Carrie Alexander - Count on a Cop Page 14

  “We’re going to be busy, anyway,” Connie said, although she’d had her own hopes for the next few days.

  Sean and Josh came out of the shop with the owner and chose their bikes from the lineup beneath the storefront window. Without a backward glance, Josh climbed on his off-road cycle and sped away, standing on the pedals and pushing hard as Shore Road steepened.

  Not to be outdone, Pippa followed at a much slower pace. Partway up the road, her bike slowed to a crawl and she finally had to get off and push.

  “Looks like I’m pushing the whole way.” Sean piled his son’s skateboard and duffel into the bike’s basket, making a precarious load.

  “I’ll join you,” Connie said. “We’ve been watching the sailboat races and the sun has sapped most of my energy. I wondered if you’d show up.”

  “I got the confirmation from my ex last night and took the morning ferry to meet Josh in Bangor. He’s not exactly happy about being here. I considered cutting my stay on the island short and taking him back home. At least he knows the town, and has a few friends from previous visits.”

  “But you didn’t.” It might have been easier on her if he had, but that didn’t mean she wanted him gone.

  Sean winced as he stretched over the unwieldy bike, pushing past the steep section of the road. “I don’t like to leave my affairs unfinished.”

  Connie put her head down and pushed.

  He glanced sidelong at her as they rolled to a stop at the top of the hill, where the road forked toward the opposite sides of the island. “Not that you’re an affair, exactly…”

  She pulled at the shirt sticking to her skin. “Uh, well, this is where we part ways.” He looked startled until she indicated the road sign—two quaint old wooden paddles with the words Shore and Cliff carved into the blades. They pointed in opposite directions.

  Choose one, Connie thought. Dead end ahead.

  “I’d say Pippa’s got another idea.” Sean pointed down the west-side road, where Connie’s daughter was peddling as fast as she could after Josh.

  Connie smiled, ridiculously relieved that the choice had already been made. “So we’ll go the long way around.”

  They continued toward Pine Cone Cottage, still walking the bikes. “Want to stay for supper?” Sean asked when they were within sight of the cottage. Pippa waited by the mailbox.

  “We shouldn’t. You probably want to spend the time alone with Josh.”

  “He hardly said two words to me on the ferry. He’s always been slow to warm up when we first get together, but this time he’s worse than ever. I guess he considers this trip his punishment for getting into trouble at home, so he’s going to make sure I’m punished, too.” They arrived at the Potter mailbox. “Wait’ll he finds out there’s no Xbox, PlayStation or cable. Then I’ll really be in for it. Having you and Pippa around would be a relief.”

  “Gee, given all that, I’m not so sure we want to stay.” Connie laughed before turning to her wary daughter. “Mr. Rafferty has asked us to supper. What do you think?”

  Pippa scrunched her face. “Okay.”

  “Nothing fancy,” he said. “Hot dogs and hamburgers on the barbecue. I noticed there’s an old charcoal grill out back.” He looked toward the house. “Where’s Josh?”

  “I told him this was the place, but he kept going,” Pippa answered. “He said he was taking a ride.”

  Sean frowned. “That should be okay. There’s no way to get lost on an island the size of Osprey.”

  “He’ll be back.” Connie was determined to be cheerful. “What a pretty little cottage! It’s like something out of a storybook.”

  “That’s right, you haven’t been here.” Sean left the bike by the curved willow gate, grabbing his son’s luggage. “Come and see.”

  Connie took in the lavishly haphazard flower garden and the whitewashed cottage with gingerbread trim. Window boxes spilled with begonias and English ivy. At one corner, a mossy barrel collected rainwater from the downspout. Tucked under the wide eaves near the door was an old-fashioned porch swing suspended on rusty chains.

  “It’s absolutely perfect—a true enchanted cottage. The Peregrine guesthouse is nice, but we’re closed in by all those trees. You’ve got both the pines and a seaside view.”

  “I’m not sure about the enchanted part.”

  “Oh, it’s enchanted. It’s got to be.” She inhaled. “I can’t seem to get enough of the air here. All that clean pine and sharp salt and hot sun. I want to swallow big gulps of it. Suck it straight up through my pores.”

