by SUE FINEMAN
He called Nick. “I’ll be back as soon as I can get a flight out. If I had a car, I’d drive back.”
“Then drive back. Cara has been talking about bringing one of the SUV’s up here, but nobody has had time to bring it.”
“Okay, I’ll drive it up.”
“Everything all right, Al?”
“Sure, just great.”
“You don’t sound great.”
Of course he didn’t, but Al didn’t want to talk about Jenna, and he didn’t want a lecture on love. Since Nick married Cara, he fancied himself an expert on the subject.
“Al, Jenna moved out of the inn.”
This was a surprise. “She did?” He thought he’d have to ask her to leave.
“Yeah, but she’s still working for Cara. Cara said whether you two patch it up or not, she needs an assistant, and Jenna is a good one.”
“Whatever. I’ll start back in the morning.”
“You want to tell me what’s going on between you and Jenna?”
“No.” He wasn’t discussing Jenna. What could he say? That he’d made a mistake? That he couldn’t trust her?
That he’d fallen in love with the wrong woman?
Chapter Thirteen
Al drove back to Gig Harbor, retrieved his car from the airport parking lot, and drove out to the inn. The only occupants were four of Mattie’s cats. The one that had disappeared had never returned, and Callie was gone. Katie had adopted the little calico cat. Too bad they didn’t take the rest of the cats with them. Al changed their water, refilled the food bowl, and cleaned the litter pan.
Late July could get a little warm, even near the water, so he opened the windows to air out the house. Coming back here without Jenna and Katie tore pieces from his spirit. The house was so lonely it echoed.
Al had been on the road since five that morning, and he was tired, but he couldn’t sleep. He tossed and turned, punched his pillow, and finally got up and turned on some music. That didn’t work either, so he sat at his computer and started work on a new plan, a home with seven thousand square feet of floor space.
Working until the wee hours of the morning left him exhausted, but he had the bones of a great house. It was two stories with a walk-out basement in back, craftsman style, with wood shingles and stone trim. Like Blade and Maria’s house, it was meant to be built on a slope with a view out the back.
He moved Bandit off his bed and crawled under the covers. A minute later, it seemed, he heard voices downstairs. It sounded like his mother and Katie. The sun was up, so he must have slept for a few hours.
He didn’t hear Jenna, so he got up, pulled on a pair of jeans, and walked downstairs. Before he knew what hit him, Katie had jumped into his arms. He swung her around and she giggled. “Hey, squirt. Are you taking care of Aunt Mattie’s kitties?”
“Yeah.”
“I didn’t know you were back.” Ma put a pan of lasagna in the refrigerator. “I thought you’d be hungry when you got home, but I didn’t think you’d be home until tonight.”
Jenna walked in the back door, calling, “I found it.”
She saw him and froze. They stared at each other for a long minute, then Al hugged his mother and walked upstairs. He couldn’t deal with Jenna now. Looking into her big blue eyes and seeing the hurt there tore at him.
This damn inn had done this to them. Mattie wasn’t the only one obsessed with the inn. He was determined to keep it, and Jenna was determined to find proof that she owned part of it. Was the inn worth losing the woman he loved? Did he really want to live in this place without her?
Sophia saw the crushing look on Jenna’s face when she watched Alessandro walk away She couldn’t remember her son ever being so rude.
She rubbed Jenna’s arm. “Go upstairs and talk with him.”
Jenna shook her head. “I didn’t come to talk with him. I came for my mother’s address book.” She held up the book.
With one last look at the stairs, Jenna said, “Katie and I will wait for you in the car.”
Just when you think they’re all grown up, they pull something like this. Sophia opened the front door and slammed it shut, and right on cue, her youngest son came trotting down the stairs. She faced him with her hands on her hips. From the look of apprehension on his face, he knew she was angry, and he knew why. “I taught you to behave better than that.”
“Ma, this is between me and Jenna.”
“There’s no excuse for hurting her like you did. She puts on a good face for me and the family, but she doesn’t eat and she isn’t sleeping. I hear her crying into her pillow in the night.”
“You hear… She’s living with you?”
“She didn’t want to, but she didn’t have anyplace else to go except a hotel. I don’t know what’s going on between you two, but you need to talk it out before that girl falls apart.” Alessandro had always been the stubborn one, and never more so than now. She had a feeling this was a stupid misunderstanding, one that could easily be solved as long as it didn’t go on too long. Too bad he was too big to spank, because she felt like swatting him right now.
“What makes you think this is my fault?”
“Isn’t it?”
“No. I think she’s planning to steal the inn from me.”
“You think? You think? I think you’re out of your mind. That girl loves you.”
“I thought so, too, before I found out she was hiding things from me.”
“What things?”
He waved his hand toward the door. “Ask her, Ma. Talk to her.”
“No, you talk to her.”
“I don’t trust her, and she knows why.” He took the steps two at a time.
Sophia went out to the car and sat behind the wheel. Her son was throwing away his chance at happiness, and he was too darn stubborn to realize it.
Jenna put her hand on Sophia’s arm. “Sophia, are you all right?”
“I will be after you and Alessandro make up. He thinks you’re going to try to steal the inn from him.”
