Moonshell Beach: A Shelter Bay Novel (7 page)

There was also the fact that he hadn’t talked about the last eighteen months with anyone, and if he
were
to open up about it, it’d be with his brothers. Or his Marine dad, who’d done a tour in the final year of the Vietnam War and had been involved in the evacuation during the Fall of Saigon. Or maybe even his grandfather, who’d seen a lot of bad stuff during his time in Korea. But he didn’t want to share. Especially not with some actress whose only views of military life—and death—probably came from movies.

He just wanted to be left alone. Was that too damn much to ask?

“
Night of the Living Dead
was originally written as a horror comedy.” Mary Joyce returned the conversation to its original track, even as he felt her gaze drift back toward him. As grateful as he was to her for getting the focus off him, he kept his eyes on the road straight ahead. “It was titled
Monster Flick
, and was about a group of teenage aliens who visit Earth and become friends with human teenagers.”

“I’ve never heard that,” Clark said. The theater professor’s tone was thick with skepticism. When they’d first met that morning, it was clear the guy didn’t like J.T.

J.T. considered the feeling mutual.

“It’s true. Maybe it’s because my brother-in-law’s a horror novelist, or due to his books always being around our house because my older brother devoured them like sweets, but I took a class on American fifties and sixties horror films at UCD. University College Dublin,” she clarified her credentials. “The second version had a young man running away
from home and discovering rotting corpses the aliens used for food scattered over a meadow.”

“Yuck,” said the mayor.

“You won’t be getting any argument with me there. The film was widely criticized for being too graphic, but it’s definitely become a cult classic. In fact, over a hundred artists from around the world created a reenactment, using everything from manga to Claymation, to puppets. It’s foolishly grand fun.”

Damn. This time the warm female laugh caused an unwelcome little sexual sizzle. As reassuring as J.T. might have found it under any other circumstances, with any other woman, he tamped it down. He’d kept his distance from women during his casualty-notification days, because dealing with that mission had proved so emotionally grinding, he didn’t have anything left to give to a relationship.

Since returning home, feeling as if he’d been hollowed out with a rusty machete, he’d kept to himself.

And how’s that been working for you?
a nagging voice in the back of his mind asked as the others enthusiastically discussed zombies and ghouls and other things that went bump in the night.

Just fine,
he answered back.

Which was a flat-out lie. He was a long way from fine. Which was another reason not to even let himself think about this woman whose voice carried the lilt of the auld sod and who smelled like a green Irish meadow.

At least Mary Joyce’s fans had added some color to the town, Kara considered, as she skirted around a woman wearing a sequined green skirt with a mermaid-tail train and matching bra. Since she’d seen bikini tops a lot skimpier, she decided that the outfit was a long way from breaking any decency laws. The woman was talking to a pirate, who’d accessorized his costume with a red bandanna with fake braids attached, a plastic cutlass, tall leather boots, and eyeliner.

She entered the Sea Mist restaurant, and wove her way through the restaurant out to the harbor-front patio where Sedona Sullivan, Maddy Chaffee, and Charity Tiernan were seated. It was their once-a-week lunch, and since so far things were peaceful, Kara had decided she could risk the hour off duty they’d spend catching up.

“Refresh my memory,” she said, as she joined them at the round table. “Were there any Johnny Depp–type pirates in Mary Joyce’s selkie movies?”

“Believe me,” Sedona said, “I’d remember if there had been. The man’s been mine since
21 Jump Street
.”

“I had him first,” Kara said. “And a guy who looked a lot like a low-rent Captain Jack Sparrow was outside hitting on a mermaid when I arrived.”

“Maybe he decided that dressing up like a merman with a fish tail wouldn’t exactly make him a babe magnet,” Maddy suggested.

“That’s undoubtedly the case. Though I’ve got to tell you, very few men in this world can make eyeliner work. The guy on the sidewalk is not one of them.”

The server arrived to take their orders. Sedona opted for the Dungeness crab Caesar salad, Maddy the fish taco, and Charity the shrimp and crab Louis, while Kara ordered crab cakes, coleslaw, and smoked corn chowder. With a side of fried clam strips.

