Rum Punch Regrets (13 page)

#

Abby hit the brakes and was almost out of the car as it slowed down to a stop in the driveway at La Cantina. She had barely pulled the keys out of the ignition before she was charging up the stairs to check on Buddy.

As Abby was entering the bathroom, she could hear a symphony of voices as they cursed and hollered at one another. There was a ladder set up in the bathroom, so she was able to climb it and poke her head out of the hole to take in the scene on the roof.

At first glance, Abby couldn’t tell that anything was amiss. There was tile scattered everywhere, the tarp was balled up over to one side, and things were just in a general disarray. Then she noticed the bricks from the chimney. And Ziggy sitting among the bricks from the chimney, which were suddenly not attached to the chimney stack any longer.

“Ziggy? Buddy? Does someone want to tell me why the chimney no longer looks like it’s in one piece?”

“Oh mon,” Ziggy began, “I tripped backwards and fell into de chimney, Abby. It just gave way! Didn’t tink I hit it dat hard.”

Buddy was nodding his head in agreement. “He didn’t hit it hard, mon. He tripped on de tile and maybe he hit his head . . . ”

Abby was on the roof now, and making her way, slowly, across the tile to Ziggy. “Are you okay? You aren’t bleeding or cut, are you?”

Ziggy smiled at her. “No. I’m good.” He started to stand up, but quickly sat back down. “Okay, maybe a little dizzy.”

Abby nodded. As much as she was freaking out that there was more work to be done, she knew that Ziggy’s health was more important. And if they didn’t get him off the roof in one piece, Maria might kill all three of them.

“Ziggy, tell you what, how about Buddy and I get you down so Maria can get you checked out by the doctor, okay? Please?”

Ziggy started to shake his head, then stopped, closing his eyes and holding his neck. “Okay. It does hurt.” He grinned up at Abby. “Well, just a little.”

“Okay. Come on. Buddy?”

Abby waved Buddy over to help her pick him up, steadying Ziggy on his feet. They worked together in silence, guiding Ziggy to the ladder and back inside the inn with little resistance and almost no balance issues.

Abby left Buddy to continue on the roof while she escorted Ziggy downstairs so they could find Maria. Thankfully, she was on the second floor putting linens down in one of the rooms.

“There you are!” Maria greeted them as they entered the room. “Ziggy, I need you to run out for me --”

Abby cut her off. “I’ll let Ziggy explain how it happened, but he fell into the chimney and hit his head. He said it hurts a little, but I really think he should get it checked out, okay?”

Maria’s eyes widened in fear as she flew to her husband’s side.

“What were you doing up there, falling down? Are you crazy? We’re lucky you didn’t fall off the damn roof!”

Abby smiled at Ziggy and left the two of them to get organized, calling out over her shoulder, “Maria, make sure the inn is billed. Obviously we’ll pay for it. Workmen’s comp and all.”

Maria nodded as she took Ziggy by the arm and led him to the stairs. Abby watched them go, pausing for only one second before returning to the roof to survey the amount of damage they needed to deal with now.

#

The last of the tools had been put away for the day and Buddy was loading up his truck. The rest of the day had gone smoothly; Buddy was making headway with the roof despite the interlude this morning of Hurricane Ziggy. He was able to reach a few of his freelance workmen, including his brother Rush, asking for help. When the small community of St. Kitts had heard that Ziggy was hurt from trying to fix the roof, a few of the men had rallied and shown up to help. Abby was surprised and touched by the gesture, noting that the little island was much like a small town standing up to support one of their own when the going got tough.

“Dat brick be easy to fix. I get some tomorrow, Abby, and just add it to de bill, okay?”

Abby nodded. “Totally fine. Thank you, Buddy. I know this is turning out to be more than you agreed to.”

Buddy shrugged his shoulders. “It is what it is. No worry.” His gaze fixed across the lawn. “He be da one you need to be worrying about.”

Abby followed his gaze to see Ziggy strolling across the lawn to them, his head wrapped in a bandage. Abby groaned.

“Ziggy! Please tell me you’re not suffering any kind of serious injury?”

