Last Chance Harbor (13 page)

That’s as far as Julianne got when Jordan waved her off. “We’re used to having people drop in all the time. Come on in, Ryder. You’ll stay for dinner.”

“It happens to be standard operating procedure to make room at the table for extra guests at the last minute,” Nick added before giving Ryder a slap on the back. “How’s it going at the construction site? I’ve been meaning to stop by but it’s been hard to find the time.”

Ryder brought him up to speed on their progress. It gave them a topic as the four adults settled around the huge mahogany dining table. Though the kids, Hutton and Scott, had already eaten supper, the toddlers busied themselves by playing with the toys scattered around the room.

They sat down to roasted salmon and steamed asparagus. The first bite of fish had Julianne letting out a loud sigh. “This is delicious. The creamy sauce makes it pop.”

“It’s simple to make using white wine and lemon,” Jordan said. “I’ll give you the recipe before you check out Sunday.”

“I have several excellent prospects in the teaching department. Although my own principal keeps telling me hands off whenever I try to recruit the cream of the crop.”

“Don’t let up. We still have several positions to fill.”

“I’m hoping to interview two next week. I’ll do it in Santa Cruz although I do want them to see the school.” Julianne bided her time, waited for a lag in banter to finally steer the conversation to Scott. “Truth is I dragged Ryder here tonight because he’s had way more Scott encounters than I have. Don’t look at me like that,” she warned Ryder when he sent her a roll of his eyes. With a wave of her fork at him, she added, “They don’t think you’re crazy or hallucinating.” She looked at Jordan. “Go ahead, tell him.”

“No, you’re not crazy,” Jordan echoed. “I wish I could explain it better. But Scott’s presence here is because he loves this place, the town, his family, his friends. He watches over us. And because he has no malice in his heart, none of us want to see him leave.”

Noting the still-skeptical look on Ryder’s face, Nick folded his napkin and stood up. He retrieved a photo from the sideboard, the one of his former Guard buddy dressed in a wetsuit. “This was taken during Scott’s surfing days.” He held the picture out to Ryder. “If this is the guy you’ve seen around town, he died in Iraq. I know because I was there the day it happened. You’re not the first who thought they were paranoid or delusional after seeing him and I can guarantee you won’t be the last.”

“That’s him,” Ryder confirmed. “That’s the guy who’s been bugging me.”

“Here, let me see that,” Julianne said. “I saw the one in the living room on the mantel, the one where he’s dressed in his uniform. This is the Scott I saw, relaxed, smiling and enjoying himself.”

“I had a long talk with Cord,” Ryder admitted. “The entire ghost thing is a little hard for me to swallow. But I know what I saw. Or rather who I saw. If someone offered me the chance to pick him out of a lineup, that’s the guy I’d pick.”

“When he talked to me, he tossed out one line that indicated he knew I’d had help from Danny, the man I loved at the time, fixing up our old relic of a van. It’s something no one could’ve possibly known unless they were my neighbors back in Santa Cruz. But here in Pelican Pointe? That info would be of no particular interest to anyone. That’s why it shocked me that he knew.”

“And with me, Scott mentioned a detail about a former girlfriend no one knew about. Not even my mother knows, but I will eventually have to come clean about. Bethany lifted a family heirloom. That’s only one reason she’s a sore subject for me. Scott didn’t have a problem bringing her up right off the bat. He knew that I’m hoping to locate her and get back what she stole.”

Nick nodded. “Then Scott must feel he can help, help both of you.”

“That’s the same explanation Cord gave me. Not about Julianne, of course. Until tonight I had no idea she’d seen Scott, too. The thing is I don’t feel as though I need help finding Bethany. She’ll eventually turn up.”

“And I don’t feel I have any burgeoning problems that I need help solving,” Julianne added.

“The amazing thing is you guys seem to think this is a normal occurrence,” Ryder noted. “I feel like I’m smack in the middle of a
Twilight Zone
rerun minus Rod Serling’s narration.”

Jordan’s lips bowed. “For us it’s all so normal now. There was a time it wasn’t. I understand that the idea of a ghost helping you solve an important aspect of your life might be ludicrous. But sometimes things happen that aren’t explainable.”

“Like crop circles or the Bermuda Triangle,” Julianne piped up, earning a smile from her hostess.

“Look, I’ve experienced Scott firsthand,” Nick pointed out. “Believe, don’t believe, it’s up to you. Jordan and I just want to assure you that no one thinks either of you are…nuts. And if you’re afraid of him, I assure you Scott is never sinister. That’s never part of his character.”

Jordan decided a change of subject was in order. “We’re fast approaching March and soliciting vendors for the street fair. If either of you are interested in a booth, now’s the time to sign up.”

“There’s a street fair here in March?” Julianne asked, clearly taken with the idea.

Ryder could see her wheels turning as he dug into his fish. Picking up the beer Nick had provided, he told them about
Reclaimed Treasures
. “If they’ll let anyone be a vendor, Julianne’s a great candidate.”

It was Nick who bobbed his head in agreement. “Sure. We encourage everyone here to buy local if they can. Last year, Jordan recruited the Crawford sisters to sell their quilts and Troy to hawk his jewelry boxes. Ask them about their experience before signing up. Last year’s fair was a huge success, blew all the other years away combined.”

Julianne picked up her wine glass. “I don’t have to think about it. Go ahead and add me to the vendor list. Unless the fact I’m principal is considered a conflict of interest. Will that be a problem?”

