Meant to Be (5 page)

“How about we take it one day at a time. I’m sure Lucas will be back before we know it, and then he’ll show me around.” Beth headed for the front door.

“Ahem,” Joe coughed. “Aren’t you forgetting something?”

Beth turned, looking around. “I don’t think so.”

Joe glanced at Dozer.

“Oh, right.” She called over her shoulder, “Come on, Dozer. Let’s find that map and plan our day.”

“Well? What’s she like?”

“Who?” Joe asked, playing dumb and avoiding eye contact while untying the dock lines.

“Betty White, jackass. You know who.”

Joe shrugged. “She’s not what I expected.”

Sid dropped onto the side of the boat, boots resting on the bench. “Not a blonde or not a bimbo?”

“Neither.” He envied Dozer for the third time since leaving him with Beth. Not that he wanted to spend the day with the pain in the ass. She didn’t even like boats. Who the hell didn’t like boats?

And there was that little detail about her calling him an asshole.

“I usually appreciate your strong, silent-type personality, but you’re starting to piss me off.” Sid crossed her arms under her breasts, eyebrows raised.

“What do you want me to say? She’s a brunette. She dresses fancy and is afraid of boats. And water. I’ll be surprised if she lasts the week.”

“You think she’ll leave him?” A note of enthusiasm entered Sid’s voice, but Joe ignored it. He knew Sid had a thing for Lucas, but he sure as hell wasn’t going to talk about it.

“He already left.”

“What?” Sid came off the side of the boat in one motion. “He’s gone? But he just got here.”

Joe moved to the next dock line. “He got a call, said he had to head back for a case. I didn’t ask a lot of questions.”

Sid followed him toward the bow. “So she’s still here? He left her here alone?”

Joe stopped and Sid slammed into his back. “Could we get on with this? She’s here. He’s not. End of story.”

“Fine,” Sid said, bristling at his attitude. “So Patty’s stuck with her all day?”

“No, Patty had to work. Beth is on her own. She’s watching Dozer for me.”

Sid let go of the line she’d just picked up. “She’s watching Dozer?”

He’d barely had breakfast and Joe already had a headache. “Yes, she’s watching Dozer. What is wrong with you?”

“What is wrong with
you
? It took you a year before you’d let your mother watch Dozer. This chick strolls onto the island and suddenly she’s your trusted pet sitter? There must be something about her you’re not telling me.”

“Sid.” Joe crossed his arms to prevent himself from throwing his boat mechanic overboard. “I needed someone to watch the dog. She volunteered. He seems to like her,
and I don’t figure she’s going to kill him, so it’s fine. Now, can we please just test this fucking engine?”

Sid narrowed her eyes but didn’t fire off any more questions. Thank God.

“Whatever you say, Captain. Let’s fire up the fucking engine.”

B
eth spent an hour studying the map of the island along with a few tourist-attraction flyers. For a tiny speck of sand, Anchor offered a wide variety of shops and businesses to explore. There were the usual suspects selling T-shirts and souvenirs, including coconut bikini tops and endless beach-themed water globes, but the number of niche stores was surprising.

“What do you recommend, Dozer?” At hearing his name, the dog turned, splattering drool across the top flyer. “Okay, we’ll skip the Blackbeard museum for now.” She slid the wet pamphlet into the garbage. “I’ll just look through these up on the counter, where you can’t drip.”

The third flyer down caught her attention. A small, bright-blue cabin nestled between low-hanging trees burst from the page. Soft-pink and fuchsia flowers hugged a welcoming porch, while varying-sized flowerpots lined the porch rail like birds crowding on a power line. The sign read
ISLAND ARTS
&
CRAFTS
.

“I’ve found our first destination.”

Thankfully, Patty had circled the location for the Dempsey home on the map, so according to Beth’s calculations, one
left and two rights should get her to the art shop. Based on the key, the distance would be just under a mile. She debated taking the bicycle Patty had offered, but opted to walk with Dozer instead. Her future mother-in-law had assured her the canine did not need a leash. Fingers crossed the dog didn’t make a liar out of her and run off to parts unknown.

All she needed was to lose Joe’s dog in the first hour. He’d likely throw her off the island. Or feed her to the sharks. He did run a fishing boat. The man was sure to know where to find some sharks.

New sandals on her feet, mutt by her side, and map in hand, Beth headed off in search of British Cemetery Road. She’d tied a light jacket over her shorts, but the cool breeze had her slipping it on before they’d traveled a full block. If this was a typical late-spring day, she looked forward to the next two weeks.

Beth was used to battling other pedestrians on a daily basis, so walking along a narrow road with no one but a dog for company felt wholly unfamiliar. The absence of vehicles left the sound of birds echoing above, flitting from treetop to treetop, caws and tweets making up their secret language. Dozer stuck his nose in a bush, forcing three birds to seek refuge at a higher level. Beth understood their skittishness.

She wouldn’t want her world invaded that way either.

But this place was nothing like her world. Even the cedar trees looked casual and laid-back, branches bending low as if their cloak of bright-green needles was more than they could bear. A man in hip waders and a floppy hat covered in hooks used the fishing rod in his hand to wave a
hello. A young couple, the mother pushing a stroller while the father steadied a toddler on a two-wheeler, called out a greeting as they passed.

Maybe there was something in the water that made everyone so nice on this island.

Each tiny business she passed, from the coffee shop, appropriately named Hava Java, to the log cabin with a porch covered in every kind of wind chime she could imagine, looked welcoming and homey. Definitely something in the water. And the air. Her exhaust-choked commute felt a million miles away.