  “I know what you mean. It’s bracing.”

  Connie nodded. “Yes. I keep thinking that a person’s troubles would be scoured right away in a place like this.” She chuckled. “But that’s probably not the case.”

  “We can wish.” Sean opened the door. “Come inside.”

  She was dying to see the interior but held back. “We should give you two time to settle in before dinner. I’d like to go home and freshen up and drop off our things, anyway.”

  Sean leaned against the doorjamb. “All right. I’ll see you in about an hour?”

  His handsomeness hurt her eyes. Every time he came near, her body reacted instinctively. She swayed toward him, yearning to feel his arms around her, his lips, his breath, his beating heart.

  Pippa watched from the gate.

  Connie reined herself in. “Yes, we’ll see you then,” she said, sounding quite prim.

  He smiled at her with scalawag eyes, and she got the distinct idea that he suspected what she was feeling even if she couldn’t say it right then.

  CHAPTER TWELVE

  Pippa Bradford’s Book of Curious Observations

  CLUES FOUND at the Osprey Island Yacht Club:

  1. Mr. and Mrs. Sheffield. They fight a lot. I think he has a girlfriend. This is called extramartial sex. My mom doesn’t know I know that SO SHE BETTER NOT BE READING THIS!!!

  2. The lady named Jilly is nicer than Mrs. S. even if they look alike. She talked to me about dancing in shows in Las Vegas and said that it’s not too late for me to start dance class. I tripped on a chair leg and almost dropped my binoculars into the water, so she was just trying to be nice and help me from being clumsy.

  3. There was nothing suspicious about Cutter Head. But I found out there is a place called The Rock in the harbor. People here say, “Meet me at The Rock.” It’s actually in the water, but they just mean to meet nearby. My mom doesn’t know about The Rock yet.

  4.

  (I had more clues but now I can’t remember them. That boy is here in the backyard with me and my mom. Mr. R. is starting the barbecue grill. That boy is just sitting in a lawn chair, but he saw me looking at him and made a face at me. I hate to say it to Mr. R., but I think his son is a big mean turd.*)

  “WHO WANTS TO HELP with the salad?” Connie called from the kitchen of Pine Cone Cottage. When there was no answer, she stuck her head out the back door. “Don’t everyone volunteer at once.”

  “Josh,” said Sean. He lifted a bag of charcoal briquettes and motioned with his head. “You go and help Mrs. Bradford.”

  “Why me?”

  “Because Pippa is my assistant.” The charcoal rattled in the bottom of the kettle grill. “Matches?”

  “I got ’em.” Pippa flung aside her notebook and scrambled up from the grass.

  Josh glowered.

  “Come on,” Connie said. “You can chop the tomatoes and cucumber while I make the hamburger patties. It’ll take five minutes.”

  Reluctantly, the teen abandoned the chair he’d slung himself into when he’d returned from his bike ride.

  “You’ll like Osprey Island.” She handed Josh a knife. “Even though there are no skateboard ramps and video games. It’s more of a natural experience.”

  “That’s for sure.” He turned his hat around, using the band to lift the hair out of his eyes. Without instruction, he rinsed the vegetables and got out the cutting board.

  “Have you ever rock-climbed?” Oblique
ly, she watched him slice tomatoes. Satisfied that he knew his way around a kitchen, she turned back to the pile of ground meat.

  “Only in a gym.”

  “There are some steep cliffs on the east side of the island. I’m sure you can find gear and an instructor in Jonesport.” He didn’t respond. “You can try sea kayaking and sailing, too. Pippa and I might give the kayaks a go, but we’re rank beginners. She may not dare. She’s already had one ocean dunking.”

  “Huh.”

  “Your dad fished her out. He was a real hero. The water here is ice-cold and can cause hypothermia in a matter of minutes.”

  Josh continued chopping.

  The cucumber was down to a nub. She became a little desperate. “You must be used to warm water, being from California. Are you a surfer?”

  “Not that much. We don’t live near the ocean.”

  “You have a step-siblings, is that right?”

