Karma by the Sea (13 page)

“It’s taken a lot of introspection and hard work to be this way. Trust me, I had a short fuse and quick fists. A big mouth and shitty attitude. What did I care?  I spent a lot of years embedding myself into the drug scene. There were times I lost focus of my center.” He always touched his chest when he talked about it. “I don’t ever want to do that again.”

Kay rose up on her tip-toes to plant a firm kiss on his mouth. “Your authentic self, or soul, is hard to hold on to, but it’s all we have.”

“I knew you’d get it,” he said, brushing her hair back from her cheek. She’d been through the storm too. And survived.

How to convince her that he was safe enough to love? It would be easier once he caught whoever wanted him dead.

Celia Langston and Dax Smith came around the corner toward Ambrosia by the Sea. “That’s Celia,” he said. “She’s the owner of the café I told you about. She uses all organic stuff. Tastes amazing.”

K nodded. “Is she expensive?”

“What do you care?” Joe asked, watching the couple walk into the shop. “You’re loaded.”

“About that, Joe. I’m just starting out in my practice. Things are not what they seem.”

He rubbed the patch beneath his lip and looked at her. “How so?”

“I really did give my last twenty to the cabby. I’m here to get paid from Rita. We were going to exchange the freshly signed divorce papers for a freshly signed check. I borrowed a dress from her closet yesterday. I might have to borrow something else today.”

“Holy shit.” Joe shook his head. “I had no idea. No wonder you went for an angry swim. You’re stuck here?”

“Pretty much. I don’t even have enough on my credit card to buy a ticket back to Chicago.”

“Why didn’t you say anything sooner?” He tucked a strand of hair behind her ear, sorry for all the times he’d teased her about being rich.

“Why would I? We just met, and I’m not your problem, Officer Joe.” She looked over his shoulder, her face draining of all color as she lifted her hand. “Joe! The Lincoln!”

Joe turned to see the formidable black car driving toward them at record speed with no intention of stopping.  K grabbed him by the arm.

“Move!” She shouted even as he had his arm around her waist, rolling them out of the way before getting run over. The Lincoln slammed into Joe’s patrol car, smashing the rear end and sending the bumper flying.

“K, find Sue.”

“I’m not leaving you!” She stayed at his side, not touching him or getting in his way as he drew his gun. The driver’s side door flew open just as the passenger’s side did.

Two men all dressed in black with ski masks over their faces, but Joe sensed this was personal to him. Did he know these guys?

He hoped to hell that Reece was able to call in for back up. The show down was now, whether he was ready, or not.

“Get down, K.”

He felt her behind him.

“Hey, Narco,” a Hispanic voice sing-songed.  “Pretty piece of tail you got there. I knew you were a cop.” He traced his finger up his side and gave a cruel laugh. “Remember me?”

Joe’s memory of that voice, of that hand carving at his body, turned him cold. The plan, the one with the kinks in it, had called for immediate arrest of the bad guys, not this hang time where they could chat over the old days. “How’s Jorge doing in prison, Arturo? Making lots of special friends?”

“Burning for vengeance,” Arturo retorted, pulling the ski mask off. His ruddy features were a less attractive version of Jorge’s. His greasy black hair and wild beard didn’t help. “I promised I would bring him your lying tongue as a memento.”

He heard K stifle a cry. How to get her out of danger? Joe, gun drawn, stepped in front of her as the passenger, rifle held high, walked toward them on the right, while Arturo came at them from the left. “Juanito is dead because of you, and you will pay the price.”

The passenger pulled off his mask, too, baring an ugly mug that seemed to be a family trait.

K walked them backward, her hands fisted in the back of his t-shirt. “Curb,” she whispered. “Step up.”

Was she leading them toward the ice cream shop? Or any of the buildings for cover? Joe didn’t dare take his eyes off of the cousins. As it was, if the passenger ran for K, he’d have to shoot him, which would leave him an open target for Arturo.

Buried rage he’d spent so long trying to pacify eagerly rose to the surface. Clear-eyed, senses finely tuned, he knew he’d only have one chance. This wasn’t how he’d planned for this to go down at all.

