Coming Home (2 page)

She rounded the corner of Charles and Kelly’s Point Road, and moments later, passed the municipal building, with its new wing that housed the police department. She noted that Beck’s car had not yet returned to its designated parking space.

Probably out doing what he does best
, she mused.
Reassuring the locals that all is just skippy in St. Dennis
.

At the end of the road, right where it T’d into the wooden boardwalk that ran next to the Bay, stood One Scoop or Two, the onetime crabber’s shanty Steffie Wyler had turned into a charming ice-cream parlor. Seeing the crowd gathered around the tables out front of the small structure, Vanessa quickened her step. She excused herself to those patrons waiting patiently in line, smiling as she walked around them and between the two freezer cases to grab an apron off the pegs that hung behind the cash register.

“I can help the next person in line,” Vanessa announced. She slipped on a pair of thin, clear plastic gloves as a pleasant white-haired gentleman stepped up to place his order.

“I owe you big-time, babe,” Steffie whispered in Vanessa’s ear on her way to the cash register.

“Yes, you do. And you’ll pay up.” Vanessa smiled and turned to the customer. “Sir, did you want the blackberry or the chocolate on the bottom?”

Thirty minutes and four dozen customers later, the crowd had been served and the last cone dipped. When the buses departed, Steffie sank into a chair at one of the small tables that stood along the outside wall.

“Got caught shorthanded, eh?” Vanessa scooped a small ball of rum raisin into a paper cup and took the seat opposite Steffie.

“Did I ever,” Steffie groaned. “Who knew that the lectures at the Historical Society would be so popular, or that they’d start so early in the season?”

“Maybe you should get a copy of their schedule.”

Steffie rolled her eyes. “I can’t believe I didn’t think of that sooner.”

“Well, it’s the first year that they’ve invited groups from other communities to come,” Vanessa reminded her. “Who could have guessed they’d have such a turnout? What was the topic, do you know?”

“No. And at this point, I don’t care.” Steffie pulled a nearby chair closer and rested her feet on the seat. “Any other day of the week and I’d have had Taffy Ellis with me, but she had a meeting with her prom committee after school and wouldn’t have gotten here until after five. I didn’t bother calling anyone else in because I figured I could handle things for an hour on my own.”

“You probably should always have someone else here with you,” Vanessa pointed out. “I don’t think you should be here alone.”

“This from someone whose only regular employee doesn’t start until Memorial Day? And that one part-time?”

“I’m up on Charles Street and have shops on both sides and a busy restaurant directly across the street. You’re down here with a very dark, large parking lot on one side and the Bay on the other. Who knows who could be lurking around here after dark?”

“Well, thanks a heap for putting that in my head.”

“Seriously, haven’t you ever stopped to think about how isolated you are down here?”

“Not until now.” Steffie glared at her pointedly. “But you’re forgetting that our fine police department is just a stone’s throw down the lane there, right across from the parking lot.”

“Not close enough to hear you scream.”

“Au contraire, mon amie
. I have had occasion to scream, and none other than the chief himself showed up.”

“I don’t remember that.” Vanessa frowned. “When was that? What happened?”

“Before you moved here, while I was first renovating this place. I came in one morning and there were bats flying around.”

“That would freak me out, too.” Vanessa shuddered at the thought. “So did Beck chase them out?”

“Yeah. He opened the windows and they all took off.” Steffie fell silent for a moment. “So I guess he’s really getting married.”

“He is.”

Steffie placed both hands over her heart. “Heavy sigh.”

Vanessa laughed. “Stef, you would not have been happy with Beck. If that was going to work out, it would have while you were dating him. As I recall, neither of you really seemed to look back once you stopped seeing each other.”

“True enough. But still …” Steffie got up and went behind the counter. “Want something else while I’m back here?”

Vanessa held up her empty ice-cream bowl. “I’ll take a dabble of cherry vanilla since you’re offering.”

“You really are an ice-cream hound, aren’t you?” Steffie opened the display case and scooped ice cream into another paper cup and handed it to her friend when she returned to the table.

“Thank you.” Vanessa smiled and dug in. “You’re not having any?”

