Marcie studied him for a long moment. Was this his way of finding out if she was dating anyone special? Or anyone at all? She was tempted to say she was too booked up to even think of helping out. However, there were no plans. She’d loved spending time on that sandy strip of beach when she was a teenager. She’d even been there several times since Joe’s wife died, helping him with Jenny, enjoying a quick swim when she could bear to be in the cold water.
He didn’t say anything further, just held her gaze locked with his.
What was the harm? She could enjoy time with the little girls, enjoy the beach. Enjoy being with Zack again? a small voice whispered.
“Okay. What time Friday?”
“I’ll pick the girls up around four. I can swing by and pick you up, as well.”
She hesitated.
“It’s not like it’s a date or anything,” he said, clarifying things perfectly. “We’ll have two little girls with us constantly. Well, until I take Sally Anne home, then it’ll just be one seven-year-old. She’s a sweet kid, but sometimes I wonder how to keep up.”
“Okay, I’ll see you on Friday.” When she started to rise, Zack reached out his hand.
“Joe and Gillian have run into problems. Her car died on Sunday and they’re still in a small Illinois town awaiting a part. He’s frustrated because the local garage won’t let him work on her car, and he insists he could fix it in a heartbeat with the right tools. The old man who owns the garage won’t hear of it and there’s no automotive shop in town to buy the tools, or the part. She drives some foreign car and the man only stocks parts for the most popular American-made cars.”
“So what are they going to do?”
“The part’s been ordered. As soon as it arrives, it’ll be installed and they’ll start up again. In the meantime, they’re marking time. Can’t be driving all around in the rental moving van. Joe says the town gives him an entirely new perspective on Rocky Point.”
Marcie laughed. “I bet he’s frustrated. Gillian’s probably charmed to bits.”
“Something like that. Have you known her long?”
“No. Sophie Parkerson died a few months ago. Gillian was her sole heir and showed up the day of the funeral. I met her then. No one even knew Sophie had a great-granddaughter to leave the house to. But we’ve become good friends. She’s a wonderful woman and adores Joe and Jenny. I think she’s great for them both.”
He nodded, looking pensive.
“And she’s happy to live here in Rocky Point, which Pamela wasn’t,” Marcie continued softly, referring to Joe’s first wife.
“So I’m not the only one who’s seen the bright lights and can appreciate small-town living,” he said.
“We’ll see.” She rose and smiled politely. “See you Friday. Pick me up at my apartment, please—I’ll leave here a bit early.” She was helping out more as a favor to Jenny than to Zack. And she didn’t want rumors to start if people saw her with Zack again.
She marched back to her office, proud of the way she refused to turn around to see him one last time when the kitchen doors swung closed behind her. Then she smiled in delight. She’d spend time with Jenny and her uncle and see what more she could learn about the man whom she’d once thought she understood.
And loved dearly.
Friday seemed to drag by for Marcie. She arrived early at work to make sure everything was covered. They were well into June now and tourists were becoming a major part of her business on the weekends. The weather for the next few days was expected to be clear and warm. Another boon to encourage tourism.
She had briefed her manager before returning home early to shower, change and be ready when Zack and Jenny picked her up. Having a few minutes to spare, she called her father. No answer. She left a quick message, wondering where he was. If he’d gone fishing today, he would have stopped before now. The best time was morning, he always said.
Promptly at four came a knock on her door. When Marcie opened it Jenny bounded in and gave her a hug. “I’m so glad you’re coming. Sally Anne and I have been planning this forever. It’ll be so much fun. Uncle Zack bought hot dogs and we’ll cook them on a fire on the beach. He said he and Daddy used to do that all the time when they were kids.”
Marcie smiled. Memories rose of the evenings she’d shared with the Kincaids, and the campfires in the cove beneath their home. The surrounding rock seemed to reflect the heat and they were able to stay out far longer than usual in the cool Maine nights.
