Chapter 13
When Hayley delivered Wade’s dinner that night, he was nowhere in sight. Billy Ray let her in the room.
She went to work setting out a Cajun shrimp pasta dish with a field greens salad and fresh garlic roll. She popped open a bottle of merlot and poured a glass to let it breathe.
Billy Ray explained that Wade was still at the police station talking to the chief, but he would be back shortly if she wanted to hang around.
Hayley declined.
It was getting late. And Gemma had texted her asking if she would mind picking her and Reid up at Reel Pizza Cinema where they were watching a movie and no doubt snuggling in the dark. Hayley was happy Gemma was so excited about this boy, but she was rather surprised they had progressed to a movie date so quickly.
It was less than a week ago when she had accompanied her daughter to Reid’s coffeehouse concert and at that point they barely knew each other.
Gemma and Reid were waiting for her when Hayley pulled her Subaru wagon into the cinema parking lot.
She immediately noticed the two of them holding hands.
Reid circled around the car and got in the back seat.
Instead of sitting up front with her mother, Gemma jumped in the back with Reid. Hayley suddenly felt like a chauffeur, but bit her tongue.
“How was the movie?” Hayley asked.
“Boring.” Gemma shrugged, not anxious to offer a critique.
“What’d you see?”
“I don’t even remember the name of it,” Gemma said. “We stopped paying attention after the first ten minutes.”
“Well, what were you doing?” Hayley asked, cringing as the words came out of her mouth.
Of course, they were making out.
Gemma burst forth in a fit of giggles. “Nothing!”
Yes, definite confirmation they were making out.
Hayley adjusted the rearview mirror in time to see Gemma resting her head on Reid’s shoulder.
He was gently stroking her hair.
When he noticed Hayley looking at them through the mirror, he quickly stopped.
Hayley wasn’t sure what to think of this. They seemed to be getting much closer and were obviously very affectionate with one another.
She felt guilty because she had been working so hard writing her columns and cooking for Wade that she had completely missed the signs that her daughter was getting quite serious with this boy.
Or man.
He was eighteen.
God, eighteen.
And Hayley knew very little about him.
“Where am I dropping you off, Reid?” Hayley asked. “Where do you live?”
“Actually, if you wouldn’t mind, could you let me off at Carrie Weston’s house?”
Hayley raised an eyebrow.
“We were over there hanging out with Carrie before the movie,” Gemma said. “But her father came home so we had to beat it and Reid left his guitar behind.”
“I can walk home from there. I live close by,” Reid said.
“Sure. No problem,” Hayley said, glancing in the rearview mirror.
Reid saw her looking again and flashed Hayley a wide smile.
Perfect teeth.
The kid sure was a looker.
No wonder Gemma was all over him.
Like mother, like daughter.
The lights were all off at the Weston house when Hayley pulled up to the curb.
“It doesn’t look like anyone’s home,” Hayley said.
“Not a problem,” Reid said. “Carrie told me where they hide the key. I’ll be in and out in under a minute. Thanks for the ride, Mrs. Powell.”
“Good night, Reid.”
Reid reached over and gently pulled Gemma closer to him before planting a very deep kiss on her mouth.
Gemma was noticeably swooning.
Hayley watched them through the mirror and her mouth dropped open.
This was not just a friendly kiss.
This was a full-on face assault.
She swore she saw tongues flying.
And it made her supremely uncomfortable.
Finally, Hayley cleared her throat and Reid got the message and released Gemma and pushed open the car door.
“’Night,” he said, waving, and then slammed the door shut and ran across the lawn.
She waited until Reid was at the front door reaching into a planter for the house key before she pulled away.
Gemma all but flung herself against the back-seat window to stare at him longingly as they drove off down the street.
“Gemma, Reid seems like a really nice boy, but I’m not sure you two should be spending so much time together . . .”
“Mother, please, let’s not do this now, okay?”
“Do what?”
“Have this talk. Let me enjoy this one tiny island of happiness in a sea of depression,” Gemma said.
“Since when are you depressed?”
“I’m not. But I will be if you start limiting the time I’m allowed to spend with Reid. He’s the best thing that’s ever happened to me.”
“I’ve said those very same words, believe me, many times! But you’re very young and you need to be focused on your studies, because college isn’t that far off . . .”
