Homecoming

by Lacey Baker

  She pulled Savannah close, holding her in a tight hug.

  “You’re right, he’s not going to die. He’s going to pull through and we’re going to take care of him when he does. You hear me? Remember that time Parker and Preston went on that treasure hunt down at Yates Passage? That was before they’d knocked down all those trees and cleaned up the creek down there. The treasure hunt had led them into what they called the haunted forest and as they’d traipsed along looking for the hidden treasure of Sweetland they’d accidentally knocked down that wasp nest. Parker had been stung three times, but Preston hadn’t been stung once since he’d caked on some concoction your grandmother had made him. Parker complained the concoction stank to high heaven and refused to put it on.”

  Nikki talked as Savannah sobbed, tears streaming down her face now even as she smiled with the memory.

  “We were only eight years old then,” Savannah whispered.

  Nikki nodded. “And we sat right by Parker’s bed bringing him lemonade and giving him the Tylenol your grandmother said he needed for the pain.”

  “His face was all swollen. He looked like a mutant.”

  Nikki laughed because Savannah had been very concerned with Parker’s face. Praying hard every night that the good Lord would fix it so he was cute again, even though at thirteen the last thing Parker wanted to hear his younger sister say to him was that he was cute. Now, if Casey Merriweather had said that to him, it would have been a different story entirely.

  “But in a couple of days he was up out of that bed chasing us out of the house and calling us little hellions once more.”

  Savannah nodded as she pulled away, using her fingers to wipe the tears from beneath her eyes like she thought her eyeliner might have smeared. She wasn’t wearing any but Nikki figured old habits were hard to break.

  “Yeah, he chased us down to the water that time and we both dirtied our white shorts. My mother yelled for days about that,” Savannah said, now smiling with the memory.

  “My mother simply shook her head and tossed them in the trash. She said she knew it was a mistake for us to wear white when we could barely keep our denim clothes clean.” Nikki took Savannah’s hand as they continued to walk.

  “Mrs. Brockington was always a different type of mother than my mom.”

  Nikki didn’t know what to say to that. Patricia Cantrell had been a different type of woman than the women of Sweetland. She’d held herself above them and didn’t socialize with anyone but her husband. Nikki remembered her mother saying, “That woman’s like a bird stuck in a cage. She’s trying so hard to break out and when she does she’s gonna fly so far and so fast, Clifford Cantrell won’t know where to find her.”

  Well, Clifford Cantrell hadn’t needed to worry with how far his wife flew away from Sweetland. She’d stayed until the day after his funeral. Only the kids knew how fast she’d gone, leaving them for what Nikki believed was forever.

  “We’ll take care of Parker, just like Gramma taught us,” Savannah said when they came up to the automatic coffee machine.

  “We certainly will,” Nikki agreed.

  “Now, what do you want? Decaf, cappuccino, hot chocolate?”

  “Please, I like my caffeine punch hard, fast, and cold as ice.” Savannah reached into her pocket and pulled out a couple of dollar bills, slipping them into the machine she retrieved a Coke and opened it instantly. Taking a huge gulp she smacked her lips and smiled at Nikki.

  “Dealing with an injured Parker is going to take all the energy I have,” she said, laughing.

  Nikki laughed along with her, enjoying the memories they shared and the closeness that seemed to be reemerging between them. Parker Cantrell would recover and Nikki would stand by her best friend’s side as he did. Nothing else mattered, not even the other Cantrell man who had also brought back memories for her. Quinn hadn’t paid her any attention years ago when she’d begun pining after him, and he wasn’t paying her any attention now. The difference now was that Nikki had grown up. Pining for Quinn was something she absolutely would not do, not ever again.

  * * *

  One week after Parker’s accident, when he was being released and prescribed home physical therapy three times a week, Quinn left Sweetland.

  “I can’t believe you’re just going to leave again!” Michelle protested. “Parker’s coming home today, he’s going to need a lot of help. I have catering orders and we have guests at the inn. Bay Day celebration is coming up and I have to get ready for that.”