“Why would it be? What our principal does on her own time—as long as it’s a legal enterprise—is of no concern to the town council,” Nick assured her.

“How do you find stuff to repurpose and refinish?” Jordan wondered.

“And when do you find the time?” Nick added.

“I’m good at utilizing the stuff people want to toss out. Whenever my neighbors do spring cleaning or move stuff out of their garage, I’m there, willing to take it off their hands. I keep my eye out for certain containers located in high traffic areas on my way to and from school. If I see something promising, I stop, inspect it, and then load it into the van. But I draw the line at actually dumpster diving. I’ll cruise around it. I’ll grab anything I see that looks like it has potential for resale. But my diving into one is a different story.”

“Unless it’s a Van Gogh,” Ryder teased. “Then you’re like, ‘let me at that thing.’”

When Julianne hooted with laughter, he let himself enjoy the sound. That cheerful nature of hers reminded him of exotic marigolds reaching toward the sun. That beaming smile, the sparkle in her eyes, made his pulse ramp up.

After taking a sip of her merlot, she let out a huge sigh. “I’m gonna love living here.”

“So does that mean whichever house you decide on, you’ll need space for a workshop?” Ryder prodded.

Her face lit up. “Oh that would be perfect. Although I wouldn’t know what to do with so much space.”

“You’ll find a use for it. The Jennings’ house has a wide, detached, double-car garage.” When she stared at him, Ryder lifted a shoulder in a shrug. “I went by there this afternoon after work to check the place out. Landon and his son, Caleb, were busy cutting the grass. But they let me take a tour around the property.”

“Really? That’s a good sign.”

“How so?”

“Because it means they’re open to a buyer.”

Later, Julianne walked
Ryder to his truck under a bright crescent moon. With a starlit sky that glistened like diamonds overhead, she breathed in the February chill and studied the man beside her. His toned shoulders and trim waist had her wondering what it would be like to see him naked. If he wrapped her up with those long arms...

The sound of his voice broke into her thoughts.

“Will you be okay staying here tonight?”

“Because of Scott?” Her laugh echoed out deep and rich. “More than okay. I trust Nick and Jordan when they say he isn’t malevolent. Mostly because at the house that day Scott took the neighborly approach. The look in his eyes said friendly to me, not crazy. What about you?”

“I’m okay with it. Him. I guess.”

“You on the other hand have a hard time trusting a female. You’d rather trust a ghost before a woman.” She lifted one shoulder. “That’s my take. What kind of number did Bethany do on you anyway? What did she steal?”

She saw him look away, waited several long seconds for him to speak.

“My grandfather on my dad’s side of the family made his living as a cartoonist. His comic strips were syndicated in newspapers up and down the East Coast. When he died he left all of his sketches to my father. But after Dad died, they came to me.”

At the emotion she saw in his eyes, the way he fought back tears, she reached out to him, ran her hand along his cheek.

“You have to understand, his drawings were my most prized possessions. Those cartoons were precious to me. I let that viper into my home, my bed and she betrayed every bit of trust I placed in her.”

“You loved her.”

Ryder filled his lungs with the heavy air, blew out an angry breath. “I was getting there in between tours. But you can rest assured I have no feelings now for the woman I knew as Bethany, except maybe contempt and disgust. Some days it’s tough to forgive myself, how much faith and trust I put in her. I left for overseas, left my home and what was important to me with her. How did she repay me?”

“You had no way of knowing she would rip you off like that,” Julianne pointed out.

“There were a few signs. But I look back and realize I spent a lot of time making up excuses for her.”

“Like what?”

“Like the fact that she didn’t really mean to insult my mother when she called her narcissistic. She didn’t mean to pitch a fit every time I tried to return calls from my friends, friends I’d had since grade school. You get the picture. Anyway, that last time I got back stateside from Afghanistan I was bent on making a life together with her. Instead, when I got home I put my house key in the lock. It didn’t work. I looked through the windows, only to that the place had all new furniture I didn’t recognize.”

“Oh Ryder. How long had it been since you’d received letters from her?”

“That was the kicker. The entire time she kept up this façade that everything was fine back home. I don’t know how she managed that. Another example of how she outsmarted me.”

“Criminals excel at deception. She didn’t want you suspecting anything. Okay, go on.”

“When I see the unfamiliar furniture, I figure Bethany bought new stuff. But at this point, I’m beginning to get a sick feeling in my gut. That’s when I decided to go knock on my neighbor’s door to see if he knew what was going on. He tells me Bethany put the house on the market six days after I landed at Bagram and it sold within the month. She got rid of my furniture or gave it away. Bottom line, she moved out, took everything I owned.”

“Someone else was living in your house?”

“Sure was. A family of four bought it.”

“But if the sale was done with phony paperwork—”

“I was gone fourteen months. It was obvious she’d been planning this long
before
my deployment. She ran a con and it worked.” He ran a hand through his hair. He might as well tell her the rest. “One night I had too much to drink. She’d dragged me to a party for one of her friends. When we got back home, I might’ve signed some papers she shoved in front of me.”

“What? Oh Ryder, I’m sorry.”

“Yeah. I was an idiot. Believe me, I know it too.”

“What happened after you found out?”

“I sat on the stoop that used to belong to me and waited for the new owners to come home from work. That evening they let me inside to take a tour—one last time and all that. Nothing of mine was left, not a single thing. The walls were a different color. I mean everything that belonged to me was gone. Not just my clothes, but every personal item that was important to me, photographs of my grandparents, my parents, relatives, cousins, friends. Things I’ll never be able to replace.”