by Nicole Ellis
That was, until Velma cornered her next to the schedule hanging on the café’s kitchen wall.
“I just saw the schedule for Sunday.” She stabbed at the paper with a gnarled finger tipped with red fingernail polish. “I told you I can’t work Sunday mornings. I have church.”
Maggie took a deep breath. “I know. That’s why I didn’t schedule you for Sunday morning.”
“But you did.” The old lady put her hands on hips and glared at her.
Maggie ran her finger along the schedule for the next week. Shoot. Velma was right. Somehow, she’d switched Velma and Denise on the chart and now Velma was slotted in for the Sunday morning shift. Normally, she’d never have made that type of mistake. It reinforced her decision to break things off with Jake and forget about the catering center for now. With so many balls in the air at all times, she couldn’t afford to let any of them drop.
“I’ll work with Denise to figure it out. I’m sure she won’t mind. She likes to have evenings off.”
“I never should have been on the schedule for that day.” Velma glared at her. “I’ve been working here for twenty years and it never happened when Gus owned the place.”
“I’m sorry. It was an accident and I’ll fix it.” Maggie smiled at the older woman through gritted teeth. Their conversation had been overheard by half the kitchen staff, who now watched the exchange with curiosity.
“Too many problems around here nowadays if you ask me,” Velma said under her breath.
Maggie’d had enough. “Nobody asked you.”
Velma recoiled as though she’d been shot. “Excuse me?”
“You heard me correctly the first time. Please don’t pretend like you didn’t. If you don’t like how I run the café, you’re welcome to leave. I’d hate to see you go because we appreciate your experience, but if you aren’t happy here, don’t feel obligated to stay.” She held her breath.
Velma stared at her with eyes as big as silver dollars. “Well, I never.” She stormed out of the kitchen.
The kitchen staff clapped and cheered.
“Good job, Maggie.”
“I’ve been waiting for you to tell her off.”
Maggie blushed and nodded at them before retreating to her office and firmly closing the door. What had she just done? She’d never lost her cool with an employee before, but Velma got under her skin. Thank goodness she was going away to visit her in-laws for a few days. She needed the time away from the café and everyone else in Candle Beach. An adult trip to the Bahamas would have been preferable, but she was happy for the chance to spend some time with Alex too. It had been a while since they’d spent quality time with just the two of them, something she planned to rectify while they were on vacation.
Jake woke the next morning feeling slightly queasy but eager to move on with his life. He packed his meager belongings into his car and checked out of the room that had been his home for the last month. Driving along Main Street, he saw Lu’s Chinese Restaurant, with its brightly colored red curtains and a gold cat in the window. Had it really only been a week since he’d been there with Maggie? That evening had started out so well, but had turned rocky. But she’d come back to him after that and their relationship had been stronger.
He passed by Candle Beach Kids and remembered his first full day in town, when he’d purchased the magnetic set for Alex—and how he’d felt an even stronger magnetic pull toward Maggie when they’d experimented with the toy. That had been the day he realized he had feelings for her that extended past physical attraction.
He had to get out of this town. Every store he saw, every person he saw, held some memory of Maggie. He’d made the right decision to take the Border Patrol job, even if it had its own downfalls.
When he stopped in Centralia to eat and make a pit stop, he checked his phone. Someone had called six times and left five voicemails. Maggie. Why did she need to talk to him so badly? He thought she’d have been happy to see him go. He pressed the buttons to listen to her messages and immediately turned his car around.
22
Maggie dialed Jake for what seemed the umpteenth time. Finally, he answered.
“Alex is missing. Is he with you?” she asked frantically.
“Slow down. You were crying so hard that I could barely understand your phone messages. What do you mean he’s missing?” Jake’s voice was low and soothing and Maggie felt herself relax. She usually considered herself good in a crisis, but all of that went out the window when the emergency situation involved her child.
“I woke up this morning and he wasn’t in his bed.” She sobbed and swiped at her nose. She’d already told the details to the police about twenty times. “I thought maybe he was hiding somewhere in the apartment, but I scoured the place and he wasn’t there. It’s not that big of an apartment. He’s never gone out by himself before.”
“Okay, calm down. I’m sure he’s fine. Did he seem upset yesterday? I was on my way to Portland, but I’m coming back. I’ll be there in about an hour and half—an hour if I break some speed laws.”
She took a deep breath. “It’s my fault. I told him about us breaking up. Jake…he was so upset. He cried himself to sleep last night. I told him everything would stay the same between you and him, but he knew as well as we do that things would change.”
“Did he leave a note or anything?” Jake’s voice was crackly and she knew he was about to drop off in the cell phone dead zone on the way to the coast. His next words faded in and out and she couldn’t understand them. She hung up the phone, clutching it in her hand like a lifeline.
She felt useless. The police had told her to stay at the apartment in case Alex came back, but it drove her nuts to not be doing anything to help find her son. She stalked into the kitchen and grabbed a sponge, attacking even the smallest specks of dirt as she mentally replayed the day’s events.
