She tried to think back to the exact last time she’d seen her brother. “I haven’t seen him much lately. He’s been staying away.”
Sam nodded toward her wrist. “Did he do this?”
She couldn’t fault him for thinking it. Even Nate had questioned it.
“My brother has anger issues, but he didn’t hurt me.” She wasn’t lying. He’d come to her for the truth and she couldn’t do that to him. “It’s true we argued and things got really bad, but he slammed out of the cottage and I went to go after him. I ended up falling down the porch steps.”
Pete hadn’t touched her. But his anger had become an issue she couldn’t ignore.
He looked at her for a long time. He was trying to gauge whether he could trust her words. “Okay, I’ll take you at what you say, but the truth is, your brother needs to stay away from the alcohol and get some help with his anger. Right now, he’s only hurting himself. You need to talk to him and have him get some help.”
The unspoken part of that was enough to send her heart sinking. He was right. Without Peter getting some help, it was never going to get better.
“I appreciate you coming out to tell me. I’ll talk to him.”
Chapter 6
Nate plopped himself onto a stool at the counter. The Diner was filled with locals, all gathering up the latest news and having a break before the fishing and tourist season began. During the winter, the only time you saw your neighbors was for church functions, grocery shopping, or eating out.
“Morning, Deb. Can I get a cup of coffee?” But Deb was already on her way over with a cup in one hand and the pot of steaming coffee in the other.
“Way ahead of you this morning, Nate.” She poured the cup and pulled a couple of white cream packets from her apron pocket. “How are things going? I heard you had a heck of a time with a bunch of sheep yesterday.”
“That’s putting it mildly. I’d promised Sadie I’d bring her sheep out to her on the island. For some reason I didn’t really think through the part about them being a loose, wandering pile of wool that smelled.”
She laughed. “Word is that one of them got loose?”
Nate shuddered. “I don’t think so, but it was so hard to keep track of them when they were moving around so much. Better to have them contained on an island where they can’t escape and someone else could pick up after them.”
“So how are you doing?” He took a sip of the coffee and all but sighed. Caffeine nirvana, enough to get him through the day and help him figure out how he was going to go about convincing Kara to let him help her. She was a stubborn one, but he was more pigheaded.
“Oh, I’m okay. Kevin’s having a bit of trouble with school, but we’re working on it.” The mention of her teenage son brought up foggy recollections of tall, thin teenager with curly brown hair. "I'm telling you, I don't know what I'm going to do with that kid. School holds no interest for him. All his teachers will tell me is that sits there and looks out at the ocean all day."
Nate could sympathize. That'd been him in school, but eventually he'd gotten it together and managed to go to college, get his Captain's license, his own business.
"Don't worry, Deb. He'll figure it out. Right now, he just is trying to figure out where he fits into all of this. You're doing a great job. I can't imagine what it's like raising a teenager by myself."
Truth be told, he'd never given being a parent much thought. It had always been sort of something to think about if and when he ever got married. And he'd never had a relationship that he wanted to take that far.
Until now. The thought popped into his head and surprised the hell out of him. Heck, he wasn't even sure if he was in a relationship. Two kisses in fifteen years and a night of hotter than hot sex didn't necessarily sound like the basis for a typical relationship. Then again, they weren't exactly a typical couple.
“What about finding Kevin a job? Something to keep him motivated?"
She shook her head as she finished wiping down the counter and threw the rag in a bin under the counter. "He's been all over town looking for a job. No one's hiring at this time of year. They've barely got enough to keep them going till fishing season."
At this they both nodded their heads in understanding.
Someone called out for their bill and Deb went to their table. Nate looked down the crowded bar and spotted a familiar face under a hoodie and a pair of sunglasses, a coffee gripped between his hands as he hovered over the cup.
Pete Simpson.
Any sane man would know he should stay out of Kara's business. She wouldn't like it if he meddled in what was actually family business, but damned if he wasn't crazy.
He pushed his plate back and slid off his stool. The place was busy, but not enough that he cared if they heard. The town knew everything anyway.
Nate came around the counter and a few interested faces turned his way. He didn't bother to stop and chat, he had a mission and he was going to see it through.
If Pete saw him coming, he didn't bother to look up, just continued to stare into his coffee cup. Nate reached out and set his hand on his shoulder. There was no jump, no sign of being startled, so he must have seen him coming.
"Hey, got a minute?" He tried to keep his tone easy, for all the people that weren't suddenly very interested in their own cups of coffee.
"I'm busy, Nate.” Pete's voice sounded tired and hollow. “We'll talk later."
Nate slid onto the stool next to Pete and set his cup on the counter. To the casual onlooker it was nothing more than two guys having a friendly chat. But he was all too aware that everyone in the room knew there was something at stake.
"Well now, you don't look busy and I just want to chat."
Pete used both hands to raise the cup to his lips. There was a mere tremble in his movements.
Nate mimicked the movement, raising the cup to his own mouth to cover the sound of his words. "Your sister has been looking for you."