  “I’ll be here for the rest of the summer,” Raine announced from her perch near the window. She spent a lot of time simply staring out the window and Quinn wondered if what she found out there was more interesting than what was going on in here. Probably more relaxing, he figured with a frown.

  “See, you won’t be alone,” he told Michelle and knew instinctively he’d messed up with her again.

  “That’s real grand, Quinn. You said you’d taken a leave of absence from work. So I don’t understand your need to run back to Seattle right at this moment.”

  She might understand if he explained, but Quinn wasn’t 100 percent sure himself. He just knew that this was what he had to do. He was already packed and had arranged to turn in his rental car at the airport. This was the right decision, he was sure of it.

  “We haven’t even figured out what to do about the taxes. The money Raine and I have put up isn’t enough. And I’m pouring every extra dime I have into my catering business. Quinn, this needs to be taken care of sooner rather than later. Inez called me the other day to ask when we’d be making payment.”

  “You tell Inez King she can deal directly with me,” he said, more than a little annoyed.

  “Preston went to speak with Inez,” Michelle told him with a sigh. “They won’t budge on the penalties and interest. It’s exactly two years’ worth of taxes. If we don’t pay in the next thirty days…” She trailed off, tears shining in her eyes.

  “Don’t worry. They won’t do a damned thing. Not by the time I get through with that greedy couple. It’s all going to work out, Michelle. And I’ll call every day to check on Parker’s progress. The therapist we hired will be here three times a week so he should be recovering well,” he said.

  “Parker’s a fighter. He’ll do just fine,” Raine added. She’d looked at Quinn with such sad eyes. But she didn’t say anything. Raine never accused or judged, she always waited patiently for explanations and tried her damndest to accept them even when others wouldn’t. This time she was at Michelle’s side. She wanted him to stay, thought he owed it to all of them, especially Parker, to stay. But he couldn’t.

  Deciding the conversation with his sisters wasn’t going to get any better unless he promised to stay, Quinn walked toward the door. “Tell Savannah I’ll call her, too,” he told them, knowing the words fell on deaf ears. Neither Michelle nor Raine looked as if they wanted to hear what he’d said.

  He was doing the right thing, Quinn told himself as he grabbed his bags from beside the door. Dixi barked in what was probably protest as he picked up her carrier and headed out. She’d want to stay here where she was born because Dixi wasn’t like him. She loved her family, loved her home. Now he was making her a deserter as well. As he climbed into the car Quinn promised to make it up to Dixi. He’d make it up to all of them.

  * * *

  “He’s gone!” Savannah yelled the moment Nikki opened the door for her that evening.

  “Hey, Savannah. Come on in and have a seat,” Nikki said with a half smile. She and Savannah had been spending a lot of time together lately.

  They’d shopped, had lunch, visited the salon—which Nikki had begun to enjoy—and even gone to a happy hour at Charlie’s Bar one night. It had been fun laughing and having drinks—Nikki preferred the fruity type because it masked the taste of the alcohol. At any rate it had been really good to have a friend again.

  “Did you hear me?” she asked, flopping down onto the couch. “He’s gone. Just like that, he packe
d his bags, took his yapping dog, and left. I can’t believe him sometimes!”

  “Who are we talking about?” Nikki asked. She sat cross-legged on the other end of the couch.

  “Quinn! He left this morning to go back to Seattle,” Savannah said before lying back on the chair. She was a very animated talker; the more her mouth moved, the more her hands, arms, and whatever else she could put in motion on her body to accentuate what she was saying did as well. Right now she’d lifted her arms into the air and let them fall dramatically down at her sides. She was clearly flustered by this event.

