The Chesapeake Diaries Series 7-Book Bundle: Coming HOme, Home Again, Almost Home, Hometown Girl, Home for the Summer, The Long Way Home, At the River's Edge (138 page)

“I’m leaving with you, dear. I have about three hundred photos from the Halloween Parade to go through before the paper goes to press and I want to get an early start.” Grace patted Jesse on the shoulder. “You’re in quite a few of them, by the way.”

“Lucy, it was nice to meet you,” Jesse told her.

“You as well.” She nodded.

“Lulu.” Clay touched her arm.

Her smile was faint, and to Jesse’s eye, a bit sad. “No one ever got away with calling me that but you,” she said softly.

“How long are you …?”

Before he could finish, she told him, “I’m leaving in the morning. I just flew in to speak with Dallas and Steffie because Dallas wanted me to.” She shrugged and forced a smile. “How do you say no to Dallas MacGregor?”

“I guess if you’re a wedding planner, and she’s getting married, you don’t.”

“Right. Well, it was good seeing you, Clay.”

“Come back when you can stay a little longer,” he said as she walked away.

“If I take this job, I’ll be doing just that.” She waved and went to the door, opened it, held it for her mother, then closed it behind them.

“So that’s Lucy Sinclair,” Jesse said.

Clay nodded and sat back down.

“Aren’t you going to say anything?” Jesse asked him.

Clay shook his head from side to side.

“She just smoked every last one of your brain cells, didn’t she,” an amused Jesse said.

“She grew up real good,” was all Clay said. He took a few sips of his coffee. “Sorry. I haven’t seen her in a long time.”

“How long?”

“Since we graduated from high school.”

“Where’s she been?”

“College, then she went straight out to California.”

“Doesn’t she ever come back to see her family?” Jesse asked.

“She does. Holidays and such, but she mostly stays at the inn. She’s always gone before anyone even knows she’s been here.”

“That’s odd, don’t you think? Kind of slipping in and out of town as if she didn’t want anyone to notice?” Jesse frowned. “Considering that she grew up here and all?”

“She didn’t used to be that way.” Clay picked up a wooden stirrer and tapped it on the side of his mug. “We used to be best friends, like, the very best of friends. From kindergarten right on through till about sophomore year in high school.”

“What happened?” Jesse asked.

“Damned if I know,” Clay replied. “One day we
were crabbing out near Culver’s Cove, the next, she wouldn’t even come to the phone when I called her. We never did anything together after that, hardly even spoke. It was like she had some switch in her head, and she’d turned it off.”

“No explanation, no ‘Clay you just piss me off and I don’t want to be your friend anymore’ …?”

“Nothing.”

“Are you sure she hadn’t found a new best friend to hang out with and—”

“No. That’s the thing. Like I told you before, she didn’t hang around with anyone. None of the girls, none of the guys. She wasn’t dating anyone, didn’t go to any of the proms. Dropped off the field-hockey team. I mean, she just …” Clay shrugged as if he had no more words for whatever it was that Lucy had done.

“It still bothers you,” Jesse said.

“Nah. It was a long time ago.” Clay finished his coffee and stood. “I was just sayin’.”

Jesse nodded as if he understood, and he did. Twenty years later, Clay was still bothered at having been dumped by a friend in high school—not a
girl
friend, but his
best
friend. Jesse knew that sometimes friendship went deeper than high school lust, and apparently it had for Clay. Despite his denial, he was still bothered by the unexplained loss of a friendship that obviously had meant a great deal to him.

“Well, I guess it’s time for me to go and get my daily dose of humility.” Clay pushed in his chair.

Jesse looked at him quizzically.

“My sister didn’t tell you what she did to my van?”

“No,” Jesse replied.

“It’s parked outside.” Clay gestured for Jesse to follow him. “You have to see it to believe it …”

Jesse was still smiling about the pink van with the big hot-pink cupcake painted on the side when he arrived at his office. Liz wasn’t at her desk, so he left her muffin there for her. And because he’d decided that someone had to take the first step, he’d bought one for Violet as well. He saw her coat hanging on the freestanding brass rack in the reception area, but she wasn’t at her desk either. Jesse left the muffin in its bag and went into his own office, the door of which was already open.

