The Posse (3 page)

“Yeah, but before, you had
Daddy.” Even now, tears filled those green eyes, and Jude had to
look away, busying herself with stacking pancakes and pouring the
eggs into the hot pan.

“I’ll be fine. I promise.
Please don’t worry.”

“Will you be lonely,
though?” Images of her mother sitting in the big empty house
flitted through Meghan’s mind.

“Nope. First of all, if I
were, I would call up Aunt Janet and Aunt Sam, and we’d go hit the
bars. Maybe that new male strip club in Daytona.”

“Mom!” Meggie covered her
ears. “That I don’t want to hear.”

Jude laughed. “And second,
do you think the posse is going to leave me alone long enough to
get lonely? Uncle Logan was here this morning when I opened. He
claimed he couldn’t help waking up, but I know him. He was making
sure I was okay.”

“That makes me feel better.
It was just that Joseph and I were talking last night, and it hit
me that we’re really leaving you this time. Not just to come back
at the weekend. I won’t be back home until Thanksgiving.”

“And that’s the way it
should be. I’m grateful that you came home about every weekend last
year. And Joseph taking his classes this year at the community
college was a blessing. But it’s time you both got on with your
life. It’s what Daddy would want.” Jude paused to plate the eggs,
add an orange wedge garnish and turned to take the burger plate
from Mack. “Speaking of your brother, was he awake when you came
down?”

“Nah. I’ll go toss his butt
out of bed.” Meggie rose as her mother carried plates to the
waiting table. At the door to the stairway, she turned back around
and dashed to Jude.

“I love you, Mama,” she
said, half-choking as she hugged her mother. She ran upstairs,
passing Sadie as the older woman carried a tray of dishes into the
sink area.

“You got a special girl
there.” Sadie wiped suspicious moisture from her eyes when Jude
came back around the bar.

“Makes you wonder how that
happened, doesn’t it?” Jude teased.

“Sure does, ‘cause you for
sure were a mess when you were her age!” Sadie pulled the ball cap
tighter over her grey hair.

Jude stopped for a minute,
thinking. “I was married and pregnant with her when I was Meggie’s
age,” she reminded the older woman.

“Yup. Like I said, a
mess.”

“Did I ever stop being a
mess?”

Sadie pushed a glass against
the iced tea dispenser, refilling it for her customer. She tilted
her head, considering.

“Maybe you’re not so bad as
you were. You gonna clean that egg pan or leave it there to get
hard?”

Jude shook her head and
grabbed the pan. Some things never changed, she thought. She might
own the Tide, she might be over forty, but Sadie still ruled the
roost.

***

Matt Spencer couldn’t decide what to
do.

He had walked back to the
storage room at The Surf Line three times and returned to the main
shop empty-handed three times. Karl, the high school junior who
worked part-time at the store, glanced up when he stalked back the
last time.

“Uh, Mr. Spencer, everything
okay?”

“What? Oh. Yeah. I’m just
trying to make up my mind about something.” He ran one hand over
shaggy blond hair. “Karl, you got a girlfriend?”

The boy grinned. “Nah. My
mom says I shouldn’t get tied down. I just, you know, date. Meet
girls, take them out. Why, do you have someone I should meet?”

Matt stared at him blankly
for a minute. “No. Who would I want you to meet?”

Karl shrugged. “I don’t
know. You’re friends with Meggie Hawthorne. I thought maybe you
might want to fix me up with her. She’s hot.”

“Meggie? My God, Karl, she’s
like my niece. I’ve known her since before she was born. I’m not
looking to hook her up with you. And she’s like four years older
than you.”

Karl smiled again, crinkling
his blue eyes in his tan face. “I like older women.”

Matt rolled his eyes. “I
just bet. Well, Meghan went back to Savannah today, so you’re out
of luck.” He moved over to fix one of the displays and then leaned
out the door, looking down the sidewalk.

“You looking for
someone?”

“I’m trying to decide—” He
sighed and bit the bullet. “Karl, what do you say to a girl when
you want to ask her out? On a date?”

Understanding washed over
Karl’s face. “Mr. S., you
like
someone?”

Matt waved his hand. “None
of your business.”

“Well, you just asked me,
so—”

“Karl, you know how I let
you do consulting with some of the customers? Give them advice on
surfing? Think of it like that. I need to consult with you, but you
don’t need details.”

“Okay.” The boy nodded. “So
when I want to ask a girl to go out with me, I say something nice
first. You know, like she’s pretty, or she looks hot, or I like her
hair. Girls like that. It softens them up. And then if I know
there’s something we both like to do, I ask her if she wants to go
with me to do it. Like, you know, we both play Xbox or we like the
same music. And then...” He spread it hands. “It just kind of
happens from there.”

“It happens? What happens?
No.” Matt put up both hands. “Never mind. I don’t want to know. I
was seventeen once. About a thousand years ago, I think.”

He glanced outside again and
took a deep breath. “Karl, keep your eye on things here. I’ve got
to go down the street for a little bit. I’ll be right back.”

Matt strode out. After a few
minutes, Karl rounded the counter and leaned out the door. He
watched his boss until he turned in at the side entrance to the
Riptide.

“I’ll be damned,” he
muttered. “Mr. S is sweet on Meggie’s mom. Huh.”

