Lighthouse Beach

by Shelley Noble

  “You’re right. And I didn’t think about Lillo.” Jess covered her mouth with both hands. “I just assumed Mac would be okay.”

  Ian had gone to stand behind the two doctors, and Diana wondered why this town, so small and forgotten in the back of beyond, was so lucky to have three doctors like these men, even part-time.

  Clancy stood, looked at Ian, then reached into Lillo’s bag, pulled out an ice pack, and slapped it open. He handed it to Ian. “No arguments.”

  Ian raised it to the back of his head and winced.

  The sheriff strode up to them. “Can she be moved? Thought maybe we could put her in my cruiser and meet the EMTs halfway.”

  Clancy nodded. Lillo finished wrapping the bandage and Clancy took over holding Mac’s injured arm. The sheriff scooped up Mac like she was Sleeping Beauty. Clancy held her arm over her head and they walked slowly to the police car. Sonny was there to open the door, they got Mac in the back seat, and Clancy climbed in beside her.

  Lillo stood. Turned. She was covered in blood, and Diana gagged at the sight. A few deep breaths set her to rights. Lillo stepped toward the police car as if she meant to go with them, but Doc stopped her. She turned around, looked up at him, and let out a sound like a drowning man gasping for air.

  It was heartbreaking and bone-chilling and Doc wrapped his arms around her; held her tight while she stood stiff as a board. Inanimate. Until finally her body sagged, melted against him, and she began to cry.

  “Shit,” Allie said. Diana and Jess looked at her in surprise. “That was intense.”

  “It was,” Diana agreed.

  “She’s going to be okay,” Jess said. “Thank God.”

  “Well, don’t relax yet.”

  Just then, two more cruisers arrived. A woman, who must be the deputy, got out of the first cruiser, followed closely by two men from the second car. They rounded up Parker’s goons and escorted them to the two police cars. The deputy stopped at Jess’s father.

  “I demand to speak to my lawyer,” Parker was saying.

  “You’ll have plenty of time at the station.”

  “You’re making a big mistake,” he said as she led him away.

  “Not as big as the one you just made,” Jess said, and hurried toward the police.

  Diana made a feeble grab for her, but didn’t really try to stop her. If Jess wanted to finish off the cretin who was her father, fine. And if she caved one more time, better to do it here and now, get it over with, and admit once and for all that she would never be free.

  “Get out of my sight, I never want to see or hear from you again.”

  Parker laughed. “Fine.”

  “You don’t need anybody, do you? Well, good for you, you won’t be disappointed. I, on the other hand, plan to surround myself with good people who care about others and who stick up for what they believe, whose lives aren’t consumed with rampant greed and acquisition, but who want to make the world a better place.”

  He snorted. Diana wanted to deck him where he stood.

  “Think what you want of me or don’t think about me at all,” Jess said. “I no longer care. Oh, there’s just one more thing. I know you have a habit of destroying your enemies, but don’t even think about coming after my friends or this town, because if you do, I’ll finish you.”

  Jess spun away from him. Found Diana. Took measured steps toward her, but she looked stunned. Diana wanted to run and hug her, but she resisted. The last steps would be the hardest and Jess needed to make them herself. So Diana waited for her to reach her.

  They watched until the police drove away, then Diana grinned. “You just made my day.”

  Allie joined them and gave Jess a hug. “You were awesome, Jess. But could you really finish him?”

  “Well, I could help.” Jess shrugged. “I’ve been around him long enough to at least know where some of the bodies are buried. And if it ever comes to it, I’d be happy to testify against him.”

  “For someone so nice, you are one scary lady.”

  Jess smiled. “I think maybe I’m done with letting people walk all over me.” She nodded as if agreeing with herself. “In fact, I’m sure I’m done. Now, did Clancy say anything about Mac’s condition before he left?”

  “Yep. She’s stabilized. Lillo did something about the artery and stopped the blood loss. But she’ll probably have to stay in the hospital a few days. And we’re supposed to leave on Sunday.”