Curtis Enright sat at Jesse’s desk, in Jesse’s chair, which had been turned sideways. Violet sat in one of the visitors’ seats, a happy smile on her face. The smile visibly faded when she saw Jesse enter the room.

“Good morning,” Jesse said. “Pop, this is an unexpected pleasure.” He extended his hand and his grandfather began to rise. “No, no, stay there. I can sit here next to Violet.”

He patted Violet on the shoulder as he stepped around her to take the other visitors’ chair. Violet flinched imperceptibly, and Jesse smiled. He still wasn’t sure what her problem was, but he wasn’t about to acknowledge it to his grandfather, who apparently thought enough of the woman to keep her on the payroll.

“I stopped at Cuppachino and got you a muffin,” he told her. “Carlo said you’re partial to the pumpkin walnut.”

“Thank you.” She managed a smile.

“You’re welcome.” Jesse turned to his grandfather. “If I’d known you were stopping in, I’d have brought something for you. As it is …” He placed the small white bag with the Cuppachino logo onto the desk. “I’m more than happy to share.” He met his grandfather’s eyes. “It’s blueberry pecan.”

“No, thanks. I’m watching my …” Curtis paused as Jesse unwrapped the muffin. “Oh, hell, go get a knife.”

“I’ll get it, Curtis.” Violet rose as if she’d been waiting for an opportunity to leave.

“Thank you.” Curtis turned back to Jesse. “I heard you were one to come in early every day. Did the same thing, when I first started.”

“I’ve always been an early riser. Makes sense to get a good start on the day.” Jesse leaned back in his chair and wondered what had brought his grandfather in this morning. Was he checking up on him? Or was he just bored with his newly sedentary life?

“Exactly.” Curtis nodded his agreement.

Violet appeared with a knife, two small plates, several napkins, and a cup of coffee, which she set down in front of her old boss.

“Thank you, Violet. I don’t know how anyone functions without someone like you to run their office.” Curtis smiled. Violet turned as if about to take her seat again when he said, “I’d appreciate a few moments with my grandson, Violet.”

“Oh.” She appeared startled, and almost insulted at having been asked, however gently, to leave. “Of course.”

She closed the door softly as she left, her offended sensibilities trailing behind her.

“Sure you don’t want your seat back?” Curtis asked.

Jesse shook his head and said, “Keep it as long as you like.”

“I ran into Steve Duffy this morning.” Curtis leaned forward on the desk, and for a moment, avoided making eye contact with Jesse, who figured out real fast where this was going and why his grandfather stopped in. “You know that this firm has been representing the Duffys for longer than I’ve been around.”

“I believe Violet may have mentioned that.”

“Then you probably know that after you turned down his son’s case, he called me. Actually, he called from his cell phone as he was walking out the door.” Curtis pushed back from the desk and stood, walked to the windows, and looked out. “Put me in a bit of a bind there, son. I would have appreciated a heads-up.”

“I’m sorry. I didn’t think—”

“Didn’t think he’d call me, or didn’t think I’d care?”

“I figured that sooner or later he’d get around to complaining to you. But did he tell you—?”

Curtis held up a hand to stop Jesse from saying anything further.

“For the record: you should assume that every time you meet with someone who’d once been a client of mine, that person is going to call me. Whether that person is pleased or pissed off.” Curtis sat again, and this time, looked Jesse in the eye. “Mostly I’ve heard from people who have been happy with you. Steve Duffy was pissed off.”

“I imagine he was.” Jesse stifled the urge to add “sir,” as if this were a military interrogation, which is
what it felt like. He wasn’t used to having his judgment second-guessed.

“I’d like to know why you turned down the request for legal counsel from an old client of ours, Jesse.” Before Jesse could open his mouth, Curtis added, “I should probably add that Steve’s father was a close friend of mine.”

Jesse nodded slowly. “I wasn’t aware that before I turned down a case, I was supposed to clear it with you.”

His grandfather merely gestured for Jesse to get on with it.

“I wasn’t aware of all the circumstances when Steve first came in and asked if I’d help his son with some legal problems. What he’d told me was that his former daughter-in-law had made up some story about Kyle abusing her to extort more child support from him, that she’d threatened to call the police and have him arrested. When Kyle refused to increase the payments, the daughter-in-law, Amber, followed through and called the cops, who arrived at her house and arrested Kyle.”

