Autumn Dreams (39 page)

“Well, sure,” Jenn said. “I was left behind by my parents and I hate it, and I even know what’s going on. I can’t imagine being left and not knowing.”

She reached in the refrigerator for the milk and slapped the door shut with her hip. She glanced at the row of ice chests on the floor in the family area. “Are they full of ice?”

Brenna didn’t answer.

Jenn pulled the oversize freezer door open and there sat bag after bag of ice cubes, ready to go in the chests along with the milk and other necessary perishables as soon as the electricity went. That way they wouldn’t have to open the refrigerator door and bleed off the cold. That way fewer things would spoil.

“Did you make up all those bags? You did a good job.”

Again Brenna didn’t answer. Jenn set her cereal and the milk carton on the counter. “Brenna?”

Still nothing. It was weird, like Brenna had turned into a pillar of salt like Lot’s wife. She didn’t move and she didn’t talk.

Jenn leaned around Brenna and saw her face crunched up as in pain. Jenn’s breath caught. “Brenna, what’s wrong?”

Brenna shook her head as loud footsteps sounded on the stairs and Jared ran into the kitchen. “Hey, girl, you’re eating my cereal!”

At the same moment the back door burst open, letting in a great blast of wind and rain as Mike blew into the room.

“Mike!” Brenna forced a smile. “What are you doing here?” She checked the clock. “Aren’t you supposed to be at work?”

Mike kissed her cheek and settled an arm on her shoulders. “I’m on my way, not that I expect many customers in weather like this. But that’s not why I came. Guess what, Bren?” His voice was very excited.

Dumb question, Jenn thought. How can she possibly guess?

He waited a beat, then said, “We had a smoke bomb at our apartment last night.”

Jenn and the others spun to him. “What?”

He nodded. “Just like you guys. And I’ve been thinking about what’s the common link between our place and SeaSong. There’s only one.”

He, Jenn, and Jared turned to stare at Brenna just as the lights flickered once and went dead.

T
UCK TURNED A
bleary eye to the clock and read nothing. It wasn’t pulsing, spitting out its seconds, clicking off its minutes. He grimaced. No electricity.

He had no idea what time it was. It was so dark in the room, it could have been midnight. Rodney. Tuck pulled himself from his disgusting bed and looked out the crusty window at the deluge pounding against the house. What else could go wrong?

He sneezed and shivered as damp wind leaked in around the warped window frame, making the dusty curtains shudder and billow like dirty, green wraiths. Before this trip was over, he was going to end up with pneumonia. He just knew it. How would he explain getting pneumonia to people when he was supposedly lying around in sunny, balmy Hawaii?

He swiped at his running nose with his hand and winced at the unexpected pain. He held his hands out and stared in bewilderment at his swollen, bent, and bloody knuckles. He tried to straighten his fingers, but the pain that roared through him was too intense.

What had happened? How had he sustained such a monstrous and terrible injury? And to both hands. He replayed last night up to the frustrating and highly disappointing conclusion of no Sherri and still had no idea what had happened. Had someone attacked him on his way home?

The black space between realizing there would be no Sherri and wakening this morning in his revolting room was frightening. Nothing like this had ever happened to him before. He shuddered and promised himself he’d not think about it anymore. It was too distressing.

This whole trip had been distressing. Where was Sherri? Even this morning he didn’t
know
where she was. He could only assume she was at work at SeaSong, all safe and warm in a clean, lovely place while he was forced to wallow in this repulsive, disgusting, filthy place.

Rage gripped him.
She will not win
, he promised himself.
She will not win! I will not let her
.

He took a long, hot shower to calm himself. Just as he began to feel the tension seep from his shoulders, the old man beat on the locked bathroom door.

“Turn off that shower, you idiot in there!”

“Yeah, yeah,” muttered Tuck, not answering.

“Without electricity we can’t heat any more,” the old man shouted.

“Like I care,” Tuck screamed back. He climbed out when the water turned cool and he was all pruney. He felt much better. Even his poor hands didn’t hurt as much.

It was time to call California and see how things were there.

The phone was answered on the second ring. “Best residence. May I help you?”

Tuck rolled his eyes. No one sounded as stuffy and self-important as Mr. Beauchamps, the family butler. “Hey, Mr. B.,” he said with deliberate disrespect, “it’s Tucker.” He loved to hear the old man’s voice go extra frosty.

