The Cove Conundrum

by Agatha Ball

  "Oh, wait!" I said, grabbing a cup of coffee from the pump pot. "I'll walk out with you. Gotta head down to check in on Johnny and I have some news for you."

  Hal waited patiently as I finished and we left together. I could see Mom was disappointed, but she didn't leave with us. I heard her hiss at Granny. "Red velvet cake, Mom? I mean, that's not even subtle."

  And then the door closed, cutting off the conversation.

  The weather had continued to deteriorate. Fallen leaves danced down the street in the wind.

  "So, what was that thing you wanted to talk to me about, Paige?" Hal asked, taking a sip. He stared at the cup like it was the most delicious beverage he had ever tasted. "Oh, this hits the spot."

  "Just wanted to let you know we found out a little more about what was in that time capsule."

  "Yeah?" he asked with interest.

  "Well, this is all theory, but maybe it's something you can investigate." I continued on, telling him all about the war and the scrap metal.

  By the time I was done, he was impressed. "Paige, that is really something. How'd you figure all that out?"

  "Just came across this newspaper article in Nate's place and we thought maybe the silver and jewels might still be here somewhere. Anyways, I just thought I should tell you in case you needed something to investigate."

  "And you're sitting here telling me there might be a treasure on this island before you even grabbed a metal detector to find it for yourself?"

  "I guess I'm lazy that way," I joked. "It is waaaay too much work to find a stash of stolen goods that could, essentially, be anywhere."

  "Well, if I find anything," he said, "I'll make sure to grab you a diamond ring or something."

  "You, sir, have yourself a deal."

  We shook hands in an exaggerated manner, making our mock deal with one another, and then parted ways as I headed down to the beach to see what Johnny was up to and make sure he knew to find higher ground.

  The waves were already getting huge and Johnny was in his wetsuit and practically buzzing with excitement. "Paige! Look at that surf! So frickin' gnarly. Storm's coming in and it is going to be epic!"

  I, however, was having none of it. I went over to Johnny and slapped his bicep. Not hard. Just enough to let him know he was in trouble. "Don't you get in that water, Johnny."

  "Dude, Paige. I will be fine. Everyone knows the best swells are before a storm. Afterward, it's like a yard sale with all the garbage."

  I folded my arms across my chest and glared at him. "If you let that ocean kill you, I will hunt you down and kill you myself."

  "Why are we killing Johnny?" asked a familiar voice.

  I turned around and smiled, seeing it was Nate. His floppy, chestnut hair was blowing in the breeze like some sort of a magazine cover model on a photoshoot. His broad chest was covered in a cable knit sweater that I just wanted to cuddle up against. So, I didn't stop myself. I wrapped my arms around his waist and snuggled into his warmth.

  "Big storm, Johnny!" said Nate. "Why don't you come up to the house? We'll have a sleepover." Nate kissed the top of my head. "You come over, too. That cottage of yours is about as sturdy as a cardboard box."

  "It's a nice cardboard box!" I insisted.

  "And one that is going to get blown to Oz."

  "DUDE! Paige! Don't go..." And then Johnny mimed what it looked like to drop your house on something. "Dropping it on any witches!"

  "Does Madison count?"

  "You could drop it on her."

  Nate gave me a little squeeze. "Say you'll come. I'll grab s'more makings from the general store and get a fire going. We can all camp out in the living room."

  "Especially if you have to leave, Paige," said Johnny. Man, those words cut straight to my heart. "We gotta have at least one buddy party before things go nuts."

  "Well," I said, trying to stay brave. "I wouldn't want you to be in that drafty old house on your own."

  "There might be ghosts," said Johnny, with dead seriousness.

  Nate nodded in agreement. "There are definitely ghosts. And I could really use someone brave to keep me from getting scared."

  "You got working flashlights?" Johnny challenged.

  "I will make sure I buy all the batteries for all the flashlights."

  I gave Nate a quick kiss. "I'm totally in." I glanced over my shoulder. "Madison is organizing a storm party at Trevor's Saloon, too."

