Cottage at the Beach (The Off Season)

by Lee Tobin McClain

  Erica leaned down and hugged her, carefully. “I’m so glad. I love living here with you and Hannah.”

  But as Amber drifted off to sleep, lulled by the pain pills, Erica thought about keeping her sister here and what it meant.

  For Amber to have peace and a good time, a dream come true, with her daughter—well, that meant everything.

  And having a relationship with a man who planned to leave was unthinkable. Having the academy program’s funding withdrawn at the end of the year was unthinkable. More than ever, after this scare, she wasn’t willing to give up her sister’s dream.

  She had to find more ways to convince O’Neil, and the community, that the kids in the behavior support program were a strength to the school, not a weakness.

  * * *

  TUESDAY MORNING, TREY wasn’t sure whether he’d see Erica at school or not. She’d been staying inside her cottage with her sister, who’d come home from the hospital yesterday. Only Hannah had made a brief appearance, heading to the waterfront shops for pizza and funnel cakes with her friends from school.

  Cloaked in silence in their cottage throughout Memorial Day weekend, the sisters hadn’t come out at all, not even for the town’s cookout on the beach or the fireworks.

  And Trey, who’d welcomed feeling useful when Amber had first gotten sick, was left as much in the dark as any random neighbor.

  He didn’t like it.

  Loud voices in the hallway snapped him back to the school day. The kids crowded in, dressed in work clothes, some of them carrying tools. They were supposed to do a service project in the neighborhood where they’d done the previous cleanup, this one helping elderly residents prepare for any seasonal storms.

  Could he take them out on his own? He knew the basic itinerary. But he wasn’t a certified teacher, and he didn’t want to raise O’Neil’s hackles. The principal being who he was, he’d undoubtedly stop by the site to check on them.

  It was hard to believe Erica would miss a day so close to the end of school, but if her sister needed her, she might.

  He was about to seek out the other teacher of the support group when Erica rushed in, dressed in jeans and a T-shirt. “Sorry, everyone! Sorry I’m late. Let’s go ahead and get going. We only have a small window before it starts raining again.”

  So they walked from the school to Sunset Lane. The sun peeked out, then ducked behind clouds, and the breeze off the bay was brisk. Jacket weather.

  He fell into step beside Erica. “How’s your sister doing?”

  “Pretty well. So far, her tests haven’t revealed anything serious, but we’re waiting for a few more results to come in.”

  “Is she feeling okay?”

  “She’s tired, but other than that she’s okay. No more pain.”

  There was the sound of running feet behind them, a boy’s voice. “Hey, I’m here. Sorry I’m late.”

  Trey was surprised to see the teenager who had been carrying the drugs when he first arrived.

  Erica reached out a hand and patted the kid’s shoulder. “I’m so glad you’re back.” She looked at Trey. “I’m sure you remember LJ,” she said.

  Trey held out a hand to the kid. “Welcome back.”

  For a moment, it seemed as though the kid wasn’t going to shake hands, but slowly, reluctantly, he did.

  LJ was suspicious of him, obviously, and Trey knew enough about teenagers now to grab the bull by the horns. “Look, I can’t deny I’ll keep my eye on you, but I keep my eye on all the kids.”

  “Right.” LJ looked away.

  Trey opened his mouth to scold the kid and then shut it again. He could hardly blame LJ, and he remembered all too well the feeling of not trusting an adult. Only consistent action and patience would convince LJ that Trey was on his side. “Clean slate from my end,” he said, and walked faster to catch up with the other kids.

  Behind him, he heard Erica talking to LJ. Her voice was warm, but casual. By the time they reached the house they were to work on, she’d even gotten him to laugh.

  The sound warmed Trey’s heart. Erica was really good with the kids.

  They reached the James house, where they were scheduled to work first. Erica, petite as she was, capably lifted boards and showed the students how to stack them up where they could readily be nailed across windows. Then she showed them the hurricane shutters that protected the bigger windows, gave a demonstration about how to check that they were working. “It’s not hurricane season yet, but technically, it starts June 1. Which is next week. So we want everyone to be prepared.”

  “Prepared for school to be out,” one of the boys yelled, and a couple of others chimed in. But it wasn’t bad-natured. Trey wouldn’t be surprised if the kids would miss the academy once the school year ended.

  Maybe, the idea flashed into his mind, he and Erica could even do something with the kids in the summer.

  Not that he was planning to stay for the summer, of course.

  The James men had a dilapidated shed where they kept their hurricane supplies. Erica talked the kids through how to fix it up, making everything easily accessible, and soon they were all working hard with the hammers, nails and small saws donated by the hardware store. Trey had never been much of a handyman, so he didn’t try to take charge; he just followed Erica’s leadership and did what the students were doing. The good news was that his back felt so much better. Just as the physical therapist had hoped, time and being faithful about the exercises had helped a lot.

  After an hour of work, they were close enough to done that he took a break and approached Erica. “Anything you want me to do?”

  “Just keep an eye on everybody. You’re doing fine, for a guy that barely knows how to hold a hammer.” She softened the words with a smile.

  He grinned ruefully. “You noticed.”