  Nikki, however, didn’t really know how she felt about it. She hadn’t spoken to Quinn since the night of the accident, a whole week ago. She’d seen him here and there at the B&B but for the most part he’d stayed at the hospital with Parker. Each day, however, Dixi would come into her office, all feet and wobbly stomach because she was gaining weight. Nikki would take at least an hour to go outside and play with her. After the second day of this happening she figured it wasn’t a mistake and that someone must be ushering the puppy to her office—her first guess was that that someone was Quinn. It made her feel like she and Quinn were divorcing parents sharing custody of their child, and for a few moments of each of the hours she spent with Dixi, she allowed herself to feel sad about that correlation.

  “So he’s gone. Did you say he took Dixi with him?” she asked curiously. From the start Quinn had been resistant to owning a dog, and almost more resistant to Dixi and her needs. It was a fact he’d never hidden or apologized for.

  “Yes, he took her. Which makes me feel like crap for not wanting my little bundle of joy,” Savannah continued.

  “I don’t think that was his goal,” Nikki heard herself say then clapped her lips shut.

  Savannah turned her head to face Nikki. She was still lying back on the chair, trying hard to keep her hands still but not succeeding. “I know you are not defending him. He practically dumped you and ran across the country. Doesn’t that piss you off?”

  Now that she put it that way …

  “No,” Nikki said shaking her head. “That’s not actually what happened. We’d decided to part ways before he left.” At least that’s what she figured was best. He’d called her another woman’s name, a dead woman at that. Hell yeah it was over! No matter how much she still thought about him.

  “Right, well that didn’t stop him from watching you like some lovesick teenager every chance he could get.”

  “And when would those chances have been?” she asked, wondering what Savannah was talking about. The woman changed subjects like she changed shoes, frequently and impulsively.

  “At the hospital and at the house. It seemed like wherever you were he was lurking around somewhere like a stalker just looking at you. I told him how pitiful it was and he rudely told me to mind my own business.”

  Nikki almost laughed because that sounded just like how Quinn used to treat them when they were younger. But they weren’t young anymore. They were adults and she and Quinn had been lovers. Now it seemed they were back to being nothing. She’d be lying if she said it didn’t sting a bit. Like a swarm of angry bees vying for an available spot on her body to take aim.

  Her phone rang before she could comment again and Nikki silently thanked the heavens for the reprieve. She wasn’t sure what she would have said next or what she didn’t actually say would have revealed.

  “Hello?” she answered, still wondering about Quinn.

  “Hi, Nikki. This is Jonah.”

  “Hey, Jonah. What’s going on?” she asked, instantly on alert. Jonah was a cop and as of late she hadn’t had such a good rapport with the police.

  “Are you busy? I can call back if you’re doing something?”

  For as long as she’d known Jonah he’d always been shy. He’d grown into an attractive man with thick, dark blond hair that he kept cut short, and warm brown eyes. After high school he’d even beefed up a bit. Probably due to his training in the police academy, but it had made him one of the best catches in the Sweetland bachelor pool.

  “No. Savannah and I are just sitting here talking. Did you need something?”

  “Yes, ah, I wanted to ask you something.” He cleared his throat.

  “Okay.”

  “Bud Nesby’s having a grand opening party for his new hot dog joint tomorrow night. I was just wondering if you’d like to go with me. Nothing fancy, you know, we could just go down and check the place out, have a drink or a bite to eat. If you don’t want to go that’s fine. I just thought we could go together or something.”

  Nikki was flattered. Jonah was asking her out on a date. But she should probably say no. That would be the right thing to do. Why? Clearly she wasn’t seeing anyone at the moment. Not only was that relationship over, he’d gone back across the country, so that wasn’t even a consideration. So she should say yes.

  “Nikki?” he asked.

  “Ah, yes, I’m sorry. I’m still here,” she said with a smile. “Sure, I’d love to go to the opening with you tomorrow.”

  Hanging up the phone, she heard Savannah laugh.

  “Wow, I guess you really don’t care that Quinn’s gone,” Savannah quipped.

  Chapter 23

  Two weeks later

  June was half over. In two weeks, the town would be all decorated and ready to celebrate its annual Bay Day. Even though the all-day events didn’t start until Saturday, this year they’d celebrate the entire first week of July, including a huge fireworks display on the Fourth.

