by KB Winters
Alesha stared me down for a long minute. “I was taking a surfing lesson,” she muttered, pushing off the wall.
“What?”
She pivoted around to face me on her way around the counter. “I was taking a surfing lesson. That’s why I was up so early this morning. I had my alarm set to vibrate so I wouldn’t wake you up. The guy who led the class said the early morning waves are best for beginners. I signed up a week ago down at the community center.”
My heart sank as she laid out her explanation. She wasn’t lying.
“You could have told me. I would have watched Lady for you,” I replied, my voice softening from the dull roar it had been in the kitchen. I rubbed at my temples, massaging away the tension that was pinching my head like a vice.
Alesha shrugged. “I didn’t figure it would be a big deal. I shut Lady in my room. She was still asleep when I left and I didn’t think I’d be gone that long.”
“Why didn’t you leave a note or something? You could have texted?”
She dropped her eyes to the floor between us for a moment. “I don’t know. I wasn’t thinking.”
“All right.” I heaved a sigh. I was so worn out from fighting and arguing with her over and over again. How did people do this full time? I had no idea. Maybe that was why you had so many years until they were teenagers. Prep time to deal with the drama.
“So, can I go get Lady?” Alesha asked, bringing her eyes back to mine.
I considered her for a moment. “I’ll think about it. Dad’s supposed to call me later today so I’ll talk to him about it and see what he thinks.”
Alesha’s eyes narrowed again. “Great.”
She turned and stalked out of the shop, slamming the glass door behind her as she exited.
“Teenagers.”
I whipped around at the familiar voice and saw Aaron standing at the counter, a halfway amused look on his face. “Where did you come from?”
He gestured at the open door to the patio. Marcus must have left it open when he wandered out minutes before. It was a nice day so I ignored it and left it propped open. “Rough day?”
“You could say that. Alesha is pissed that I took her puppy away.”
“Not gonna lie, gorgeous, I’m not thrilled either. The little rascal has Gemma wrapped around her little paw and now she wants one too.”
I put my fingers against my lips to stifle a laugh. “Sorry.”
He shrugged and grinned. “Could be worse. Could be baby fever, I guess?”
The laugh escaped and I reached over the counter to give him a consoling pat on the shoulder. “Oh, come on, you’d be a great dad.”
“Give me a few years, all right?”
“Not up to me,” I replied, smirking at him.
He chuckled and took a sidestep to consider the pastries in the case. “Go ahead and box up half a dozen scones. I’m gonna try and do a bait and switch so I can pass the pup off to Nick.”
I laughed and gave him a mock salute before grabbing a dessert box and going to work on his order.
“Good luck, Play—uhm, Aaron!” I called out as he sauntered out of the shop a few minutes later, the box tucked under his arm, and a coffee cup in each hand.
A few hours later, after the last customers had left, I’d been able to lock up and get started on the checklist to close down for the day. Alesha hadn’t been back since our spat and I figured—well, hoped—she was at home cooling down. I mopped the floor and was nearly back to the kitchen to dump the dirty water when my phone buzzed in the front pocket of my jeans. I tugged it free and answered the international call, knowing it would be my dad on the other end of the line. He’d emailed a few days before and told me to expect his call.
“Hey Dad,” I answered, tucking the slim phone against my shoulder as I dragged the mop bucket back into the kitchen.
“Hey, Noodle.” I smiled at his use of my childhood pet name. “How is everything? Sorry it’s taken me so long to get in touch.”
I shifted the phone to the other hand after I laid the mop handle against the wall. I crossed to the small office space and settled into my worn chair to rest my tired feet. Even with the best of shoes, a ten-hour day on glorified concrete floors did a number on my tootsies.
“It’s up and down. To be honest.” I’d debated with myself all day on how much to tell him, but since Alesha and I were back on opposite sides, my need to vent overrode my instinct to protect her from trouble.
My dad sighed. “I’m sorry, Carly. Alesha is going through…a phase…”
I held back a snort of laughter. A phase? That was putting it mildly.