They’d sent out the few officers in town to the houses of her son’s friends and she’d called her parents and anyone else she could think of. No one had seen him. The apartment door was unlocked and she knew she’d locked it the night before. In light of how upset he’d been after she’d broken the news about her and Jake, she was sure he’d left on his own and hadn’t been kidnapped. The problem was, he was six years old and the temperature was hovering just above freezing. They needed to find him as quickly as possible.
When Jake arrived, he sought out all the information he could about the situation, hoping for any clue that would help them find Alex. Chief Lee was in his office, directing the search efforts.
“Anything yet, sir?” In all his years in the Army and all the hairy situations he’d found himself in, nothing compared to the terror he felt at the news that his nephew was missing in the dead of winter.
“Sorry, Jake. We haven’t seen any sign of him. He’s a smart kid though. Last time I saw him, he was showing off some magnetic science kit to me.” He smiled and shook his head. “Always asking questions about things. He’ll be okay. Don’t worry. We’ll find him.”
Jake nodded and smiled slightly. “I gave him that kit. I know he’s smart, but he’s only a little kid. He has no idea what it’s like to be outside overnight in freezing weather conditions.” He looked at the clock. At this time of year, they had about four hours remaining until the sun went down. “I just stopped by to check on how things were going. I’m going to head on out to Maggie’s place now.”
He exited the police station and jogged back to his car. His mind raced with questions. Where was his nephew? What could have possessed the kid to take off like that? And how long could he survive outside by himself? He hoped Alex had been thinking straight enough to have worn his winter coat when he left.
He pulled up to Maggie’s apartment and she ran out the door, not wearing a coat. She fell into him and he wrapped his arms around her. She shivered in her thin dress and he didn’t release his hold on her until she was safely inside the warm apartment.
Her red curls hung limply over her shoulders and she hadn’
t put on any makeup. He brushed her hair back and led her over to the sofa. She collapsed into the cushions.
“He’s gone, Jake. My baby’s gone. And it’s all my fault.”
“Oh honey, it’s not your fault. You told him the truth. You can’t hide things like that from a kid like Alex. He’s too smart.” He felt helpless watching her dissolve in front of him.
She kept blubbering. “I shouldn’t have told him until we were down in Portland. I knew it was a bad idea, but he wanted to know why I was so sad.”
He stared at her. It wasn’t the best of times to discuss their breakup, but he had to know. “You were sad? I thought this was what you wanted.”
She looked deep into his eyes. “I never wanted to break up with you, but I knew it wouldn’t work in the long term.”
He didn’t know what to say. The closet by the front door caught his eye. “Did Alex take his coat?”
She nodded. “That’s how I knew he’d gone outside. I hunted all over the apartment for him, then checked the coat closet and saw it was missing.”
At least Alex had something warm to wear. Jake stared at the closet where Alex hung up his jacket and backpack every day after school. The image of a colorful backpack leaning against a fence rushed to the forefront of his mind.
“Maggie. You said Alex took his jacket, but did he take his backpack too?”
“I don’t know. It wasn’t a school day, so I never thought to check.” She rushed over to the closet. The spot where he usually hung his backpack was empty.
He put his hand on her shoulder. “I might know where he is.”
“Really?” Hope hung heavily in her words.
He nodded. “He showed me a spot where he and his friends like to hide near the school. I told him it was dangerous and he said he wouldn’t go there anymore. But it doesn’t hurt to check it out.”
“Go,” Maggie ordered. “I’ll stay here in case he comes back.”
Alex’s school and the abandoned house were within walking distance, so he ran over there as fast as he’d ever run in a PT test while in the Army. He probably broke his personal best record for the half mile.
The sky had darkened and he could see his breath in the cool air. They needed to find Alex fast. The abandoned house stood in front of him, its cracking white paint and broken windows as uninviting to him now as they had been when Alex had shown him his friends’ secret lair. To a little kid though, the place was probably dangerous and exciting.
He squeezed through the opening in the chain-link fence and pushed away a broken board from the back of the house to enter the torn-out kitchen. It was colder in the house than outside, if that was even possible. The air smelled musty and damp.
“Alex? Are you in here?” He paused to listen.
His ears perked up when he heard a sound from upstairs, further back in the house, but no one answered. From his job at the police department, he knew homeless people made their way up to Candle Beach once in a while, but there wasn’t a huge problem with squatters this far out of a big city. It was most likely Alex or some other kid in the house. Still, he kept his guard up, ready to respond if the situation went south.
He climbed the stairs. They creaked with each step and he hoped they’d hold his weight. At the top of the stairs, he turned the corner and pushed open a partially closed door.
The windows on this floor weren’t boarded up and a small amount of daylight illuminated the room. Dust motes floated in the air and water had leaked onto the floor through the cracked window panes, creating dark circles below the window frames. His eyes adjusted to the light and he sighed with relief.
Alex sat in the corner of the room with his back against the wall, hugging his knees to his chest. He eyed his uncle. “What are you doing here?” he sneered. “I thought you left.”
“The whole town has been looking for you all day.” Jake crossed over to him and crouched down beside him. “Your mom is in a panic. When she woke up and you weren’t there, she was very frightened.” He looked him in the eye. “You scared me too.” He put his hand on Alex’s shoulder. “It’s really cold in here. Can you tell me why you ran away from home?”
