by Donna Fasano
“You said you were going to… you know, upchuck. Where I come from, we say toss our cookies, not—“
“I said I was going to lose my cookies.”
She reached out her hand to him, and he heard the sound of sloshing water as he helped her to stand.
“Exactly,” he told her, continuing to feel bewildered.
Sara lifted her hands, pointing toward the center of the room with both her index fingers, and he automatically turned to look.
The stainless steel island was covered with cookies. Three six-foot steel racks were filled with cookies, as well. Landon felt the heat of embarrassment creep up his neck. Then he put it together, the luscious scent of butter and vanilla. He should have known as soon as he walked into the kitchen.
He turned to face her.
“I’m not from around here,” he told her, the words coming in a rush. “I thought it was some sort of local colloquialism.”
She just stared for a moment, and then her mouth twitched with humor. She shook her head and lifted her wet fingers to her lips, but in the end, she couldn’t contain her laughter.
Landon watched this sopping woman’s shoulders shake, her mascara smudged into black circles beneath her eyes, her hair adhered to her forehead and neck, and for the first time in many months he forgot all about the eerie episodes that had plagued him for so long. He suddenly realized that the dark and disquieting cloud that constantly hovered over him, urging him on in his travels, had dissipated—at least for that one, small minute. He realized he felt feather light inside, and happy, so he did the only thing that felt right; he joined Sara in laughter.
And it felt wonderful.
Chapter Two
Disasters were funny things. They almost always arrived unexpectedly, and like a long-handled rake hiding in a lush, green lawn, they had the ability to knock you out cold. A disaster could so easily turn into life-changing tragedy, as Sara was already well aware. She’d suffered her fair share of hardship, no one could dispute that.
But thwarting calamity? Now that had a way of proving what you were made of, what lengths to which you were willing to go in order to protect what meant something to you. She’d been willing to look like a drowned rat in front of a man she’d never met in order to save all those hours of labor she’d put into baking those sugar cookies. And in helping her prevent what would have been a great setback for her, Landon Richards had revealed a lot about himself as well.
He was the kind of person who raced to the aid of strangers. That was a rare trait. Most people didn’t want to even know about the trouble of others, let alone get involved. But he’d stepped up and acted without hesitation. The fact that he was even willing to slide a bucket under her face to prevent her from making even more of a mess was clear evidence that he was a good guy who had a great heart.
The whole bucket thing still made Sara grin even now, hours later. Landon had used duct tape and towels and more duct tape to staunch the leak so the water could be turned back on. He’d even helped her mop up the floor. As promised, Cathy had served him a hearty breakfast at no charge, and she’d been happy to do it because his quick reaction enabled her to keep the restaurant open and feed her customers. It was while Landon had been enjoying his breakfast at a table overlooking the boardwalk and the ocean beyond that he’d offered to replace the section of pipe that had been damaged by the baking sheet.
“Really, it’s nothing,” he’d told both Sara and Cathy after they’d thanked him half a dozen times. “And please don’t offer to pay me again. I’m happy to do it.”
“But do you realize how much money you’ll be saving us?” Cathy had asked, bringing him a second helping of thick-sliced, crispy bacon and a side of her homemade cinnamon applesauce.
Sara had sat across from him, enjoying a cup of coffee as he ate. “She’s right, you know. It would cost hundreds of dollars to have a plumber drop everything and fix this for us.”
But the good guy with the great heart had assured them, over and over, that he was happy to help.
“And you’re sure you know what you’re doing?” Cathy blatantly asked.
“Cathy!” The question had taken Sara aback, so she could only imagine how it had made Landon feel.
“It’s okay.” He’d offered a good-natured grin. “It’s a pertinent question from someone who’s relying on that plumbing.” Then he’d looked at Cathy. “Yes, I know I can replace the pipe. When you grow up on a farm, you learn how to fix darn near anything.”
So that’s how, after a quick run to the hardware store, she and Landon ended up back in the sweet shop. Sara stood at the island and wrapped cookies in small cellophane packets as she watched Landon working on the damaged pipe.