Matt had been walking into
the Tide for more years than he cared to remember. His dad had
brought him to the restaurant for breakfast every Saturday when he
was a little boy, calling it their man time, a once-a-week escape
from a house full of females. Then when he was old enough to ride
his bike to the beach, he had joined Daniel, Cooper, Eric and Logan
on summer days, dropping their bicycles near Mark’s in the side of
the parking lot. Mr. Rivers let them sit up at the bar while he
served them chips and soda. He would grouse about Mark getting
distracted from his busboy job when his friends descended on the
place, but then he always let his son leave with them and run down
to the beach.

He’d brought his first date
to the Tide, too, Matt remember. Lonnie Severnson was the leggy
blonde he’d finally asked out at the end of freshman year. He had
been so nervous when he took her in, hoping against hope that none
of his friends would be there that Friday night. As it was, only
Jude and Daniel were in the restaurant. Jude was working tables and
Daniel sat at the corner of the bar, books open. Even then, before
they’d officially become a couple, neither of them had eyes for
anyone else.

But Jude had been kind that
evening, talking to Lonnie and taking their order without any of
the winks or leers Matt had dreaded. And Daniel only offered a grin
and wave before his eyes fastened back on Jude as she wove between
the tables with all the grace of a ballerina.

Remembering that gave Matt
the courage he needed to make his way into the Riptide. It was the
afternoon lull. In the height of the season, the place would be
full, but now, with everything winding down, kids going back to
school, there was only an older couple, sitting by a window with
burgers and fries, and a few locals at the bar.

Jude was bent over the
grill, scraping it with a long-handled blade. She stopped to blow a
tendril of hair off her forehead and wiped the side of her face
with the back of her hand. Spotting Matt, she smiled.

“Hey, Matty! What’s going
on?”

The nickname was a leftover
from elementary school, and Matt tolerated it from a select few. He
eased up on a barstool and tried to remember the words he’d planned
on the way over.

“Not much. Quiet here.”

She grinned. “Just a little.
How’s it down your end of the street?”

Matt lifted one shoulder.
“About the same. We got a surfer meet this weekend, though, so it’s
going to be busy.”

Jude dried her hands on a
towel, reached under the bar and pulled out a bottle. She popped
the cap and slid it across to him.

Yes. Liquid courage.
Matt took a long swig and then tilted the neck toward Jude. “Join
me?”

“I’ve got another two hours
before Emmy takes over for the night, so I’m sticking to
water.”  Jude lifted the bottle and drank.

Matt watched her closely. He
tried to figure out whether or not the slim column of her neck
above the black scoop neck shirt struck a chord. Did he feel
anything for Jude other than the warm affection they’d always
shared?

There was only one way to
find out. He chugged down more of his beer and took a deep breath.
“So the kids went back this morning? Both of them?”

“Yes.” Jude sighed. “Joseph
was supposed to wait until Monday, but he’s living in an apartment
with a bunch of guys, and one of them decided to bring down a
truckload of furniture today. He needed help moving it in, and I
think Joseph was ready to go. So...yeah. The nest is empty once
again.”

Matt nodded. “Do you want to
have dinner with me tonight?”

Jude’s eyebrows rose.
“Dinner?”

“Yeah.” Matt worked hard to
keep his tone nonchalant. “You know, it’s that meal at the end of
the day. We can go over to that new Italian place in Elson. I’ve
been wanting to try it.”

She leaned against the bar,
frowning. “Matt, you take out a different girl every week. Why
haven’t you taken one of them there?”

“You don’t take a date to an
Italian place on the first date, Jude. Too much garlic. You got to
wait until a month or two in.”

Jude laughed. “Okay. And you
never get that far in.”

He had the grace to look a
little uncomfortable. “Not recently, no.”

“But I’m safe. I get it. All
right, you got a deal. Can you give me until seven? Emmy gets here
at five, and I’d like a little while to unwind, shower off the
day.”

“Sure.” Matt felt
extraordinarily lighter. “I’ll pick you up at your house. See you
then. Thanks for this.”  He drained the rest of the bottle and
pushed it across the bar.

Outside in the sunshine, he
walked back toward the store with more spring in his step. He
paused just beyond the door to the Tide and squinted down the block
at the bright yellow house that was fronted by scaffolding. It was
going to be a bed and breakfast, the last project Holt/Hawthorne
had undertaken before Daniel died.

Matt caught sight of a
familiar figure in a suit moving to the front of the house. Logan
was making one of his frequent visits, checking on progress. He
stood looking up at the second floor, and as he turned to point
something out to a passing workman, he saw Matt.

Logan stood completely still
for a moment, and Matt imagined he could see his eyes flick to the
door to the Riptide and then back to Matt himself. He raised one
hand in a quick wave and then looked back at the yellow house.

The relief Matt had felt
moments before dimmed just a bit before he stalked back to the surf
shop.

***

Hiring Emmy Carter to cover Friday and
Saturday nights at the Tide had been one of Jude’s more ingenious
decisions. She realized that every week when Emmy strode through
the door and took charge. 

Emmy was in her
mid-thirties. She was a local girl who had married a pro surfer
when she was barely out of her teens. Ten years and three kids
later, he left her to move to Hawaii, where the waves were bigger
and life was easier. Emmy could’ve moved back with her parents, but
instead she started her own business, baking pies out of her
kitchen.