“—she’s pushing the limits and figuring herself out.”
“Dad, listen, I get it. I was a crazy teenager too. But, I don’t know that I’m the best person to handle her right now. She doesn’t respect me or my rules and other than threatening to send her to Grandma’s for the rest of the summer, I don’t have a lot of leverage here.”
“I know. What’s she been up to?”
I nibbled my lower lip. This was the part where things got sticky. I didn’t want to completely throw her under the bus. Not if I wanted any shot at repairing our obviously fractured relationship in the future. But at the same time, I didn’t want to be the only one who knew just how much trouble she was getting herself into these days.
“Noodle? Come on…just tell me. Has she been drinking? Kelli found some empty bottles in the recycle that weren’t ours.”
I sighed and pinched my eyes closed. “There’s been a little drinking, yes. Mostly she’s just angry. Dad, she’s so, so angry.”
The other end was silent.
“It’s like she hates me. And I don’t know why.”
“Aha. So you’re in that club. too?” I could hear a trace of a smile on my dad’s lips. “Well typically, with teens, if they hate you it means you’re doing something right.”
I laughed. “Really?”
“Believe it or not. It means you’re setting boundaries. She might not like it right now, but you’ll get her respect in the end. But, it’s up to you, Noodle. If you want me to book her a flight to Grandma’s, just tell me. I’ll take care of it first thing tomorrow.”
I paused, a tug-of-war raging in my mind over the idea of sending her away. It was so appealing. I could get my life back, not have to worry about melodrama—other than that found in the comforts of reality TV—and Nick and I could see each other a lot more often without a third wheel. Maybe even spend a night together…
Focus, Carly.
On the other hand, if I sent her away now, she’d probably never speak to me again. Or, at least not for a very long time. She’d have an even bigger chip on her shoulder. And really, at the end of the day, would our seventy-something-year-old grandmother be able to handle her any better than I could?
“No, it’s all right. I think we’re reaching a better place and I don’t want to mess things up.”
I couldn’t believe the words leaving my lips. I’d just signed away the rest of my summer.
My dad breathed an audible sigh of relief. Apparently he’d been dreading calling my grandmother for a bail out.
“There’s one thing…maybe you can help,” I started.
“Anything, Noodle.”
“There’s this dog…”
Chapter Eighteen
Carly
“I got a four legged surprise at work today.”
I laughed softly at Nick’s greeting as he answered my call. After hanging up with my dad, I’d called him to arrange a meeting to swap the dog back to my possession. “I’m sorry.”
“You don’t sound sorry,” he teased.
My laugh petered off but I couldn’t completely wipe the smile away. “I am. I panicked. Trust me, I’m already on Aaron’s list.”
Nick laughed. “Yeah, I heard about it all afternoon.”
“I bet. Well, if it makes it up to you, I’ll be taking the little fluff back into custody. I talked to my dad this evening and he said that Alesha
can keep the dog. So, I’m going to give her another chance.”
“All right,” Nick agreed with a chuckle.
“Hey, are you off work? I just finished closing down.”
I hadn’t left the shop, but the till was locked in the safe, the lights were all turned off, and I was minutes away from setting the security system and heading out the door.
“I’m still up the hill, but I can leave anytime. Aaron blazed outta here a few minutes ago, so I’ve just been putzing around with this plane. We’re at a tricky part in the reconstruction and I get a little…stubborn…with things like this. But for you, I’ll happily leave it for the morning.”
I smiled at the happiness in his tone and my heart swooned, filled with longing to be back in his arms. “Glad to hear it. I need to go home and talk to Alesha, but after that, I’d let you take me out for a beer. Harvey’s?”
“Sounds good to me. I’ll head out and get cleaned up. Ya know, unless you’d prefer me nice and dirty.”
A shiver snaked through me at the deep tone in his voice.
God, the man did things to me.
