Code Redhead - A Serial Novel

by Sharon Kleve

  Yay, me, Tara thought, still trying to place her.

  The girl shook a long-stemmed carnation at her. “You don’t remember me, do you?”

  Tara debated on whether to keep up the charade and decided to go with the truth. She scrunched her nose and gave the girl a slight shake of her head.

  “It’s okay,” the girl said. “We didn’t actually run in the same circles. But, let me give you a hint.” She held her hands up like she had an imaginary camera.

  Tara’s jaw dropped. “Baylee Fowler? The petite girl worked on the newspaper taking pictures when nobody was looking. She had blonde hair back then.

  “That’s me, all right,” Baylee said. “Always snapping surprise shots of you and Ryder. You two were big news back then. Still can’t believe he—”

  “Baylee!” Mindy stepped between them cutting the girl off.

  Tara frowned. She would have liked to know what Baylee was about to say she couldn’t believe. It was about Ryder. She was sure of it. Maybe, it would have given her insight on their relationship. Especially, since no one wanted to talk about it, including, Ryder himself.

  “Where’s your camera?” Mindy asked.

  Baylee pointed to her backpack on the floor with the camera lens sticking up through the open flap.

  Mindy gave the girl’s shoulders a squeeze. “Come with me, Baylee. We’re recording history.”

  Baylee gave Mindy a childlike nod.

  “Well, get that camera of yours and follow me,” Mindy squealed. “This is a Kodak moment. We need pictures for the newsletter covering the reunion.”

  Baylee’s face lit up like they were back in high school when their biggest concern was what to wear to the prom. After Baylee removed the 35mm camera from her backpack, she tore off after Mindy, then spun with her hand up. “Umm, Tara, can you finish the flower arrangements?”

  “Sure,” Tara said, motioning for her to run along.

  Baylee removed the camera’s lens cap and snapped a few pictures of Tara then jogged off to the group of chatty ex-cheerleaders in jogging pants, T-shirts and ponytails. The shutter lens clicked each time on of them struck a pose.

  Tara picked up a flower and cut the stem to match the other ones Baylee had set off to the side. All she could do was mimic what Baylee started.

  Thirty minutes had passed when she finished with the last stem. Baylee was still going strong, hopping, stooping and ducking like an experienced photographer.

  “Boo!” Tara spun around to see who had snuck up behind her.

  Ryder raked his hand over the top of his head. The baggy white tank top he was wearing gave a clear view of his tribal tattoo over muscle.

  “I thought you went fishing?” she asked.

  He shrugged. “The swells were up so we decided to call it a day. I came to see if you needed a lift home.”

  She pursed her lips to keep from smiling. He had to know Mindy brought her there and would take her back, yet he made a special trip to see her.

  “I need to go by the garage and check on my car.”

  “I was going right by there.”

  “Okay. Let me tell Mindy I’m leaving.”

  He winked. “Meet you outside.”

  She nodded then went to Mindy but waited when the girls were posing under a long orange and white banner that read ‘Class of 2006.’ When they saw her approach, they pulled her in among them.

  Since she was the tallest, Mindy came forward and moved her to the middle.

  “Smile,” Baylee said, snapping several photos from different angles.

  Tara couldn’t stop smiling, but not because she was posing with her classmates. It was because Ryder had come by to give her a lift and was outside waiting. She wondered if the giddy feeling in the pit of her stomach, matched what she felt ten years ago. Tara nodded. “We’re going to stop at the garage to check on my car. I’ll meet you back at the house.”

  “Okay,” Mindy said, grinning.

  Tara told the girls to have fun and that she would see them tomorrow night. They ragged her for leaving so soon. Mindy told them Ryder was giving her a lift and they cheered.

  “It’s not like that!” Tara said waving her hand to shush them.

  They didn’t know she’d gotten hit by lightning and lost all memory of Ryder, but she was sure once she left, Mindy would fill them in. When she stepped outside, she put up her hand to block the sun. Ryder was in his black, jacked up truck with his window down.