They were on the sidewalk now, a half-block away from the ice cream parlor. Across the street was the fancy dog place, and Aruba on the corner wasn’t yet open for business, but the Grille’s few employees watched from the restaurant’s windows.

From his peripheral vision he saw the empty bench where Reece had been sitting, but the officer was nowhere in sight. Sue had dropped the broom on the sidewalk. He assumed she was inside the shop.

If he could just get K to Sue, then he could concentrate on the cousins.

“Where you going,
mamacita
?” Arturo laughed. “We have lots of fun to have yet this morning.”

Joe burned with controlled fury. No way would Arturo lay one hand on K.

K didn’t say a word, but her fear was palpable. It added to Joe’s anger, but he couldn’t be emotional, or he risked losing control.

Where was Reece? Where the hell was the Calvary he and the chief had set up last night?

Nobody expected for the dirt bags to be early risers.

Adrenaline spiked through his bloodstream, making him hyper-aware.  He turned toward Arturo just as the other cousin lunged for K. A sharp pain pierced his shoulder.

“Get down,” Sue shouted from behind him. He felt K duck and the cousin with the rifle sprawled back, a neat hole in the center of his forehead.

He sensed K reluctantly going with Sue but then he had to focus as Arturo came for him, eyes bulging with madness. “Another cousin down,” Joe said.

“I shot you,” Arturo said, lifting to aim his pistol again.

Cold fury straightened Joe’s aim. The pain meant nothing –it was kill or be killed with only seconds to decide. A shot sounded from the direction of the puppy store and Arturo stumbled, shooting high as Joe also pulled the trigger.

You’ve got this, son.

Arturo kept coming like a mad bull. Joe took a deep breath, then lunged forward, slinging his forearm around the guy’s throat. Joe, behind him now, snapped hard to the right. Arturo’s strength was superhuman, probably drugs, Joe thought as he held tighter.

“Let me go, so I can finish killing you,” Arturo ground out, his eyes bloodshot, spit on his lips. “Like I should’ve done before.”  Joe wrenched Arturo’s neck in anger so dark it clouded his vision but at the last instant he released his hold just enough so he didn’t break Arturo’s neck.

Instead, he flipped the cousin so he fell face down on the pavement, picked his head up by the back of the hair and slammed his face hard into the concrete. The bastard passed out. “Death is too easy for you, Arturo. Maybe you and Jorge can be cell mates.”

Sue handed him plastic ties. Reece barked into the phone for paramedics on the scene. Joe looked around for K.

She raced out of the ice cream parlor with a handful of towels. She dropped to her knees next to him, her brown eyes a little on the wild side. “Hang on, Joe.”

She patted him down, finding the hole going through his shoulder. She pressed the clean towels to either side.

“Hey, hey,” Joe said, her silent tears as she tried to fix him making him want to cry. “I’m all right.”

“You’re bleeding,” she said, her tone matter-of-fact. “Not all right, Joe.” She pressed hard against the wounds on either side.

“Are you okay?” he asked, starting to feel a little woozy.

“You saved me again.”

“You gave me the head’s up.” He put his hand over hers, realizing the towel was already wet with blood. Probably not so good.

“You just turned the color of glue, Joe.”

Sue leaned down to pat her shoulder. “All right, hon. The ambulance is here. We need to get him to the hospital. Why don’t you meet us there? Only authorized personnel allowed in the back.”

Joe tried to tell Sue that he wanted K with him, but his tongue didn’t work and somehow his eyes weren’t open. He heard Kay sniff, then felt the press of her mouth against his forehead as she said, “Don’t you leave me, Joe. I’ll meet you there.”

*****

K reached the condo, rushing past Luis and Marge, and ran straight up the stairs rather than wait for the elevator. As soon as she got to the bathroom, she threw up the coffee and donut. The whole run home she’d been grateful that Joe was alive. But when she saw him shot, bleeding, facing someone who wanted to kill him—not like in a damn movie—she’d felt an overwhelming sense of loss, of death, of grief.