  Two days, Diana thought. So little time, and a shitload to do. But she needed to get back to work and Allie needed to go home.

  She looked around. Ian was gone. Vanished. While the final scene played out, he’d taken the opportunity to slip away.

  “Don’t worry. We’ll figure it out. But right now, there’s something else I have to do.” She struck off across the parking lot.

  “Where are you going?”

  “To see a man about a horse.”

  Chapter 26

  Lillo couldn’t get warm. Mac was going to be fine. Clancy had called from the ambulance, which had met the police car fifteen minutes out of town. Lillo had caught it in time. The bullet had nicked an artery. Mac was in surgery, but she’d be fine. She’d regained consciousness before she went in.

  But Lillo just couldn’t get warm.

  Ned had brought her back to the cottage. Made coffee while she showered. Threw out her bloodied clothes and cleaned the bathroom while she changed into jeans and a heavy sweatshirt. Was waiting for her now, a mug of hot coffee in hand.

  She wanted to be annoyed at him. Tell him to stop micromanaging everything.

  Except when she’d need him to. She’d never been so glad to see anyone in her whole life than when Clancy and Ned knelt down beside her. But they wouldn’t take over. She pleaded with Ned, but he just squatted there like some deaf and dumb gargoyle while she fought for Mac’s life and hers.

  She blinked back fresh tears. Why the hell couldn’t she get warm?

  She sat on a stool, reached across the counter for her coffee. Their eyes met as he handed her the mug, and she thought how much it was like looking at a nurse or an attending surgeon over their masks. Everything communicated with a look.

  “Drink,” he said. “I put in a lot of sugar. It should help with—”

  “—shock,” she finished for him. “I’m not in shock.” The coffee splashed over the rim of the mug. She put it down.

  Ned leaned on his elbows on the counter, moving him closer to her. “You were saying … ?”

  “Why didn’t you help me?”

  “You didn’t need me, and I didn’t want to screw up the procedure.”

  “You could have helped.”

  “I could have. Would have if I needed to. But I didn’t.”

  He moved back, came around the counter, and sat on the stool next to her. Put his arm around her. “You did good.”

  “I didn’t want to.” Damn, the tears were starting again.

  “I know.”

  “You thought you’d teach me a lesson. You always—”

  He grabbed her so fast her teeth rattled. “Let’s get this straight. I’m not trying to interfere in your life. And if you think for a minute I would jeopardize Mac’s life, any life, to teach you a lesson, or even to give you a crutch, you are dead wrong. I saw a competent surgeon, doing the job that needed to be done, and didn’t interfere. That’s the beginning and the end of it. So deal with it.

  “You don’t want to be a surgeon. Fine. But you’re not going to stop because you feel sorry for yourself, not so you can sit around here planting petunias and acting ‘poor me’ while people who need your help are going without.

  “If you’re not willing to face death every day, don’t. It isn’t easy, as you’ve found out. No, I take that back, you only lost one and he wasn’t even your patient. I’ve lost count.”

  “Liar.”

  He smiled, almost. “You’re right. I remember every single one. So go be a nurse. Be a GP. Be a podiatrist, for Christ’s sake.”

  L
illo’s lip twitched. “A podiatrist?”

  “Nobody ever died of a hangnail.” He turned away. “Drink your coffee.”

  “You think I’m a coward, don’t you?”

  “I think I made that fairly clear. But I’m done trying to persuade you otherwise. If today didn’t convince you … well, I’m no competition.”

  He walked into the other room, but he came back. “If you’ve finished your coffee, Jess and Allie are over at Mac’s, tending Mac’s brisket. And I, for one, am starving.”

  He found a hoodie on the peg and held it while she put in on, turned her around, and zipped it up.

  “Do you get how annoying you are?”

  He smiled for the first time. “Only to you. Most women enjoy the attention.”

  They went to Mac’s. Lillo wasn’t hungry, but she didn’t want any more confrontations with Ned. She thought if she hesitated he would just wash his hands of her and would leave her behind. She didn’t want to put either possibility to the test.

