by Jill Sanders
“Is everything okay?” Sara asked as he got in. He turned towards her and she gasped. “What happened?” She was across the seat, her fingers gently playing over his jawline.
“Someone threw this at me.” He held up the buoy.
“What?” She looked down at the metal can. “What is it?”
“It’s a can buoy. Usually used for fishing or lobster bait traps or marking off areas in the water. One this small I’d say was used for bait traps.”
“You got hit with it?” she asked as her fingers brushed over his skin. “Someone threw it at you?”
“I’m guessing so.” He sighed. “I doubt it fell from the space station.” He chuckled slightly, trying to lighten the mood. “Looks like it wasn’t a bat after all, but a ruse to get me down here.” He leaned back. “I guess we weren’t good spies when we put up the cameras outside. Someone obviously saw us.”
She groaned. “Let’s go get some ice on your jaw. It’s going to be swollen and probably black and blue by morning.”
Just what he wanted, he thought as he drove home again.
“Maybe we should make a show of removing the outside cameras?” she suggested as he drove.
“No. My mother may be crazy, but she’s not stupid. She’ll know if we put them up outside, we would have installed them inside as well.”
“Now what?” she asked as he parked out front.
“Now, we report it to Robert, try to go about our lives, and wait for her to make a mistake. I’m sure the police will eventually find her. There’s probably only a few places she could be staying on her budget.”
“What does she do for a living?” Sara asked as they parked in front of his garage.
“Nothing. My grandfather set up a trust fund for her before he passed away.” He rushed around and helped her out of the truck. “It’s one of the reasons she was always demanding more from my grandmother. She didn’t like the slow trickle of money and wanted it all at once.”
“All?” She stopped on the front porch and turned towards him. “What did your grandfather do for a living that he could leave her enough money to live on like that?”
“Clark Enterprises,” he said. Her eyes went big.
“You’re that Clark.” It was a statement, not a question. “The largest aviation firm along the West Coast, outside of Boeing, of course.”
“Yup, my grandfather was. He sold it all when he found out he had cancer. That was before I was born. He wanted to leave his wife and daughter something while he could. But at the time, my mother was running around and out of control, so my grandmother talked him into putting her in charge of a trust fund so my mother would be taken care of all of her life instead of blowing all of her inheritance within a few years.”
“Then why is she upset at you? And why does she think I’ll get the money?” she asked.
“Because when my mother dumped me on my grandmother’s porch, my grandmother made up a new will that, upon her death, would give me everything, leaving my mother nothing other than her monthly payments.”
“And she thinks your grandmother is dead?”
“Yes. I didn’t want my mother to find her. At this stage, my grandmother isn’t even mentally able to understand where she is and what happened, let alone fight against being forced to change her will. I want her last days to be peaceful and not filled with worry.”
She stepped up and wrapped her arms around him. “Since it appears we’re not going to get any more sleep, how about I cook us some breakfast.”
He kissed the top of her head. “I’m sorry for dragging you into all this mess.”
“You didn’t drag me.” She leaned up and kissed him. “I jumped in with both feet, willingly.”
15
Over the next couple days, everything remained quiet. Sara was impressed with the pace of the work at the restaurant. Now, instead of just the back wall being blocked off, the entire bar area was behind plastic.
It seemed to her that more people came in to see what was going on than normally ate there. Each night, the place was packed and on Friday night, there was actually a line out the front door.
She stayed busy during the day while spending more and more of her nights with Parker and Toby. He’d convinced her to bring some of her things over to his place, since he claimed he liked the smell of her shampoo in her hair over his.
By the end of her second week in charge, everything was wonderfully back on track. She relaxed slightly and didn’t check the security cameras as often when she wasn’t at the restaurant.
There had been a few minor incidents with the workers. Someone had been hurt slightly when ceiling tiles crashed down on them. Another man had injured his hand when the nail gun misfired. Nothing major; it could have been a lot worse.
Parker seemed to be more upset about these instances than the initial break-in to his tool container.
She’d helped him install security lights and cameras at his place one evening and he’d given her the code for the system.
The next full day they had off together, she’d gone with him to visit his grandmother. She’d been to the Hotel, the retirement home along the coast just outside of Pride, a few times during her school years. Her school had required community service hours, and she had spent her time there, reading to the elderly. Since she didn’t have any grandparents alive, she had imagined several of the residents as her own and, during her eighth-grade year, had begged her mother to drive her down there every other weekend.
Parker had been right; his grandmother was in pretty bad shape. The stroke hadn’t been kind to her. Sara could tell that the older woman didn’t even know they were there. Parker talked to the head nurse quietly while she arranged the bundle of flowers they had bought at Basketcase, the new flower shop in Pride.
She walked over and touched his grandmother’s hand and leaned in to whisper.
“Thank you for raising such a wonderful man. You can be proud of him.” She leaned in and placed a soft kiss on the woman’s paper-thin cheek.
When she turned around, she saw that Parker had been watching her from across the room.