  Nate groaned. "I should probably make an appearance. Just make sure everyone is okay and find out if anyone needs anything." He paused. "Is your Granny going to be okay? She can come up to the house, too."

  I waved away his concern. "She's got a hot date with Richard tonight."

  Johnny felt the need to do a little sexy dance in celebration of their date. I reached out and socked him in the arm, only this time I did it hard.

  "OW!"

  "You deserved it. That is my GRANDMOTHER you are doing sexy dances about."

  "Fair enough."

  Nate, however, was happy to help us change the subject. "Richard's such a nice guy," he said. "He actually tracked me down yesterday to ask about my vision for a local historical museum."

  "Really?" I exclaimed with surprise. "We had been talking about that and then he rushed out, saying he had some ideas. That man seems like a squishy softie, but he really just sees something he wants and goes after it, doesn't he?"

  "Well, I told him he was welcome to come haul out any of the old crap from that house he wanted. Oh, to be able to see all the walls!" Nate exclaimed. "I mean, there is just so many boxes!"

  "I can hardly wait to see what he has up his sleeve."

  Suddenly, Johnny held up his arms. "Speaking of sleeves, I need to put this wetsuit to good use. Ciao bellas!"

  We gave him a wave as he grabbed his board and ran toward the beach.

  I leaned my head against Nate's shoulder. "Boy, I hope he doesn't kill himself."

  Chapter Twenty

  We wandered up to Trevor's bar and he had already changed the sign to say, "Storm Party! $1 Shots!"

  I groaned. "Dollar shots? He's going to go out of business."

  "We should be so lucky," remarked Nate.

  "Hey!" I exclaimed. "That's my ex-boyfriend you're talking about."

  "I don't know how a sleazeball like that guy lucked out landing a girl like you."

  "He was definitely punching above his weight," I replied, nuzzling Nate's shoulder.

  Nate opened the doors to the saloon and the sounds of a rollicking party and the smells of spilled beer poured out onto the street. One of these days, and I think it was much sooner than Trevor was aware, Madison was going to get him to rename the whole thing to match her design aesthetic.

  The place was already packed. Guess there's no time like the present when a storm is bearing down on you and you're trapped on an island. People gave Nate a friendly wave as he grabbed my hand and threaded our way through the crowd to the bar.

  Trevor saw us and groaned. "Don't tell me you just want a cup of water. Give me at least a little bit of a challenge. We could all die tonight."

  "We're not going to die tonight," Nate laughed.

  But before we could order, Madison came stomping over. I gotta say, her face? If I was Trevor, I would have taken my chances outside with the storm.

  "Um... Trevor? What are you doing?" she snapped.

  Trevor looked at her like he had no idea what she was getting at. "Um... well... I was going to pour a drink? We have a bar full of customers."

  Madison released a disgusted breath. "Did you tell that Lottie girl she was allowed to stay at your place tonight?"

  Trevor's eyes got wide.

  Now, Trevor dumped me like a load of bricks when I turned out to be inconvenient to his political aspirations, and he pretty much ghosted me after. But I'm pretty sure the guy wasn't dumb enough to invite one of the few single girls in town to a sleepover at his place when his girlfriend was probably going to be there, too.

  He held up his han
ds. "I was just about to tell you."

  "JUST ABOUT TO TELL ME WHAT!" Madison shrieked at him. "THAT YOU ARE CHEATING ON ME???"

  All conversations in the room completely stopped as all eyes turned to see what was going on.

  "No! No!" said Trevor. "She's stranded here and it turns out they double booked her hotel room."

  That's when I got the first whiff that something was not on the up and up here. Just a few minutes ago, Lottie had been in Bitter Beans and she had said that she was staying at the Grand Hotel. There was no way in heck that she had checked in and then been booted out in the few minutes that had passed.

  "You expect me to believe that?!" Madison screamed. "You are a SNAKE, Trevor. A SNAKE and a LIAR and you think you can just stand there and make me look like some sort of idiot for ever liking you?!"

  "I SWEAR!" Trevor insisted, his voice pitching into a high pitched whine as he tried to get her to calm down. "There's a storm and she has no place to stay and..."