“I already know the speech, Mom. I’ve heard it all before.”
“Then consider this a refresher course. I’m not saying I don’t want you to see him, I’m just saying it doesn’t have to be so intense. I don’t want your grades slipping because you’re spending all your free time with him.”
“My grades are fine. You would be the first to know if I started slipping because my teachers would be e-mailing you constantly. And what’s so intense about going to a movie?”
“Nothing. What was intense was that good-night kiss.”
Gemma sunk down in her seat and giggled.
She was still flying high from it.
“So why do you hate him?” Gemma challenged.
“I certainly do not hate him. I like him. He seems like a decent enough kid. From what I know. I just don’t want things moving too fast . . .”
“We’re not having sex, if that’s what you’re getting at,” Gemma announced abruptly. “I’m not ready for that.”
Hayley almost lost control of the car, she was so taken by surprise, but managed to keep on the right side of the road.
“And the next sound you hear is your mother’s sigh of relief,” Hayley said, laughing.
“Mom, look,” Gemma said, pointing to a house at the end of the street.
It was dark.
Nobody appeared to be home.
But there was a Chrysler parked out front and the driver-side door was open.
Hayley slowed down, and as the Subaru’s headlight washed over the vehicle, she spotted somebody crouched down, fiddling with something underneath the dashboard.
“Mom, he’s hot-wiring the car!” Gemma shouted just as the car’s engine kicked on and the thief, who was wearing jeans and a orange sweat jacket with a hoodie that was hiding his face, hopped in the driver’s seat.
He jerked his head around and saw the Subaru bearing down on him.
It was too quick for Hayley to get a good look at his face.
The thief hit the pedal to the metal and the Chrysler sped away into the night.
Hayley found herself slamming her foot down on the Subaru’s accelerator and chasing after him.
Gemma’s body jerked against the back seat, held down by the seat-belt strap.
“Omigod! I can’t believe we’re chasing a car thief!” Gemma screamed. “Mom, slow down!”
“I can’t! We’ll lose him!” Hayley yelled, jerking the wheel to the right and following the Chrysler on a back road toward the Kebo Valley Golf Course.
Hayley felt for her cell phone in the cup holder of the Subaru and tossed it back to Gemma. “Call nine-one-one! Tell them we’re in a high-speed pursuit heading toward Eagle Lake Road and we need backup!”
“But, Mom, we’re not cops!”
The car thief was well ahead of Hayley’s Subaru and it looked like he was going to easily outrun them, when suddenly Hayley saw the brake lights flash on and heard the sound of squealing tires.
The car took a sharp turn off the road onto the golf course and smashed into a tree.
Hayley didn’t have a moment to realize what had happened to the Chrysler before her own headlights lit up a deer standing frozen in the middle of the road.
Yes. Literally, a deer in the headlights.
She slammed on the brakes and the tires locked and Gemma was screaming as Hayley kept her hands gripped on the wheel, keeping it steady as the Subaru screeched to a stop just inches from the deer. The deer just stared at them for a moment, and once it realized it wasn’t going to be roadkill, went prancing off into the woods.
Hayley turned to Gemma. “Stay here.”
Gemma nodded.
There was no way she was going anywhere.
Hayley got out of the Subaru and ran over to the Chrysler, which was smoking from the impact of hitting the tree. The front end was crunched up like an accordian.
She saw someone moving in the driver’s seat and heard him moaning.
“Are you okay?” Hayley asked.
“I think I broke my arm,” the kid said.
Hayley reached inside the window and snapped on the overhead light to get a better look at the car thief.
Bruce had been right.
The thief was Jesse DeSoto.
Island Food & Spirits by Hayley Powell
I don’t know why I’m in the mood for barbecue. I just can’t seem to get it off my mind this week! So I think I’ll be firing up the grill later, and making some delicious barbecue ribs! The best part of dining on ribs, of course, is the great side dish that goes with it—a good old homemade southern mac and cheese casserole! I have such a craving for it! It also goes great with my fried chicken recipe or even just as a meal all by itself.
But before we get to the recipe, I have to tell you about my little adventure with Leroy.
The other night I needed to clear my head after a long day of work and coming up with recipes for Wade Springer. I may have mentioned I’m his personal chef while he is staying in our town before his two sold-out concerts. But I’m never one to drop names or brag.