“And …”

“And I said I’d look into it. Which I did.” Jesse got up and started to pace. He wasn’t going to be bullied into representing someone he didn’t want to argue for, and didn’t appreciate being asked to explain himself, but having reminded himself of his position with the firm, he proceeded to do exactly that. “I walked down to the police station and got a copy of the police report. I also spoke with Beck. These weren’t trumped-up charges. I saw the photos of that girl after Kyle Duffy had unloaded on her face. According
to Beck, it wasn’t the first time Kyle had done that and it wasn’t the first time that she’d called 911. But it was the first time that Kyle wasn’t able to talk Amber into dropping the charges.”

The expression on Curtis’s face was unreadable. He sat behind the desk, sipping his coffee but saying nothing.

“There were two reasons why I didn’t want to take the case. One, because I have no respect for any man who has to solve his relationship problems with his fists, and two, because I felt that this firm stood for more than that.”

Jesse leaned back against the windowsill and summed it all up by saying, “I didn’t want to go into court and argue a lie when I knew it was a lie.”

Curtis drained his coffee cup and pushed back from the desk. He barely paused as he patted Jesse on the shoulder.

“I’d appreciate a heads-up next time.”

“I understand,” Jesse replied.

In the doorway, Curtis turned and looked back at his grandson. “Steve Duffy’s father was a saint of a man. I can’t say as much for his grandson. And for the record, I’d have done the same thing.”

From across the hall, Jesse could hear Curtis speaking to Violet in the reception area.

“I hope you drove today, Violet,” he was saying. “It’s no day for a stroll. That wind has some teeth to it.”

Jesse couldn’t hear Violet’s response, though he was certain she’d had one. He stepped into the hallway as his grandfather was buttoning up his overcoat.

“Thanks for stopping in,” Jesse told him. “It was good to see you.”

“Good to see you, too, son. Let’s try to get together for dinner one night soon.”

Jesse surprised them both by saying, “How ’bout Sunday?”

“Sunday’ll be just fine, thank you.” Curtis reached for the knob on the front door but Jesse beat him to it. “I’m already looking forward to it.”

In spite of the wind, Jesse stood in the doorway and watched his grandfather amble to his car, an old Cadillac Seville in mint condition that had been pampered and would have looked brand new if the style hadn’t changed so much.

“Your grandmother always loved a Cadillac.” Violet had come up behind him quietly. “Never drove anything else. I think Curtis would dearly love one of those fancy German cars, but it would make him feel disloyal to Rose.”

After the old Caddy was around the corner and out of sight, Jesse closed the door, and Violet started toward her desk.

“Violet, I’d like your advice on something.”

She turned to face him, one eyebrow raised skeptically.

“My grandfather is going to be eighty-five in a few weeks,” he said.

“I’m well aware of that,” she said archly.

Ignoring her tone, he continued. “I’d like to have a surprise party for him, and I’d like to invite as many of his old friends and clients as are still around. I’d like your help in figuring out whom to invite.”

She continued on to her desk and took her seat
without comment. Finally, as he was beginning to think she was just going to flat-out ignore him, she said, “That’s very thoughtful of you. I’m sure I can be of assistance.”

“Great. Thank you, Violet. I appreciate it, and I’m sure my grandfather will appreciate it, too.”

He went back into his office and made some phone calls, typed up a brief on his computer, and made dinner reservations at Café Lola for Sunday at six. A few hours later, there was a tap on his door, though it was open.

“I’m calling that new sandwich shop to place an order. They deliver and they have excellent soups.” Violet took a deep breath and added, “Could I order something for you?”

“Thank you, yes, that would be great. What would you recommend?”

“The crab bisque is delicious.” Violet almost smiled. “The girl who makes it comes from a long line of watermen. The recipe she uses has been handed down in her family over the years.”

“You’ve sold me. I’d love some.”

“I’ll call them now.”

“Thank you,” he said simply.

“Of course,” she said as she went back across the hall.

Jesse had felt the tension rise and fade into nothingness when he’d asked Violet for her help with Curtis’s birthday party. He wasn’t sure how long the truce would last, but he’d take it for as long as he could get it.

Later in the afternoon, when Jesse had gone into the kitchen looking for coffee, she followed him in.

“Let me do that,” she told him as he started to measure coffee into the paper filter. “I can always tell when you’ve made coffee because you make a mess every time.”