Daydream Retriever (An Alpine Grove Romantic Comedy Book 10)

by Susan C. Daffron

  “I guess that was a complicated day. Hey, I can give you a reference, since I was your patient.”

  “I think you might be a little biased. And in case you’re wondering, I don’t plan to sleep with all my patients.”

  He laughed. “I’m glad to hear it.”

  “Think about visiting, okay? I still love you. Nothing has changed.”

  “I don’t know about that. It sounds like lots of things have changed in a good way. You’re kicking butt and taking names.”

  Lisa laughed. “I don’t think anyone has ever said anything like that about me in years.”

  “I know you’re still the same determined woman who set her sights on the Olympics and kept unruly twins from drowning in an ocean of strained peas. Oh, and who I happen to love. I’ll talk to you next Saturday, okay?”

  “I’ll be here, assuming I haven’t fallen into a paint bucket or something.”

  “Don’t worry. If that happens, you’ve got Harley there to rescue you.”

  After they said goodbye and she hung up the phone, Lisa looked down at the dog, who was fast asleep next to the bed. “You hear that, hero dog? You better keep an eye on me.”

  Chapter 14

  Decisions

  Spending all day every day painting gave Lisa a lot of time to reflect upon the conversations she’d had with Carol, Cheryl, and Pete over the weekend. Because her daughters were nineteen, mostly they talked about what they were doing at college and their upcoming plans for spring break.

  Cheryl planned to visit a friend’s home in Maryland, and Carol was trying to convince Lisa and her father that spending spring break at Mike’s place in New York was a good idea. Carol claimed that her sudden desire to see her father was unrelated to the fact that her boyfriend’s family happened to live in Manhattan. Lisa had vowed to stay out of the discussion. If Mike was okay with Carol staying with him, then it was his decision, not hers.

  The fact that both Lisa and Mike thought Carol’s boyfriend was a low-life loser was another reason Lisa wanted to avoid the fray. She was busy in Alpine Grove, so Mike could deal with that type of thing for a change.

  The girls had both asked a number of questions about the roommate Lisa had staying at their grandparents’ house and why the guy had left. To Lisa, there seemed to be undue curiosity on their part. Although Lisa had a good relationship with her daughters, discussing certain topics with them made her uncomfortable.

  The fact was, Pete was gone and there was no way she was discussing any details of her sex life with the twins. She told them the reason Pete had returned to Arizona was because he could now walk with a cane and wanted to return home. Then she subtly changed the subject by letting them know she’d officially adopted Harley.

  Cheryl and Carol both loved animals so they were thrilled that Lisa was keeping Harley permanently. As Lisa knew they would, they both chatted away about a dog named Sienna, who had lived next door when they were growing up. For years, the twins had worked together lobbying for a dog of their own, but Mike had vetoed it every time. Now that she’d spent so much time with Harley, Lisa wished she’d supported their idea of getting a dog, but she never had.

  In retrospect, Lisa had caved on a lot of family decisions and she wished she hadn’t. While the kids were growing up, Lisa had been the peacemaker. Much of her day-to-day life involved keeping everyone else happy. Early on, that meant keeping diapers changed and babies fed. Later it involved getting everyone to school, dealing with homework, and mediating countless sibling arguments. Then getting drivers’ licenses, endless dating angst, and college exams. The entire time, Mike was busy at work, so Lisa also worked to keep him happy. She tried to be the good wife, hoping to keep her marriage from falling apart sooner than it finally did. Everyone else’s needs had occupied her mind for years. It was the way her life had been.

  Recently Bev, and now Pete, had pointed out that Lisa never asked for what she wanted. The reality was that she’d forgotten how. The more she thought about it, the more angry she became that she’d managed to fall in love with a person who then left town. What about what she wanted? Although Pete had known she was annoyed, she didn’t really do much to try to convince him to stay. Instead, as usual, she’d decided to keep the peace, augmented with some chocolate sauce for extra sweetness. How typical of her.