Taking a deep breath, Marcie grabbed her jacket and purse and the bag of brownies she was bringing to the feast. She was ready. She was merely chaperoning two young girls. But when she saw Zack leaning against the truck, arms folded across his chest, feet crossed at the ankle, she almost tripped off the steps. He looked amazing, all broad shoulders and masculine stance. His dark eyes watched her, bringing a self-consciousness that unnerved her. Thankfully, Jenny said something about going to pick up Sally Anne at that moment and broke her focus.
“Hi,” she said when she reached the truck, her thoughts in a jumble.
“Hi, yourself. Ready? We have to get Sally Anne.” He opened the door and tilted the seat forward so Jenny could scramble into the jump seat in the back, then pushed the seat back so Marcie could get in. She brushed past him and climbed in, keeping busy settling herself and pulling on her seat belt so she wouldn’t look at him. Okay, this had been a mistake. She was so very aware of every move he made. How would she last the evening?
She should not have worried. Once Sally Anne joined them, the two girls kept a running conversation, including both adults as they jumped from one topic to another.
When they reached the Kincaid house, the girls dashed to the edge of the bluff and waited impatiently for Zack and Marcie.
“This isn’t exactly Disneyland,” he murmured as they walked across the grassy expanse.
“But enough out of the ordinary to bring excitement. Jenny told me Joe’s never had a fire on the beach. She thinks this is amazing.”
“What’s amazing to me is that he hasn’t. We did it all the time, it seems like.” Zack remembered his mom and dad directing everything, letting the boys do the work. Marcie had been part of their beach picnics more times than not those last few years before his parents died. At the time, he’d taken it for granted. Now the memories were bittersweet. Great to have, sad to know he’d never share with his parents again.
“But not at Jenny’s age, I bet. Until Gillian came, Joe was very overprotective of his daughter. She’s only now allowed to do things other girls have been allowed to do for a while. Doesn’t it make you feel special to be the one to introduce her to the joys of cooking hot dogs on the beach?”
He nodded. “Being with her makes me feel special. She sees me as some lost hero.”
“Lost?”
“She told me she and her father prayed for me to find my way home, so to her that made me lost.”
“So she knows God answers prayers.”
“Does He?” Zack asked softly.
Before Marcie could answer, they reached the girls.
“I want to go down first, Uncle Zack,” Jenny said, dancing around at the top of the steep stairs that led to the beach.
“Okay, but only if you hold the handrail and go slowly. Sally Anne can follow you and Marcie and I will be right behind you both.”
As Marcie descended, she looked at the familiar sheltered beach. It wasn’t large, as beaches around this area of the coast went. Sheltered by the rocky bluff that seemed to hold it in open arms, it had limited use, primarily by the Kincaids and their friends. Sophie Parkerson had shared the beach when she was young, but in her last years the steep steps had proved to be too much for her. Gillian had enjoyed the beach a bit since she’d arrived, but it would get the most use during the warm summer months.
She saw that Zack had already laid the wood for a fire, encircled by weathered stones that his parents had carted from the base of the bluff decades ago. The larger ones were to sit on or lea
n against. The circle of smaller ones were to contain the fire.
There was a cooler nearby, which she suspected held dinner.
Had he missed this when he’d been gone? The carrying on of traditional events? The familiar routines that had been a part of his youth? Had he established new ones in Europe?
“Can we go wading?” Jenny asked, standing near the high-water mark on the sand.
“As long as you don’t get your shorts or shirts wet,” Zack said with a smile.
With squeals of joy, the two little girls took off their sandals and raced to the edge of the spent wave. Dancing on the packed sand, having the water splash over their feet, seemed to be the height of delight.
“Want to go wading?” Zack asked.
“Sure. Let me put down the brownies.”
“I remember you baking a lot when we were teenagers,” he said, walking with her to the fire pit.
“These aren’t mine. The sisters made them—I just asked for an extra batch today when they were baking. I don’t do much cooking anymore.” It didn’t seem necessary when she had delicious food prepared for her. And she didn’t like to cook for only one. Her meals at home were primarily breakfast foods. Since moving out of her dad’s home, she rarely baked anymore.