  “I noticed.” She threw back her shoulders. “Because I’m talented at this stuff.”

  Her cocky comment amused him. “Why don’t you show me how it’s done, then?”

  “You want me to give you lessons?” She lifted an eyebrow.

  “Yeah.” He felt the side of his mouth perk up into a smile. “I’m putting myself entirely into your hands.”

  She bit her lip, and boy, did he want to kiss her right there.

  Her eyes were pinned on his, and pretty pink color rose into her cheeks. Their eyes held for too long.

  She sucked in a breath. “Well, okay, then! Here’s how you hold the hammer. As you put the nail in with the other hand and tap. Gently, because you don’t want to knock the nail off center or hit your thumb.”

  He laughed at her elementary lesson and knelt to do as she’d done on the other side of the window. Once he had the nail positioned, he looked back over his shoulder at her. “Like this?”

  “Yeah.” She said it in a sigh, and she seemed to be looking not at the hammer and nail, but at his arms and shoulders. And he couldn’t deny that made him feel good. Since his divorce, and even more since his injury, he hadn’t exactly felt appealing as a man.

  A throat cleared behind them. They both jumped as if they’d been doing something wrong.

  It was Earl Greene. “Everything going okay here?”

  “Yes, perfect!” Erica turned away from Trey and waved a hand at the side of the house where most of the kids were working. “They’re having fun, but I think they’re really helping Mr. James get his house ready.”

  “Any particular concerns, sir?” Trey asked, because he could tell Earl had something on his mind.

  “Actually, yes.” The man frowned. “I’m wondering how LJ is doing.”

  “He seems to be fitting back in just fine, Officer, from what I’ve been able to see.” Erica blushed a little, and Trey could guess why.

  Neither of them had been paying a lick of attention to LJ.

  “Should we walk over there and take a look, see how
he’s doing?” Trey was pretty sure that was all that would satisfy the officer.

  “That would be just fine.” Greene turned and led the way.

  When they reached the other side of the house, Trey’s gut tightened.

  There was Principal O’Neil, hands on hips, arguing with a couple of the girls.

  “But this is how Erica told us to do it,” one of the girls was saying.

  “Your teacher happens to be wrong,” O’Neil said. He looked up just as Trey, Erica and Earl Greene walked closer. “Oh, hello, there,” he said. “Just checking out the kids’ work.”

  “They’re doing a nice job,” Trey said, to give the girls a little positive reinforcement. They looked upset after O’Neil’s correction of their technique.

  “Any problems here, Officer?” O’Neil asked Officer Greene.

  “Just checking on LJ Jones,” Greene said. He was looking around. “Any idea where he is?”

  “No, because I didn’t realize he was coming back today,” Principal O’Neil said. He frowned at Erica. “You need to keep me informed about that sort of thing.”

  “A kid’s absence and return?” She said it mildly, but still managed to imply that O’Neil was nitpicking.

  “One with a criminal background, yes.” He crossed his arms over his chest. “That’s exactly the sort of thing some of the parents dislike about our program. I should have been consulted before he was allowed to return.”

  “If the board of directors objects, I’ll take the heat,” Erica said, obviously trying to calm O’Neil down.

  “Not to interrupt your discussion of protocol,” Officer Greene said, “but where is the kid?”

  Trey scanned the group. Sure enough, LJ was nowhere to be seen. He walked to the other side of the house where two of the kids were shoring up the little shed.

  No LJ.

  “He’s run away! Should have known.” O’Neil frowned and so did Earl Greene.

  “Let’s not jump to conclusions,” Erica said. She turned to the kids who were obviously listening. “Have any of you seen LJ?”

  “He was here a minute ago,” one of the girls said.

  Trey was kicking himself. He was the officer on the scene, and he hadn’t kept track of the new return, the delinquent.

  Erica’s forehead wrinkled. She looked panicky, and understandably so. She probably thought it was her fault, but Trey disagreed. LJ’s arrest history made it his responsibility.

  He felt a raindrop on his arm and looked up at the roiling gray clouds in the sky. Looked like they would need to pack it in soon, but not before they found their missing kid.

  The front door of the house opened, and LJ came out.

  “What were you doing in there?” Principal O’Neil strode up to LJ and grabbed his shoulder, none too gently.

  LJ wrenched away. “Let go of me, man,” he said.

  “Were you stealing in there?”

  “No!” LJ looked around at his audience and muttered, “I was using the bathroom. Old dude asked me to help him with something.”

  A car pulled up: Kirk James, whom Trey had already identified as a bit of a blowhard. The older man pushed himself out quickly and strode toward the small group. “What’s going on? Is Dad okay?”

  Officer Greene climbed the porch steps with surprising speed—maybe he actually wasn’t completely out of shape—and tapped on the door. When the older Mr. James appeared, Earl greeted him, then asked: “Did you have one of the boys in there helping you with something?”

  “I surely did. Is that against the rules?”

  “Not at all. Just checking.” Greene went on talking to the older man.

  “This is what can happen,” O’Neil sputtered, face red. “I don’t like it. No one likes it.”

  “No one likes what?” Trey tried to make the question sound respectful, but from the snicker of a couple of kids, he realized he hadn’t succeeded.