  So they walked across the parking lot, side by side, not talking.

  Down the path to the back of the gift shop. A ritual they’d almost lost today. Without Mac, there would be no gift shop, no lighthouse. No one else was interested in running it, keeping it up with practically no funding.

  No one to talk to, listen to, to be a friend to. No reason for Lillo to even be here. The camp was gone. Her parents were in Florida.

  Holy hell, it had been a long day. A long week, when she stopped to think about it. She’d had more fun than she’d had for a long time, and more heartbreak, too. It’s what happened, she guessed, when you let people into your life.

  Ned opened the door for her. “Sorry, I can’t seem to help myself.”

  She stopped on the step. Impulsively reached up and kissed his cheek. “You’re annoying as hell, but I appreciate it.”

  “Uh-huh.”

  “When I’m sane.”

  “Ah.” He walked in behind her.

  The kitchen smelled like Mac would be there greeting them, but it was just Jess, Allie, and Nando.

  “Well, see you tomorrow, I hope.” Nando nodded as he passed them on his way out.

  “We were making plans for that motorcycle ride tomorrow, providing Mac is okay,” Allie told them.

  Jess lifted a roasting pan out of the oven. “I tried to get him to stay for dinner but he didn’t want to encroach.” She took the lid off the brisket. “There’s enough for a crowd. Doc, I hope you know how to carve this slab of meat.”

  Ned gave Lillo a sardonic look and went to get the cutting board.

  Diana didn’t really know what she was going to do once she got to Ian’s place. But she was used to thinking on her feet—not that that was actually where she wanted Ian Lachlan.

  He was turning out to be a lot of trouble, and normally she would have taken the hint. But God, she just kept coming back for more. He was just so damn intriguing. Always surprising, and there was something about him that made her usual expectations go up in smoke.

  This was not good. Or maybe it was. Besides, he had just accomplished two heroic acts. No one seemed surprised, hardly seemed to pay attention to him once Bobby was back on land. Didn’t even try to help him off the ground when he attacked Mac’s assailant. What the hell?

  Is that why he had disappeared into the mist? Of which she noticed there was less and less. Thank God; she might never have found the way to the stables.

  But she did find it and walked up the drive wondering what she was going to say to him. I came to see if you were all right. Of course, she could have called him. But it was too easy to get rid of someone on the phone or ignore their text. And Diana didn’t intend to be ignored.

  Between Bobby’s rescue and Mac’s brush with a bullet, her adrenaline was still pumping strong. This was as good a time as any to … to do something. And see what happened.

  The house was dark, lit only by one porch light. She wondered if this was to save money or just because Ian didn’t need to leave lights on. Was he sitting there in the dark? The man made her wonder about the dumbest things. She’d known him less than a week, only spent a few hours a day with him, mostly riding behind him or working at the other end of the stables. They’d barely talked, but something about him just spoke to her.

  And she had to see what it was.

  She didn’t stop at the house but walked straight around to the barn. She knew that’s where he would be. With his horses. With Loki. The lock was off the door to the barn. Still, she hesitated, suddenly feeling like a fool.

  Well, hell, he’d been hit on the head. She’d just say she’d come to make sure he hadn’t passed out and died. She slid the door open the least amount possible and squeezed through. It was dark, but the smell of hay and horse calmed her.

  There was a dim light at the far end, a work light maybe. She started to call out but something stopped her. As she walked along the stalls, Clara and Pete came out to snuffle her. And she gave them each a stroke as she passed.

  Farther down, Loki’s stall door was open. Surely Ian hadn’t taken him out riding. She hesitated. Listened. And heard Loki’s snuffle. She moved silently toward them. Afraid to make a sound. Instinctively knowing that she was the intruder.

  She lingered by the post then peeked inside. Loki was there, head bent down. Ian leaned against him, his arms spread along Loki’s side, his head resting on the horse’s shoulder. The two of them stood perfectly still.

