please don’t say anything. I can barely breathe.”
Nadine looked at me concerned. “Dude, calm the fuck down. You’re as pale as a ghost. It’s cool, take a breath.”
I shook my head. My mind went to a place that I hoped was wrong. “Please tell me that’s not her.”
Nadine peeked again. “I can’t tell, Aly. It’s been a long time since I’ve seen her. Let me go say hello or something.”
“No, no…if it’s her I don’t want her to know we know she’s here.”
“Why?”
I gulped, feeling panicked. “Let’s just get the hell out of here, okay?”
“Now I wanna know if it’s her.” Nadine went to look again. “Shit. She’s gone.”
Nadine rolled her cart quickly back in the other direction, looking at the check out lines. She waved for me to come over. My heart raced. I came up behind her, afraid to look. I didn’t think Sienna would recognize Nadine right away, or even at all, even if she stood right next to her. Nadine wasn’t around enough with Sienna in high school or any other time.
“It sure looks like her.”
“I know, but that hair…”
“Let me go over and run into her. She’s paying for her stuff. She won’t think anything of it. Just a weird coincidence.” Nadine tried to assure me.
I was so nervous, but I had to know, especially because of what might be happening. “Okay. I’ll wait here.”
I left my cart where it was and paced from one end of the aisle to the other, pretending I was looking for something.
It can’t be her.
I went back to my cart and looked to see what, if anything, was happening. She was talking to Sienna. They were smiling at each other. A man joined them, wearing a serious expression. He nodded briefly at Nadine before he whisked the little boy away. The woman that I hoped wasn’t Sienna walked out the door.
I was frozen staring at Nadine, waiting for I don’t know what. The look on her face was perplexing. She shrugged with a silly smirk, gesturing for me to come over. I floated to the checkout stand in fear of her answer.
“You were right, it was her.” Nadine began, matter-of-factly, without any real emotion. She didn’t get it. She didn’t see it. “That was her brother-in-law.”
“What else did she say?”
“Nothing. We were just surprised to see each other. I mean, wh
at was I supposed to say?” She leaned into my cart, taking stuff out of the basket, and began placing it on the conveyor belt. “Oh, we were stalking your last known address?”
“Did she say who the kid was? Did you even ask?” My voice strained, annoyed.
Nadine’s face crinkled, nonplussed.
I shook my head, shaken with what I was about to convey. “That kid looks just like Jake, Nadine. That little boy has Jake’s eyes, his hair…” My voice trailed off, afraid to say anymore.
Nadine waved her finger at me. “Don’t you go there, Alyssa. I asked her who he was, and she said it was nice having her family with her these days, that she wasn’t so alone.”
I rolled her words around in my head. “That doesn’t mean anything, Nadine. She didn’t say either way who the little boy was!” I explained under my breath, heated that she didn’t see what I saw. “I heard him call her mommy!”
Nadine’s eyes sprung wide and she stopped what she was doing. Her eyes bounced around my face. “You’re fucking kidding me, right?”
“I wish I was.”
“Maybe you heard incorrectly.” She placed the last item on the belt and rolled the cart out of the way. “No fucking way.”
It totally makes sense now why she disappeared.
We loaded the car with our grocery haul and any excitement, happiness, or hope I’d felt had vanished. All I could see was that kid’s eyes. Jake’s eyes, those topaz blue shimmering eyes staring at me, remembering Jake as kid. That little boy was a spitting image of Jake.
I moaned, whimpering inwardly. “Did she say what she was doing here?”
“Nope.”
“We have to find her.” I said, desperate. “I have to know. This’ll change everything…”
We stared at each other for a long moment in silence, Nadine growing more tense by the second as the gravity of what I said sank in. “How the hell are we gonna do that?”
“Go back into the store and ask the check-out lady if she knows her.” I suggested.
Love Amplified (Heavy Influence Book 3) Page 7