“The bandage isn’t from the chimney, mon,” he said with a grin. “I tripped on de way into da doctor’s office and cracked my head.” His lips peeled back, flaunting those yellow teeth, and he held up his hand to show three fingers. “Tree stitches.”

Buddy laughed at his friend while Abby shook her head. “You’re a mess, Ziggy.”

“It’s all good. Anyways, I be back up dere tomor--” But he never got a chance to finish.

“No way!” Abby said sternly. “Not at all. You are allowed to be in the bathroom and help with the ceiling if, and only if, Maria and the doctor agree. But not the roof. Got it?”

Ziggy nodded sheepishly while Abby shook her head. Ziggy and Buddy were already chatting quickly in the Kittian way about what else needed to be done, so she took that moment to slip away and head back to the pool house for a little quiet time and some reflection on the day’s events.

The pool house was silent when Abby entered. She knew Ben wasn’t there, since his car wasn’t in the driveway and the telltale smattering of books and scrubs from the day weren’t littered in their usual spots throughout the living room. Surveying the first floor, Abby knew there was one thing that would make her feel completely at peace right now. Cleaning.

Since they had agreed before the argument that Abby could clean a little around the house, she decided to begin her project as her “I’m sorry” to Ben. She had already planned to apologize when he returned from school, and she wanted to show her sincerity. She wasn’t quite sure how to do that; all she knew how to do was clean and organize and try to make him feel a little better. And since her talk with Maria that morning, Abby knew it was time that she made more of a point with showing and not telling.

Since he had been so adamant about her not doing the cleaning at first, she decided she would focus on the kitchen area to start, since it was more general and not an invasion of personal space. That way she could also pull out the bag she found and ask him in a kinder fashion what was going on with it.
No conclusion-jumping,
she thought. She gathered her supplies, changed her clothes and got ready to attack the grime in the kitchen.

Luckily, the inn had a great collection of CDs that Abby was able to borrow from. She found a few different albums she loved, carted them out to the pool house and put them in the five-disc changer. She hit “Random” and began cruising around the kitchen.

Abby had always sought solace in cleaning duties, even as a child. She had vague memories of the chores that her dad always gave her. As she grew up, chores had become her escape. Quiet time to think about anything she had going on in her life and time for her to play with all the ways she could change things. Doing the dishes was one of her most favorite things to do in the whole world, and she always welcomed the role of dish washer after a big meal. It was always a good way to reflect on the night and the people who had been present.

It was with this happiness that she began cleaning out the refrigerator, washing and scrubbing the interior and exterior so it sparkled. Once she was done there, she moved on to the other major appliance, the oven/stove combo, and scrubbed it until it, too, twinkled from its cleaning.

She moved on to the same cabinets she had torn through yesterday when looking for the cat food, and found more stored items in various spots. Some of the boxes were clearly marked in what appeared to be Leigh’s handwriting. Obviously, Leigh was making good use of every possible space as storage.

Abby took the bags and boxes out, placing them in random locations all over the kitchen. There were four in total, plus the bag she had found yesterday, so she decided to open them up, take stock of their contents and then seal them shut for when it came time for the big move.

Can’t hurt, in case Ben’s things were mixed up with Leigh’s,
she thought.
I can separate them out, and go over it with Ben.
Then later, when Ziggy wasn’t busy, maybe he could help her find a better place for Leigh’s things, in the main house.

Abby grabbed one of the open boxes so she could get a look at its contents. She found old clothes of Leigh’s that looked like things she probably kept to use when she came down. There were shorts, tank tops and other island wear that seemed very Leigh-like. There was a bandana tucked away and a few hats -- things Leigh would use for covering up from the sun.

Abby grabbed a marker and made a note on the outside of the box and then put the box by the door.
Time to open box number two.

Inside the second one, Abby found books and pictures, along with a few island knick-knacks, again similar to things Leigh would collect for herself or to give to the boys. She pulled out all of the little island collectibles and made a note to herself to grab some wrapping paper or bubble wrap so she could store them better. She then scanned the books quickly, straightening them up, and grabbed the pictures to organize, thinking it might be best to put them in an envelope so they wouldn’t be harmed.