As the afternoon moved into evening, Marcie realized she was enjoying herself as she hadn’t in a long time. The girls kept her laughing. Zack told them stories of some countries he’d visited, and they all hung on his words. Paris came alive; the hectic traffic of Rome had them asking if he raced in the streets. When he spoke of the fjords of Scandinavia, the girls likened them to Rocky Point. When he made light of an act of kindness, she remembered all the more why she’d loved him all those years ago. He had been wild and exciting, but also a kind kid. He’d often done things for Sophie, she recalled. He and Joe had cut her lawn, kept her car in running order. For them it had been fun fiddling with an old car. Marcie knew Sophie had been grateful. Once he’d told her that he considered Sophie a kind of grandmother. Did he know how much his helping her had pleased Sophie?
The hot dogs were a huge success, as was the fire. When they toasted marshmallows on sticks, Jenny declared it the best day ever.
It was growing dark when Zack suggested they head up to the house.
“I don’t want to go yet,” Jenny said, marshmallow smeared on one cheek.
“I have to lug all this stuff back up—I don’t want to do it in total darkness,” Zack said.
“We can help,” Sally Anne offered.
“How about Zack takes the cooler up and we’ll bring the rest,” Marcie countered. “And we’ll let him go up first and wait until it’s almost dark before we go up the stairs.”
“Okay,” Jenny said. “You can wait for us at the top, Uncle Zack. I know, go get a flashlight from the kitchen, then we can come up with that.”
“I didn’t hear an offer to help carry the cooler.”
“Oh, that’s the job of a strong man,” Marcie teased. “Not us helpless little women.”
The girls laughed at her joke. “We’re strong, Aunt Marcie,” Jenny said.
“I know, but men like to do things like that to show off how strong they are.”
“You know men?” Zack asked.
“A bit about them,” she teased. For a moment it was as it always had been between them. Their gazes caught, held.
“You’re soo strong, Uncle Zack,” Jenny said in false admiration. She and Sally Anne giggled, which broke Marcie’s gaze. She laughed with the girls, feeling warmth to her toes.
By the time everyone was at the top of the cliff, it was full night. The sky was darker than normal as the new moon was starting. The stars began to twinkle.
“Can we lie out on the grass and look at the stars?” Jenny asked.
“We need to get Sally Anne home,” Zack said.
“I can stay a little while longer. My mom won’t care,” Sally Anne said.
“You did say you were giving them a night to themselves,” Marcie reminded him, surprising herself. She didn’t want to leave.
“Do you want to lie out on the grass, getting whatever bugs are around into your hair, probably freezing by the time we’re through?” he asked, as though giving Marcie an out.
But she didn’t want one. “Where’s your sense of adventure? I brought a jacket, the girls can get a blanket from the house and we’ll all lie down and look at the stars.”
“Okay, I’m overruled, I can see.” The smile on his face showed he didn’t mind a bit. He locked gazes with Marcie for a moment, surprise shining in his eyes.
The girls yelled with joy and raced into the house to get a blanket. In less than ten minutes, the leftover food had been put away and all four were lying on the blanket, gazing at the dark night sky, Jenny and Sally Anne between them.
“I see the Big Dipper,” Jenny said, pointing.
“Me, too,” said Sally Anne.
Marcie was content to be near Zack. Share the evening with him, just look at the sky, enjoying the beauty of God’s handiwork.
“It’s said God knows the names of all the stars,” she said softly. “What’s that one’s name?” Jenny asked, pointing to a bright one near the horizon.
“I think that’s Venus,” Zack said. “Not a star but a planet.”
“Daddy says he always feels closest to God outside. Why is that?”
“Nothing man-made to interfere, I expect,” Marcie said.
“So God can hear our prayers better if we’re outside?” Sally Anne asked.