I hadn’t been able to stop pining for him since our late night make out in the cab of his truck. Any spare moment my mind got, it wandered back to that moment and played out any one of a dozen scenarios of what would have happened if the sheriff hadn’t stopped us before things got too carried away. But that didn’t stop me from indulging myself with the nasty thoughts of what could have happened if we’d gone a few steps further.
“Dirty works for me,” I replied, my own tone husky and urgent.
Nick groaned and I smiled to myself. It was fun knowing he wanted me just as much as I wanted him. In the past, when I’d been out and wanted to have a casual one night, or one weekend kind of fling, it was a lot of flirting that led to a hot night between the sheets. There hadn’t been a need—or desire—for long, drawn out games and in most cases very little foreplay. With Nick, everything was foreplay. Every smile, laugh, secret glance, and casual touch was all one long game leading up to what was bound to be an explosive night when we finally found the time.
As we made our plans to meet, my mind kicked into overdrive, wondering if it might be the night all the talk turned into action.
I grinned to myself as I hung up the phone and walked back into the kitchen to grab my purse. On the way to the door, I decided that I’d shave past the knee just in case.
* * * *
“Leash? You home?” I stepped into the house and shrugged my purse off my shoulder and dropped it onto the table by the front door. “Alesha?”
I scoffed at the resounding silence. “Son of a bitch, Alesha. This is getting so fuckin’ old.”
I stomped into the kitchen, swept the counter for the sign of a note, and cursed again when I went upstairs and found her room not only empty, but ransacked as though she’d packed up her shit in a hurry. Empty drawers from the plain dresser were laying scattered on the floor, a mess of hangers were thrown across the top of the bed, and the suitcases that she’d stashed under the bed were gone.
“Great. Just great,” I muttered, raking my fingers through my hair as I pulled it into a ponytail. After securing it with an elastic band, I turned and jogged back downstairs. I retrieved my phone from my purse and dialed Alesha. The call rang and rang until the voicemail clicked on and said it was too full to take any new messages.
She blocked me?
“Ugh!”
My next call was to Nick to let him know there’d been a change in plans.
“What do you mean she’s gone?”
“Just that. She’s gone. She fucking packed up all of her shit. In a hurry, from the looks of it. And she’s gone.”
“Shit, that’s crazy.”
“Tell me about it,” I seethed. “I mean where does she think she’s gonna go, with what, maybe a couple hundred—oh my God.”
“What?” Nick asked, his voice heightened with concern.
“Hang on,” I said, rushing back to my purse. I popped open my wallet. “Fuck! She took it!”
“Took what? Carly, what are you talking about? What’s going on?”
I slammed the wallet back down into my purse. “My dad transferred like five grand into my account once I agreed to babysit Alesha this summer. It was to cover her expenses and all. I transferred it all to one of those prepaid cards so it was separate from my personal account. Anyway, when we were at the pet store the other night, I made a joke about using it instead of my own debit card. She asked what it was, and I told her it was some money from Dad. Now it’s gone!”
“Holy shit. Five grand?”
“Yeah. She could literally go anywhere…” A sick pit filled my stomach and the room spun. Where would she try to go? To Greece? Back home to Phoenix? To her boyfriend—or, ex-boyfriend’s college? Had she told me where it was he was attending?
“Shit, shit, shit!”
“Okay, hey, calm down. Take a deep breath. We’ll find her, baby.”
“I already tried calling her and it went to voicemail but told me it was full. I think she must have blocked my number.” I ripped the ponytail out and tossed my hair with frustration. “I have to call my dad.”
The thought froze my veins. I didn’t want to call him, hours after I’d assured him I could handle her, and tell him she was missing and that she’d stolen all the money he’d sent. He wasn’t likely to care about the money, it was a drop in a very large bucket to him, but knowing that I lost Alesha…
“I should have sent her to Grandma’s,” I muttered to myself, momentarily forgetting that Nick was on the other line.
“I’ll head over and we can go look for her. Together.”