“So what brings you to Ocean City?” she asked.
The muscles of his broad back bunched beneath his white t-shirt as he applied pressure to the pipe cutter.
He didn’t answer her for the longest time, and then one of his shoulders lifted in a small shrug. “I just had this urge to see the ocean.”
Automatically, Sara’s gaze lifted to look out the big picture window of her shop. Bright afternoon sunlight sparked and glinted off the blue green water of the Atlantic. She sighed.
“I understand. I feel that urge every day. I never get tired of looking at the water, listening to the waves.”
He set the pipe cutter on the floor and glanced up at her. “It is a beautiful sound. I never knew what I was missing.”
Sara stopped tying the bow mid-loop. “The way you say that…” She cocked her head. “You’ve never heard waves before?”
“Nope,” he admitted. “Up until a few weeks ago, I hadn’t. Well, not that didn’t come from a television show or a movie, or something like that. But real pounding against a real shoreline? Huh-uh.”
The cookie-packed cellophane bag was momentarily forgotten as she asked, “You said you live on a farm. Where are you from?”
“Kansas.”
“Wow. That’s, like, a thousand miles away, isn’t it?”
He smiled. “Over thirteen hundred, actually. I’m from west of Topeka.”
“Did you drive? Or fly?”
“Drove every single mile in my pickup.”
“Must have taken you a couple of days,” she said. “So you’re on vacation?”
His brown gaze slid from hers and he turned to wrestle the cut piece of pipe from the rest of the length. Sara felt a dull pang of regret over nosing into his business.
“I’m sorry,” she said. “I shouldn’t be pestering you with a bunch of questions when you’re trying to work.”
“No, it’s fine. I don’t mind the questions,” he told her, his back still to her. “I guess you could call it a vacation. We, uh, sold the family farm recently. My sister just had her second child, and my brother-in-law got a great paying job with the corporation that made the offer on our land. So… I agreed it was the right thing to do. At least, for them.” After a moment’s pause, he added, “I guess it was right for everyone. Ever since my operation, I’d been feeling… well, unsettled and… I don’t know…” He went quiet, and he finally turned his head to look up at her, chuckling. “I guess saying I’m on vacation is as good an explanation as any.”
The hesitant manner in which he’d explained things told Sara that he hadn’t wanted to sell the farm. And she wondered what sort of operation he’d had. He looked fit and healthy. The corded muscles of his back sure shouted strong and able-bodied to her. Sara moistened her lips, tore her gaze away, and forced herself to focus on packaging the cookies.
The tidbits he’d revealed only made her more curious about him, but delving further into his personal business would have been rude.
“The day after we signed the settlement papers,” he continued, “I packed a bag, climbed into my truck, and headed due east.”
As he talked, he used some sort of gadget to clean the layers of old paint off the cut edges of the water line.
“I ended up in New Jersey. The sand, the s
urf, the sunshine. I’d never seen anything so beautiful.”
Sara smiled. “Wait a minute, now. Surely you have sunshine in Kansas. That’s what helps make all those acres and acres of corn grow, right?”
He laughed. “That’s true enough. But near the ocean, the sun feels… different… no, the air feels different. You can smell the salt.”
“Yeah.” She nodded. “I love that tang. Believe it or not, it’s stronger some days than others.”
“I spent a couple of days there in Atlantic City,” he said, grabbing a wad of steel wool and buffing the ends of the pipe, both inside and out. “The casinos were exciting and all, and the boardwalk was great, but the town didn’t feel…” He paused for a few seconds before murmuring, “I was going to say right. But that sounds a little odd, doesn’t it?”
Before she could respond, he continued talking.
“I drove south. Spent some time in Sea Isle City, and Stone Harbor, and a place called Wildwood. I ended up in Cape May. Now that’s a cute little town.” He reached around for one of the couplings he’d purchased at the hardware store, but it rolled a foot or so away from him.