“I’m eating for two,” she said, hearing the defensiveness come out in her tone. “And we can share the clam strips.”

“Did we say a thing?” Sedona asked.

“No. But it’s embarrassing. I had morning sickness for months with Trey. But with this one”—she placed her hand over her stomach, which, while not sporting a true baby bump yet, had begun to press against the front of her khaki shirt—“I’m famished all the time.”

“Admittedly, I’ve never been pregnant, but famished has to be better than throwing up,” Sedona said. “And perhaps it’s a sign that you’re going to have a boy.”

Preferring to be surprised, Kara and Sax had opted against learning the gender of their baby ahead of time.

“Is that some New Age thing you learned growing up on the commune?” Kara plucked a cheese
muffin from the basket the server had left on the table. Not that she believed in woo-woo stuff. Then again, there were those who’d think that the way she’d once talked with her murdered husband wasn’t exactly mainstream.

“No, merely logic and observation,” Sedona said. “It makes a certain sense that a boy would take after his father. And Sax has always appeared to be a man of hefty appetites.”

The double entendre, which was, indeed, true, had Charity nearly spitting out the drink of ice water she’d just taken. Maddy grinned wickedly, while Kara felt her cheeks turn hot.

“So,” she said, deliberately changing the subject, “the reason I didn’t cancel on this week’s lunch, although I should probably be out patrolling our soon-to-be very crowded streets, is because I have news.” She paused a beat. “I’m getting married.”

“Well, of course you are,” Maddy said as their server arrived back at the table with the clam strips appetizer and four small plates. “That’s what that ring on your finger is all about.”

“No, I mean like I’m actually, officially getting married.”

Charity, who was reaching for a strip, paused, her hand over the basket. “You’ve set a date?”

“I have.”

“It’s about time,” Sedona said. “Sax must be over the moon.”

“He’s definitely pleased.” That was an understatement, since he’d been pushing for marriage even before she learned she was pregnant. More often since.

“When?” Maddy asked.

“That’s the thing. It’s this week.”

“During the festival?” Sedona asked.

“I know the timing’s insane, especially what with all I have to do, but my mom called, and I did what you advised me to do a few weeks ago,” Kara said to Charity. “I told her about the baby. Since she missed Trey’s birth, she was thrilled. She also told me that she and John were on the way to some island in the South Pacific that had suffered a tsunami, but because Doctors Without Borders are already on the scene, they’re able to make a stop here. So we can have that double wedding we talked about.”

“I guess you’re going to have it at Bon Temps?” Sedona asked.

“I wouldn’t mind, because it’s a great place, and Cole and Kelli’s wedding there was wonderful, but it’s also where Sax already spends all his working hours since he reopened it. Which doesn’t make it all that romantic.”

And, although she felt it was a little foolish, after getting married at the civil registry office in Tijuana the first time, the romantic that Sax had unearthed lurking inside her wanted something more special.

Which was when she’d thought of Lavender Hill Farm. A Cooking Network celebrity chef who’d given up living in Manhattan after her marriage to her chef husband had dissolved, Maddy had returned home to Shelter Bay and had a new show in the works that would feature the cooking school she and her grandmother planned to open at her grandmother’s herb farm.

Maddy had recently gotten married herself, to one of Sax’s former SEAL teammates. The small beach ceremony had been celebrated with her grandmother,
a close group of Shelter Bay friends, many of whom had attended high school with her, and her agent, who’d flown in from New York for the occasion. Lucas Chaffee’s dog, Scout, who’d retired from the military after losing a leg to a bomb in Afghanistan, had served as ring bearer, carrying the rings in a basket.

Later, at the reception, Lucas admitted that since he’d fully intended to win his former summer love back, he’d begun training the dog to play that part the day after Maddy had returned to Shelter Bay from New York City.

Taking a deep breath, Kara asked her the question she’d been contemplating since her mother’s call. “How close are you and Lucas to getting Lavender Hill Farm’s restaurant completed?”

“Oh, wow.” Maddy snagged a clam strip and chewed thoughtfully. Kara could see the construction punch list being ticked off in her friend’s head. “How much time are we talking about?”

“Mom’s only going to be able to stay for a couple days. So, I was thinking, possibly Thursday?”

