Holiday Spice & Everything Nice

by Conn, Claudy

  Grady nodded solemnly. “I hope so, but nothing will bring back my parents.”

  Tears stung her eyes. This was the part of the job she hated. She hurt for the kid. “No, it won’t.”

  He wiped his eyes. “You’ll keep me informed of your progress?”

  “I will.”

  He kicked his head toward the Javier home. “I’m more concerned about how this will affect them. If I brought Callie into their life and she had anything to do with Larry’s death―”

  Ayako cut him off. “We don’t know that. David Crandall double-checked with the coroner and reported absolutely nothing suspicious.”

  Grady stepped back toward the house. “I hope it stays that way.”

  She waved goodbye. “Take care, Grady.”

  Dismissed from any further conversation, Grady turned and headed back inside to be with his adopted family.

  As Agent Tam walked back to her car, she couldn’t help but be in awe. The Javiers were generous to a fault. More than taking in Erika, they fought for her. When that didn’t work, they orchestrated a deal with her biological father and somehow the odd family blossomed. When Grady’s parents died, they made sure the kid didn’t starve and helped him find his way through his grief. Then Annie’s little sister shows up broken and battered, and they opened their arms to her.

  On the outside, they seemed like an ordinary family, but Ayako knew all too well that looks could be deceiving.

  • • •

  GRADY STEPPED BACK inside the Javier house. He was overwhelmed with emotion. Once he finally realized Annie was pregnant, he understood why she insisted he take over the business. Grady was happy for her and Terence, but mostly he was happy for himself. They had given him a future.

  Brittany caught Grady’s eye and motioned for him to join her outside. Her fingers laced through his and they walked side by side down to the beach.

  The sun was beginning to set. A warm glow spread out through the thin clouds and protected their eyes from the sun’s glare.

  “I’ve watched the sun go down a million times in San Diego,” Brittany began. “But it never brought me peace.”

  Grady tugged her down to sit beside him in the sand. “That’s because you weren’t watching it with me,” he joked.

  Her eyes turned soft and warm. “You laugh, but you’re not wrong. My dad is a piece of work. For the longest time, I believed he treated me the way he did because I was somehow deficient. It took coming here to realize that there’s something missing inside of him. I don’t think I’ll ever understand why my mom puts up with him, and if Annie hasn’t figured it out by now, you can bet it’s a lost cause.”

  Grady pulled her hand into his lap and caressed it tenderly. This wasn’t the time for him to speak. All that was required was for him to listen.

  Brittany drew in a deep breath. “It’s crazy, but I truly believe Mr. Caprice was one of Lena’s lucky strangers. He spoke to me the day the dolphin jumped over your head.” She squeezed his hand. “Luck and love, Grady. We get both.”

  Grady didn’t need Mr. Kaplinger or the dolphins to tell him that. He’d been in love with Brittany from the first day she spoke to him. From that moment, there was no one else.

  The sparkling glint in Brittany’s mischievous blue eyes caught his attention.

  “With the new baby on its way, it’s going to get much cozier at Annie and Terence’s house. I was wondering,” she continued, “if the offer for me to move in with you was still open.”

  Grady’s heart began to beat wildly. Annie took that off the table the first day he made the offer. He believed this moment was a long way off, but he was overjoyed with the prospect of having Brittany so close.

  He reached into his pants pocket. One of the few things recovered from the debris of his parents’ mangled boat was his mother’s set of keys. For the past year, it had been intertwined with his. Grady was glad he kept them because now they had a new purpose. He slid the rings through each other and disengaged the one which carried an acrylic photo of him on his eighteenth birthday. “Mi casa es su casa. I just need to know one thing. Will you need your own room? It’s cool if you do, but all the doors in my house are open to you.”

  Brittany gripped the keys and leaned her body into his. “I told Annie I’d take our relationship slow. How about we officially have separate bedrooms to make her happy, but we unofficially do whatever we want.”

  Grady glanced at her sideways. “That doesn’t exactly answer my question.”

  A sympathetic smile formed on her lips. “I’m sorry, but I don’t exactly have one.”

  Grady nodded. He could live with that. They had nothing but time.

  • • •

  “ARE YOU SURE your parents know you’re here?” Ben asked Erika as she stroked Turnabout’s brand new adult feathers.

  “Of course I’m sure,” she answered absently.

  Ben didn’t believe her. He saw her walk up from the bus stop. Her dad would have dropped her off if her visit was on the up and up. He wanted to keep seeing her, but if she kept sneaking out, Erika was bound to get grounded. “You’re going to get caught, and we won’t be able to finish our project.”

  “Ben,” Erika soothed, “don’t worry. Dad knows exactly where I am.” She placed Turnabout back in his cage and approached him seductively.

  The grownup moves didn’t fit the young girl standing in front of him. Ben fell for it the first few times Erika used her womanly charms on him, but she wasn’t nearly as experienced as she led him to believe. He liked her and didn’t want her pretending to be something she wasn’t. It was time for Erika to come back down to earth and just be his friend. “Please don’t do that, Erika. I don’t like it when you lie and try to manipulate me. You rode the bus to get here. That means you didn’t ask your parents’ permission. You need to call them, or I’m going to ask my grandfather to take you home.”