  With that in mind Odell and Cordy had planned Nikki’s congratulatory barbecue for the last Saturday of June. They’d invited just about everyone in Sweetland and rented tents and chairs that now lined Odell’s backyard so that it looked like there was a wedding reception going on. Odell probably wished that’s what she was celebrating instead of Nikki’s promotion to manager of The Silver Spoon.

  That wish was totally out of Nikki’s control. Marriage wasn’t on the horizon for her. In fact, after three dates with Jonah, she’d finally had to tell him that there was only friendship in their future. He just wasn’t the one. He’d seemingly accepted that fact without too much response. Nikki got the impression that he’d sensed her hesitance pretty early on. She knew he’d find a really terrific woman to fall in love with someday. As for her, Nikki was almost certain her heart wasn’t ready for another trip on the love train.

  Savannah had called earlier this morning, telling Nikki she might not make it to the festivities today. She had an emergency Skype meeting set up with her agent. Nikki had heard a lot about Savannah’s career and her life in general. For all that it appeared to be glitz and glamour, she sensed it was also stressful and maybe becoming too much for Savannah to handle—hence the reason she was still in Sweetland, a month after Mrs. Cantrell’s death.

  The only Cantrell whom Nikki actually expected to see today would be Michelle and that was because she was bringing her version of summer punch and four of her almond pound cakes. That’s what Odell had told Ralph last night when he’d asked what was on the menu. Nikki’s father was a diabetic so he didn’t eat much by way of sweets anymore, but Michelle’s almond pound cake was one of his favorites so Odell would let him slide today.

  As she took the steps from her apartment Nikki was actually in a pretty good mood. The sun was shinning brightly, but the forecast wasn’t calling for high humidity, just a nice summer day. The grill was already lit; she could smell the charcoal and saw the billow of smoke over by the trees where Caleb and Brad had set it up early this morning. By now it would be good and hot and ready for all the meat and other goodies they had to go on it.

  “Well, hello, and congratulations,” Michelle said as she was getting out of her car and heading around to the trunk.

  Nikki continued down the walkway until she was standing right beside her. Michelle had a really quiet type of pretty. You tended to forget about it on a daily basis because she was always in the kitchen or in the restaurant or doing something in bet
ween the two places. But at times like this, when she just walked up with a smiling face, Nikki was reminded how pretty she was and how awfully lonely she tended to look.

  “Hi, let me help you,” Nikki offered, reaching into the trunk to pick up one of the cakes wrapped in plastic wrap and aluminum foil.

  “You’re not supposed to be working today, you’re the guest of honor.”

  Nikki laughed. “Please, you know how it is around here. Everybody pitches in.”

  “Yeah, I know. It’s a good day, though. They were talking about rain earlier in the week but it cleared up pretty nicely.”

  Both of them had their hands full now and were headed toward the first tent where all the precooked food was being stored.

  “It did and I’m so glad. There’s even a nice breeze,” Nikki noted.

  “Sure is. I left Ms. Cleo and Lily in the yard so they could get some air.”

  “Good idea,” Nikki said, nodding. Michelle had purchased an outdoor gate that almost looked like a child’s playpen but was much bigger. During the day she let all the dogs go out there to play and get some exercise. This way, nobody had to chase them down when it was time to come in. If it was too humid she’d keep them inside. Most days Savannah’s puppy Micah would also join them because Savannah didn’t know what to do with the dog besides yell at it or run from it.

  While Parker had been in the hospital Michelle had taken care of Rufus for him. And last she’d heard Preston had someone coming to look at Coco for a possible adoption. Raine, who had moved in with Michelle to free up another room at the inn, kept the adorable Loki with her most of the time, almost as if he were her only friend in the world.

  “They love being out there,” Nikki commented finally when they’d pushed through the open flap that served as a door and crossed to the tables lined in a U shape around the tent.