Instead of the expected cool acknowledgment, Mr. Beauchamps positively bubbled as he said, “Oh, Tucker, I’ve the most wonderful news. They think they may have found her!”

Tuck went cold all over. “What?”

“Your parents think they may have found her. They think she’s in New Jersey! They tried to call you last night to share the good news, but you didn’t answer. They left you messages, but I guess you didn’t get them.”

“No, I didn’t.” But Lonnie would have.
Good-bye, Lonnie. You haven’t got a chance now. Enjoy your last hours of life
.

“They’ve flown to check it out,” Mr. Beauchamps said.

“What?” Tuck felt the words like a punch to the chest. “Already?”

“Mr. Best had the plane brought out last evening as soon as they traced the number that kept appearing on your caller ID gizmo. They flew out to see if it’s really Sherri who had been calling.”

Tuck flinched. Hoist by his own petard, whatever a petard was. He should have hidden that little electronic troublemaker. Or destroyed it. “But there’s a hurricane hitting New Jersey right now.”

“Is there?” Old Beauchamps sounded surprised. “I didn’t know that.”

Tuck could have kicked himself. How would he, vacationing in Hawaii, know about New Jersey’s weather? Why would he be interested? “Yeah. I saw it on the Weather Channel.” Did Hawaii get the Weather Channel? “What I meant was that I don’t think they could land.”

“Well, maybe they will land at New York or Boston and drive to Seaside.”

Seaside! They really did have it pegged. “It’s great news about Sherri, if it is her,” Tuck forced himself to say with what he hoped was heard as excitement. Then he hung up and began to sweat and plot in earnest.

He simply had to find her.

C
ASS AND DAN
arrived at SeaSong close to 11
A.M.
, racing each other from the garage to the back door.

“I beat you,” Cass yelled as she dashed in the door holding her Indiana Jones hat on with one hand so the wind didn’t steal it from her head.

“Only because I’m polite enough to let you go first,” Dan countered.

“Yeah, yeah.” Cass grinned at him. “It’s a good line.”

“Now, children, be nice,” Jared said, hugging Cass and shaking Dan’s hand. “Hard driving?”

“Very nasty,” Dan said. “The wind kept trying to push us off the road, and the driving rain made visibility very poor.”

“He did great,” Cass said, grabbing a couple of dish towels and mopping up the water they’d brought in. She looked from Jared to Jenn to Brenna. “Have we heard anything from the software folks? Have they canceled? Or called to say they’ve been delayed?”

“No one’s called, so we’re acting as if they’ll be here for lunch as planned,” Jenn said as she threw herself into Cass’s arms. “Welcome home.”

Cass kissed her niece, delighted with the warm greeting. The kitchen looked toasty and homey with a pair of Coleman lanterns hissing softly, but the hugs were what filled Cass’s heart.

“Are you doing okay, sweetie?” She studied Jenn’s face carefully.

Jenn nodded. “I’m fine.” Both she and Cass ignored the fine tremor that flashed across her face. “Really. I still can’t believe how stupid I was, but I’m fine.”

Cass gave the girl a quick hug. “Of course you’re fine. I don’t know why I even asked. You’re a Merton, for Pete’s sake.”

Dan wrapped one arm about Jenn’s shoulders and the other about Cass’s. “And Merton women are pretty special, let me tell you.” He smiled from one to the other.

Cass felt warmed as she watched Jenn turn pink with pleasure. She dropped her head briefly to Dan’s shoulder, snaked her arm around his waist, and squeezed. “Thanks.”

“How about Merton men?” Jared asked, his hand in the Cheerios box.

Jenn blew him a kiss. “They, as we all know, are big bozos—not!”

Brenna glanced over her shoulder from the counter where she stood blinking away tears as she cut thin, thin slices of onion. “You want to check that I’m doing this right, Cass?”

Cass moved to the food preparation area. Tuna mixed with mayonnaise and a touch of salt and pepper sat in a bowl. Several crisp Gala apples lay in a cluster, waiting attention. Two bags of Pepperidge Farm thin whole wheat bread rested against the bowl of tuna. “Looks like you guys don’t even need me. We should have stayed in Cape May, Dan. We never did get to use their hot tub.”

“Hot tub,” said Brenna in a yearning voice. “I can’t remember the last time I soaked in one.”

“Humph,” Jenn said. “I don’t know that I ever did.”

