A Shore Thing (29 page)

Marc snorted. “Yeah, that’s obvious. Sounds to me like you owe Callie a favor. She kept you clean. If you had gone into that meeting, you’d have given the impression that you were cool with whatever was going on.”

So much of Gage’s energy had been focused on finding Callie there, teasing her, kissing her . . . well, he hadn’t quite thought of it like that. Marc was right. Callie had kept him from that meeting and only now did he wonder what he would have said should he have discovered more than one council member at that meeting. Would he have walked out on the biggest paycheck he’d seen in years? Or look the other way?

Was he doing that now?

Marc broke in. “So what’s going on with you and Callie now? She warm to you out there under the moon, in the bushes, with only the—”

“Quit it.”

“Ooh. Testy.”

“We haven’t spoken since then. We . . . I sort of kissed her and she asked me to leave her alone. So I did.”

Marc whistled. “Lizzy would be loving this. Our Gage Mitchell kissing a local rabble-rouser underneath pine branches in the dark of night. What else happens in the story? You gonna run into each other around town, acting like it never happened? Or are you gonna call that girl and hash things through?” He paused. “Take it from a married guy—chicks dig hashing things out.”

“Thanks a lot for the advice. I don’t know whether to follow it or burn it.”

“Hey!”

Gage laughed. “I’ll take it under advisement for next week. This week I’m too buried to be able to hash out anything with any kind of skill.” His other line lit up. “Marc, hang on a second. My other line is ringing.”

He punched the blinking button. “Gage—”

“Gage?”

“Yes?”

The voice on the line sounded distressed and warmly familiar. “It’s Callie. Moondoggy’s gone and . . . would you help me find him?”

He told her to hang on and clicked on over to Marc. “Gotta go, friend. Callie’s on the other line and she needs me.”

“Oh, man. Bringing you good luck from across the miles. You can thank me later. Bye.”

He clicked back to the other line. “Callie? I’m on my way.”

Chapter Thirty

My feet had worn a path through the dust, driven by worry over Moondoggy’s disappearance and the person responsible for it. After such a beautiful night, one I will never forget for as long as I breathe, I stumbled into bed at around 5:00 a.m. When I awoke, Moondoggy was gone.

Had I not been so distraught and confused by lingering fatigue, I might have looked into a mirror before picking up the phone and calling Gage. The circles, the wild hair, the tear-stained cheeks all made for quite the picture of distress. The rest of my beleaguered family members would probably still be lost in slumber.

I heard the porch steps creak. I shook my hair as if it would matter, cinched my hoodie tighter, and opened the door. I hadn’t seen Gage since the night at Jamison’s and while the memory had stayed fairly tucked away within my mind, seeing him here at my home made them flood my memory again.

What had I done?

His eyes tipped at the corners, displaying his sympathy. “Would you like me to come in?”

Startled, I nodded. “Yes. Sorry. Please.” I shut the door and faced him. “I’m sorry to bother you. It’s just that I’ve been at the hospital most of the night.”

“That doesn’t sound good. Everything all right?”

A pin-light of peace shone in my mind. “Actually, it was amazing. My niece was born this morning. I watched her.”

One of his brows rose and he tilted his head.

“Being born.” My voice broke, surprising me. “Most magical thing I’ve ever witnessed.” I cleared my throat. “When I came home I fell asleep. I finally woke up and Moondoggy was gone. I called the neighbor boy, J.D., thinking he might have come for him—”

“He didn’t?”

“No. I’ve been everywhere: down by the water, up the hill toward camp, through town, and I can’t find him.”

“Was he here when you got home?”

“I figured he was asleep so I fell into bed.” Tears sprang to my eyes as the reality of this situation settled deeper into my core. I dropped my gaze to my feet, shaking my head. “I’m such a terrible mother.”

Gage’s hand found my shoulder, giving it an awkward rub. “Not true.”