“Thank you.” He touched the nurse’s arm. “I’ll try to make it back here next week.” The woman nodded and left quietly.
“How’s she doing?” Sara asked when they were alone.
“Not so good.” He leaned in and placed a kiss on his grandmother’s forehead. “Hey there, old lady,” he said, lovingly. “I heard you’re not having an easy time.”
Parker continued to talk to his grandmother for a few more minutes before turning back towards her.
“Thanks for coming with me.” He took her hand and pulled it up to his lips. “I’m sure she enjoys the extra company. She always got tired of me talking so much.” He chuckled.
“You’re lucky to have her.” She leaned against Parker’s shoulder. “I’ve never had a grandparent. I used to come here”—she glanced around the private room—“and pretend mine lived here.”
“This is part of the reason I chose Pride.” He nodded out the window. “You can’t beat the staff, the facilities, and that view.”
The ocean sat below them, the waves crashing on the rocky shoreline. It was one of the best views in Oregon. The retirement home had been there over a century, and clearly, whoever built the place had wanted its occupants to enjoy living there.
“I know this excellent restaurant down the coast. We can drive down there and have dinner before heading back home,” she suggested.
“Sounds wonderful. How about we pull off the top on the Jeep and you let me drive?” He smiled as he pulled her into his arms.
“Depends. Can you drive stick?”
He chuckled before he kissed her. “Don’t worry, baby, I won’t scratch your pride and joy.”
She playfully shoved him back and laughed.
“Well, well, isn’t this sweet.” The scratchy voice from the doorway made Parker stiffen.
Sara turned towards the woman in the doorway. Her first impre
ssion was that the woman needed a shower. She was drug-junky thin. Her frizzy blonde hair was out of control in places while greased back in others. She had on dark blue eye shadow with bright pink lipstick painted high above her normal lip lines, making it look like a child had painted them. She was shocked when she realized that the woman standing in the doorway was Parker’s mother.
“How did you find us?” he asked, putting his body between the woman and his grandmother.
“I had to hire a private investigator. I spent the last of my money on the bitch. You owe me.” His mother moved into the room and walked past him. She reached over and picked up her mother’s hand. “I can’t believe you’d keep my mother from me during her last days on earth.” The woman actually narrowed her eyes. “You’ll be hearing from my lawyers about this, as well as getting my bill for the PI.”
“You’re the reason she’s here,” Parker said, and Sara heard the anger in his voice.
“I don’t know what you’re talking about.” The woman pulled up a chair and sat next to the bed as if she was going to sit there and wait for the old woman to die.
Parker took a step closer and lowered his voice. “Before the stroke, she told me you had trashed the place, demanding money that night.”
His mother’s chin rose slightly. “You can’t prove anything.”
“No, I can’t. And I can’t keep you from visiting her here during visiting hours, which are over in…”—he glanced down at his watch—“five minutes.” He moved over and sat down across from his mother and got comfortable.
“I’m going to go powder my nose,” Sara said, backing up towards the door.
In the hallway, she ran into Margie, the head nurse. As quickly and quietly as she could, she explained what was happening and asked that Margie or any other employees give her a call when the woman showed up again.
Margie laid a hand on her arm and smiled. “We’ve got you covered. We deal with this more often than you’d think.”
When Sara entered the room again, Parker had the door open and was waiting while his mother talked quietly to her mother.
They watched the woman leave, and Sara knew that, for Parker, the day had been spoiled. Maybe even the rest of the week.
“I’m sorry,” Sara said, taking his hand as they headed out.
“Don’t be. She was bound to find out about this place sooner or later. It makes sense now. Riley told me of a woman that had been poking around town, asking after me. That must have been the investigator she’d hired to find me. Funny, I didn’t peg her for the type that would pay someone to do her dirty work. Actually, I can’t see her paying for anything.” He stopped at the back of her Jeep.
Riley had told Sara about the woman and what she’d said about Parker. She figured getting his mind off the situation was the best move and held up her keys. “Are you still up for a drive?”
“More so now than before.” He sighed and leaned in to place a kiss on her lips. “Thanks for being here for me.”
“I had a talk with Margie. She’s going to call me anytime your mother shows up.”
He nodded, then pulled out his cell phone. “I had arranged to have this installed when I moved her into the room. I had seen too many reports of the elderly being abused and had it written in the contract that I could install a camera.” He showed her the phone screen. There, in the middle of the room, was his grandmother. “I’ll know anytime she visits and exactly what she does.”
“Good.” She let him help her pull the soft top of her Jeep down and set the navigation on her phone to the Wild Horse Café, about a half-hour drive from Pride. “She won’t ever hurt her or you again,” Sara assured him.
The evening air helped clear his anger as he drove the winding beach roads. He took the drive slow instead of speeding, and Sara relaxed after he quickly proved to her that he could handle the drive.
He could tell that she knew he was upset and that he wanted to think as he drove. She sat beside him, quietly, enjoying the view and the drive.
The sun was just setting when they pulled into the café’s parking lot.