She knelt by the toilet, then shakily got to her feet, went to the sink and rinsed her mouth.
Shower.
  The warm water rinsed away the scrapes on her hands and cheek from where she’d fallen, but it was nothing to what Joe was going through. She had to be there. He’d probably need surgery. Maybe she could donate blood. How the hell was she supposed to make this better?

She put on her running shorts, her tank top and sneakers, knowing she could run the three miles in twenty-five minutes. Grabbing her bag, she shoved in the sweater she’d borrowed yesterday. Hospitals tended to be cold, and she had no intention of leaving until she knew Joe was all right.

Princey scratched at his door and she squirmed with guilt, but she just didn’t want to take the time to go out. Slinging her bag over her shoulder, she raced down the stairs to the lobby.

“Luis, would you please walk Princey for me? I have to go.”  With each step she took, her heart beat the truth of her feelings for Joe.

K ran steady, making it to Holy Family in twenty-two minutes.  The entire way she alternated between pleas for his recovery to an invisible Someone and making a list of all the reasons why she and Joe wouldn’t work out. Yet for everything she logically told herself, her heart found a solution.

Long-distance relationship? Skype and free tickets with Jet Air miles made it possible to connect often. Military families made it work all the time.

He said he loved the ocean, which for her had grown into some sort of boogeyman in her mind. The Atlantic was a kinder, calmer ocean here on the Florida coast than what she’d grown up with. She’d missed the kiss of waves around her ankles more than she’d realized. And Joe made her feel safe, as if he could stand up to Namaka no matter the storm and shelter them both.

He knew how to make her hot with just a look of his golden-green eyes. A lifted dark brow. She liked feeling as if she were something to be treasured. The fact that this incredible man found her worthy of his love humbled her.

She had to let him know she cared. He had to be okay.
I’m coming, Joe.

His job put his life on the line. Watching him today made her realize that he was damn good at what he did. He needed her in his corner. Someone strong enough to be at his side, no matter the crisis. Entering the air conditioned hospital was a relief in more ways than one. It cut off her thoughts while cooling her down. She went straight to the desk and asked to see Joe Porter.

“Hey,” a woman called from the waiting room.

K turned to see Sue, minus the pink apron. “Hi! How is he?”

“Just got out of surgery,” Sue said, tilting her head. She had short light brown hair and a nice smile, but her expression wasn’t overly friendly. “I’m waiting for the doctor.”

“Good. I’ll wait with you.”

An awkward silence dangled between them. K cleared her throat and took a seat a few down from where Sue was sitting.

“Did you run here?” Sue asked.

“I don’t have a car. I’m visiting a client.” K looked nervously toward the swinging doors separating her from Joe. Would they catch her if she snuck down the hall?

“How’d you meet Joe?” Sue asked. “Why didn’t you take a cab?”

“Joe pulled me from the ocean a few days ago, freak riptide. And it was faster to run than wait for a cab. Have they said anything?”

Sue nodded, clearly not understanding why K was there. “Doctor said before they operated that the bullet went clear through his shoulder, damaging the clavicle. They’ve got to get the bone fragments, and hope there isn’t permanent nerve damage.”

K crossed her legs, hugging her middle as she dug the white sweater from her bag and put it on. She didn’t care if he was made of metal parts so long as he was alive.

“So, do you have a thing for Joe?” Sue asked, her mouth in a thin line as if she disapproved.

Was the woman jealous? Did she like Joe? They probably had more in common than she and Joe did, but still...K tapped her fingers along her phone case. “Yes. I really do.”

The doctor, a middle aged man in a white coat and a bow tie, came out of the back. He saw them both sitting there and smiled. “Joe is doing just fine,” he said. “He’s a very lucky young man. Half an inch lower, and that bullet would have hit a major artery.”

K pressed her hands to her stomach, rising to her feet. “He’s okay?”

“Resting now,” the man said. “You can go in, if you’d like, but just for a moment or two.”

Sue looked at K. “Go ahead. I’ll go last.”

So she could stay longer…the woman
did
have a crush. Joe probably didn’t even know.