Remembering that Ben had large manila envelopes on his bookshelf, she grabbed one and reached for the pictures to get them contained before she continued further.

It was in her hurry to grab the pictures that she accidentally tossed the lot of them all over the kitchen, almost in a repeat of the day before. Abby laughed at her clumsiness and bent over to gather them up. She was surprised to see there were more pictures in this pile of her dad. And these looked like they had been taken on St. Kitts.

The first one she picked up from the pile was one of just her dad. He was standing on a beach with a drink in his hand, maybe here on Frigate Bay? His smile was large and warm like sunshine, and Abby felt tears spring into her eyes. This was the father she remembered, happy and in love with life. The next one was another shot of her dad, this time in a business suit. It looked like he was sitting in a booth of a chain restaurant, like an Applebee’s or Outback. His grin was wide as he pretended to be shoveling food in his mouth.
Weird pictures for Leigh to have,
Abby thought.
Why are all of these things here? And were these pictures taken here on the island?

It was the next one that made Abby pause. It was another one of her dad, looking happy and staring lovingly into the eyes of a woman Abby had never seen before. She was very pretty, with dark hair and a pale complexion. There was an unsettling feeling in the pit of Abby’s stomach as she stared at the photograph in her hands. Maybe this was just someone Stanley had worked with or knew in another life. She took this one, put it on the counter and decided she would scan it and email it to Leigh to see who that was with their father.

The rest of the pictures were local ones, all taken in recent days. In fact, when she got to the end of the pictures, she found one of Ben standing on a dock holding a fishing pole. That was when a bit of a chill went through Abby. Her first thought was
Oh no!
as she realized Ben did have his things mixed in with Leigh’s.

Abby felt horribly guilty as she realized she might actually be snooping through Ben’s things. She decided she should just stop and wait for him to get back from school for the day so he didn’t come home and find her knee-deep in his storage boxes, assuming she was rooting through them for her own amusement.

Last thing I need him to think is that I’m invading his privacy on purpose
, she thought.

She was putting everything back in order when a last picture floated away from the others and landed light as a feather on the floor next to where she stood. She didn’t need to bend over to see who was in the picture. Even from where she stood, she could see Ben’s outline and knew it was him, but there was also another person, a woman, in this one. As she leaned down to pick it up, Abby realized it was the same woman who was in the picture with her father, only now she was much older. Instead of looking at her father with love and adoration, this time that look was reserved for Ben and Ben alone.

Abby was staring at the picture of Ben and the mystery woman when she heard the screen door open. She looked up to see Ben standing there, with a sheepish look on his face.

Abby had opened her mouth to speak, but Ben wanted to go first.

“Before you start, Abby, I need you to know that I’m sorry.” He stared at his feet.

All Abby could do was nod slowly and listen.

“Please, let’s just stop all of this. My best friend is coming to visit me soon and I don’t want us fighting while he’s here.”

Abby licked her lips and wanted to answer, but all she could do was glance down at the picture she held in her hand. That was when Ben noticed it as well.

“What are you doing with that picture of me and my mum?”

Abby nodded at the cabinets.

“I . . . uh . . . I wanted to clean. That’s my way of saying that I’m sorry. Since it’s the kitchen, I thought it would be okay ’cause no one ever stores personal items in the kitchen. Except now I know that Leigh does it, and so do you. And since I found that book yesterday, I was trying to . . . ” Abby stopped herself and stared at the ground. “I accidentally went through a few of your boxes. I thought they were Leigh’s and I’m so sorry.”

Ben had taken the picture from Abby’s hands as she was speaking.

“Well, honestly, no harm no foul. Yes, I did store a few things under there, but I don’t think Leigh did.”

Again, a cold chill traveled through Abby.

“Her handwriting is on the outside of the boxes . . . ”

“I know, she gave them to me to use when I first got here so I could store things. It’s not like I could just go buy a box from Staples or Office Depot.” He grinned. “And if you found any ladies’ clothing, it’s my mum’s. She did leave a few of her things here as well, clothes and such for when she visited.”