  After Luke and Rod left for the day, Lisa found herself fretting about what had happened with Pete, while she tried to figure out what to make for dinner. Harley looked up at her hoping for a handout and she tossed him the corner of a tortilla chip. “I don’t care if it’s not Saturday yet and he thinks I’m clingy. I’m not clingy, I’m mad, so too bad. I’m calling him.”

  She reached for the phone and dialed Pete’s number. After he answered and before he could say anything else, she said, “I need to talk to you.”

  “Actually, I was going to call you.”

  “Even though it’s not Saturday?” Lisa sat down at the table and looked down at Harley, raising her eyebrows at the dog.

  “I need to talk to you.”

  “That’s what I just said.” She twisted the phone cord around her finger, trying not to lose her nerve. “I’m not sure how to say this, but I realized something today.”

  “Me too.”

  “You said I never ask for what I really want and I don’t make decisions.”

  There was a pause and he said, “Well, it does sound like you’re getting a lot more practice lately.”

  “I know. Maybe I spent too much time catering to other people’s needs. I spent so much time worrying about what they wanted that I didn’t think much about what I wanted. I never asked for much of anything, even when I was sick.”

  “Why not?”

  “I’m not sure exactly. For a long time, I think I was trying to keep the peace and hold my family together. Maybe I was too afraid to take a stand or disappoint people. But I don’t want to do that again. What I want is to be with you. So I’m asking. Is there any way you can come back here sooner rather than later? Or maybe I can go see you there. I don’t care.”

  “Actually…”

  “No! Don’t say no yet. We absolutely have to work something out. This is too important.” Lisa stood up and began pacing across the kitchen. “I know you’re unhappy too. You said so, and I can tell. This situation doesn’t make any sense. We were happy living here, even in a noisy construction zone. Why should we make ourselves miserable being apart?”

  “I don’t think…”

  “Wait! I’m not finished. Today, I was painting and I kept thinking about how life is so short and it could end at any time. I could get cancer again. Or you could have an even worse accident.” Lisa stepped over Harley’s prone form. “People like us—anyone who has had a life-altering illness or accident or almost died—should realize how quickly everything can change. We’re being stupid not enjoying the time we have. If you love me and I love you, we should be together.”

  “I know. We should.”

  “What?”

  “That’s why I was going to call you. There are a couple of last little things I need to take care of here, but I talked my friend Ray into driving me and my truck back to Alpine Grove this weekend. If it’s okay with you, that is.”

  A smile spread across Lisa’s face. “Are you serious?”

  “Very. Ray is going to fly back to Phoenix, so you can use my truck and give the old pink thing back to Larry. I gotta tell you, a boring, plain white 1995 Toyota pickup is a lot less conspicuous.”

  “I thought up a whole speech I was going to give to convince you.”

  “Well, that was a great start, but I didn’t need convincing. I’ve had a lot of time to think too. I came to the conclusion that finding someone who loves me and is willing to put up with me has to be some sort of miracle. So as Shakespeare would say, ‘I would not wish any companion in the world but you.’”

  Lisa brushed a happy tear from her cheek. “The Bard really had a way with words, didn’t he?”

  “
He was a whole lot more eloquent than I am.”

  The next few days seemed to pass slowly because Lisa couldn’t wait for Pete to see the house. As she was painting miles of door trim, she considered how different the place looked since he’d seen it. Against all odds, the interior was starting to look nice. The flooring had been installed and most of the painting was finally done. Heck, if she were in the market for a huge family home, she’d want to buy it. But she didn’t, so some lucky Alpine Grove family was going to end up with a great place for their kids to grow up.

  Now that much of the largest and most bizarre furniture had been sold and the decor had been neutralized, the constant onslaught of memories had subsided as well. Lisa still needed to hold the indoor yard sale, but she no longer felt like she was living in a strange time warp. In some ways, Lisa was glad she’d been roped into the project because it had forced her to confront her past in a tangible way. There was nothing like going through thirty-year-old Barbie doll clothes to take you back to your girlhood.