  “Going my way?” he asked in a charming voice.

  She chuckled as he leaned across the seat and opened the door. She wondered if he used to open doors for her in high school.

  CHAPTER ELEVEN

  Tara walked around the front of her Corvette, staring down at the dull gray hood.

  “Looks good, Jerry,” Ryder said running his hand over it like he was checking for low spots.

  Jerry laid his sander down and wiped his hands with a red shop towel. “Thanks, man. How long are you in town for?”

  Tara glanced sideways, waiting for him to respond, wondering the same thing.

  Ryder shrugged. “I don’t know.”

  “Well, if you hang around, let me know. I could always use a good body man.”

  “I haven’t done body work in ten years.”

  Glancing at Ryder’s muscular form Tara begged to differ. She muttered, “Liar.”

  Ryder caught her ogling him and grinned.

  She cleared her throat. “So when will my car be ready?”

  Jerry lifted an eyebrow like he was thinking. “I’m shooting for the end of the week.”

  “Sounds good.”

  “You miss her, huh?” Jerry asked glancing sideways at Ryder who ducked his head like Jerry was referring to her and not her car.

  A tall man in cut-off shorts and flip-flops, hopped out of a green Jeep outside the doors and charged into the garage.

  “I’ll call you later in the week,” Tara said, giving Jerry a wave as she and Ryder left.

  The man coming in was frowning. Apparently, he had a beef with Jerry and she didn’t want to hang around to find out why. Her car would be done soon. That was all that mattered.

  Once again, Ryder opened his truck door for her. She grabbed the hand guard, pulled herself up onto a chrome running board and then slid onto the seat. He shut the door, and she wondered if he was always this thoughtful. Even in high school. But why now? He knew she was going back to Texas soon.

  “What are you doing for dinner?” he asked, pulling out into the street.

  The question was odd since he was also staying at Mindy and Paul’s house.

  She shrugged. “I don’t know what Mindy has planned.”

  “Have dinner with me?” he asked matter-of-factly.

  “What do you have in mind?”

  “My parents invited me for dinner tonight. I have a feeling my dad wants to chew my butt for not staying in my old bedroom while I’m in town.” He glanced sideways. “He’ll be nice if you’re there.”

  “Oh, so you need me to save your butt? You just spent ten years in Iraq, I’m sure you can hold your own.”

  He chuckled, but didn’t elaborate about his tour of duty.

  “If you would have asked me to go because you wanted me there, I might have said yes.”

  He shrugged. “That, too.”

  She wrinkled her nose. “It would be nice to see your parents again—”

  “So you remember my parents, but not me?”

  “Crazy, huh?” she asked, staring out the window.

  “Does that mean you’ll come?”

  “Yeah, I can’t wait to see your mom. She was always so sweet.”

  “She keeps my dad in line.”

  “Your dad isn’t that bad.” She turned sideways in the seat. “Ryder, you said we were close. How close is close?”

  “Real, close.”

  “You already said you loved me. Did I love you?”

  He exhaled deeply. “I believe so.”

  “Why do I get the f
eeling there’s something you’re not telling me?”

  “Like what?”

  “Like why we broke up.”

  “Okay. What do you want to know?”

  “If we were as close”—she made quotations with her fingers—”as you say, why didn’t we get married, and live happily ever after?”

  “Do you believe in second chances, Tara?”

  She shrugged. “Sure, but what does that have to do with us?”

  “I think we’ve been given a second chance.”

  “Okay. Just tell me this. Did I do something?”

  “You’re not going to leave this alone, are you?”

  She sighed. “I can’t move on without closing out the past. If I did something wrong, I have to make sure I don’t make the same mistake twice.”

  He fidgeted in the seat like she’d struck a nerve.

  Raindrops began to splat on the windshield.

  “I forgot how much it rains here,” she said sitting up in the seat, staring at the overcast sky through the windshield.

  They turned on Mindy’s road and were approaching the spot where she ran into the ditch the day she arrived. She stared past Ryder at the lighthouse up ahead.