“It gets worse.” I held out a worn piece of paper. “When I first noticed Moondoggy was missing, I searched around the house for him. I found this in the birdbath in my front yard.” The note had dried to a dirt-colored patina, crisp to the touch.

Gage reached for it, watching me. “What’s this?”

I nodded for him to read it, too choked up to reply.

I warned you to leave the land alone.

Even your dog is sick of you.

Gage shot me a look. “Someone’s been
threatening
you?” He pressed his fist into his bottom lip and began to pace, his gaze focused on the sparsely worded note before finding my eyes again. “How long has this been going on, Callie? Are there more notes like this?”

I retrieved the other two from my bookcase and handed them to him.

“Outrageous. Have you reported these?”

“No. I haven’t. I figured it was just someone from the developer’s office trying to scare me off. I never thought they would actually do anything like this—lure my dog away. They wouldn’t hurt him, would they?”

Tension clouded Gage’s features. Either he was annoyed with me for not reporting the two previous threats or just worried, like I was, about Moondoggy. I watched him work out his thoughts. The silence nearly shouted between us. And then he did what, instinctively, I knew he would. He wrapped both arms around me and pulled me into him, crushing me with comfort.

In this moment we weren’t enemies fighting a bitter battle over property, but friends.

I had ridden endless waves of emotion lately, including the crescendo of my niece’s birth last night, and the abrupt crash of this morning’s events. In the silence Gage embraced me, rubbing my back and inviting some of that emotion to spill over. My tears flowed unencumbered, saturating the soft fabric of Gage’s shirt and releasing those pent-up things that have a way of building forts within the soul.

One of Gage’s hands dug into my hair, massaging my head. I flashed on the pain that wretched across Greta’s face and coursed through her body last night and the way she later held that sweet child with the barest of available strength. She’d said, “Some things are just worth the pain, Callie.” I knew she meant every word of that.

So many tears came, I could barely see. I didn’t need to, though, because Gage’s steady arms held me up. I hadn’t experienced the support of a man for a very long time and I wondered if I ever really had. I was beginning to understand what Greta meant.

GAGE

SURREAL. THE WORD SPRANG to Gage’s mind as he stood in Callie’s paint-cloth draped home, cradling the distraught woman in his arms. She needed someone and she called him.
Him.
On any other day this would have rocketed his heart, but instead, agitation stirred within starting with a piercing sting of anger at the thought of the threatening notes she had received. Had Redmond done this? Or Rick? Neither seemed the type, but then again, they were hot to get this project going.

And with Moondoggy mysteriously missing, Gage didn’t know what to think, but he did know this: He would canvass the entire town until he found her beloved pet.

He waited, though, and held her, sopping fresh tears with the front of his shirt. Something was different about Callie this morning. The stiff resistance that seemed to come easy for her had not made an appearance since he arrived. Morning sunlight streaming through the window fell across her hair, the moment like a snapshot. She melded into him and though a flame had fired him up to be her knight and solve the problems at her feet, Gage wanted to ride this feeling for its entirety.

Gently she pulled back and peered up at him. Despite her tear-stained skin and sad eyes, Callie was beautiful.

“I know things haven’t been very good between us, Gage. Thanks for coming anyway . . .” Her words trailed off into a new spattering of sniffles and sobs until she sucked in a breath and raised her head again. “I’m not usually like this.” She forced a sad laugh. “Always kind of prided myself on that.”

Gage lifted her chin with his thumb. “I’m glad you called.”
I dreamed you would.
He fanned his hand on her cheek, flicking tears away with his fingers. “You and I . . . there’s something going on here, and I think we should shove aside our differences and face it.”

She stared at him, rubbing her lips, sad eyes threatening to fill again. She nodded once and her lips parted as if to say something.

It took all his strength to hold back. He wanted to cover her mouth with his own, but a caution sign flashed in his mind.
Halt. Don’t take advantage of the situation.
He leaned toward her, his voice a whisper. “But first, I want to help you, Callie. Let’s go find your pup.”