Steffie held up a bottle of water. “Bathing-suit season is six weeks away. Less, if we get a hot spell near the end of May. I don’t walk as much as you do. You’re lucky that you live closer to the center of town. I’m out near the point, and that’s too far a walk since I run late just about every day. Plus, let us not forget that I make my own ice cream, which means I have to taste-test it as I go along. Believe it or not—and this goes against everything I’ve ever been told—calories you ingest as part of your job do count.”

Steffie dropped into her chair. “So, Mia asked you to be in the wedding?”

Vanessa nodded. “Bridesmaid.”

“Any chance I’m on the invitation list?”

“Why wouldn’t you be?”

Steffie made a face. “Hello? Old girlfriend?”

Vanessa waved her hand to dismiss the thought. “You’re an old friend. Your brother went to high school with Beck and your dad grew up with Hal. That trumps whatever came after.”

“Just thought I’d check. I hadn’t seen an invitation.”

“They’re just going out. Since they decided to move the date from June, they’re a few weeks off the normal schedule.”

“So who else is in the wedding party?”

“Mia’s brother Andy’s wife, Dorsey, is the other bridesmaid, and the matron of honor is a friend of Mia’s from when she was in the FBI. She wants both of her brothers to walk her down the aisle, since their dad died last year. Andy’s on board, but she had to fly to Montana to try to talk the other one into coming. Beck took her to the airport this morning.”

“I heard the one in Montana is, like, a recluse or something. Barbara and Nita were talking about it in the coffee shop. And they said that there was another brother who had been in the FBI, too, but he was, like, a really creepy guy, into all kinds of really bad stuff.”

Vanessa shrugged. “I don’t really know. Mia doesn’t talk about him, and I don’t ask.”

“Nice family your brother’s marrying into.” Steffie tilted her head back and took a long drink of water.

Vanessa glared.

Steffie shrugged. “I’m just saying.”

“I’ve met most of the others, and they’re all really nice.”

“What happened to the other brother? The creepy one?”

“Oh. Brendan.” Vanessa nodded. “All I know is that he’s dead, and everyone’s okay with that.”

“Maybe the one from Montana’s hot.” Steffie wiggled her eyebrows. “It could make for an interesting day.”

“I’ve met Andy, and I have to say, he is really cute. Mia said once that all the guys in her family look alike, so Mountain Man probably is pretty cute, too. But I’m thinking he’s gotta be strange, living by himself all this time. So thanks, but no thanks.”

“So what? You’ve done strange before.”

“That’s exactly my point. I’ve met so many guys with issues that I’m starting to believe there’s no other kind. I don’t care how hot the hermit is. I’m done with all that.” She shook her head. “Uh-uh. Give me boring and normal, if you give me anything at all. No baggage, no issues, no drama.”

“Doesn’t sound like much fun to me.”

“I’ve had fun enough to last a lifetime. If there is a next guy—and I’m not sure I will ever want another one for any length of time and for anything other than occasional sex—he’s going to be excruciatingly bland.” She held up her empty ice-cream cup. “Vanilla, not rum raisin. Someone who washes the car in the driveway on Saturday morning and who rakes the leaves in the backyard in the fall and reads the newspaper at the breakfast table. He’s going to be one of those guys whose idea of a good time is watching a movie at home with a bowl of popcorn in one hand and me in the other.”

Steffie rolled her eyes.

“I can’t believe I’m hearing this. You’ve just described my sister’s excruciatingly dull life, and it terrifies me to think that someday I could end up like that. It’s my worst nightmare.”

“Which nicely explains your commitment phobia.”

“Don’t knock it, since you obviously haven’t tried it.”

“That was a low blow, Stef.”

“Sorry. Really. Damn. I
am
sorry.” Steffie looked contrite. “Give me a minute to remove my feet from my mouth.”

“It’s okay. It’s true. At least, it was true, once upon a time. But two really bad marriages have cured me of all that.” She finished the last of the ice cream and licked the spoon clean. “Anyway, like I said, Mountain Man is probably as weird as they come after living like a hermit for a couple of years, so it doesn’t matter how hot he is. I’ll be my usual sweet and pleasant self at the wedding, because he’s Mia’s brother, but if what she’s said about him being antisocial is true, he’ll be on a plane back to Montana before his sister even tosses her bouquet. And that’s just skippy with me.”

