Kaleidoscope Summer (Samantha's Story) (19 page)

Maggie stood and
draped a sarong a
round her hips
,
knotting
it on one side.

“W
hat would you say to some
fabulous food on the wharf?”

I
brushed the sand off the
long cover-up I had put on to keep from getting sunburned.
“I say, let’s go
.
I
’ll
need to b
orrow something to wear.
”

“No worries
.” She
whirled to face
me
, walking backwards in the sand
.
“You’re go
ing to love Woody’s
.”
Her contagious free spirit
lifted mine.

Free of sand and sunscreen and
dressed fo
r dinner, we
settled into Maggie’s topless
car
.
We wound our way
around the curves
. The breeze lifted and rearranged my hair
making me feel
w
ild and
carefree.
I
loved it.

Maggie circled
into the
restaurant’s
parking lot.
I ran my fingers through
my hair
to tame the unruliness
the wind had insisted on.
“Good e
v
ening, Maggie.” The
valet
attendant
opened her
door and handed
her a
claim stub
.

Maggie
greeted the guy manni
ng the entrance
as
she would an old friend
. “Up top?” He winked at her
.

“Perfe
ct.”
She turned to me. “Gotta love smal
l towns.”

C
areful of the
gauzy
dress that dusted
the tops of my sandals, I
climbed
the
rustic stairs to an open deck
,
with Maggie right behind me.
W
e were met with a panoramic
view of the sea—m
illions of candles
illuminated
the
water
’
s
surfac
e—or so it seemed
. “I
t’s fantastic
here
.”

“One of my favorite restaurants.
”
I watched
h
er eyes sweep
across the deck and
onto the colors adorning
the horizon
.

“Amazing
.” Hues of go
lden
crimson
edged in metallic
bronze
stroked
the sky. I tapped my foot to
the
vibration of the
music though the
planks
of the
deck
.

Maggie
draped
her wrap over the
back of her seat
.
“
They do a great
taco
platter
.
”

“
Now that, I could really get into
.”
The sun and shore had been a
respite from the stress of
the past several
weeks
, and now
sitting here I felt renewed, almost
ready to take life on
again
.
Logan ke
p
t
traipsing across my mind
.

“Be right back.”
Maggie
r
emoved the napkin from her lap
a
nd
strolled
across the room
. She spoke with a man
,
his dark hair tinted with a hint of gray,
the open neck of his shirt
exposing a gold
chain.
A
light blush
appeared
on
Maggie’s cheeks
—was she
interested in
him?
She
danced back to
the table. “
Your
taste buds are in for a thrill
.
”
She reached down
and rubbed
Goldie’s fur
. “Aunt Maggie
didn’t forget—
”
She ti
l
t
ed her head toward the dog and I missed the rest of wh
at s
he said. W
ithout a doubt
,
terms of endearment
were being lavish
ed on Goldie
.

We ate.
We talked.
We laughed.
A constant parade of people stopped b
y
to say hi
, i
ncluding Rachel and her hus
band
.
Brandon s
taggered toward
the stairs, and I was thankful to see
car k
eys dangling
from Rachel’s hand
.
Maggie
pursed her lips as she watched the couple, but
she
didn’t comment
on Brandon’s condition
,
and
even t
hough it had piqued my interest
,
I didn’t ask.

“Guess it’s time
.” S
he pulled her
fringed
wrap around
her shoulders
.

I nodded,
a
nd carefully maneuvered my sandaled feet
down the
steps
behind her.

Midnight had
arrived and bid farewell before
we returned to
the
Lady in White
. Maggie stifled a yawn
as she
switched off the engine.

“Thanks
for a fun
evening
.
I’ll lock up when I bring Goldie in.”

“W
e both needed a nig
ht out. S
ee you in the morning.”
Maggie headed inside.

T
h
e multitude of stars
delighted
my senses
and
sent me a reminder. A part of me was
missin
g—a part as necessary as breathing
.
V
isions
of
Logan
tiptoed
through my heart.
A
lone in a strange town
, he
had co
me to my rescue.
He
’d
changed his
schedule when threats had been lashed out against me.
He
qualifi
ed as a knight in shining armor—my first
hero
.
But long
-
distance relationship
s were difficult at best,
if not impossible.

Goldie
interrupted my thoughts with a
nudge of her head
, and
dropped
flat
to the ground
, warning me of danger.
My pulse
skyrocket
ed.
I peered
into the dark
ness
.
A distant shadow
moved
cl
oser. A
woman. She held
s
omething in her out
stretched hand
. A
gun?
I looked at the front porch
behind me,
illuminated by a light near the doo
r—too much light.
So
I motioned for Goldie and ducked behind the first of a row of
lavender trees
, and peeked
through
the
hanging
foli
age. T
he intruder looked around and moved toward me
.
I inched
to the next
tree
and worked my way
between the rows
to the other
side
.

I
lost sight of the woman
.
Crouching
,
I
crept
along the line of woody trunks
,
tread
ing lightly. A
ll I could do was pray
nothing crunched beneath
my feet.
I stole a
quick look
.
T
here
she was. I couldn’t see her face, but
there
was
definitely
a gun in he
r hand. She moved even closer
to
where I hid with Goldie
beside me
.

I recognized her
. My heart pounded against my ribs
.
With a
nother step, she
now stood on
the other side of the same tree
,
shielding
me from her view.
H
ow could I make
it
inside the
house? I didn’t like the answer—I
c
ouldn’t. I
t would put both Goldie and myself in danger.

There are
moments of truth in each of our
lives
.
I either
had to fight for my life or allow
Lilyan
to
win.
I eased around
the tree behind
her. The calming scent of the l
avender
failed to lessen the fear exuding
from
every pore of my body.
If she turned around
,
Goldie and I would be
easy target
s. Lilyan and I
we
re about the same size, so I stood
a chance. I lunged for her
,
tackling
her to the ground
.

Goldie’s hackles
raised with an aggressiveness I’d never seen
in her
before. T
eeth
bar
ed
,
she latched onto Lilyan’s arm—
the gun
flew from
her
hand. Lilyan grabbed her injured limb
.
She
wiggled and twisted from my grasp and
belly-
crawled
for her weapon
.
Goldie leaped in front of her
,
and
Lilyan froze
. T
he
intensity and
hostility
in her glare
sent chills through me.
If she
managed to grab
her gun, her demeanor said she would not hesitate to use it. Goldie would be no match against a bullet.
Had she already fired
?
I would not have heard the gun go off.

Chapter
Thirteen

T
his jerk had
to be stopped
.
In the conference room
,
Alec
had pictures pulled up on all thr
ee monitors. The center one
zoomed
in
on the bookshop. T
he
screen
to
the
left
pan
n
ed a long sh
ot of the alleyway and
Sam
’s
damaged
SUV. The video
on t
he right held shots of
Sam
’s apartm
ent after it had been ransacked
.

I
l
eaned against the doorf
rame and viewed the three sc
r
eens
from
a distance.
S
nap
. “I can’
t believe it. It’
s so
blatant
. S
he must be laughing at what fools we are.”