"Yeah?" He didn't sound surprised.
"You should let her know you're not dead. Give her a break. She worries about you."
"It's none of your business, Nate. Stay out of it.” The cup came down on the counter with a thunk. “This is between my sister and me."
"It is my business. She needs your help."
Peter tipped his face up and groaned, still not meeting Nate' look. "You don't know anything about this. I told you to stay out of it." There was barely contained anger just below his shaky surface. This boy was ready to pop and it wasn't going to take much to set him off.
All conversations in the restaurant stopped and the people who'd been covertly listening were now all but leaning forward in their seats in curiosity.
Nate leaned in toward the counter, doing his best to keep his voice low. The last thing he needed was for her to find out that he'd talked to Pete before he could tell her. Kara wasn't going to be pleased as it is.
"I'm making it my business. Your sister is nursing an injured wrist while she watches everything she's worked for go down the drain. The least you can do is get off your sorry ass and help her out. Everyone in town knows she's bailed you out more than once. Time to man up and take care of her for a change."
He expected Pete to hit him. He'd have almost bet on it. Heck, if anyone had said it to him he'd have hit them. But Pete just stayed where he was, silently gripping that coffee mug. “Who made you my sister’s caretaker?”
It took everything he had not to launch himself off the stool. “I did. Just once, you should put yourself aside and look out for her. She’s been doing it for you all these years. You owe her.”
“I know.” The words were simple and the end to the conversation. Pete pushed back off the stool and threw a couple dollars on the counter before heading out the door.
Nate went back to his place at counter. Every eye was on him as he reached into his pocket and pulled a couple of worn bills out, placing them next to his plate. Deb stood in front of him, coffee pot in hand and a ton of questions in her eyes
.
"Tell Kevin I'll see what we can do about getting him a job."
"I appreciate that, Nate. You know, you don't have to do it." She was grateful. That much was evident.
"Yes, I do. We're a small town. We help each other out. Whether they want it or not." And he went out the door.
* * *
So far she’d gotten a total of three lobster traps done in eight hours. The stack of bright yellow traps was mocking her from the sideline of her work bench. At this rate she might have the order complete by next Christmas. It would be going faster, but the wire bending machine she used to bend the plastic-coated wire mesh into place had refused to work this morning.
Just another thing going haywire in her life. She doubted she had the money to fix the machine; without it she was left to bending the wire by hand. All this meant putting pressure on her bad wrist.
“Damn. Double damn.” She left it all in place and went back to pull a soda out of the mini fridge she kept in her office. The stack of bills on her desk were calling her name. There wouldn’t be avoiding them for much longer.
She was lucky to have the business she had. Most of them came to her because she was local, or they’d dealt with her father. But loyalty could only go so far. They could easily go to Rockland or one of the other big operations and get everything they need in one shot.
She took a swig off the soda and set it on the desk. She should have been able to make this work. She should have been able to hold onto this business. But the reality is that just like her relationship with her brother, she’d been making the business work all these years through blind faith.
A part of her had been holding on to it all with the thought that Pete would want it someday. It was a legacy, a piece of their father she wanted to pass on to him. In the beginning he’d willingly come to the shop to help. He was good at making traps and it seemed to suite him. But something had changed a year or so ago. All the things that had seemed to fit him before had suddenly become too tight, too constricting. He’d started skipping out on work, and then had stopped coming to the shop all together. She’d been holding onto it for nothing.
The sound of shop door opening brought her to attention. A little bit of foolish hope flared up in her that it was Nate.
“Miss Cooper?”
A young man stood in the doorway. He was all of about sixteen. His dark curly hair stood out on the top and his long legs were encased in even longer jeans that were worn off on the bottoms.
“Can I help you?” he didn’t look like any of the regular customers that came to the shop.
“My name is Kevin. Nate Cooper sent me. He said you had a job for me?”
“A job?”
What the hell? She could barely afford to pay her bills as it was. How in the world did he think that she was going to be able to afford to pay someone else? His mother was right, give him an inch and he’ll take a mile. The man was determined to be a pain in her butt.
“I…” She started to tell him all the reasons she couldn’t hire him, but something on his teenage face made her stop. He had the look that Pete would often get when he wanted something and he didn’t want anyone to know. He looked hopeful.
Damn.
“Have you ever built traps before?” She could always teach him, but she was needed to know what she was getting into here.
“Yeah, I used to build them with my father before he left.” He put out a hand and touched a length of colorful corded rope as if it somehow brought back memories. She knew that haunted look. It was the same one she’d seen time and again from her brother.
Double damn.
“Can you lift things and handle heavy stuff?”
As if realizing she was seriously considering him, he straightened up. “I’m a lot stronger than I look. I get crap all the time because the guys think I’m skinny, but I can keep up with any of them.” His chin tilted upward defiantly and even as mad as she was she couldn’t help but smile.
“Good, because I’ve got this bum wrist and I need someone who can do the heavy lifting and maneuvering around here. I also need someone to help me organize the shop.”
