Moonstone (26 page)

“For being late? No. I’m the boss, remember?” Joy paused. “What about you?”

“No one will notice. I set my own hours.”

Joy picked out her day’s outfit and then hesitated getting dressed. As many times as they’d seen each other naked in the locker room, she didn’t want to take off her towel in front of Kelsey now. “There’s a chance you’ll have some explaining to do.”

“Me?”

Joy nodded. “I told Denise that you were here. Your mom was worried.”

“Oh. Well…” Kelsey shrugged. “I probably should have texted my mom. I can’t find my phone anyway. I think I must have left it at home. I wasn’t expecting to spend the night here.”

“It was unexpected. But nice.”

“So I didn’t scare you too much?”

Joy shook her head. “I can handle someone else’s crazy ex.”

Kelsey climbed out of bed and stretched. “Can I use your shower?”

Joy nodded. “I’ll start some coffee.” She watched the bathroom door close and then glanced at the rumpled sheets. Only twenty-four hours ago she’d been in the same spot with Vanessa. She shook her head and hurried to dress.

Joy circled the parking lot a third time and still Kelsey said nothing. Finally she parked the car next to the space where Kelsey’s car should have been. She called Helen, silently hoping she wouldn’t ask questions. “I need you to cancel my morning appointments. You can double-book me this afternoon if you need to.”

Helen grumbled but didn’t ask for a reason. Joy hung up the phone and eyed Kelsey. She didn’t even glance her direction. She only stared at the empty parking place.

“Any chance your mom borrowed the car?”

“No.” She was quiet for a long moment before she continued, “This isn’t the first time I’ve had a car stolen. But when it happened last time, part of me was relieved—at first anyway. I hated my old car.” Kelsey shook her head. “But I loved this car.”

“Is it insured?”

“Of course.” Kelsey’s tone was defensive.

“Do you want me to take you to the police station to fill out a report?”

“There’s someone I need to talk to first.” She got out of the car and then waited for Joy.

Joy followed her past the marina gate and up to a lookout tower. Kelsey didn’t knock on the door. She pushed it open and motioned for Joy to follow. A heavyset gray-haired man glanced up at the noise of the door closing behind them. He wore a bright orange vest over a dark green flannel and took a sip from his thermos as he studied them. He nodded at Kelsey and squinted his eyes at Joy.

“John, any chance you saw my car in the lot when you came in this morning?”

John shook his head.

“And no one would have called a tow company to move a car parked here overnight, right?”

John shook his head again.

Kelsey glanced at Joy. “Well, it’s gone.”

“Someone stole it?” John scrunched his eyebrows together and pushed his chair back from the desk. He went over to the wide window overlooking the parking lot.

“I left it here last night—third row from the gate where I always park.”

John went back to his desk and picked up the telephone. “That makes the second one someone took this month out of our lot. Let me call Cyrus. He was on watch last night.”

Cyrus had no news. Kelsey’s response was resigned when John hung up and offered to keep an eye out for her car’s reappearance. Joy doubted anyone in the room expected that the stolen car would show back up at the marina. John also volunteered to radio the car’s description and plates to a friend in a motorcycle group. He didn’t use the word “gang,” but that was Joy’s first thought. They left the marina and Kelsey borrowed Joy’s phone. She called her boss explaining the situation. Her laptop was in the car.

The police took the car’s description and didn’t seem the least surprised to learn that it was stolen at the marina. They also guessed that the car would be located within a few weeks. “Expect it back stripped and totaled,” the officer had said. The laptop, he guessed, would be long gone.

It was noon by the time Joy dropped Kelsey off at home. They hadn’t eaten and Kelsey was monosyllabic when Joy offered to buy lunch. No. Thanks. When they hugged, Kelsey seemed on the verge of tears. Over the past two hours she had quietly berated herself repeatedly for leaving the laptop in the car and Joy knew this was what had her worked up more than the car. The car was insured. The laptop was her job. Joy hated leaving, but the texts she’d gotten in the past hour from Denise made her certain she had no choice. She left with a promise to be back that evening and Kelsey only nodded.

Despite the late start, Helen managed to keep the afternoon on schedule. “Appointments can be rescheduled,” Helen said. “No one dies because their prescription for glasses changed.”