  “Stop the truck!”

  He slammed on the brakes. “What is it?”

  She pointed. “I want to go in the lighthouse.”

  Resting his wrist lazily on the steering wheel, he whispered, “No you don’t.”

  “Yes, I do.”

  “Why?”

  “I don’t know—”

  She reached for the door handle and he grasped her wrist. “We don’t have time. We have to be at my parentsʼ in an hour.”

  She got the feeling there was more to it than that, but didn’t protest as he idled past it.

  CHAPTER TWELVE

  “Are you ready?” Ryder asked in a muffled tone.

  Tara fluffed her hair once more then laid the brush down. “Coming!” she shouted from inside her room.

  When she opened the door, Ryder was leaning against the wall with his arms crossed.

  “You look beautiful,” he said, smiling.

  “Thank you.” The way he looked at her, made her glad she made the executive decision to pack her white sundress and Egyptian sandals.

  Ryder didn’t look bad either in tight-fitting stone-washed jeans, and a white T-shirt with a sailboat on the front. The tribal tattoo on his right arm stuck out of one sleeve. He motioned with his head for her to follow him to the living room where Mindy and Paul were cuddled up on the sofa watching a movie.

  Mindy raised her head from Paul’s chest. “Be careful out there, there’s another squall blowing in.”

  “Maybe, I should change.” Tara started to her bedroom knowing how transparent a white dress could be when wet. She had brought another one that wouldn’t be quite as revealing should they get caught in the rain.

  “You’re fine,” Ryder said, taking her hand and pulling her toward the door.

  Mindy chuckled, so did Paul. Tara rolled her eyes and giggled.

  Ryder shouted, “Don’t wait up!” over his shoulder.

  It sounded like something one might say to a parental figure when they planned to be out past curfew. For a second, it reminded Tara of her teenage days, going out on a first date. Nervous and all, with butterflies churning in her belly.

  Ryder led her out on the porch and momentarily shielded her with his body from rain blowing in under the eve of the house. He asked her to wait there. She chuckled when he ran to his truck and drove it closer so she wouldn’t have so far to walk. After leaning across the seat, he opened the door and motioned for her to get in. She made a mad dash down off the slippery wet steps of the porch, but managed to maintain her footing.

  Once inside the truck, she gazed into a small mirror on the back of the sun visor. Her hair looked like she’d just gotten out of the shower, damp and lying flat against her head. So much for taking time to fluff it. Thankfully, her eyeliner and mascara were waterproof and still intact.

  Feeling his eyes bore into her, she turned to face him.

  Almost immediately, he shifted the truck into reverse and backed out of the driveway, shaking his head.

  “What?” she asked. “Am I okay?”

  “You’re sexy as hell.”

  She nibbled her lip as heat worked its way up her neck.

  He turned onto the highway. Traffic was sparse, probably because no one wanted to traipse around in foul weather.

  “Did you call your mom to tell her we are running late?”

  He shook his head and looked as though he hadn’t forgotten, just avoided doing it.

  “I’ll call.” Tara wrestled her cell phone from her back pocket, and began tapping the screen. She stopped before hitting Dial. “I remember your parents’ number. How odd is that?”

  “That’s funny, all right. I don’t even know their number. I just pull up their name and hit Dial.”

  “When’s the last time you saw your parents?”

  “I stopped in when I first arrived in Key West. But, only for about thirty minutes. My dad still hasn’t forgiven me for...,” he paused. “For joining the marines.”

  She got the feeling there was more to it than that.

  “Wasn’t your dad in the marines himself?”

  “Yeah. But, that’s different.”

  “How so?”

  “Do as I say. Not as I do.”

  She laughed as he mimicked his dad word for word.

  All through dinner, Mrs. Thomas filled Ryder in on what he missed out on, being out of the country. Like how his cousin, Monica finished medical school and married a doctor. And how they purchased the Clarkson house on the bluff with the big stained glass windows overlooking the bay.