  “Nope.” He had Sean’s bluish-gray, approaching-thunderstorm eyes. “They’re halves. Two half sisters.”

  “Oh, well, that’s just as good as the real thing, isn’t it?”

  “Just as bad, too.”

  Connie laughed and went to wash her hands. “Pippa’s an only child. She claims she prefers it that way, but I think she’d be better off with some brothers and sisters to fight with.”

  “So, like, that means you’re hunting for a husband?”

  Connie’s voice strangled in her throat. She swallowed and reached for a dish towel. “Er, not in particular. I was an only child, and I turned out okay.”

  “My dad is from a big family, but that doesn’t mean he likes kids.”

  “Oh? Why do you say that?”

  Josh just gave a sneering “huh” and clomped out of the kitchen. The back door swung shut with a bang.

  Connie replaced the towel. She scraped the heap of neatly chopped vegetables into the salad bowl, where they added a contrast of color to the purple and green organic salad greens. “At least that went well,” she said to herself.

  Making friends with Josh was going to take a while.

  THE MEAL WAS AWKWARD. Neither of the children cooperated with Connie’s attempts to include them. She and Sean ended up talking to each other, but even their conversations dwindled and died from trying too hard.

  She started to wish she’d stayed at the guesthouse with Pippa. After Phil, they had learned to make a comfortable and self-contained party of two. Why change now? She was not husband-hunting. She’d started out thinking that a few dates might be nice. The strength of her attraction to Sean was something she hadn’t prepared for. Certainly she hadn’t envisioned getting seriously involved with a single parent who had plenty of issues of his own.

  On the other hand, it bothered her that she’d let Josh’s discouragement get to her.

  “Ketchup,” Josh said abruptly.

  From across the table, Sean leveled a stern look at his son.

  Josh twisted his mouth to one side. “Please.”

  Connie passed him the bottle.

  He lifted off the top of his half-eaten burger and squeezed more ketchup onto it. The bottle let out a loud burp and the condiment erupted, splattering the plate and table.

  “That sounded like a—a—” Pippa gave way to a fit of giggles.

  Ruddy color suffused in Josh’s face. Then he wrapped both hands around the ketchup bottle and squeezed hard, making it blurt even more rudely.

  “Enough.” Sean’s jaw bulged with an unswallowed bite of burger. “You’re making a mess.”

  Connie grabbed a paper napkin to mop up, but she caught Pippa’s eye and began to giggle. Suddenly they were all laughing, including Josh. He looked like a baby-faced kid when he laughed—almost innocent. Connie remembered that he was only three years older than Pippa. Just a boy.

  After that, their awkwardness with each other wasn’t so bad. They weren’t one big happy family, either, but at least they were able to speak almost naturally and swallow the meal without lumps in their throats.

  They discussed the history of Osprey Island, which Josh was disappointed to find included more whaling and fishing boats than pirate skullduggery. He was mildly intrigued by the stories of boats lost at sea. Connie explained about widow’s walks, like the one at Peregrine House. She invited Josh to visit the maze.

  Pippa remained quiet. Connie smiled when she saw her daughter sneaking admiring looks at Josh from beneath her lashes while he talked with his dad about home. Apparently he played baseball in a summer league but had been kicked off the team after the recent trouble. The admission came out grudgingly after careful questioning by Sean.

  “So what?” Josh inclined his shaggy head. “Who cares?”

  “I do, I’m sure your mother does, and I believe you do, too.” Sean set his fists on either side of his plate, obviously struggling to keep his cool. “We’ll discuss this later.” He apologized to Connie with a grim nod. “Not in front of our guests.”

  “They aren’t my guests.” Kicking back his chair, Josh stood. He acted defiant, but as he ran into the house, his face was scrunched with a kind of desperate fury that went straight to Connie’s heart. She recognized his need to rage.

  “Please excuse my son’s rudeness,” Sean said, tight-lipped.

  “Don’t worry on our account.” Connie wasn’t bothered until she saw the hurt reflected in Pippa’s eyes. “We know that Josh isn’t angry with us. Right, Pip?”

  “I guess.”

  “He’s mad at me,” Sean said bleakly.