  Another interesting side effect of working on the house had been getting to know Luke and Rod. Before Craig had disappeared, she’d barely talked to them, but after so much painting together they’d spent a lot of time chatting about their lives and families. It turned out that during the summer Luke captained a tour boat on the lake, so he had lots of amusing stories about wildlife encounters and tourist antics. Rod had worked on many of the new condos at Snow Grove, and even though he never skied at the resort, he knew a lot about the development that had happened over the years.

  Late Sunday afternoon, Lisa was upstairs painting more trim when a knock came from downstairs. Harley came roaring around the corner from the dining room, barking furiously at the front door. Lisa put down her paintbrush and ran downstairs.

  She shoved the dog aside and opened the door. “Back up, Harley.”

  Pete was standing on the doorstep leaning on his cane with a suitcase sitting next to him. He grinned at her and pointed at Harley, who sat, but stomped his front legs in excitement at seeing his favorite person again.

  Lisa wrapped her arms around Pete and gave him a hug, then dragged him inside. “I’m so glad to see you.” Before closing the door, she grabbed the suitcase and peered out at the street. “Where is Ray?”

  “He has some stuff to do.”

  “In Alpine Grove?”

  “He dropped me off. I suggested he stay at the Enchanted Moose. I told him it was nice.”

  “Apparently, he doesn’t share your gift for lie detection.”

  Pete laughed. “You have no idea how much I’ve missed you.”

  “I bet I do.” She put her arms around his neck and kissed him.

  “I guess you’ve been doing more painting? Tea rose and latex is an interesting combination.” He pushed a stray curl behind her ear. “Your dog is sitting on my foot.”

  “Now that you’re here, I think he’s back to being your dog. Let’s have something to eat and you can tell me about your trip.”

  “I need to tell you some other stuff too.” He took her hand in his and they walked to the kitchen. “It’s about Craig.”

  “What about him?”

  “I think I mentioned that the fact he stole something bugged me.”

  “Yes, and I have to say not having him around has been fantastic.” Lisa rummaged around in a cabinet and pulled out some plates. “I don’t miss his lectures one bit.”

  “It turns out there was a safe in the dining room wall.”

  “What?” Lisa turned to face him. “He stole a safe out of this house? Like with money in it? Is there some Lowell family fortune I don’t know about? Sheesh, nobody tells me anything.”

  “I don’t know about the fortune, but I do know he can’t get it open.”

  “How do you know that?”

  Pete folded his hands in front of him on the table and smiled. “He doesn’t have the combination and he’s been chatting with people at pawn shops all over LA. None of them want to touch it because they think it’s stolen, so he returned to Alpine Grove with it.”

  “How do you know all this?”

  “My buddy Ray is a private detective. After he retired from the force, he took the exam and hung out his shingle. I called in a favor and he made a few calls for me. There’s another PI in LA that he knows, who is great. She’s the one who dug up the pawn-shop connection.”

  “Why are you sitting there looking so smug?”

  “Because I know where the combination is. Ray is going to get the safe from Craig and then we can open it.”

  “Does Craig know about this?”

  “Not yet, but he will. Ray should be calling here pretty soon.” Pete scratched his chin. “Let’s just say Ray can be persuasive when he wants to be.”

  Lisa raised her hands in front of her. “Wait a minute. How do you know where the combination is and Craig doesn’t?”

  “As you said, I’m the only person who has touched all those pretty leather-bound books in the Lowell family library in who knows how long. The combination is in three of the books. First, I noticed that Treasure Island said ‘Left 34’ on the flyleaf, which I thought was sort of strange, since you said no one ever read those books.”

  “I guess someone did.”

  “Betty, I’m assuming.”

  “She probably wrote it down so she wouldn’t forget.” Lisa grinned. “I guess that didn’t work out too well.”

  “If you forget where you wrote something down, you have a problem. The other books are Robinson Crusoe and The Odyssey.”

