Kaleidoscope Summer (Samantha's Story) (10 page)

“Sounds like mischievous teens.”
I
tugged
my wallet from
my pocket
. “How much
?”

He pointed at the bag from
J
ake
’
s. “
C
all it even—k
ey
s
in it.”

“Good deal
.
Take care.
”
Compared
with
my truck,
Maggie’s car was
small and cramped.
It mystified me
w
hy she preferred
driving
the thing
.
I waited for the cars to clear and swung onto Shoreview Drive.

The
coastal road
had recently begu
n experiencing rush
-
hour traffic.
T
he growth of our town
was
changing
the norm in many ways
. With all of the new construction going on
,
it would soon be necessary to add to the police force.
I pulled onto Maggie’s he
rringbone
-
patterned driveway.

We ate in
the
gazebo-covered
patio built
a ways
from the hous
e
, near the
sea. My grandfather
had
built it for my grandmoth
er—her quiet place.

“W
hat happened with the
tires
?” Maggie forked a bite of
food
into her mouth and waited.

“
My gu
ess is
some
kids let the air out.”

Sam
shot me a quizzical look
.
“
That’s
a rotten thing to do.”

My gaze rested on Sam.
Her sm
ile. Her
eyes. S
he
tucke
d strands of
hair behi
nd her ear—w
hy did women do
those things? M
y heart rate responded.

“I have an hour
. Enough tim
e
to walk off some of this food—t
he three of you in?
”
I winked in
Goldie
’s direction and smiled at Sam.

“Great
idea.”
Sam
antha
reached down and
removed Goldie’s vest.

Maggie rested her elbows on the
table. “
Think
I’ll
sit here
and make a few calls.
I need to let
Gina
know
her
tabl
e arrived today.
It’s a
French marble top
gué
ridon—
the
claw-feet
are amazing
.
”

“I
t sounds awesome.” Sam stacked a couple of plates.

“
Gina
’s
goin
g
to use it in her florist shop—i
magine sitting around it with a bride and groom ordering wedding flowers.
”
Maggie motioned her
away
. “Go on your walk—w
e can talk antiques later
.”

Sam and I
strolled toward the beach
,
laughin
g
as
Goldie repeatedly tried to snap
bug
s
from the air.
We lounged
on
a
driftwood
log
.
Sandpipers ran along the tide
,
poking their sle
n
der bills into the sand
,
searching
for dinner.

I shifted toward
Sam
.
“
You had an eventful day.”

“I enjoyed the morning
—the rest of the day not so much.”
She checked on Goldie and I wai
ted for her to face
me.

“Want to talk about it?” I
readjusted my backside
on the bumpy log.

“
At the
quilting class
,
Lilya
n was
watching me
.
Next—
”

“Watching you?
”

She shrugged.
“Nothing really happened
.”

“What else
?”
I’d been dealing with Lilyan’s
a
ntics since junior high school. I’d never known her to be anything other than
a
harmless crazy
maker—if only she’d find a different object of her obsessive behavior.
Many considered her
a lovely person. She often volunteered to help
with the town’s charity events,
especially a
t Christmas.

“
I
received two
emails
this afternoon
. Taylor Jones
postponed our me
eting—again
.
I
expected to be back
in
Stone
Valley
by now. A
t this rate
,
it may take all summer
.
T
he next message
informed me it doesn’t
matter
how long I need to be here
.”
She
stared
at the sea for a moment, then turned
back
to me.

“
You lost me
. What made it not matter?”
The scent of her perfume washed over me, like the waves crest
ing and flowing
on the shore. I
willed the sledgehammer that had replaced my heart to slow
down—i
t
didn’t.

“The funding source for the school didn’t come through
.
”

“
I’m sorry
. What will happen with the student
s
?
”

“It’s heartbreaking
. Besides working on t
heir sign language and academic skills
, the staff works hard to build their self-esteem.
We want th
em to see themselves as not being able to hear
—not
as being disabled
.
” She paused with
a
heavy sigh.
“
This one child,
Tucker, was
so sad and introverted when he came to us. Now he’s signing and interacting with the other children. I’m worried where he’ll end up. I texted his mom, but I haven’t heard back from her.
”
She wrapped her a
rms acro
ss her chest
and
I noticed a
shiver.

I draped
my jacket across
her sh
oulders and allowed my arm to linger there
.
“
Maybe the
school’s funding problems need
more publicity—someone should step forward
.”

“
It’s much more
—I started the school.
In Stone Valley, o
ur deaf school and blind school threaten to c
lose almost every year. For some
of the deaf children, their hearing parents never bothered to learn sign language and the children can’t
lip-read
much
, especially the younger ones
. So the deaf school is the only place in the world they can communicate freely in their own language, be around
people like them, and interact with
adult deaf role models.
”

“
I had no idea
.”
I hated the hopelessness
her eyes held
.

“
If I had access to my parents’
trust
,
I
could help the school until we
found additional funding.
My
father formed a
family trust naming my aunt as
the successor trustee.
”

“Your parents didn’t make provisions for the trust to be transferred to you at some point?”

“Not according to my parent
s
’
attorneys.”
She pulled
the ja
cket tighter
,
as though
it would protect her from more than the cold.

“Did your father help with the initial investment to start the school?”

“It’s
non-profit and once
we
organized
the
board of trustees
, we
used a professional
group
to help
ob
tain the needed funding.
”
The provocative way she ran her fingers through her hair
made it difficult to concentrate on her words
.
“
Don’t misunderstand
.
My l
ife in Stone Valley
was good
. I’m the one who’s changed
. W
hen I finish here
,
I need to go home and try to piece the fragments of my life back together.”

I
look
ed
into her eyes.
The fullness of her lips sent an invitation
. I inched
closer with a need
to taste her smile, but
pulled away. It would only add to the complications in her life—and probably mine
,
too.

We
began walking
back toward the house
, with h
er hand
molded
i
nto mine
. The
far
away gaze
in her eyes
gave the impression she’d retreated into her world
of
silence—a
nd I couldn’t h
ear anything over
the
hammer in my chest.

Sam
was only passing through.
Maggie wasn’t off the mark about not moving too fast—a
little distance
woul
d be good. I liked m
y life
and had no desire to complicate
it
with a woman.

Chapter Six

In
the stillness of dawn
,
I love to imagine
the birds singing their morning aria of joy.
I’m
flirting with make
-believe—a relationship
with
Logan
is
not
possible
. The last thing he needs
in his life is
someone broken
and damaged.
And a life that
turned out to be
a
mere
façade
,
fronting
deception and lies
.
~ Journal e
ntry

The celery-green
kitchen
walls
complemented
the light cream cupboards
and
add
ed
a touc
h of elegance to the natural cherry
wood
flooring.

Maggie, still in her
vintage
night
gown
,
set out
apple-
filled
Danishes
,
left over from the previous day.
“
If you’
re going into town this morning
,
I
’m leaving
a little earlier
than usual
.”
She glanced across the table.