  “Why don’t you go inside and talk to him in private for a few minutes? Pippa and I will clean up out here.”

  “Thanks,” Sean said, clearly relieved.

  “Maybe we should go home?”

  “No, stick around.” He rolled his eyes. “Buffer zone, you know?”

  Connie glanced doubtfully at Pippa, her thin-skinned child, but she agreed to stay.

  “WHAT KIND OF TROUBLE did Josh get into?” Connie asked once the storm had passed and their children were safely ensconced in front of the TV with a movie to watch.

  In the interest of togetherness, Sean had pushed for a puzzle or a board game out of Alice Potter’s games closet—she truly had one, right there in her living room—but Josh hadn’t been interested. Not surprising, since he’d never heard of Parcheesi and none of them could work up the enthusiasm for a two-thousand-piece puzzle of the Swiss Alps. The TV had only a couple of snowy channels. The kids had settled on a DVD of Pirates of the Caribbean, with The Legend of Sleepy Hollow as backup. The absent Miss Potter seemed to be a Johnny Depp fan.

  “If you don’t mind me asking,” Connie added. She put a toe to the ground and pushed, setting the swing swaying. They had come outside to watch the sunset, but the sound of sword fighting from inside was taking away from the experience.

  Sean got up, went inside and closed the double-hung window with a loud screech of the warped wood. Josh sat glumly in one corner of the sofa, his chin on his chest and his hat pulled down to his eyes. Pippa sat in the other corner, staring fixedly at the TV with pink cheeks and her arms crossed over her middle. They didn’t look happy, to say the least.

  “How are the kids doing?” Connie asked when he’d settled back down beside her.

  “Thrilled with each other’s company.”

  “Uh-huh.”

  Feeling something like a teenager on his first movie date, Sean shifted and put his arm along the back of the double swing. “To answer your question…”

  Connie angled her head and smiled his way, as though she’d forgotten all about any question. The ends of her hair tickled his arm.

  “He was caught vandalizing cars, with a couple of other guys. Nothing too terrible, but bad enough—letting the air out of tires, stealing license plates, stunts like that. The worst of it was a broken window.”

  “Were charges pressed?”

  “Nope, but he’s making full restitution. He’ll have to find a way to earn extra cash when he goes back home.”


  “Then he is going home? I wondered if he might live with you.”

  A look of stark longing crossed Sean’s face before he frowned. “Jen wouldn’t hear of it. My ex-wife.”

  “But being with his dad might be what he needs.”

  “I don’t know. Sometimes I think I’ve forgotten how to be his father. He moved away when he was six. I’ve missed out on so much of his life.” Sean closed his eyes, tilted his head back. The sounds of the sea washed through him; he wished it was that easy to sweep away his regrets. “If I could do it over, knowing how hard it is to be a part-time dad, I’d have followed him to California and shared custody.”

  “What stopped you at the time?”

  That answer was simple. “My job. I couldn’t imagine not being a state trooper. My father was rewarded for heroism and bravery, my brothers and sister both joined up straight out of college and are still on the job. I never once thought of doing anything else with my life.”

  Connie pursed her lips. “Has that changed?”

  “Maybe.”

  “Because of the shooting?”

  He grunted.

  “I’m sorry. I’m being nosy.” She put her knees together and pushed off with her toes, several times, until the swing was going steadily with a screek-screek of the rusty chains. “I forget my boundaries.”

  “What are your boundaries?” he asked.

  “My boundaries,” Connie mused. “Phil would have said I have none. Back then, there weren’t that many. But now…” She shrugged. “I’ve got a few. Life seems riskier than it used to.”

  Sean glanced inside at Pippa and Josh. “Can’t disagree with that.”

  Connie sighed.

  They lapsed into silence, watching as the setting sun lit up the clouds with bright golds and deep, glowing blues. Birds hopped around the hedges at the roadside. He stroked his thumb across Connie’s shoulder, finding the inch of skin that showed between the armhole of her top and the lightweight scarf she’d pulled around her bare arms.

  “Tell me about your marriage,” she said abruptly, then laughed. “There I go again. You don’t have to answer if you don’t want.”