Sara moved to retrieve it and bent over to place it in his palm. “Cape May’s nice. I’ve been there quite a few times. My mom and I used to go over to look at the Christmas lights when I was a kid.”
“Did you ride the ferry?”
His eyes were glittering when he gave her a quick glance, and Sara nodded. The Cape May-Lewes Ferry operated a daily shuttle service across the Delaware Bay.
“Yes, I’ve ridden it lots of times.”
He turned back to his work. “That was an interesting experience. I drove my pickup right onto that boat. That thing is huge.”
“People around here love that ferry,” Sara said, moving back to the island. “I think it can carry a hundred cars and something close to a thousand passengers at a time across the bay.”
Landon whistled. “The trip took about an hour and a half. I saw three light houses, and all sorts of seabirds. I really enjoyed that part of my trip.”
He put all the now shiny-clean pieces together like a puzzle. “The dry fit looks great.” Then he took them all apart. “So tell me about you. You’ve lived by the ocean all your life?”
Sara went back to tying ribbon bows on the packets of cookies. “Yes. I’ve been a water baby since birth. Cathy and I have been friends forever. We went to elementary school together. With Heather. You haven’t met her.” Sara grinned. “Yet.”
The cellophane crinkled when she slid it across the stainless steel counter. She grabbed another sheet full of cookies that needed packaging.
“Heather’s mother bought this building years ago and turned it into a B&B,” she told him. “I grew up playing hide and seek in that rambling house above us. Sliding down banisters, telling ghost stories that scared the wits out of Heather and Cathy, and knocking on doors of overnight guests for early morning wakeup calls they never ordered.”
Sara watched Landon’s shoulders shake as he chuckled.
“Sounds like the three of you were trouble,” he said, grinning up at her.
“Oh, yeah. We were ornery, that’s for sure. But what kid isn’t, right?”
Growing up in Ocean City had been like a wonderful, never-ending dream. There was always something to do—crabbing in the bay, playing volleyball in the park, soaking up the sun on the beach, watching the sailboats come into the marina, shopping the outlets, surfing the waves, haunting the arcades. And during the warm months, a new batch of tourists hit town every week, not to mention the weekenders and day-trippers. There were always new people to meet, new friends to make.
“Summers were so much fun,” she told him. “I love this town. I’ve never had the desire to live anywhere else.” The sigh that issued past her lips radiated her contentment. “There’s just something about the ocean that, I don’t know, just calls to me, you know?”
She was surprised to find he was still looking at her, studying her with a pensive gaze.
Finally, he offered a small nod. “Up until a couple years ago, I wouldn’t have understood what you meant, but now I can say I do.”
Couple of years? But hadn’t he just said he’d seen the ocean for the first time a few weeks ago?
The words he’d spoken weren’t nearly as intriguing as what he hadn’t said. She wanted to ask him more questions, but for some reason she just couldn’t bring herself to. The tone of his voice implied that—whatever he’d meant—it was both personal and profound.
They worked together for several minutes in companionable silence, Sara packaging cookies, Landon painstakingly smearing some sort of goop on the pipes and fittings before assembling them altogether.
“Listen,” he said, “do you know where I might rent a room for a few nights?” he asked. “I’d like to have a chance to look around a little, but as I drove in from the north, I saw a lot of no vacancy signs.”
“You don’t have a reservation?”
“Nah.” He shifted his position on the floor. “I’ve been winging it. It’s October. I figured it’s a little late in the year for the beach.” Then he chuckled to himself. “Evidently, I was wrong.”
“As long as the days are still warm, every beach-lover within a five hundred mile radius is trying to take advantage of the sun and sand.”
He nodded. “I know that now. One night I had to drive nearly forty miles inland to find a place to sleep.” He slid the solder and the torch closer to him. “You think there’s a room here? At the B&B?”
Sara’s shoulders rounded. “I’m sure The Loon is full. But wait…” She swiped her palms together a couple of times and then reached into her pocket to pull out her cell. “Let me text Heather,” she said, thumbing out the message as she spoke. “Maybe there’s been a last minute cancellation.”