  “You read the Odyssey? Really? Yuck.”

  “I skimmed it. That was right before you took me to the library. I told you I was getting desperate.”

  “No kidding. When you’re down to Homer, you’re desperate.” Lisa went to the table and leaned over to put her arms around his neck. “I can’t believe you did all this for me.”

  He pulled her onto his lap and kissed her. “I love you.”

  “I love you too. I was afraid I’d never see you again.”

  “And I was afraid of staying here. After all those years of being a cop you’d think I’d be more courageous.”

  Lisa kissed him and gazed into his blue eyes. “Maybe it’s time we both stop being so scared of everything. Any day could be our last, so we should do our best to live it up.”

  “I like that idea.” He smiled. “And given that look on your face, I’m thinking you bought more chocolate sauce, didn’t you?”

  She grinned. “Why, yes. Yes, I did.”

  Chapter 15

  Epilogue

  Lisa drove south on the highway toward the lake with Pete in his truck. For once, Harley wasn’t sitting in between them or drooling on them from the small seats behind them in the extended cab of the Toyota. Lisa had convinced Luke to take the dog for the evening, but she wondered what the other residents of Alpine Grove were doing with their dogs since the boarding kennel was closed for the next couple of weeks.

  Lisa turned onto a road that went along the lake. The North Fork Lodge was located right on the lake off Edgewater Road. “It’s so strange coming back here after so many years. The North Fork Lodge had the best Halloween haunted house when I was little. There were hay rides and tons of candy. I was in chocolate heaven. I heard that over the years the place got really run down, but someone bought it and restored it not too long ago.”

  The sign indicating the turn for the lodge had a dinner fork on the logo, and Lisa turned down a hill toward the lake.

  Pete glanced at her. “When they say fork, they literally mean a fork.”

  “Well, you won’t forget it, which is the point of a logo, right?”

  At the bottom of the hill the trees, cabins, and buildings that made up the North Fork Lodge were strewn with little white twinkly lights that reflected on the water. The main lodge building was a large log structure and its roof was rimmed with lights that sparkled in the fading late-afternoon light.

  They got out of the truck and went up the c
reaky wooden steps to the lobby. Lisa opened the door and they walked into a large open room with huge wooden beams and a stone fireplace. Beyond the entry, people were milling around talking with one another in an open dining area that connected to the lobby. Long buffet tables were laden with food, and more people sat at round wooden tables, chatting. Everyone seemed to know one another other and for a moment Lisa felt a little awkward. Where was Kat?

  She turned at the sound of stilettos marching toward her, click-clicking on the wooden floor. Maria raised her hand in greeting. “You made it!” She stopped, put her hand on her hip, and gave Pete an appraising gaze up and down. “You must be Pete. Your description precedes you.”

  “It’s nice to meet you.” He glanced downward. “The cane was probably the tip-off.”

  “No, I heard about those sexy baby blues.” Maria gave Lisa a sly smile. “Nice.”

  Lisa said, “This is Maria. She threw the bachelorette party I told you about.”

  Pete grinned. “That sounded like quite an event.”

  Maria flipped her hair over her shoulder. “I’m the party planner extraordinaire.”

  “Did you attend the wedding?” Pete asked.

  “Yes,” Maria squeaked as the expression on her face crumpled. She fanned her face with her hands and swiped at her mascara with her fingertips. “I was at the courthouse and I cried my eyes out through the whole thing. Don’t ask me anything else or I’ll start bawling again. They wrote their own vows. If in the unlikely event I ever find a man in this godforsaken wasteland and get married, I’m getting Kat to write my vows.”

  “I guess she is a writer,” Lisa said.

  “You have no idea. She’s wasted on that geeky garbage.” Maria gulped. “I can’t talk about it. What they said, it was so romantic I melted into a puddle of goo. Ask Becca; she’ll tell you. She was there and was crying, just like me. I swear, it was a total weep fest. I bet even Jack shed a few tears and he’s a studly outdoorsy type.”