This was the way to live.

She walked on, Dozer by her side, enjoying the serenity and charm of Anchor Island until her day took an uncomfortable turn somewhere near the bookstore.

A blister.

“Stupid sandals,” she said to no one in particular. “This is what I get for buying new shoes and not breaking them in.” Determined to reach her destination, Beth ignored the blister and kept moving. By the time the little blue building came into sight, she was limping enough to rub a matching blister onto the opposite foot.

Unable to hobble another step, Beth dropped onto the stone wall in front of the art store. Pink, yellow, red, and white flowers of varying heights and widths crowded around her like preschool children clamoring for a spot near the new teacher. The scent from the blooms reminded her of the perfume her grandmother used to wear to church. Closing her eyes, she breathed deep, seeing Granny dabbing the perfume stopper behind her ear
while assuring Beth that one day she could wear the pretty scent, too.

“You’re a long way from home, Dozer. How did you get all the way up here?”

The voice jarred Beth back to reality. She leapt to her feet, which protested immediately, making her plop back onto the wall.

“I didn’t even see you there amongst my flowers, honey. Is Dozer with you?”

An island had to be really small when even the pets knew everyone else. “Yes, ma’am, he’s with me.”

The waiflike black woman floated down the porch steps, gnarled hands skimming the rail, and her magnolia-covered skirt dancing on the breeze. Beth half expected the woman to sprout wings and send glitter into the air.

“You’re the poor thing I saw out my window. You were limping something fierce. Are you hurt bad?” The wrinkles around the elderly woman’s eyes deepened, and Beth rushed to relieve her worry.

“Oh no, I’m fine. I didn’t mean to sit on your wall like this.” Beth pushed to her feet but pain sent her down again. “Oh, sweet peaches and cream, this hurts.”

“Child, what have you done to your foot?”

Beth glanced down to see blood dripping from the side of her sandal. “Crap.”

“Honey, that’s blood. That calls for a
shit
or a
damn
or something stronger than
crap
.”

A giggle escaped upon hearing profanity from the elderly woman. Whoever this creature turned out to be, Beth already liked her immensely. “It’s my fault. I bought
these new sandals right before coming down here. They would have been fine to wear in the city, but not so much for walking around this island. Which is bigger than it looks on this map,” she said, waving the paper in the air.

As Beth lifted her foot to examine the damage, the sweet woman wrapped a gentle hand around her ankle. “First thing we need to do is get this shoe off.” Full lips pinched together as the woman looked to Beth for permission. “You ready? It’s probably going to hurt.”

Beth took a deep breath, blew it out, then nodded. The sandal slid off quickly but not without sending a tearing pain all the way to her knee. “Shit, that hurts.”

“That’s more like it. How bad is the other one?”

A quick survey of Beth’s left foot revealed the blister to be less severe. “Might as well take that one off, too. Then we can burn them,” Beth said.

“Sounds like a good plan to me.” A quick tug and the left shoe joined the right in the sand. “Come inside and we’ll fix you right up. Aunty Claudine’s ointment will take the sting out, but you’re going to need some new shoes.” She tapped her chin twice, then her brown eyes lit up. “I know. You must try these Heaven-Sent slippers I just got in the mail. You’ll think you’ve stepped into a cloud.”

“I don’t want to put you out,” Beth said, rising to her feet with less pain than before. Sand shifted between her toes. “I feel better already.”

“Don’t be silly, child. If you came with that mutt, you’re too far from home to walk back barefooted.” Dozer chose that moment to pounce on one of the discarded shoes,
thrashing it from side to side. “Looks like he’s going to kill the sandals before we can set fire to ’em.”

“Let him have them. They’d probably stink to high heaven if we burned them anyway.” The two women laughed together, as Beth hobbled beside her new friend. “My name is Beth, by the way. I hope I didn’t take you away from anything important.”

A small hand waved her words away. “This early in the season it gets lonely around here. I’m happy to have some company.”

“Do you own this store?”

“That I do.” With a bow from the top step, the woman made her introduction. “Miss Lola LeBlanc at your service. I run this little burst of color year-round. There aren’t many of us who stay throughout the year, so I like to think that makes me a rare bird.”

“Miss LeBlanc, I get the feeling you’d be a rare bird no matter where you lived.”

With a mischievous wink, Lola said, “I think you’re right. Come inside and let’s get you those slippers.”

“But what about Dozer?” Beth asked. She hadn’t thought far enough ahead to know what she’d do with the canine once they’d reached a destination.

“We’ll get you off your feet, then I’ll bring him out a bowl of water and a nice ham bone I’ve been saving for just such an occasion.”

As if understanding the words “ham bone,” Dozer took a seat beside the door and licked his lips. “Looks like Dozer approves of that plan.”

Lola chuckled. “I’m sure he does. Never met a male yet didn’t go on his best behavior at the promise of a fine-tasting treat.”

Beth blushed at the innuendo in her new friend’s words as she hobbled into the store and smiled at the sight before her.

“She’s running like a dream,” Sid said, clearly proud that she’d figured out the problem before Joe did.

“I’ve admitted you were right three times now. Forget about hearing it again.” Joe threw a dock line hard enough to knock the smirk off Sid’s face. “And stop smiling like that. It’s creepy.”

Joe turned to throw the second dock line but noticed Sid was no longer looking in his direction. She wasn’t smiling either. He followed her gaze to see what had taken her from smug to pissed.