  "She can stay at my place!" blurted out Nate.

  Suddenly, all eyes turned from the train wreck behind the bar to the train wreck about to happen.

  Nate shrugged like he couldn't believe this was a big deal. "No one needs to go shouting at each other," he stated. "There is a lot of room at my house. Easy game." He turned to the room. "If anyone else needs a place to stay, you are welcome, too."

  The conversations slowly resumed as everyone realized the problem was solved.

  But Madison still had a bone to pick with Trevor. On a scale of one to ten, she had calmed down to a five. Still, a five on the Madison scale was frickin' scary.

  "You thought you could get away with it, didn't you? Thought I wouldn't know?" she hissed.

  "I swear!" said Trevor. "She stopped by, said that she didn't have a place to stay. Offered to make the bar her news headquarters and do lots of footage here."

  Madison considered his words. "Oh," she finally said, smoothing back her tight blonde ponytail. "This was a business decision."

  "A TOTAL business decision," Trevor replied.

  "I believed we discussed how unhappy it makes me when you make business decisions without consulting me." She folded her arms and waited for his answer to that one.

  "I love consulting you with business ideas. It was just that this one literally happened about three minutes before you came in."

  "Oh. Well. Don't let it happen again," she said, acting like her psycho meltdown hadn’t just happened, and leaned over to kiss him on the lips. "All is forgiven."

  Trevor looked like he had gotten a stay of execution. I was thinking that it was more like getting another ten years in solitary confinement. But I guess everyone has their thing.

  I glanced at my watch. "I should probably go get ready for work," I apologized.

  Nate took my wrist and commented, "It's barely ten o'clock."

  "Which means Granny has been at work for six hours already. I'll let you walk me up to my cottage though."

  "You, lady, have yourself a deal."

  As we headed out the door, Trevor shouted behind us. "Come back and get those real drinks sometime!"

  "With a girlfriend like Madison, I'm surprised he's not doing shots under the table all on his own," Nate commented under his breath.

  As we stepped onto the boardwalk and took the turn to go up the hill to my cottage, I decided it was time to let him know he wasn't exactly off the hook either.

  "I was really surprised you invited Lottie to your place," I mentioned, trying to be as nonchalant as I could be.

  "Oh!" Nate said, suddenly realizing that this had the potential of being awkward. "Oh, I am so sorry! I should have checked. It's just... I mean, even though we broke up, we're still friends and I just couldn't leave her stranded in the middle of the town during a storm."

  "That's the thing, though," I said. "She came into Bitter Beans and said she had a room at the Grand Hotel."

  "Wait... what?" asked Nate. "Why would she fake her sleeping situation?"

  "I dunno," I said. "All I'm thinking is that she maaaaay have been hoping for a slumber party with the owner of a certain bar."

  "Well, I'm glad I intervened," said Nate. "Madison would have burned this island to the ground."

  "Okay, so that's fair."

  He put his arms around my shoulders. "I'm so glad you're not like that."

  "Mmmmm... I might be a little like that."

  "What?" he asked with surprise.

  "I mean, of course you need to take care of a friend and I'm glad that you are there for her. But... well, I was hoping it could just being us. And Johnny. But, you know, he doesn't really count."

  "Oh!" said Nate, suddenly getting it. "I can uninvite her."

  I waved it away. "Naw. Like you said, can't leave the poor girl stranded in the street... even if she might have a warm bed at the hotel waiting for her."

  "Well, I'll extend the offer," said Nate. "And we'll see if she decides to take me up on it."

  I gave him a glance up and down and laughed. "Oh, if you're coming over to ask in that sexy sweater? She will DEFINITELY take you up on it."

  "What can I say? My pheromones are a babe magnet."

  "They most certainly are," I replied, giving him a side-hug as we walked. "And now I'm stuck on you."

  Chapter Twenty-One

  Nate swung by in his truck to pick me and Johnny up.