  “No one likes criminals in their homes!”

  LJ’s shoulders slumped, and Trey remembered what it felt like to be thought of as a bad seed when you’d done nothing wrong.

  “The young man who helped me move my table is a criminal?” Mr. James frowned.

  “Erica, could you kindly explain this young man’s background?” Now O’Neil was in damage control mode.

  “LJ got into some trouble a while back,” she said, putting an arm around the boy, “but he’s faced the consequences and done what was legally required. Now he’s back with us. He’s an important part of the group.” She looked steadily from one adult face to another, as if defying any of them to break the connection she had with the child or put him down.

  “You had the kid who was arrested working on our house? Inside it?” Kirk clapped his hands on his hips.

  “Son!” It was old Mr. James, and though his voice was raspy with age, Kirk’s mouth snapped shut. “We aren’t the kind of people who refuse to give others a second chance. After all, both you and I have needed a few of those in our lives.”

  Kirk opened his mouth as if to disagree and then shut it again and ducked his head. “I guess.”

  “Looks like everything is under control here,” Officer Greene said to Trey. “You make sure it stays that way, understand?”

  “Yes, sir.” But he wasn’t looking at Greene; he was looking at Erica. She was talking rapidly to Mr. James, her back toward the rest of them. Maybe she was trying to avoid getting O’Neil involved in the conversation.

  She definitely had a balancing act there, and Trey knew how important the program was to her. The final decision about whether to keep the behavior support program going was coming up soon. He wished again that he hadn’t let LJ out of his sight.

  As Officer Greene walked away, Trey surveyed the low-hanging clouds. He was no weatherman, but it looked like there was going to be a storm. More fat drops of rain were falling.

  “Put the tools away,” he ordered the rest of the kids. Work on Mary’s house, and Primrose Miller’s, would have to wait until another day.

  LJ sidled toward the back of the house, so Trey strolled after him.

  The boy didn’t stop where a couple of other kids were gathering supplies, but kept walking toward the alley behind the house. He was looking side to side.

  He was going to run away. Trey recognized the signs because he’d done the same himself.

  He speed-walked toward LJ, ignoring the twinges in his back. “It stinks when someone makes assumptions about you, doesn’t it?”

  LJ looked back at him, fear on his face. “I wasn’t doing anything.”

  “I could see that. And I think Erica and Officer Greene could, as well.”

  “Principal’s never going to trust me.”

  “You’re probably right. Are you going to let him define you?”

  LJ shot him a resentful look and didn’t answer.

  They were walking down the alley now, but Trey stopped moving and gestured for LJ to turn back. “Head back with me. What I mean is, are you going to let the fact that the principal thinks you’re a bad seed actually make you a bad seed?”

  LJ stood still.

  “Look, you have a chance to make a fresh start. I’m not accusing you of anything, and neither is Erica nor local police. But it’s your choice. You can let your life take another downturn, live up to the principal’s expectations, if you want.”

  “It’s not my choice. You’re not going to let me run away.”

  “Well, you do have to follow the laws of the land. In this case, that means when you come to school, you have to stay at school and do what your classmates are doing, not follow your every impulse. You’re not some special exception to the rules everyone has to follow.”

  LJ’s mouth twisted, but he did start walking back toward the house with Trey.

  “Believe me,” Trey said, “I know something about making m
istakes because of not thinking things through. You can come back from that. I did.”

  “Huh.” LJ’s grunt wasn’t hostile, which was about the best you could expect of a teenage boy.

  Their conversation got more general, but at least the kid was talking. That made Trey feel good. Like he could maybe do something helpful around here.

  But that wasn’t in the cards for him. Yeah, he’d felt good vibes with some kids and a woman in a sleepy small town. And, yeah, his impulse was to pay attention to that, see where it would lead.

  It was just that his impulses had gotten him into trouble before. When he was a kid, when he’d jumped into marriage with Michelle and when he’d started taking too many chances at work after his marriage had broken up.

  Including the meth lab fiasco that had led to his back injury.

  Now he didn’t trust his impulses. Didn’t trust himself.

  But maybe, a small inner voice said, he was wrong about that. Maybe his impulses were getting better.

  His father’s description of Trey’s childhood flashed into his head. Dad hadn’t seen him as a bad kid, and apparently his foster family hadn’t, either. So maybe Trey had been too hard on himself for a while now.

  Maybe, in addition to having something to offer the teenagers, he had something to offer a woman like Erica.

  And just like that, he made a decision. He was going to take her out on a nice date, as soon as school was out so they wouldn’t be breaking any rules. Get to know her softer side a little better. See where that connection that kept sparking between them might go.

  CHAPTER FIFTEEN

  SUNDAY AFTERNOON, JUST like she’d started doing almost every week, Julie worked the front desk of the Chesapeake Motor Lodge. Mary’s suggestion had been a good one; it was a help to Ria, and it made Julie feel like she was earning her keep in the little suite she occupied. Most of Ria’s customers were by the week, so business was brisk. Ria herself was busy supervising the cleaning staff as they got the rooms and suites ready for the next set of customers.