The little place looked more like a home than a café. The parking lot was full, so he parked on the street.
“Feeling better?” she asked when he cut the engine.
“Yeah.” He smiled over at her and took her hand in his. “The ocean air cleared a lot of the anger and memories away.”
“She’ll be okay,” Sara reassured him.
“I know.” He nodded. “Let’s go eat.”
The café was a pleasant change from eating in town. The view was slightly different than that at the Oar. The beach stretched behind the large glass windows for as far as he could see. The sun had already slipped below the horizon, but the sky was still full of bright colors as they were seated.
The soup and sandwiches were delicious and he mentally added the place to his revisit list.
By the time they were ready to drive back home, the temperature had dropped, and he had to pull the top up. Besides, he was pretty sure that it was going to rain.
They started home and, sure enough, it started pouring before they got there. When they arrived, they had to rush towards the house in the rain.
“It’s a good thing you put the top up.” Sara laughed as she shook the rain drops from her hair.
“Yeah.” He heard Toby whining at the front door and opened it. Upon seeing the rain, the dog did a little circle and then sat down at the top of the steps and looked at him like he was supposed to stop the rain so he could go out and do his business.
Parker chuckled. “Sorry, bud, best I can do is hold an umbrella for you.” He reached inside and grabbed the umbrella he kept by the door.
Sara waited for them on the porch. When they all went inside, she suggested popcorn and a movie. The three of them sat on his sofa and watched a scary movie. Toby wasn’t too keen on it and fell asleep quickly while Parker held onto Sara as she covered her eyes during the scary parts. He laughed when she squealed and hid her face in his chest during the gory scenes.
By the time they lay in bed together, she had turned his mood around and he was no longer thinking about his mother.
They woke early and headed into town to have breakfast at the bakery. The place was packed on Monday morning since the Oar was still closed for breakfast, but they finally found a small table and sat to eat cinnamon rolls and drink their coffee.
It was nice sometimes that Sara knew everyone in town. During the half hour they were there, more than a dozen people stopped at their table to chat.
Sara had only gotten a few bites of her food before it was time to head to work. She ate the rest of the food as he drove to the restaurant.
When they arrived, he pulled into his normal spot and kissed her before they went their separate ways for the day. They had finished the bar area and he had a tile and grout guy putting the finishing touches on the new fireplace. They had installed the glass accordion doors that would open up to the new deck area where a dozen more tables would sit outside during nicer weather.
They were days away from switching the customers to the new dining area and closing off the main part of the dining room to begin work there. During that phase, the kitchen would also get a quick update with at least one new stove and some electric and plumbing work.
In the dining area, they had to finish the rich oak slat board ceiling before they hung the new chandeliers and track lighting. Since they would be working where he’d hidden one of the cameras, he’d shown up early one morning and moved the camera to another corner, out of the way of their current work.
One of the last things they would do, when the entire dining area was done, was buff the old hardwood floors and put a new polish on them to make them shine. The place would have to be closed for a few days to allow it to dry, so it was one of the last things on his list to complete.
He was up on the ten-foot ladder, holding the lighting in place while Donny finished wiring in the new glass chandeliers.
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nbsp; They were an hour from cleaning up so the place could open for dinner when he felt the ladder sway. He tried to steady it, but it seemed to only shake even more. He cried out for someone to steady it, then felt it twist at an odd angle. His hands released the chandelier he’d been holding as he fell ten feet to the ground.
He landed on his left hip and elbow and only had a moment to brace before the glass light came crashing down on top of him.
He felt the shards of glass splinter into his skin as they crashed around him. He cursed and tried to get up, only to be held down by Nick, one of the men he’d hired to help out.
“Easy, son. You just took a dive. Don’t get up too quickly.”
He groaned and tried to assess the damage.
“I’m getting cut.” He nodded to the blood dripping from his bare skin.
“Well, damn,” Nick said. “Someone needs to grab the first aid kit.”
Parker heard someone moving around quickly and shuffled until he didn’t feel the glass poking him anymore.
“Do you need an ambulance?” Nick asked.
“I don’t think so. Just bruised my pride.” He glanced towards the ladder and frowned. “What the hell.” This time, Nick couldn’t hold him down.
The bolts that held the spreader bars had been ground down. All someone had to do was use the ladder for a while and disaster was bound to strike.
“Son of a…” he started to say.
“What happened?” Sara came rushing in. “I heard…” She stopped short when she noticed the blood flowing from his elbow and arms.
She gave a cry and rushed towards him.
“Easy,” he said, trying to stop her from slipping on all the broken glass. “I’m okay.”
“You’re bleeding,” she cried.
“We’ll take care of him,” Nick assured her.
“Someone might as well get Donny out of the ceiling,” he said, letting Sara lead him to one of the new booth seats they had already installed.
While she cleaned up his cuts, he instructed his men to double-check the other ladders.
“Boss, it doesn’t look like any of the others have been tampered with,” Donny reported. “I’ll check all the other equipment. It might be a good idea for us to check each time before climbing up one again.”