Denise contended that death was certainly possible—something as simple as a missed decimal point killed thousands. Certainly blurred vision could account for some of those errors. Her argument was valid. That was the sum total of their conversation on the subject. No one asked for an explanation on why Joy had been late. The fact that Kelsey’s car had been stolen was the big news of the day and both Helen and Denise had a theory on the responsible party. Drugs. Gangs. Or both.

Joy finished her last appointment and headed up to the office to work on records. The office phone rang as soon as she sat down.

“Hey, Mom.”

“Can you hear this?” The next ten seconds was filled with a cacophony of laughter, crying and screaming. Then her mom came back on the line, “That’s what it sounds like here from around six in the morning to eight at night. I don’t know what Vi is going to do when I leave. Terrence is gone at work every day until after the kids are in bed. Three kids, I don’t know…”

“Have you talked to Vi and Terrence about staying on a bit longer?”

“That’s why I’m calling. Vi asked if I could stay until Claire’s birthday. I’ve told them that I didn’t think it would be possible. That would be too long for you to have to look after the house and everything, I’m sure.”

“Mom, you live in a townhouse and have a cleaning lady that comes once a week. I don’t even vacuum. There’s no extra work for me looking after this place.”

“It’s not only the house,” her mom said. “I’m worried about you being alone that long.”

Joy wasn’t ready to admit that she hadn’t been alone. Claire was Terrence’s eldest and, by Joy’s estimate, turned seven in August. “August will be here before you know it. Really, I’m fine.”

“Hey, big sis,” Terrence said. “When are you coming down for a visit?”

Her mom liked to pass the phone around to whoever happened to be close by. Recalling the few phone conversations she’d had with her father, Joy was certain that all had been instigated by her shoving the handset into his hands. “I wish I could be there. I can’t wait to give that new baby a kiss.”

“Well, get on a plane.” He laughed. “I know you got your hands full with Moonstone O, but you can’t let it rule you like it did Dad.” He paused. “Find someone to buy it off you. You know you can’t stay in Raceda.”

“Give me some time. It’s not exactly ready for a buyer to walk in and take over yet.” There was much more that she could add. She wanted to tell Terrence about Kelsey, but she heard Claire’s shrill voice calling for her daddy. “I promise I’ll buy a plane ticket and come down for a visit. Soon.”

“Good. And I’ll tell Mom you’re insisting that she stay. I’ve got a realtor helping her look at a few townhouses down here.”

“Nice work, Terrence. You think she’d really move there for good?”

“I don’t think she wants to live in Raceda anymore. Too many memories. And when you sell Moonstone and leave, she won’t have any reason to be there.”

The kids were clamoring for dinner and Terrence said goodbye. Joy stared at the computer for a long minute before deciding that the records could wait.

“I’ve been thinking about you all day.”

Kelsey couldn’t hold back a smile when she heard Joy’s voice. Fortunately she’d left her cell phone on the dresser, not in her car. She unplugged the charger and sank down on her bed, cradling the phone between her shoulder and her ear.

“How are you?”

“Less of a disaster than when you dropped me off,” Kelsey said.

“Do you still want to get together tonight? I’ll understand if you want to be alone after everything.”

Despite everything that had happened that day, yes, she still wanted to see Joy. “Can you pick me up?”

“Definitely.”

Last night had passed without a single dream—good or bad—for the first time in months. But the morning had quickly destroyed the peace she’d thought she’d found. The memory of waking curled up against Joy’s body was distant and fuzzy. Kelsey doubted the police would find her car.

Unless, that is, she knew the car thief. Hannah still had a set of keys. As soon as she’d thought of this, she’d begun to have hope for the laptop. Hannah might have the decency to return that at least. If she hadn’t been the one to take her car, than the laptop was gone, as was any hope for a promotion. But she wasn’t ready to tell the police about the extra set of keys.

Kelsey hadn’t eaten all day, and when Joy mentioned dinner she realized she was starving. If she’d been in a better frame of mind, she would have offered to take Joy out to eat after everything she’d done for her that morning. But they were at Joy’s house before the question of dinner came up. Joy boiled pasta, then set to work on a sauce while Kelsey sat on the sofa watching her. She’d offered to help, but Joy had insisted she wanted to cook for her. Heavy cream and freshly grated parmesan.
Denise would approve,
Kelsey thought.

“You held my hand all night, didn’t you?” Kelsey asked.

Joy smiled. She leaned over the pot on the stove and tasted the contents. “No way was I going to be the one who pulled away this time.”