“That’s three days away.”

“I know. And I’m sorry, but—”

“We’ll do it,” Maddy said decisively. “Somehow. After all, Lucas and I managed to pull off
our
wedding in a mere week and I have to admit there was something to be said about not having time to stress out about every little detail.

“We’re really close to finishing, so with some long hours and maybe an all-nighter to get all the design stuff in place, we can make it work. Especially if we use the gazebo instead of the farmhouse for the actual ceremony.”

“That’s what I was hoping,” Kara admitted. She’d imagined the lacy white structure, which overlooked the sea, festooned with flowers.

Maddy gazed toward the bay, deep in thought. “And you’ll want a reception luncheon, or dinner, or some sort of food service.”

“Nothing all that special,” Kara assured her. “Certainly no formal sit-down dinner. If need be, Sax can provide the food from Bon Temps.”

“Don’t be ridiculous.” Maddy waved away the suggestion. “As delicious as it would be, and I was so grateful when he got together with Gram for Lucas’ and my reception, we are not going to have the groom cooking his own wedding meal.

“It’s summer, so we can stay light. Make it buffet-style, which would save us from having to train servers at the last minute. You know Phoebe Tyler?”

“Of course,” Kara said. Hadn’t she arrested the woman’s abusive husband after he’d tracked her to Shelter Bay and taken the residents of Haven House, a local shelter, hostage while trying to kidnap his pregnant runaway wife?

Although she was relieved the bully was out of Phoebe’s life, having had her first husband away on deployment when she was carrying Trey, Kara knew how difficult it was to go through a pregnancy on your own.

Of course, Phoebe had the other residents of Haven House, but it wasn’t the same thing as having a husband to provide emotional support. Still, having no husband would be preferable to the dangerous Peter Fletcher.

Although Fletcher’s wealthy family had managed to bond the bastard out until trial, at least he’d been
put under house arrest, so Kara didn’t have to worry about him returning to Shelter Bay anytime soon.

However, she kept in contact with the Denver police chief. If Fletcher did break his house arrest and show up in town, she’d damn well be ready.

“Once she started getting her confidence back, Phoebe’s proven to be a natural,” Maddy said. “I’ve already promised her the job of sous-chef, so this will be a good hands-on learning experience for her. And now that she’s not hiding from her rat bastard husband anymore, we can even include her in the new TV show.”

During her years as a cop, first in Los Angeles County, then here, where she’d taken over her father’s job as sheriff, Kara had learned to keep her thoughts to herself. Maddy was much more open; Kara could practically see the wheels turning in her head.

“Oh! I just had an idea. Now, feel free to tell me no, but what would you say to having the wedding taped for my new Cooking Network show?” she asked. “It would make such a great launch episode.”

“It would also save you a bundle of money on hiring a wedding videographer,” Sedona, the former accountant turned baker, who’d provided financial advice to more than one person in Shelter Bay, pointed out.

Kara was torn between wanting to keep the ceremony private and yet also wanting to help out a friend.

“I promise you wouldn’t even know the camera’s there,” Maddy assured her. “In fact, the photographer would probably be more invisible than anyone you’d hire.”

“I hadn’t even gotten around to thinking about a video,” Kara admitted. She knew Sax would go along with whatever she wanted, and now that he was no longer a SEAL, there wasn’t any problem with his face appearing on television, but…

“I’ll have to ask Mom, but I can’t see any reason why she wouldn’t go along with the idea. She always liked you.”

“Really? Jeez,” Maddy said, “I sure wish I’d known that back when we were in high school when I was afraid of her.”

Kara laughed. “Would it help to know that I spent most of my life intimidated by her perfection?”

But that was all in the past. Ironically, it had been only after they’d both been widowed that she and her mother had finally found something in common. And from that foundation, although it hadn’t been easy, and had required effort and forgiveness on both their parts, they’d established a strong relationship—of the kind Kara could only hope she’d be able to have with her daughter, if the child she was carrying turned out to be a girl.

“I’ll make the cake,” Sedona volunteered. “Unless you’d rather do that,” she deferred to Maddy, the professional chef of the group.

“I’ve never been much of a baker, since it takes more patience than I have, so that would be great.”