“He can hear our prayers wherever we are,” Marcie said. “But maybe He hears them a bit louder if we’re outside.”
“Dear God, please bless my daddy and Gillian and have them come home soon,” Jenny said.
As the girls were deep in conversation about the wedding, Zack’s cell phone rang. He dug it out of his pocket as he sat up to answer. “What!” he exclaimed into the phone.
Zack’s expression was hard to see in the dim starlight. Marcie hoped it wasn’t bad news.
“I’ll be there as soon as I can get there. Thanks, Tate.”
He flipped the phone closed and stood. “Time to take Sally Anne home,” he said.
“What happened?” Marcie asked as she scrambled to her feet and helped the girls up.
Zack leaned close to Marcie and whispered, “Sean was picked up with some other teens at a drinking party. When Tate started to call his mother, he asked if he’d call me instead.”
“Why?”
“How should I know? But after I drop you and Sally Anne off, I’m heading to the sheriff’s office to find out.”
“I’ll come with you.”
Again their gazes locked. And just like that, their evening under the stars was over. But something new seemed to be starting.
After Zack delivered Sally Anne home, he offered again to drop Marcie at her place before heading to the sheriff’s office.
She shook her head. “I want to see what’s going on. It’s not as if teenagers haven’t been having keg parties since the beginning of beer,” she added. “What’s Tate going to do, ground them all for life?”
Zack laughed. “I doubt it. He and I and Joe had a few ourselves.” He didn’t know why Sean had Tate call him, but the kid could use a break and Zack wanted to find out more about the situation.
“A few what, Uncle Zack?”
Marcie turned and looked at Jenny. “A few experiences they should have waited for.”
The little girl looked confused. Zack could see her in the rearview mirror trying to process the adult conversation.
“A friend got into trouble with the law. He called me to help,” Zack said.
“Is he a bad man?” Jenny asked.
“No. At least I don’t think so. I want to find out what’s going on and then help him.”
“Jesus would do that, wouldn’t He, Aunt Marcie?”
“Absolutely. Do you know if anyone got hurt?” she asked.
“I don’t know anything, actually. Wil
l you sit with Jenny while I go in? That’ll save me taking her inside.”
“Sure.”
Zack parked in the lot next to the Town Hall, which housed the sheriff’s office in an annex at the back. It was after ten and the streets were deserted. Not a lot of night life in Rocky Point. The lot was well lit, such a contrast to the dark night sky they’d recently been enjoying.
“I’ll be back as soon as I can,” Zack said, getting out of the truck.
Entering the old building gave him a feeling of déjà vu. He had been the one calling his father one night after he and Joe, Tate and Tom had played some hijinks at the high school. No damage, but the furious principal had called Sheriff Montgomery.
His father had listened to him, explained why Kincaids didn’t do things like that and restricted his activities for a month. It had been right when he had first started dating Marcie. Being away from her that month had been the worst punishment he could have had. He wondered if his dad had known that.
The dispatcher sat at one end of the large room, several desks filling the center and rows of file cabinets lining the other wall. A short hall led to the offices, break room and restrooms. The holding cells were in the basement. On a bench opposite the dispatcher’s desk sat three teenagers, two unknown to Zack. The third looked up when he entered and then looked away.
Zack nodded at Sean but headed for the sheriff’s office. Tate was on the phone when Zack reached the open door. He stayed in the opening, half listening to the conversation. It obviously concerned one of the other boys and sounded as if Tate was having trouble with the person on the other end.
When he hung up he looked at Zack.
“Here for Sean?”
“Do you work all the time?” Zack asked, entering and sitting on the edge of the large old wooden desk.
“No, I was home. Came in when one of the deputies called. The instigators were sons of some folks visiting. Two of our homegrown boys involved, Sam Tyler and Sean. The kid freaked when I said I was calling his mother. I think he’d rather stay the night in jail than have her come down here. So when he suggested you, I thought, why not?” The sardonic grin Tate gave showed he knew how out of place Zack felt.
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