Kelsey instantly pictured the moment she’d reached for Joy’s hand on Mad River Beach. They’d been so young. And in that moment she’d felt so brave. Then Joy had pulled away and the cards for the house she’d built in her head fell instantly. Reality was, she was chicken-shit scared. That’s what she’d called herself over and over again. She wasn’t brave at all. She’d been relieved that Joy had pulled back her hand at the sound of voices. She wasn’t going to have to explain anything to anyone. Chicken-shit scared. “Thank you for last night.”

Joy glanced over at Kelsey. “You still feel that way after what happened with your car?”

“It’s only a car. The laptop on the other hand…”

“Is your job.” Joy walked into the living room with two bowls of pasta. She held one out to Kelsey.

“Exactly. And all of this after a bad review last week.” Kelsey’s stomach rumbled. “This smells delicious.”

“Mom’s recipe for mac and cheese. When we were kids I used to beg for the kind that came out of the box. One time she added food coloring to placate me. It was orange all right, but it wasn’t the same as the box stuff. Can I get you a drink?”

Kelsey nodded.

Joy was wearing a pair of loose yoga pants and a thin V-neck shirt. When she returned to the sofa with two wineglasses, Kelsey couldn’t help but notice the curve of her breasts under the shirt. She had a hard time not staring at her after that. “I know I should be worrying about keeping my job. And thinking about the car and everything that happened today…”

But tonight you’ve got me distracted
, she added silently.

Joy looked over at her but didn’t say anything.

Kelsey had already chalked up the car as a loss and in some ways, she was relieved to have this last part of Hannah out of her life. But the job was a different matter. The laptop lived in her car and she’d never considered the risk she was taking by stowing it under the passenger seat. Her boss had put her in touch with the tech folks and she’d spent a nerve-wracking afternoon trying to detail everything that might be loaded on her laptop. Fortunately access to all of the important files were password-protected, but the IT guy had unhelpfully joked that if her laptop fell into the hands of a hacker, there were plenty of ways to get around the need for a password. Kelsey stopped him short when he started in on the possible security breaches in a “worst-case scenario.”

Kelsey waited for Joy to sit down before trying the pasta. “My mom always made the stuff out of the box. This is way better.”

“I agree with you now, but when I was ten, it was only one more way that my family didn’t fit in.” Joy poked at the noodles with her fork. “We used to have this same meal the night before swim meets. Dad liked to add grilled shrimp. Now whenever I’ve had a really good swim, it’s the first thing I think of making for dinner.”

“Grilled shrimp? That sounds delicious. I should have come here for dinner,” Kelsey said. She sipped the wine. It was even better than the pasta. She took a long sip and then shifted back against the cushions. “I’m impressed that you still swim. I doubt anyone else on our old team could make it five laps now.”

“The pool’s my treadmill and my shrink. Nothing feels quite as good as a good hard workout in the water.” She grinned, and added, “Well, maybe I can think of a few things. But I do love swimming. And you should see me ripping past the other swimmers.” Joy took a bite of the pasta. “Of course, the competition in the morning lap swim hour is sleep-deprived working parents and the sixty-plus crowd. If you were my competition, it’d be a different story.”

Kelsey heard the challenge, but she only shook her head. She wasn’t ready to get back in the pool. Not yet. “How often do you swim?”

“Almost every day. If I have the time anyway,” Joy said. “You know your name’s still up on the record wall.” She paused. “Ever think about swimming again?”

“Sometimes.” Kelsey pointed to her shoulder. “But this keeps me from thinking about old records.” Kelsey rubbed at the shoulder and then met Joy’s gaze. “When I left the Olympic Team, I thought I’d never look at a pool again. Then six months later I started coaching. I realized I didn’t have any other marketable skills.”

“Software sales came later?”

“Much later.” Kelsey paused. She didn’t need to tell Joy the whole story. For some reason, though, she continued, “My first job was at University of the Pacific. An old coach recommended me for an assistant coach position. I was twenty-three and broke. I’d graduated from Stanford and had the college degree but didn’t know what I could do besides swim. They had a great team back then…I fell into coaching because that’s what you do if you’ve spent half your life staring at the bottom of a swimming pool.” She paused again. It was the next part that she didn’t want to admit aloud. “I was only a year or two older than the seniors on the team and we all hung out. It didn’t take long before I got too close to one of them.”