“I know. He’s wrong, but it doesn’t matter. He doesn’t trust me, and I can’t stay with a man who doesn’t trust me.” She patted Sophia’s hand. “He’ll find himself another lady doctor and get married and live happily ever after. And someday I might find another man to love.” But not one she could love as much as that one.
Al watched his mother drive away with Jenna and Katie. This damn inn was a curse. The dead man who washed up on the beach a hundred years ago was only the beginning. Charlie Worthington had been murdered here, and Katie had nearly died here. When he bought the inn, he thought it would be a good place to raise a family, but he was wrong, and he didn’t want to hang around to see who would die here next.
Moving out of the inn was one way to diffuse the situation between him and Jenna. If he sold the property, he wouldn’t have to fight Jenna for it, his mother wouldn’t be forced to take sides, and he might actually make a profit. He couldn’t live here alone now anyway. Not after sharing the inn with Jenna, dancing with her in the living room, and making love in four different rooms of the house.
He called Nick and asked, “Do you still want the property at Dead Man’s Point?”
“Sure. Why? Are you ready to sell?”
“That depends on how much you’re offering.”
“How many homes can we get on it? Ten, twelve?”
“It’s zoned for one-acre on this side of the road, and there are twelve acres here, but if you’re looking for a view for every house, I’d say eight, maybe nine. If you try to pack them in any tighter, they won’t all have views.”
“Are you sure you want to sell?”
“I’m sure, but don’t tell anyone yet, especially Ma and Jenna. Did you know Jenna was living with Ma?”
“Yeah. Cara says it’s temporary, until she buys furniture and finds an apartment.”
Al paced with the phone at his ear. “She doesn’t have to buy furniture. She can have whatever she wants from the inn. There’s not much here I w
ant except maybe the dining room furniture. Do you want to tear the inn down or fix it up and sell it?”
“What do you think?”
“It might cost less to start over. The old inn won’t blend in with new construction without a whole lot of work.” And it was cursed. “Do you want to come out and walk the property?”
“Sure. How about this afternoon around four?”
“Okay. See you then.”
Al went back to work on the plan he’d started last night. He wanted to have something to show Nick this afternoon, and working might help get his mind off Jenna. Seeing her again reminded him of the good times they’d shared in this house and the dreams for the future they’d never have together.
<>
Seeing Alessandro again and feeling the anger in his eyes hurt Jenna all the way to the bone. They’d grown so close over the past few weeks, and it meant nothing because he didn’t trust her.
Jenna was going to call Annie Finnegan, but she was so tired that when she put Katie down for her nap that afternoon, she lay down with her. Callie curled up between them and purred, and they all slept.
When Jenna woke, Katie was in the kitchen with Sophia, and they were cooking something that smelled like heaven.
Jenna took advantage of the quiet to make a phone call. A woman answered, and Jenna asked, “Is this Annie Finnegan?”
“Yes, it is.”
“I’m Jenna Madison, Kate Madison’s daughter. I found your name in my mother’s address book.”
“Jenna, oh, I’m so glad to hear from you. Kate was my very best friend, and I still miss her.”
“So do I. I need to talk with you about some things I recently found. One was a picture of a boy. According to the date on the back, he must be about eight or so years older than me.”
“That would be Tom, my son. He died after a long struggle with cancer.”
“I’m sorry to hear that. Was he… I mean… He looked a lot like me.”
“Of course he did, Jenna. He was your brother. Your mother got pregnant with him during her last year in college, and she gave birth that summer. She’d been accepted into a graduate program for engineering, and she so wanted to go, but she couldn’t handle the work with a baby, so my husband and I offered to adopt him. He was such a special boy, and we loved him so much. Kate wanted to get you two together when you were older, but Tom got sick and then Kate and Peter died. It was a terrible time for all of us, wasn’t it?”
“Yes, it was. Was Charlie Worthington Tom’s father, too?”
“Yes, he was. He helped us out after Kate died. My husband had passed away when Tom was in college. After Tom got sick, I lost my job because I’d taken too much time off. As sick as he was, Tom couldn’t work, but the medical bills kept coming and we no longer had insurance. Your mother sent us money so the hospital would continue the treatments. It kept him going for another five years. For awhile, we thought he had it licked, but it came back with a vengeance, and I lost him.”
Another loss. Her parents, Uncle Charlie, and the brother she didn’t even know she had was gone, too. Why didn’t someone tell her about Tom?
That was where her parents’ money went, why there wasn’t anything left for college. It all went to Annie and Tom. Jenna had not only lost her parents’ investment in the inn, she’d lost the money in her parents’ accounts.
Charlie had done what he needed to do to save the life of one of his children. She would have done the same for Katie. Any parent would. In any case, the money was gone now. All of it.
“I’d like to meet you, Jenna. Do you live here in Ellensburg?”
“No, I’m in Gig Harbor. Maybe one weekend I could drive over and meet you.”
“Oh, I’d love it. Kate used to send me pictures, but the last one I have is of you on your twelfth birthday. Are you married?”
“No, but I have a four-year-old daughter. I named her Katie, after my mother.”