While waiting for Heather to respond, Sara explained, “There’s a lot going on in town. I know there’s a surf-fishing tournament this weekend. My next door neighbor is competing. I’m not sure what’s happening at the convention center, but the parking lot was packed when I drove by. And people are already arriving for next week’s car show. Have you seen the hot rods?”
“I did see a few souped up cars.” Landon tugged at the bottom of his t-shirt. “I guess I’ll be driving inland again—”
The phone vibrated against the metal counter and she picked it up. “I’m sorry. Heather says she’s full. No cancellations. But she’ll let me know if anything comes up.” She tucked the phone away, then brightened as an idea came to her. “Listen, why don’t you stay at my place?”
The friendly expression disappeared from Landon’s face. “You’re kidding me, right? Sara, you don’t even know me. You can’t invite a complete stranger to stay in your home. I could be a serial killer, for all you know.”
Sara pressed her lips together to quell a smile. Finally, she asked, “You’re not, are you? A serial killer, I mean.”
He cocked one of his dark eyebrows. “This isn’t funny, Sara. I’m serious. You don’t know me. Even if you did, having me invade your space would be a major inconvenience. I can’t do that to you. It just wouldn’t be right, Sara. I don’t mind driving inland to find a motel.”
Every time he said her name, she felt a wonderful little thrill shoot through her.
“Why don’t you let me decide what’s an inconvenience and what’s not,” she told him. “It’ll be fine. You said it’s only for a few nights. And besides that—” she shrugged “—I won’t be there.”
Confusion bit deeply into his forehead. “Where are you going?”
Now Sara laughed. “Would you relax? I’ll be there. Just not there.”
“That doesn’t help me to understand.”
“I’ll stay downstairs. With my mom.”
It was clear he needed more information.
“Landon, I don’t know if you realize this, but land is a valuable commodity around here. People don’t build out… they build up. I live in a duplex. Only the h
ouses aren’t side by side. They’re stacked. I live upstairs. Mom lives downstairs.”
“Sara, I can’t push you out of your home,” he said. “Even if it is for—“
“My, my,” she murmured, picking up a cookie and moving toward him. “That frown is as deep as the Atlantic. Maybe this will make you smile.” She broke the sugar cookie in half and bent over just enough so she could slip crisp confection between his lips; he took her offering without argument.
He chewed, and she could tell he enjoyed it. But just as the corners of his mouth began to curl upward and his eyes went all soft at the corners, he swallowed… and went completely still. His jaw muscles went slack enough that his lips parted. He stared up at her, his face turning pale enough to startle her.
“What is it?” she asked him. “You look like you’ve seen a ghost.”
Chapter Three
“Landon couldn’t seem to get out of there fast enough.” Sara walked between Cathy and Heather, the wet sand flat and hard-packed at low-tide. “He didn’t even finish his cookie. He asked me to go turn on the water so he could check the pipe splice for leaks, and by the time I returned from the utility room, he seemed in a frenzy, picking up the steel wool, that soldering thingie, and the other tools he’d used. I barely got to thank him before he bolted out the front door. He was completely shaken. I don’t know what happened. After he was gone, I went to wash my hands so I could finish wrapping the cookies and saw half the cookie I gave him still sitting on the counter.”
The three of them were enjoying their evening catch up. It was a ritual they rarely missed. During the long days of summer, they might spread out a blanket and soak up the last rays of the day while they talked. Or they might sit in the air-conditioned confines of The Sunshine Grill to chat over glasses of iced tea or lemonade. Sometimes they would walk down to Shenanigans for a beer, or to the Purple Moose for a glass of wine and some appetizers, or to Fisher’s for some buttery caramel popcorn. There were so many places they could go along the boardwalk. Tonight, because the October evening was abnormally warm, they had decided to kick off their shoes, roll up their pant legs, and take a little stroll down by the edge of the ocean. Cooler temperatures were just over the horizon, so taking every advantage to get out on the beach was imperative.