  Tara stared across the table at Mrs. Thomas and smiled while spooning more of her delicious roast and mashed potatoes into her mouth. She was glad Mrs. Thompson already knew about her memory lapse and didn’t ask a lot of questions.

  “How long are you in town for, Tara?” Mr. Thomas asked while plopping another helping of mashed potatoes onto his plate.

  “I have to be back in Corpus in a week and a half.”

  She noted the strange way Mr. Thomas glanced at Ryder, and then back at her.

  “So, Tara, how do you like Texas?” Mrs. Thomas asked.

  Tara swallowed. “I have an apartment on Padre Island, so the climate is a lot like living here, only without all the rain.”

  “I’ve always wanted to visit Texas,” said Ryder’s mother, pushing her plate back. “I hear the residents there call it a country, not a state.”

  “It’s certainly big enough.” Tara chuckled, remembering how she drove for over eight hours from Corpus Christi just to get over the state line. It was the second largest state compared to Alaska, with four major regions.

  “I hear it’s all cactus and tumbleweeds,” Mr. Thomas said, sneering over his wine glass.

  Tara snickered. “Trust me, there are trees. Big ones, too.”

  “I read somewhere that Beaumont is closer to Jacksonville than it is to El Paso.”

  “Texas is eight-hundred miles long and over seven-hundred miles wide at the farthest points.”

  Mrs. Thomas stared wide-eyed like she couldn’t fathom the idea.

  “What about your parents, Tara? How are they doing in Ohio?”

  Tara swallowed and set her wine glass down. “They’re good. Dad likes his new job at the plant and plans to retire in about five years.”

  “Will they come back to Key West?”

  “I believe so. They loved it here.”

  Growing up, she loved it here too. Once again, she questioned what made her leave, besides the weather. She locked gazes with Ryder. He held the answers. She was almost sure of it.

  CHAPTER THIRTEEN

  After she’d helped Mrs. Thomas with the dishes, they joined Mr. Thomas and Ryder on the screened porch overlooking the beach. The rain had reduced to a sprinkle, but the sky was still dark and more gray c
louds were moving in.

  Ryder stood up and stretched his arms over his head. “We should go before it starts raining again.” He kissed his mother on the cheek and turned to his dad.

  Ryder extended his hand but his father made no attempt to shake. Tara held her breath, as the two men entered a staring contest. Finally, his father turned and started to walk away, then spun back around. He narrowed his lips and embraced his son.

  Mrs. Thomas covered her mouth like it was a long time coming and brought tears to her eyes. From what Tara could see, it was like ten years of resentment just disappeared. The reunion made her miss her own parents.

  Mrs. Thomas said she wanted to show her something and they went back inside the house. Tara knew it was to give Ryder and his dad a moment of privacy and that was all right. They deserved it. Tara had always been close to her parents and couldn’t imagine going ten years without talking to them. They didn’t always agree with everything she did, but they were always there to pick her back up when she stumbled.

  She made a mental note to call them first thing in the morning. Of course, that meant telling them about her accident, which until now she’d avoided not wanting to worry them. Knowing her mom, she would have booked the next flight to Key West.

  She was fine except for one minor glitch. She had no memory of Ryder. And, like it or not, she was falling for him all over again.

  Once again, she thought of the lighthouse and the mysterious force that seemed to be drawing her back. Did it hold the answers?

  “You’re awfully quiet,” Ryder said, waiting for the red light on Main Street to flash green. Although he was one to talk. Up until now, he seemed to be lost in his own thoughts as well. Probably thinking about his dad, which was understandable.

  She turned sideways in the seat when he pulled onto Mindy and Paul’s road. “I don’t want to go home yet.”

  He grinned behind dark lazy lashes. “Where do you want to go?”

  “The lighthouse.” She held her breath.

  He raked his teeth across his bottom lip, like he wanted to protest.

  “Ryder, please.”

  “It’s dangerous at night, Tara. The only lights working are the ones outside. If you don’t want to home, we can go somewhere else—”