I shook my head. “There’s nothing you can do to help.”
The words echoed back and felt like a slap on the face. “Sorry, Nick, I just mean there’s nothing to really do. Can you just watch Lady for me? I’ll keep you posted. Okay?”
“All right, Carly. If that’s what you want.”
My heart squeezed at the hollow sound of Nick’s voice, but the urge to slow down and fix things with him was swallowed up by another wave of panic. “Thanks. Bye.”
I clicked off the call and quickly launched into the next.
Someone had to have seen her. That was a perk of living in a small town.
Chapter Nineteen
Nick
“Hey Adams, whatcha still doing here?”
I turned at the sound of Aaron’s voice. He was striding through the door into the hangar, dressed in a fresh set of coveralls. “What are you doing here?” He’d left an hour or so beforehand to go out to dinner with Gemma.
“Gemma got called into work for an emergency surgery. Figured I’d come here and see what I could get done before she gets home.” He crossed over to the desk where we’d been collecting notes as we worked through the repairs of the F-4. “I figured you’d be out with Carly.”
I shrugged. “Me too. She just called to cancel. Alesha’s gone missing.”
“Missing?” Aaron’s eyebrows shot up as he looked over at me.
“Well run off is probably more the term. Carly called when she got home, said Alesha packed up her shit and left. Stole a check card in the process.”
“Shit…” Aaron groaned and scrubbed a hand over his face. “It’s like last summer all over again. Damn that girl.”
“What happened last summer?” I vaguely remembered Carly mentioning Alesha had gotten into trouble in the past, but couldn’t recall the specifics.
“Alesha came up here to the museum, sweet as pie, with a trunk load of desserts from Carly’s shop. I wasn’t here, I was out at an auction, and my assistant at the time, signed off on the delivery, paid the invoice, which was over five hundred bucks from company funds. Alesha pocketed the cash, took off with some scuzzball, up to Santa Monica. Scared Carly half to death and when they found her, she was drunk off her ass and high as a kite.”
“Damn.”
“Yeah. It wasn’t pretty. That’s wh
y I was surprised to see Alesha back in town a few weeks ago. I figured Carly would have nothing to do with her after that ordeal.” He shook his head slowly before dropping his gaze back to the scribbles and notes on the paper before him. “Poor Carly. She shouldn’t have to put up with that shit.”
I nodded. “Agreed.”
“What’s she gonna do?”
I shrugged again and went to sit in the metal folding chair opposite Aaron. “I have no idea. I offered to help but she blew me off. She said she wanted to handle it herself.”
Aaron’s lips formed a small smile. “That’s Carly for ya.”
I clenched my jaw.
Aaron noticed my tense expression and chuckled. “Don’t take it personally, Adams. She’s not doing it to piss you off. But last summer, she had half the town looking for Alesha and when it turned out that she’d conned my company out of money, ran off, and got drunk…well…she was embarrassed. I know you’re new here, but you’ve probably picked up on the fact that gossip spreads fast around here. Even after Alesha left to go back to Phoenix, it was all everyone wanted to talk about for a good few months. Carly was humiliated.”
My hands relaxed open on my thighs and I nodded over at Aaron. “It makes sense, but I’m not just some guy. You know? Or, at least, I didn’t think I was.” I rubbed a hand over the back of my neck. I wanted to know where Alesha was, and to make sure she was safe, but even more pressing, I wanted to know what Carly was thinking about our relationship.
If there even was one.
“I get it, man. But remember, Carly’s used to being on her own. She’s used to handling her own shit and not asking for help. She’s not pushing you away on purpose. It’s just how she is.”
Which meant that the question wasn’t why she was acting suspicious. It was whether or not she could ever learn to let me in. To let me help her.
“Thanks man. I think I’m gonna call it a night. My eyes are bugging out from that thing,” I said, jerking my chin over at the heap of metal as I pushed out of the stiff chair.
Aaron laughed. “Take it easy man. Keep me posted on Alesha, will ya?”