  "How are things?" I asked as I got in. The rain was already pelting down and I was so grateful that I didn't have to walk down the hill. The bike had been so lovely when it was warm, but I was seeing why these were called "summer cottages". It was about to get really lousy living up at the top of this unpaved road.

  "Main Street may flood," he said, lines of worry beginning to crease his face. "I'm going to drop you and Johnny off and then help Stan and Fred checking the roads for any hikers or campers who might not have known the storm was coming in."

  "I can come with you," I offered.

  Nate leaned over and kissed me. "As much as I would love that, there's the one bench seat and I might need the space."

  "Next time, we're buying you a minivan," I threatened.

  "You have yourself a deal," he replied.

  We headed out to Johnny's shack and he was locking it up as we arrived. He gave the building a pat. I realized with it being so close to the water, there was some real danger that the ocean might come up to claim it.

  He gave us an enthusiastic wave, though, and threw a gym bag into the back of the truck. "Hey! Wasn't Lottie supposed to be on the party bus?" he asked.

  Nate nodded. "Yeah... I went down to Trevor's tavern and she had disappeared. Trevor mentioned she said she was setting up for the broadcast." Nate shrugged. "Guess she'll... give me a call or something when she needs a ride?"

  "Wouldn't it have been nice if she had told you what she was up to and where?" I mentioned pointedly.

  "She has a way of reminding me why the two of us split up," Nate replied.

  "Why did you two split up?" asked Johnny, not even aware that he was asking a pretty loaded question.

  But Nate took it all in stride. "She was pretty willing to do whatever it took to get a story, even if it meant walking a fine line on what was ethical and what was not."

  I laughed. "She and Trevor should get together."

  Nate looked meaningfully at me. "I have a feeling you were right, and that might have been exactly what she was trying to do."

  "Well, if she broke up Madison and Trevor, we could at least get rid of the more unpleasant of the two."

  "I have a feeling if anyone breaks up Madison and Trevor, Madison would take a scorched earth policy that would make this storm seem like a pleasant drizzle."

  A flash of lightning arced across the sky and the thunder boomed in agreement.

  "No, but wait," said Johnny, bringing the conversation back around. "But why did you break up?"

  Nate saw he wasn't going to be able to dodge the question. "Well, there's a reason she's reporting ra
instorms from the field," said Nate. "She went after an elementary school administrator for potential corruption and money laundering. Only, she left out the 'potential' part and went straight for the jugular. Turns out he had won the lotto and put all his earnings into covering the daycare bills for some of the poor families in his district and buying lunch for kids who couldn't afford food. Even set up a college fund for the 5th grade class. The secrecy had all been because he was trying to stay anonymous." Nate kept his eyes on the increasingly bad road. "She was going for the acclaim, not the truth, and I just couldn't stand there watching as she destroyed this guy."

  "What happened to him?" I asked. I had heard the stories of crazy people going after lotto winners, families showing up to drain them dry.

  "He had to move away," said Nate. "As soon as it got out that he was loaded, everyone was hounding him. Someone broke into his house, thinking the money was under a floorboard or something. He had enough. Packed everything up and started a new life thousands of miles away. All those kids worse off, all because she wanted some attention."

  "Buh. What a bummer," said Johnny. "Here I thought she was pretty chill."

  Nate shrugged again. "She is. I mean, there's a reason we dated. She's a good person, but she made a big mistake, and it wasn't the first time. I just wasn't willing to hang around to make sure she had learned her lesson." Nate checked the rearview mirror. "And the fact she was trying to buddy up with Trevor, a failed politician and the nephew of a mass murderer, just makes me wonder if she's actually into him, or just thinking there was a story there that wasn't about the weather."

  Chapter Twenty-Two

  My phone rang and I pulled it out of my pocket.

  Nate's house was warm and cozy, but the rain outside was getting worse. And now the wind was starting to pick up.

  "Hey Nate!" I said into the receiver.

  "Has Lottie shown up?" he asked, shouting to be heard.

  Johnny was in the middle of the living room playing hackeysack. I waved at him to cut it out before he broke something. "No, just Johnny and me," I said. The silence on the line gave me pause. "You worried?"