  “I wasn’t manipulating you!” she protested lamely. “And I didn’t lie.”

  Ben chuckled. He swayed his hips from side to side and vamped a shoulder roll. “Don’t worry, Ben,” he said, mimicking her titillating verbiage.

  Erika laughed. “Okay, I get it. I like you, Ben. I thought that’s what boys wanted.”

  “No boy I know,” he clucked. “I want to get to know the real Erika Turner. Not the flirty fake version of you.”

  She eyed him seriously and considered his words. “Let me tell you about the real me. I still climb rocks, and I like going diving off my dad’s boat. I occasionally smell like puke because I play with my baby brother a little too rough. Is that the kind of girl you want to hang out with?”

  Ben pointed out toward the reserve. “All we have are rocks. I know how to snorkel, but I’d like to learn how to dive. And you should smell me after I’ve spent the day cleaning up after a few thousand birds.”

  Erika’s eyes turned warm and mushy. “I think we are going to get along just fine.”

  “But you can’t keep coming out here without your parents’ permission,” Ben explained. “If your dad and mom trust us, we’ll be able to get away with a lot more stuff.”

  Erika blew out a sigh with relief. “For a moment there, I didn’t think we were going to have any fun at all.”

  Ben pointed to her phone. “Call your dad.”

  “I’m serious, Ben. He knows exactly where I am.” She held up the smart phone and wiggled it in her hand. “He can track me.”

  He grabbed the device away from her. “Quick, turn it off!”

  Erika snatched it back. “Are you crazy? If he can’t find me, that’s when he’ll go ballistic. I’m giving him the choice whether to call me on it. Right now, he sees me coming here as a non-issue. I don’t want to make it one.”

  Ben blinked. He had no idea what he was getting himself into with Erika Turner, but he couldn’t wait to find out.

  20

  DAVID COULDN’T REMEMBER the last time he fell asleep on the beach. Without any kids to watch, a case to work, or a schedule to k
eep, he was finally able to tune out the world. The heat of the tropical sun made him lethargic and his body didn’t want to move. It took him a while to get this relaxed. The doobie-ous marijuana caper ended happily several days ago. Oliver Beal was still out there somewhere, but Grady, Brittany, and Erika were in the clear.

  He and Marissa only had two more days on the island before real life caught up with them. Christmas had come and gone. It was the first and hopefully the last holiday he and Marissa would ever miss with their kids.

  Eleanor had everything well in hand. The children were allowed to open the majority of their gifts, but the family celebration would take place on New Year’s Eve instead. David was glad he and Marissa took the extra time for themselves to reconnect as a couple. He missed his kids. He really did, just not enough to race home to them.

  “David?” Marissa asked beside him. “Are you going to sleep all day?”

  “Yep,” he mumbled.

  Her laughter was sweet and playful. “Do you realize we don’t have any kids and can do anything we want?”

  He forced one eye open. They had been doing whatever they wanted... repeatedly. Marissa set a goal to make up for the lost time they endured during the months of separation, but there was no way his Harvey Wallbanger could keep up with her Fuzzy Navel.

  Her teeny tiny bikini didn’t offer much protection and her skin was turning pink. “Did you put sunscreen on?”

  “Did you?” she giggled in reply. “If you don’t get out of the sun soon, your back is going to look like a lobster.”

  David pulled himself up on his hands and knees. “Fine, I’ll go inside and sleep.”

  Marissa grabbed his chin. “Are you really going to sleep the entire day away? By my calculations, our lovemaking has fallen way behind schedule.”

  That was exactly what he wanted to do. “Wake me in a couple of hours and I’ll take you out to a nice dinner.”

  “Let me repeat myself. We don’t have any kids and can do whatever we want,” Marissa insisted.

  David groaned. “Go find Annie and shop or something.”

  Marissa pressed her luscious lips against his. When the kiss ended, she said, “I’m going to get what I want, yet you continue to tease me.” She shook her head and her long blonde hair wisped across her face. “Why do you do that?”

  “When we’re on Oahu, you and I both know once the bedroom door closes, I end up doing all the work. The moment you step off the plane, you turn into a giant lump of mush. I have to get you moving somehow.”

  “Would you be interested in living here someday?”

  That didn’t appeal to him one bit. “I love our little Tahoe house, don’t you?”

  She leaned back on her towel. “I haven’t been there enough to know. You and the kids have settled in, but I’ve been shuttling back and forth from San Diego. Josh better have the papers ready to sign when we get back because I refuse to be away from you any longer.”

  That was music to David’s ears. “You promise? I suck at being a mom.”

  Her eyes crinkled with joy. “Remember what you said earlier about doing all the work?”

  He knew where this was leading, but indulged her anyway. “Yes, I remember.”

  Marissa didn’t let up. Her sexy smile teased him mercilessly. “I promise never to be away from you again if you promise to...” She licked her luscious lips and let him fill in the blanks.

  David loved moments like this. No one had his back more than his wife. The physical distance between San Diego and Tahoe hadn’t lodged a permanent wedge between them. They survived a year of unbelievable turmoil and came out stronger for it.