“Well, if he gets bored and lonely while he’s in St. Dennis, you can send him my way.” Steffie lowered her feet to the floor and wearily pushed herself up from the chair. “Do you mind if we do dinner at Captain Walt’s tonight? I’m not really dressed for Lola’s and I’m too tired to go home to change.”

“Walt’s is fine. I love their broiled seafood platter.” Vanessa stood and gathered the paper cups, napkins, and plastic spoons and tossed them in the trash near the front door, all thoughts of the potentially hot guy already replaced by visions of a few broiled scallops, a piece of rockfish, and one of Walt’s famous jumbo lump crab cakes.

Chapter 2

FROM the top of the ridge, Grady Shields reined in the chestnut mare and watched an unfamiliar Jeep pull all the way up his driveway and park near the barn. He unsnapped his binoculars from the saddlebag and raised them to his eyes, corrected the focus, then smiled broadly when he recognized his unexpected visitor. He urged the horse down the path, but halfway to the bottom of the hill, he froze in the saddle, his smile fading slowly as he recalled the last time she’d come unannounced.

A knot in his stomach, he followed the path to the bottom of the hill and crossed the field to the paddock area next to the barn.

“Gray!” Mia shouted joyfully. As he swung down from the saddle, she jumped into his arms, startling the horse.

One hand managed to hold on to the spooked animal while the other hugged his sister, in spite of his anxiously pounding heart. If someone had died, would she be so happy?

“Don’t you look all Marlboro Man?” she teased. “You’ve gone totally cowboy.”

“Well, when in Rome …” He removed the wide-brimmed hat from his head and placed it on hers. It slid down onto her forehead.

“Wow, I almost forgot that you have such a view here.” She adjusted the hat and looked past him to the hills beyond. “And you have a horse!”

She stretched a hand out to stroke the animal’s neck.

“The view is mine, but the horse is not. I rent out the paddock area to some neighbors. The horse belongs to their son, who’s away at school for another two weeks, so Chance here and I keep each other company most afternoons. Right, girl?” He patted the horse affectionately, then asked cautiously, “So. Is everything all right at home? Everyone’s okay?”

“Everyone’s fine. Everything is better than fine.”

“Good.” He sighed his relief. “When I saw you, I wondered if maybe … at first I was afraid …”

He left the thought unfinished.

“Afraid? Why afraid?” Mia paused midsentence. “Oh. You’re thinking of when Dad died and Andy and I came to tell you?”

He nodded.

“This time the news is all good.” She held up her left hand and wiggled her ring finger. “Gray, I’m getting married.”

“You and the cop …?”

“Beck. You met him at Dad’s funeral.”

“I remember. He seemed like a nice enough guy.” He took her hand and turned it to him. “That’s a really pretty ring, Mia. Congratulations.”

“Thanks, Gray. He’s a great guy. The best.” Grady couldn’t help but see that her face glowed.

“You could have called me, you know. You didn’t have to make the trip all the way out here to tell me you were engaged.” He looped the horse’s reins over the fence, wondering what was coming next. “Not that I’m not happy to see you.”

“I needed to ask you something, and I wanted to ask you in person.”

“Uh-oh,” he teased. “When your little sister flies three-quarters of the way across the country to ask you something, you know it’s something big.”

“It
is
big.” Mia became very solemn. She followed him to the fence. “I want you to walk me down the aisle at my wedding, you and Andy. I want you both to give me away.”

He fell silent and unhooked the saddle’s girth.

“Gray?”

“Mia, I …” He struggled with his words. How to explain …?

“I know,” she said softly. “I know you hate to come back. I know you hate to be away from here. I know that—”

“It’s not so much that I
hate
to go back, Mia. It’s because I’ve made a life for myself here.” He slid the saddle from the horse’s back and went past her through the open barn door.

Mia grabbed the horse’s reins and followed behind him, leading the mare.

“I know you feel guilty about Melissa. I know you feel that it’s your fault that she died,” Mia told him.

He swung the saddle onto a rail and took the horse from her and led it to a stall.

“We all know you stay here because—” She trailed behind him.

“Stop right there.” One hand on the stall door, he looked over his shoulder at her. “You only think you know.”

“Okay, then, explain it to me.”

“I put the blame for Missy’s death squarely where it belongs: on Brendan. I don’t feel guilty about her dying because I refuse to take on his guilt for him.”