“I know it’s cold. That’s why I brought the blankets.”
He pointed to a few lightweight afghans Jake recognized as being from Maggie’s apartment. His backpack lay unzipped next to the blankets, revealing some packets of cheese crackers and a single-serving bottle of juice.
Alex shivered and pulled one of the crocheted blankets over him. He glared at Jake. “I would have been fine.”
“Buddy, your mom is extremely worried.” At that reminder, he texted Maggie to let her know Alex was safe and they’d be home soon.
“She doesn’t care about me. You don’t either. Nobody does.”
Jake sighed and slid down onto the floor next to him. “Why would you say that?”
Tears pooled in the boy’s eyes. “You and Mom aren’t together anymore. I thought maybe you’d be my new dad.”
“Oh, Alex.” Jake squeezed him around the shoulders. “Even if your mom and I aren’t together, it doesn’t mean I won’t be in your life anymore. I’m still your uncle, you know.” He smiled at him.
Alex hiccupped. “But you left without saying goodbye.”
Jake’s heart dropped to his stomach. “I knew you and your mom would be down in Portland today, so I’d planned to take you out to the mall before I left for my new job. I thought maybe we could pick up a new Lego set to build together.” He rubbed Alex’s head. “I’d never have left without saying goodbye to you, okay?”
“Okay.” He smiled weakly and looked at Jake. “Am I in trouble?”
Jake didn’t know for sure, but he suspected Maggie would be happy enough just to have her son home.
“Nope.” He stood and stuffed the blankets into the open backpack. “But let’s get you home now before you worry your mom even more.” He held out his hand to Alex, who took it and scrambled to his feet.
Jake guided his nephew out of the room and down the stairs. As they exited the crumbling house, he took a last look at it. It was lucky Alex had confided his favorite hiding spot to him, or this could have been much worse. Goose bumps traveled up his arms when he thought about what could have happened if Alex had spent a night alone in the freezing house. He shook his head. The boy was found and would soon be reunited with his mother.
Maggie ran out of the house as soon as she saw them coming up the sidewalk.
“Alex.” She almost barreled them over as she pulled her son close, hugging him as tightly as she could.
He squirmed. “I’m sorry I ran away, Mom.”
“It’s okay.” She stroked his hair. Nothing mattered besides him being home. He hugged her back and burst into tears.
“Honey, what’s wrong?”
“I don’t want Jake to go away. I love him.”
Her heart tore into pieces. She looked into Jake’s deep blue eyes and he smiled at her, forever trapping her. Was it enough that he cared for her, even if he didn’t reciprocate her feelings? He would be good for Alex to have in his life, but would it be good for her in the long term?
Jake reached out and wrapped his arms around both of them. She let the warmth of his embrace wash over her, content to enjoy having Alex home again and Jake back in her life, even if it wasn’t forever.
23
“This is beautiful. It’s a perfect place to spend New Year’s Eve.” Maggie admired the view of the ocean from the window of the house in Candle Beach that her in-laws had rented for a few days.
Barbara Price joined her at the window. “I know. I can’t believe it was available on last-minute notice.”
“Thanks again for coming. After Alex disappeared, it totally wiped me out. It means a lot to me that you and John came up to Candle Beach to spend time with us. I know you hadn’t planned to make the trip.”
Her mother-in-law put an arm around her waist. “No problem. We both had vacation days to use and it was about time we came up he
re to visit you instead of you visiting us.” She gestured around the house. “Besides, who could say no to this?”
Maggie smiled. They’d rented one of the most beautiful vacation houses in Candle Beach. The two-story house was right on the cliff overlooking the ocean and was walking distance to town. The owners had decorated it in a fashion straight out of Coastal Living, with turquoise walls and comfortable beige and white furniture. She’d have to keep Alex away from the couches when he was eating, but it was worth it to get to experience the luxurious surroundings.
“Thanks for hosting New Year’s Eve too. I know my parents were excited to be invited to a party here.”
“Of course. It all came together so nicely. I’m glad to see your parents again. It’s been a while.”
“And most importantly, I needed a place to sleep,” Jake joked as he came up behind them. “Maude gave my room away and I’m homeless now until I leave for my Border Patrol job.”
Maggie’s stomach twisted at the mention of his new job, but she tried to push it away. It wasn’t really her business what he did, as long as it didn’t adversely affect Alex.
“Well, we wouldn’t want that.” She tried to keep her tone light. “Can I interest anyone in a hors d’oeuvre?” She motioned to the trays of mini pizzas and salmon bites she and Barbara had prepared earlier.
“Yum.” Jake popped one in his mouth and smiled at her. She felt her face flush and turned around. She knew he was trying to keep the situation light. After he’d come back when Alex disappeared, they’d decided the best thing for Alex was for them to remain friends. But she found it hard to do that when every bone in her body screamed for them to be more than friends. What was it about him that got to her so strongly?
“Mom!” Alex tugged on her shirt. “Both grandpas and I are going to play Candyland. Do you want to play too?”
She glanced at Jake again and then said, “Sure. I’ll be there in a minute.”