She pulled away abruptly, one hand covering her face. “You’re right. What was I thinking letting myself get so emotional.” She tucked wayward hair behind her ears. “I’ll just go splash some water on my face and be right back.” She turned toward the bedroom and stopped to look back. “You really don’t mind, Gage?”

“Stop being a lone ranger, Callie.”

Her eyes and forehead frozen in fear and sadness, she just nodded.

An hour later they left the police station with a written report and the realization that the SOS campaign was about to make the news again. Just how far would opposition to the campaign go to see this project—the one he should be in the office finalizing—built? If anyone connected with the proposed development of the Kitteridge property were the perpetrators of the threatening notes, they’d be guilty, of at the very least, harassment, and at the other end of the criminal spectrum: terrorist threats. Might also be suspected of dognapping, i.e., dog-stealing, to be precise.

Next priority—finding Moondoggy. Gage had to twist Callie’s arm, so to speak, to get her into his truck. If given the choice, Gage would walk too, but they had much ground to cover and not a lot of time.

They rolled through town again, just like earlier before stopping at the police station. It didn’t take long since the entire village of Otter Bay consisted of just two winding blocks with a few side streets thrown in for local color. Callie held on through the often bumpy ride, her jaw set and eyes focused on every measure of space around them. She didn’t look surprised when he detoured from the village and pulled alongside the Kitteridge property.

Before he could unbuckle his seat belt, Callie had opened the door and landed on the ground holding onto the leash they’d brought with them. She jogged ahead of him, lean legs carrying her up the incline, loose hair bouncing behind her.

“Moondoggy!” She shouted through cupped hands. Without glancing at him, she spoke. “He’s here. I can feel it. Let’s spread out, okay?”

Doubt nudged him, but he couldn’t refuse her. “Sure. I’ll take the hills—” She had already begun jogging up a trail. He shrugged. “—or I could wind along the cliffs.”

He set out, moving along the edge of the cliff walking close enough to view the beach below.
Wish I’d worn something with tread.
He had thrown on deck shoes this morning, for comfort, fully aware that they’d long since outlived their usefulness for grabbing unsmooth surfaces.

The land curved at this spot, providing a deep inlet to long, frothy-whipped waves. He’d passed the stairs already and knew the only way down to the beach from here came compliments of God. Rocks and wild bushes provided uneven support that only a four-legged animal could safely traverse. He glanced down.
No way.

Callie continued to jog the upper trails, the outline of her body rigid against the threat of losing her dog. A part of Gage half-expected to leave this place dog-less and to find a ransom note back at the house. He didn’t like the thought, but it had crossed his mind more than once.

A breeze from the west stirred, rustling wild poppy and sea grasses intertwined on the ledge. Sea lions and elephant seals began to bark in the distance. In his study of the area, he learned about the fragility of seal rookeries. One gross disturbance could scare the animals away forever.

He swallowed the thought. Sea lions, or otters for that matter, could live anywhere along this vast California coast. Was it up to him to worry over whether construction equipment and workers would disturb the creatures enough to make them leave?

Another bark made it to his ears and he scowled. He knew it wasn’t his responsibility, but it bothered him just the same. He shielded his eyes against the flowing rays from the overhead sun, hoping to catch sight of a raft of slithery creatures lounging on the water. Instead, he saw something he had not expected.

Moondoggy.

He threw a wave into the air, catching Callie’s attention until she began to run full force down the hill in his direction. On the beach Moondoggy’s nose noticed the swelling excitement, and he lifted his pointed face from where it hovered over the sand, sniffing the air. Fearing the animal would run, Gage crouched down, placing one foot on a scrubby patch of sea grass that grew out from a crevice in the earth. Slowly he climbed down the face of the cliff, using his hands for balance while his feet found less-than-desirable places to land. At about halfway down, with one foot on the tip of a sharp rock and the other balanced against crumbling wall, he looked up to find Callie peering at him.