“Don’t feel too bad,” Dan said to Cass. “I checked, and it was on the roof under a lattice sunshade. We’d have been pounded with cold rain while we tried to relax in the bubbly warmth—that is, if we weren’t blown away trying to cross the roof to get to it. Didn’t sound appealing to me.”

Cass laughed as she walked to the stove. Her nose told her the chicken corn soup she’d made several days ago and frozen was heating gently.

“Three cheers for gas,” Cass said as she lifted the lid of the soup pot and stirred. “If we had an electric stove, we’d be in trouble.”

“You know, Cass, I’ve been thinking.” Brenna sliced another paper thin sheet of onion. “These software guys are supposed to eat dinners out, right?”

Cass nodded.

“But will there be any restaurants open tonight? No electricity? Flooded roads?”

“You’re right. Jenn, pull three containers of my spaghetti sauce with meatballs from the freezer, please.” Cass gave the soup another stir. “Then check in the pantry to be certain we have three boxes of spaghetti.”

Dan leaned over her shoulder and sniffed appreciatively at the simmering pot. “Talk about smelling wonderful!”

She lifted out a spoonful and held it to him. “Careful. It’s very hot.”

He blew on it for a minute, then tasted. His eyes closed in appreciation. “Deeeelicious!”

“That’s because I use creamed corn,” Cass said. “It makes the broth extra rich.”

He grabbed the spoon from her hand. “I’m going to stay at SeaSong forever, Cass Merton. I want to eat food this good the rest of my life.” He dipped the spoon for another taste.

Forever, eh? Fine with me
. She smiled sweetly and said only, “I’m glad you like it. It’s my grandmother’s recipe.”

She turned to Jared. “I take it the tables are grouped in the dining room as I asked? And set?”

He nodded. “All done.”

“Good. I’ll just go check.” She grabbed a large flashlight and walked into the dining room where smaller tables had been pushed together to seat seven, three settings on each side and one at the head. The crimson tablecloth looked smart with the white dishes and the crimson, gold, and deep green napkins. A fabric pumpkin sat in a nest of Spanish moss while small gourds spilled down the table in both directions. She fiddled with the gourds a little until their conformation pleased her, then placed votive candles at each place. A Coleman lantern stood ready for duty on the hutch.

Satisfied, she went back to the kitchen.

“Where’s Dan?” she asked.

“He went upstairs to change into dry stuff and unpack,” Jenn said.

Nodding, Cass turned to the counter where Brenna had moved from the onions to the apples, slicing them as thinly as she could and placing the slices in a dish containing orange juice to stop the browning of the tender fruit. “Looking good.”

Cass turned to Jenn. “Get the medium-sized basket down, the one with the green strands woven through it, and line it with a napkin to match the ones on the table. Get several kinds of crackers from the pantry. Don’t open them though. They’ll lose their crispness by the time we serve if you do.”

Jenn disappeared into the pantry, and Cass opened the loaves of bread. She laid the slices out before her and spooned some tuna mixture onto each, spread it, and topped each with a gossamer thin onion slice. Next she fished apples slices out of the orange juice, blotted them dry and arranged a fan of them on top of the onion. She went to the refrigerator and took out a package of thinly sliced Swiss cheese. Carefully she separated the slices and placed one over the apples. As she finished each sandwich, she placed it on a cookie sheet, ready to slide in the oven for a quick melting of the cheese.

“Will these guys appreciate something this creative?” Brenna asked as she eyed the open-faced sandwiches. “Computer geeks aren’t known for culinary awareness.”

Cass shrugged. “We’ll just try to teach them class while they’re here.”

Jenn reappeared with the basket and boxes of crackers. “I’ll put them on the serving hutch in the dining room.”

Jenn returned to the kitchen and came to stand beside Cass. She watched Cass build a couple of sandwiches without saying a word.

“What?” Cass finally said, unnerved by Jenn’s stare.

“I need to say thank you and tell you how much I appreciate you.” Jenn sniffed, and Cass looked up to see tears in the girl’s eyes.

“Now, don’t cry, Jenny. It’s all over. You’re safe and sound. Just know I love you very much, and I’d hug you, but I can’t.” She held out her messy hands.

“Then I’ll hug you,” Jenn said and did.

The back door opened and Jared and Paulie cannoned in, water dripping from the bills of their baseball caps. They both
wore big black plastic bags over their jackets, holes cut in the tops for their heads. Their jeans were soaked from the knees down, and their shoes squished when they walked.