  He straddled his wife’s body and her arms instinctively wrapped around his neck.

  Just as he was going in for some heavy necking, Erika’s voice rang out in disgust, “Get a room!”

  David looked up and watched his teenage sister-in-law head down to the dock. “Go clean something and leave us alone,” he hollered back.

  “I can’t,” she retorted smugly. “I got caught sneaking off to the bird sanctuary, so I have to help Dad out on the boat for a week.”

  His young sister-in-law was too smart to get caught, unless she wanted to. “You got busted on purpose, didn’t you?”

  Erika pressed a hushing finger to her lips. “Today is just the shuttle service to Honolulu, but tomorrow is the Mahi Wreck tour. Dad said Ben could come with us.”

  The girl continued on her way, and David turned back to his wife. “I don’t think Terence knows the meaning of the word punishment.”

  “I think he simply wants to spend time with his daughter,” Marissa said. “And get to know her new boyfriend. Personally, I think it’s brilliant.”

  “Remember during all the custody rigmarole when you and I talked about becoming her guardians?”

  Marissa inclined her head.

  “I’m so glad it didn’t come to that.”

  “You and me both, my love,” Marissa agreed. “You and me both.”

  • • •

  OLIVER BEAL WALKED down the pier, joyfully counting the wad of cash he made from the sale of the Brett Boden original. Getting that damned tiki out of the B&B without getting caught had been a bugger. The Javier family was always hovering around. Lena was an easy mark, but staying clear of that private detective and his wife had been a bit tricky.

  With the sculpture safely on its way to a buyer in Japan, all Oliver had to do was make his way to a neighboring island and lay low until it was safe to get out of Hawaii altogether. He was finally free of his wife and brother. Oliver loved Warden in his own way, but it was time the siblings parted. Their outlook on life was too different. Warden was a softy and had somehow grown a conscience. The day his younger brother refused to snag the credit cards out of the guests’ rooms, was the day Ollie knew their partnership was over. They should have grabbed what they could and got out of Lena’s fast. Instead, Warden accepted a job and stayed on far too long.

  Oliver didn’t understand Callie. Their marriage was a sham. The girl slept around so much, he suspected she was pulling tricks. The dumb bitch always seemed to have money. She drove a Pontiac Grand Prix, while he shuttled people to and from the airport in a cab. It was her brilliant idea to grow pot in the Barlow’s backyard. That fiasco was all on her. She deserved to go to prison, and he felt nothing but relief.

  It was too bad she was taking his little brother with her. But if it meant he could get away with twenty grand, he was pretty sure he could learn to live with it.

  The Brett Boden sculpture was a gift sent down from the heavens. Oliver found himself much wealthier, selling that funky piece of wooden art, than the cash he would have been able to snag before the stolen credit cards were reported and closed out.

  Ollie passed by a large window. He had to look twice at his own reflection before he recognized himself. Gone was his jet black hair. He was now blond and beautiful. The paunch of his belly was nothing more than a rolled up shirt tied around his waist. He decided to keep the disguise until he was off the island. Maui was only three and a half hours away by boat, and he couldn’t wait to blow this popsicle stand.

  • • •

  LENA WALKED DOWN the hall toward the Tiki Room. She hated it when Terence made Erika work boat tours. Now Lena was stuck cleaning the rooms of their departed guests all by herself. With a new round of visitors on their way, she didn’t have a moment to spare.

  The duo had this easy tour down pat. An hour up the coast, drop the clients off in Honolulu, then Terence and Erika would head out to sea until it was time to pick up their customers and shuttle them back to the B&B. Erika dutifully complained, as usual, but she loved being out on the Erika Rose and the time she spent with her dad.

  Lena didn’t typically mind when her brother pulled the stern father act, but today she was going to have to hustle because of it. Brittany offered to help, but it would take longer to train the girl than doing it herself.

  She opened the door and realized this could no lon
ger be referred to as the Tiki Room. Boden was gone. What remained was glass cut out of its window frame and a rope and pulley system attached to the ceiling. Losing the statue was a great monetary loss, but what worried Lena was how she was going to have the room ready in time for her guests.

  She needed help. It was time to rally the troops.

  David and Marissa walked by.

  “What’s happening?” David asked.

  Lena pointed to the big empty space in the corner. “Boden’s been stolen.”

  “Are you calling the cops?”

  “Nope. The family. Guests will be arriving soon and I need this room.”

  “Stop!” David said firmly. “That statue was worth a lot of money. This is a crime scene. It can’t be disturbed.”

  Lena looked at her phone and hesitated. She closed her eyes and remembered how beautiful the room looked before Brett Boden decided to be generous. She never cared for the hulking beast standing in the corner and part of her was glad it was gone. Boden was insured to the hilt. Dollar signs floated through her head and all she could see were the benefits.

  Lena continued scrolling through her contact list.

  “Lena,” David warned. “Don’t do it.”

  “Do you think I’ll ever get him back?” If David said yes, Lena was hitting send this very instant.

  “No, but if Oliver Beal is behind this, we’ll need proof to nail him. Please don’t repair the room before Agent Tam has a chance to process it.”