They talked for a few more minutes, until Katie told her dinner was ready. Jenna promised to call again and to visit when she had a free weekend.
If Charlie had told her about Tom and the money, she could have saved herself a lot of grief. This was why Charlie wanted her to have the inn someday. He’d given her entire inheritance to help his son and he had nothing else to give her but the inn.
Mattie’s inn.
<>
Al showed Nick his new plan that afternoon. “I just started it last night, so there’s still a lot of work to do on it. I thought about using craftsman style for all the houses, since we’ll only be building a few. We’ll use lots of stone, shingle siding, and put walk-out basements on some.” Al motioned toward the main road. “There’s a nice natural plant screen between here and the road now, but we could add to that with a staggered block and iron fence, and then over there…” He motioned toward the lowest point by the water. “… we could build stairs down to the beach.”
They walked the property, and Nick pounded stakes into the ground where he thought they could put home sites. Nick stood by the inn gazing down at Dead Man’s Point. “Tell you what. I’ll give you what you put into this place plus closing costs, and I’ll throw in that five-acre plot down the road from my house for your own home site. It’s worth at least four or five hundred thou. I don’t want anyone living there but family.”
“You’ve got yourself a deal.” The property down the road from Nick was high enough to have a magnificent view of the sound, level enough to build a nice home on it, and on the same street as Blade and Maria, Angelo and Teresa, and Nick and Cara. Ma would love it if he lived there.
“There’s one thing you should know before we sign the papers, Nick. Before they died, Jenna’s parents bought a half-interest in the inn, but their names were never put on the deed. I don’t know if she has a legal claim or not, but—”
Nick waved the thought away. “Gerry will take care of it, and we’ll buy title insurance. You sure you don’t mind leaving here?”
Al stared at the inn, the place he thought he’d live for years. When he bought it, he saw possibilities. Now it just looked empty and sad. “I’m sure.”
“We’ll have Gerry draw up the papers, and I’ll get the survey scheduled.”
“Those two clients who wanted big homes? Do you want to bring them out?”
“Not yet,” said Nick. “Why don’t you get a couple plans done first, so I have something to show them? I figure five to eight thousand square feet each on the waterfront side, including the basements, and four to six on the others. This is prime view property with big lots, and we might as well take advantage of it.”
Max and Company would make a bundle on these homes. Al would do all right on the deal, too. He’d get out from under his mortgage, get his equity back, and own a five acre view parcel free and clear.
Too bad they’d already done all that work on the roof, though, because the inn would have to come down. At least he hadn’t bought any paint.
After Nick left, Al went through the inn room by room, inspecting the furniture. There were some nice old dressers in two of the guest rooms, and one had a leather-topped desk in it. He’d keep those for himself. They were very old, but in good condition. He picked out two of the best beds, pushed the mattresses off, and took them apart. All the mattresses were shot, but the wooden headboards and footboards matched the dressers and a rocking chair in one room. Jenna had been using it to rock Katie. Maybe she wanted it. There were probably a lot of things here that she wanted.
Without thinking, he reached for the phone to call her. He changed his mind and was going to hang up, but the phone in Ma’s house was already ringing, and she had caller ID. They’d know he’d called and hung up, so he let it ring.
Jenna answered. “Your mother is right here.”
“I called to talk to you.”
“You did?” She sounded surprised.
“Yeah. I need to get some of the furniture out of the inn, and I thought you might want some of it.”
“Sure.
I don’t have anyplace to put it right now, but—”
“Pick out what you want and we’ll put it in the garage until you’re ready to move. Do you still have your keys?”
“No, I left them in the kitchen drawer beside the refrigerator. I don’t know what happened to the gate opener. I left it in my car when we were in California, and when I returned I couldn’t find it anywhere.”
It had to be in the garage somewhere, or under the seat of her car. “It’ll turn up.”
“I left most of my boxes in the garage.”
“That’s fine.”
“Your mother asked me to stay with her for a few weeks. I hope that’s all right with you. If it isn’t, I’ll move out tomorrow.”
He wanted to tell her to come back to the inn, back to his bed, but he couldn’t. He finally asked the question that started all this. “Jenna, why didn’t you tell me about the check? Gerry thought you’d told me or he wouldn’t have said anything.”
“I didn’t tell you because I didn’t want you to think what you’re thinking now. I don’t intend to do anything about it. I didn’t then and I don’t now. The money is gone. End of story.”
He didn’t know whether to believe her or not. If she’d told him herself instead of letting him hear it from someone else, maybe he would. Now he didn’t know what to think. “Tomorrow is Sunday. I’ll take my mother to church and then you can come out and choose what you want.”
“Okay.” Jenna wanted to tell him she’d found where her parents’ money had gone, but it was hard to talk over the lump in her throat. She loved him so much, and he’d dumped her like a piece of trash because he didn’t trust her.
She didn’t need a man like that in her life.
<>
Mattie’s right arm had healed. She’d been feeding herself and dressing herself for several days, and she went to physical therapy twice a week to strengthen it. Another week or two and she’d go home.
She still had her keys, and she had the gate opener gadget she’d found in Jenna’s car, so she could get in.