K walked behind the slow as molasses doctor, wishing she could sprint past him to see Joe faster. He pointed at a room to his right. “There you are, Ms.”

“Thank you so much, Doctor.”

K stuck her head in, not bothered at all by the accoutrements of the hospital. Bleeps and clicks and chuffs as various machines worked to keep people alive.
If only Paolo had been saved
. She remembered Joe saying that it wasn’t her fault. Had she, all these years, been carrying around guilt?

Joe’s eyes were closed, his face pale. His dark hair lay flat against the pillow, his soul patch a bit of color beneath his lip. He had tubes in his nose but his breaths were even and steady. It broke her heart to see him so vulnerable, but she’d never been so happy to be in a hospital room. Joe would live to fight another day.

K walked quietly to the bed, seeing his hands attached to various clear IV hoses. Her eyes welled with tears. “I don’t know where to touch you.”
I’ve got to find a way
.

She traced the tattoos on his forearm, the dragon in flight on his bicep, the scar on his inner wrist. She laid her fingers gently over his hand, just enough to tell her that he was all right. Warm.
Alive.

His lids fluttered.

He needed his rest. She closed her eyes, sending all of the feelings in her heart through her fingertips to him, lying so still.
Be well, Joe.

She was on the verge of tears and that was not what Joe needed from her. He needed her strength, so that he could lean on her if he had to.  She bit the inside of her cheek until she was calm again, wanting to stay until they kicked her out. Knowing she’d sit in the hospital waiting room until they got tired of seeing her and just let her stay with Joe.

Sue knocked. “My turn.”

K nodded, hiding her resentment of the other woman wanting to spend a few minutes with her friend and co-worker. K risked a light kiss to Joe’s mouth before she left. She didn’t say good-bye and wiped tears off her cheeks as she walked back to the waiting room.

K took out her phone, seeing she had a missed call from the Foster Center.

Jamal, she thought, realizing she’d completely forgotten about her youngest client. She listened to the voice mail, then hit the call back button. “Hi, Mrs. Gustafson.  It’s K Aneko. How are you?”

“Oh, hi, K. Where are you?”

“Florida. I got your message, that you needed to talk to me?”

“I didn’t realize you were out of town.”

“I received an odd message from Jamal early this morning. Is he all right?”

K heard the woman breathe out with exasperation. “He snuck out last night. Said he went to the movies with a friend. You know how strict we are here. No drinking, no drugs. Curfew for the older ones.”

K’s vulnerable heart ached. “Yes, I know.  But he was so disappointed that they’d changed the court date. It’s awful, having that sentence hanging over your head.”

“Don’t think I’m not sympathetic, but if we allow broken rules, we won’t have a facility worth a dime.”

“Is there anything we can do?”

“I’ve given him the urine tests. If they’d come back positive, he’d have been out.”

K sank to the edge of a cold, plastic chair. “But?”

“They were clear. He’s on probation here at the center. No phone, ten o’clock bedtime.”

“Oh, thank you, thank you.” She swallowed tears of gratitude, exchanged a few pleasantries and hung up the phone.

Her strictly outlined life had taken a distinct turn toward messy she thought as she looked around the waiting room. Families and friends all clustered together, offering love and support in a time of crisis.

“I was afraid,” she said aloud. Not really liking the words, but there they were.

A voice from her very childhood that sounded a lot like Namaka asked,
Afraid of what?

“Afraid of losing.” K got to her feet. “Of caring so deeply for someone else and losing them. But I’m not afraid anymore.”

That’s my girl.

K chuckled wryly and went to the other wing of the hospital, where Rita was staying. To her surprise, the nurses let K see her.

Rita sat in a recliner before the window overlooking a garden below. She knitted, her fingers moving gracefully though she didn’t once look down at what she was doing.

“Rita?”

“K!” She put the yarn and needles aside. “Come in. I was just getting tired of the thoughts in my head.”

“And here I am,” K said. She sat on the edge of the foot stool, studying the woman who had meant so much to K’s fledgling career.

“I’m really sorry,” Rita said, her eyes sad. She’d pulled her hair back in a bun, the roots not so visible that way.