Now, where in the world had that come from? She’d been promising herself to get it organized for years.
“I can do that.” He was almost smiling now. Maybe this would work out after all.
“I can’t pay much for now.”
He shrugged, his thin teenage shoulders moved up and down under the oversized sweatshirt. “That’s okay. At least you’re willing to give me a shot. There aren’t many jobs around here right now.”
He was right about the jobs. It was always tight to get steady income in the off season in a tourist and fishing town. “Can you start tomorrow?” She’d figure it out somehow. Damn Nate for putting her in this position.
He nodded. “I can come over after school and I can work on weekends.” He shuffled his feet back and forth, the cuffs of his pants scratching against the concrete. “If I don’t go to school, my mom will be mad. She wants me to graduate.”
She held out her hand and he took it reluctantly. “Okay, I’ll see you tomorrow.”
He gave her a weak smile and a nod before heading out the door. She stood staring at the door long after he left.
What the hell was she going to do with an employee she couldn’t afford to pay? She was barely making a living on her own. She slumped down onto a stool. This could be the answer to her prayers or another nightmare heaped upon her. Only time would tell.
In the meantime, she had a bone to pick with Nate Cooper.
Chapter 7
His boat still smelled of sheep. It wasn’t enough that he’d had his crew hose it down three times. It still smelled like wet wool and manure.
“Judas, the smell still hasn’t gone away?” Sam DuPont, his second in charge came in and dropped a bag of sandwiches on Nate’s desk. “That’s enough to kill your appetite.”
“Fine, I’ll eat yours then.”
Before he could grab Sam’s sandwich, it was snatched away. “Hands off. Besides, aren’t you going to have some kind of a lunch date with Kara?” He said her name in a sing-song voice.
“What are you talking about?” But he had a pit in his stomach telling him that he knew exactly what his friend was saying.
“I heard you had a dinner with her last night.” Gossip wasn’t enough to stop him from stuffing a good chunk of his sandwich into his mouth.
There was no sense in denying it. It wouldn’t work anyway. “And you know this how?”
“Dude, this is Serenity,” Sam said, swiping his mouth with the back of his sleeve. “The news was half way to Rockland before the sun came up. I heard Sharon talking about it at the bakery this morning.”
Kara was going to kill him. He didn’t really care much that everyone knew, but this was going to peeve her royally.
“Nathan Cooper, where are you!”
His first reaction was an instant flashback to his mother yelling at him as a kid and then it sunk in that the voice belonged to Kara.
“In here!” No sense putting off the inevitable. The question was… was she mad because the town found out about their date, or was it because he’d sent the kid over to help her?
Her small and mighty frame filled the doorway and Sam started to choke on his oversized sandwich when he saw her. Nate calmly handed him a napkin.
“What in the hell were you thinking?” And then, as if deciding that he wasn’t going to answer she answered for him. “It’s that you didn’t think. You are such a man, Cooper.”
“Thank God for that,” Sam muttered around a mouthful of food.
Kara was so mad she didn’t seem to even notice he was in the room. “Shut up, Sam,” she said, turning on him.
Well, maybe she did notice.
She turned back to Nate, pointing a finger at him. “You think just because we spent the night together that you’ve got the right to meddle in my life, but this isn’t open season. You can’t do whatever you want. I’ve been
running my own life for a long time and I don’t need you meddling in it.”
He would give her logic and that should calm her down. “I was trying to help. The kid needed a job and you needed help. It seemed like the logical thing to do was to send him to you.”
“Did it ever occur to you that I can’t afford the help? I’m struggling as it is with the injury and the machinery breaking down. Now, I’ve got another person to worry about paying?”
“She’s got a point there, Dude,” Sam offered.
“Shut up, Sam.” This time it came from Nate. He was beginning to feel like he’d screwed up, made a miscalculation when it came to helping her out. This might not be so easy to fix. “I’ll pay his salary until you get on your feet and then you can pay him.” Simple. Sounded perfectly reasonable to him.
Reasonable didn’t seem to be how she heard it.
“No. I deal with my own problems. I don’t need you charging in on some white horse thinking you can solve things for me. You don’t have the right to take over my life and make decision for me. I don’t need the whole town thinking I’ve had my brain removed and you’re keeping it in jar on your dresser.”
Sam blew out a low breath that sounded suspiciously like a laugh, and Nate elbowed him. Hard.
Kara turned on him. “What’s that sound supposed to mean, Sam?”
He suddenly looked like a deer in the headlights. It was all fun until it had been turned on him. “No one would ever think you’d hand over your brain to someone else.” He was doing his best to appease her, but he was never very good at it.
“Besides, the town already knows you two are a thing, and they all know you well enough to not judge you by him.” He hooked a thumb in Nate’s direction.
“What’s that mean?” Nate asked.
“Just that you two have been circling around each other for years. It’s only logical you’d end up becoming a thing.”
Welcome to Serenity Harbor Page 4