Anyway, I decided to walk Leroy on the Jesup trail, a scenic path that cuts through the woods around the golf course near my house. We were about a mile into our stroll when we came around the bend and walked smack dab into a small herd of deer! Not surprising, really, since the island is overrun with them. They eat
everything
in our yards and gardens! Just this past year, they ate every one of my beloved hosta plants in the front yard!
Well, it wasn’t the deer that startled us, as they really didn’t seem to be disturbed by our intrusion at all. What made me gasp, and unfortunately made Leroy start barking furiously with that high-pitched annoying bark of his, was the most enormous, gigantic eight-point buck I have ever seen in my life! I was pretty sure it was the same one the locals call “Bucky.” I’ve been told the legend of Bucky the eight-point buck many times over the years. He’s been a fixture in Acadia National Park and is probably the daddy to half of the island’s deer population.
Of course, Leroy failed to notice the huge size difference between himself and Bucky and continued barking wildly and frantically pulling at his leash. As the other deer began to calmly walk away, obviously annoyed that their dinner was interrupted by some annoying yapping tiny little creature, I noticed Bucky was staring intently at us, and was starting to paw at the ground and snorting at us like a bull.
I decided this moment might be a good time to turn around and hightail it out of there, so I gave Leroy’s leash a big tug, which choked him enough to stop his barking for a brief moment. We took off running so fast back in the direction from which we had come, you would have thought Mona and Liddy had just called me from my brother’s bar Drinks Like A Fish and told me there was a 2 for 1 Happy Hour special!
Leroy was not happy about his walk being cut short, but as soon as the giant angry beast started charging us, he seemed to have a change of heart, and ran just as fast as he could right past me, dragging me along by the leash.
All I could hear was loud crashing and stomping through the underbrush behind us. I didn’t dare turn around because I didn’t want to know just how much Bucky was gaining on us. Suddenly, there was a loud crash, some grunting, and then silence. Curiosity was killing me, so I glanced over my shoulder and stopped dead in my tracks. Leroy tumbled over backward since he was running forward full tilt.
In his attempt to chase us down, poor Bucky had tried running between two trees that weren’t quite wide enough for his gigantic antlers to fit through. Bucky’s antlers got caught on both sides. He was completely dazed and the wind had been knocked right out of him! He just stood there, slowly shaking his head. He seemed to be no worse for wear. Except for the fact he was no longer an eight-point buck. He was a six-point buck.
That was our cue to quietly slip away before this one sore buck came to his senses, freed himself, and finally finished us off!
As Leroy and I jogged home, I wondered if, instead of ribs, the venison steaks in my freezer might be a better accompaniment with our mac and cheese for the barbecue!
But, first, before heating up the oven, I’m going to have a nice Southern Screw and relax.
2 ounces vodka
2 ounces Southern Comfort peach liquor
6 ounces orange juice
Pour all ingredients over ice in a glass and enjoy!
1 pound cavatappi pasta
2 tablespoons butter
3 tablespoons flour
1 cup milk
1 12-ounce can evaporated milk
2 cups shredded smoked Gouda cheese
1 3-ounce package softened cream cheese
¾ teaspoon salt
½ teaspoon red pepper flakes, divided
1 8-ounce chopped cooked smoked ham (if you have leftover ham from the night before, dice it up and use that)
2 cups corn flakes cereal, crushed
2 melted tablespoons of butter
Preheat your oven to 350 degrees. Prepare cavatappi pasta according to the directions on the box.
Melt 2 tablespoons butter over medium heat in large saucepan or skillet big enough to hold the pasta. Gradually whisk in flour until smooth; cook while constantly whisking for one minute or until thickened. Slowly whisk milk and evaporated milk into the saucepan and cook until thickened. Whisk Gouda, cream cheese, salt and a ¼ teaspoon of the red pepper flakes until smooth. Remove from heat and stir in ham.
Pour pasta into the cheese sauce and mix. Pour into a lightly grease 13 x 9–inch baking dish. Stir 2 tablespoons melted butter and remaining ¼ teaspoon red pepper flakes into the crushed corn flakes and sprinkle over the mac and cheese.
Bake at 350 for 45 minutes or until golden brown and bubbly. Let stand for 5 minutes and then dig in!