  Loki rolled his eye toward her but didn’t acknowledge her presence in any other way. Did Ian know she was standing behind him?

  He didn’t seem to. Just stood there, his arms outstretched, his body pressed against the barrel chest of his horse. A communion. She’d seen him do something similar with the boys. Soothing, he’d said. Self-soothing, Lillo had called it.

  So now what did she do? This was obviously something she shouldn’t be witnessing. Something too private and fragile for an audience. Like Spider-Man without his web, Iron Man without his suit.

  Diana knew how to take things by storm, flummox a roomful of app geeks, demand parity from HR, write a kick-ass superhero. But she didn’t know what to do here. Her first instinct was to back away and quietly leave.

  Like you walked away from those kids?

  She couldn’t do it then and she wouldn’t do it now. So she stepped forward, softly, carefully, trying not to make a sound or disturb the newly laid hay with her bargain-store sneakers. She moved like a phantom she might create for a video game, until she was standing directly behind Ian. Slowly raised her hand, held her breath as she gently touched his back with a careful finger.

  He didn’t flinch … she wasn’t even sure if he realized she was standing there. She carefully glided her hand down his arm, moving closer until her body was almost touching his. He was warm. Hot. As if he were burning from the inside out.

  Loki snorted, shuddered, driving Ian and Diana closer. Until they were touching, body to body. Their arms spread along Loki’s body like acolytes in some ancient ritual. She rested her cheek between Ian’s shoulder blades, trying not to think about what would happen next.

  Then Loki moved away. They both stumbled slightly. And Ian turned to face her.

  “Why are you here?”

  She didn’t have an answer.

  She just looked at him, every glib retort, every snappy comeback, any clever one-liner she’d ever said fled, leaving her mind empty and blank. She just knew this was where she wanted to be.

  She told him so.

  He shook his head. “It’s no good. I can’t do this.”

  “Can’t do what?”

  “This.”

  “What is this? Do you know? Because I’ll be damned if I do.”

  He took her by the shoulders. Tried to move her away, but she stood her ground and thought, What the hell. She slipped her arms around his neck. Stepped into him.

  He grasped her wrists. “I can’t.”

  “Everything feels like you can,” she said, pressing her
body into his.

  “Jesus, you’re a stubborn woman.”

  “Just tell me what we can’t do, can’t be, can’t whatever. I’m not even sure what we’re talking about.”

  He pulled her arms away. “I’m not having this conversation standing in a horse stall.” He slid past her and out of the stall.

  She followed him out. “Fine. Let’s have it somewhere else.”

  His head dropped back—exasperation? prayer?—then he hooked the stall gate and started toward the barn door.

  Diana followed right behind him. She should just walk out of the barn and down the drive. She was going home in a couple of days and she’d forget about him. He was just a blip on her vacation radar.

  She didn’t know why she’d even gotten involved with him. They weren’t involved. The situation might be involved, but they weren’t. Much. Were they? Her need to know overrode her reason.

  He stopped at the barn door. “God, please, just go away.”

  “Why?”

  He pushed the door wider, stepped through, waited for her. She reluctantly came out and he shut and locked the door.

  “I’ll drive you home.”

  “I’ll walk.”

  He kept walking.

  “Or I could stay.”

  He stopped so abruptly she almost plowed into him.

  “I’ve killed people.”

  “You too?”

  “What?”

  “Lillo killed—to her mind—the most brilliant medical student who ever walked, and until today she was convinced she had no right to live in his world.”

  “There’s a difference between not being able to save someone and what I did.”

  “What did you do?”

  “Diana, I can’t.”

  “Do you know that’s the first time you’ve actually said my name?”

  He glanced at her. “I’ve tried not to.”

  “What? Say my name and I claim your soul?”

  “You’re out of luck. Mine deserted me years ago.”

  They reached the house and he started up the steps. She knew the best thing to do was to get the hell out, because this conversation was getting beyond weird. But she doggedly climbed the steps behind him.