“Don’t be. I think it’s good you’re here.”

“Why?”

“I was looking for a trash bag beneath the sink.” And accidentally discovered a bunch of empty prescription bottles.

Rita bloodless lips tightened. “I,”

“You don’t have to explain,” she said. “I think I understand.”

Crying, Rita whispered, “I was so lonely.”

“You have the bird, and Princey.”

“I wanted my husband, but he didn’t want me. I tried everything, but I wasn’t enough.”

“You can’t be everything to another person,” K said, her voice soft. “You have to find your center.” She patted her own heart. “What makes
you
happy and fulfilled.”

“You remind me of me, a half century ago. Yes, I worked in the courts as a clerk. I was a professional woman. I was hard, K. I worried that you might be hard too, but there is something different about you, here, by the sea.”

K leaned back, staring at the ceiling. White panels and recessed lighting, no harsh fluorescent bulbs. “I’ve had to face some demons from my past. Had my own center shaken. But you know what I just realized, just now, in the waiting room, of all places?” She got up and looked out over the courtyard, wondering if she’d ever have realized her mistake if she hadn’t come here. “I am strong, inside. Loving another person doesn’t take that away from you.” She’d been so worried about protecting herself from hurt. But she’d been hurt, and she’d survived. It hadn’t killed her. “It just adds.”

“You’ve found love in three days?” Rita whistled.

K bowed her head, staring at her pink fingernails. “I think so.”

“It happens that way. I knew when I met Mr. Hartley he was the one.”

“There’s a science behind it,” K said. “Hormones.”

“Science? Oh, K, you are such a left brain thinker.” Rita laughed. “I’m glad someone has come along to disrupt your life.”

“What are you talking about?” K asked with a smile. “My life won’t change at all.”

“You have a flourishing practice,” Rita said. “Are you going to leave it behind?”

“About that,” K confessed. “I’m just starting out. You are my first big client. I came here to pick up the check because I really need it.” K realized she’d just given away her edge, and put the ball in Rita’s court.

“Oh? But I thought that you had multiple clients?”

“I’m building my list, but you were the first.”

“No wonder I got such good service,” Rita said with wry chuckle. “Get me my purse. I can write that check right now. You’re good, K. I had no idea.”

It didn’t matter.

Her life had already changed.

*****

Joe opened his eyes, catching the scent of floral perfume. K? But no, it was Sue sitting at his side. Sue, who’d stepped to the plate today.

“Thanks for the assist,” he joked in a scratchy voice he hardly recognized. He considered Sue a friend of sorts. A guy learned to keep to himself and avoid real friendships because pretending to be someone else made it hard to stay in character.

“Happy to help save your ass,” Sue said, looking down at him with tears in her eyes. “Doctor said you came through the surgery great.” She patted his upper arm, awkwardly not knowing where to touch him.

He had the distinct memory of K, covering his hand with hers. Was it real, or had he been dreaming? He couldn’t really talk, so he nodded to show he heard, and then looked toward the door.

Sue sighed. “You just missed her. K. You know she ran three freaking miles to see your sorry self?”

She’d been here. He smiled, just glad that she’d come.

Sue only stayed a minute, leaving with a quick good-bye.

Joe dozed, the gentle touch of fingers on his forearm waking him. A soft kiss encouraged him to open his eyes.

“K?”

“It’s me. I snuck in for another two minutes.”

“Is that all they give you?”

“You’re a mess, Joe.”

The look she gave him sent a pang to his heart. Soft, feminine, enticing. She curled her fingers around his wrist, as close as she could get to his hand.

“Can I go home?”

“You are such a joker. A comedian. Maybe once you retire in six years, you could take your act on the road.”

“Are you coming with me?”

“How do you feel about Chicago?” she countered, rubbing her fingers on the inside of his wrist.

Joe came alive through the haze of pain medication. “I love hot dogs, and Navy Pier. No ocean, but the lake is pretty damn big. What about a condo here for the winter?” She wanted him, she wanted to be with him. He’d go wherever she was.