Kingdom by the Sea (Romantic Suspense) (17 page)

“Why
should we meet him?” Cameron asked warily, turning a scrutinizing look on her. 
“Is there something going on between you two?” 

“No,
why would you say that?” she said quickly.  “We've become friends.”

“Already
? 
Isn't this the girl who always says she doesn't need any new friends?”

A bit
defensively, Nicole replied, “I just mean that we do dinner sometimes and
stuff.  He's nice, that's all.”  In her emails to Cameron, she had mentioned
Michael, though not the details of their first meeting.

“I
thought he was only going to be in town for a couple of days,” Cameron
pressed.  There seemed to be an implied question mark in there somewhere.  A
distant knocking sound interrupted them.  “What's that?”

“Oh—back
door.  I'll be right back.” 

“Done,”
Michael said, as soon as the door swung open.  He was holding out the book she
had lent him the other night.   

“Already?”
Nicole said with a smile, taking the book and instinctively stepping back to
coax him inside.  When Michael stepped over the threshold, he did it with ease,
familiarity.

“I've
got nothing but time out there.”

“Well,
I'm glad you're here because my two best friends came down from
Boston
today to visit
and I really want you to meet them.”  For a second, she thought that something
flickered in Michael's eyes—a kind of apprehensiveness.  But she wasn't sure,
because it seemed almost instantly to vanish.  

Nicole
tugged on his sleeve.  “Come on.”

Michael
followed, half a step behind. 

He
steeled himself.  He wasn't worried, but frustrated. 

This
was damn inconvenient.  How long would Nicole's friends be staying?  It was
definitely going to slow things down on his end.  For now, though, he would
have to give the girls some generic charm and be out of there.  The less time
he spent with them, the less time for their questions.

“Guys,
this is Michael—”

Shit
.  Two
guys
were sitting in her living room.  When Nicole had said her “best friends” were
here, it never occurred to Michael... 
Jesus—two goddamn guys.

Briefly,
the men shook hands as Nicole made the introductions.  The one named Cameron
asked point blank, “How's your boat—still broken?”

Nicole
explained, “I told them all about you—I mean, about your situation.” 

Casually,
Michael nodded, even under the hooded glare of Nicole's friend. 

“Your
boat?” Cameron asked again. 

“Should
be up and running any day now,” Michael replied, tired of that line, because it
sounded phonier with each day that passed.

There
was something almost antagonistic in Cameron's stance, in his tone of voice. 
Not particularly surprising.  If the guy really was Nicole's friend, he was
naturally going to be protective of her.  And there was always the issue of
territory and whether he really wanted the girl for himself.  Most problematic
was the fact that guys knew how other guys operated, whereas women tended to
believe better of men than what they were. 

Now
Nicole was urging Michael to stay and hang out for a while.  “I wish I could,”
he lied, “but today I just came to drop off the book.  I got a call from a
buddy of mine this morning, said he's in
Yarmouth
, so we're going to meet up today,
catch up.”

“Oh,
I see,” Nicole said, making this cute little frown line of disappointment on
her forehead.  “I understand...well...have a good time.”

***

That
night Nicole roped her friends into watching the new
Lifetime
movie, and
now—between commercials and eating spaghetti—they were pretending not to like
it. 

“Shh,
shh, it's back,” Trevor said.  (Or
Cameron
was pretending, anyway.) 

“Why
do they even name these movies?” Cameron remarked.  “They should just call it
‘Men are Mean’ and number each installment.” 

Rolling
her eyes, Nicole said, “Right, sure.  Protest too much, much?”

She
sat on the floor, going through a bunch of photographs she had found in the
blanket chest upstairs, while Cameron was struggling to get a WIFI signal on
her laptop.  Futilely he tapped his thumb on the spacebar.  “Nic, what's with
the Internet?” he said, clearly frustrated.

“Oh...yeah. 
Sometimes you can pick up a signal, but not always,” she explained.  “I guess
Nina didn't have her own network set up.  I'm not sure.” 

“No
Internet connection?” Cameron blurted  “That's crazy!  I’m serious—you know how
Thirty is the new Twenty?”

“Okay...” 
(Since her friend had recently turned thirty-one, she figured she’d be
agreeable.)

“Well,
Wireless is the new Air.”

She
gave a laugh at that, and Trevor nodded.  “I could see that.”

Just
then her cell phone rang; she reached far back to grab it off the end table. 
“Hi, dad,” she said cheerfully.

“Hi,
sweetie.  You sound happy.”  She filled him in on her friends' impromptu visit
and her new dog, Puddle.  “That's a big responsibility,” Anthony said.

“I
know.  Oh, you know what else happened today?  Abel Kelling showed up at the
house.  Then he came and found me at the library, because I wasn't home.  He
was missing Aunt Nina and wanted to reminisce about her.  Isn't that kind of
random?  But I guess he's pretty lonely without her.” 

Anthony
got quiet on the other end. 

“Dad?”

“I
don't like the sound of this,” he said finally.

“What
do you mean?”

“Why
should Abel Kelling show up at the house—
your
house?”

“Well—“ 

“Why
try to reminisce with you of all people?  It doesn't make sense, Nicole; I
don't like it.”

“Dad,
you make it sound so bad,” Nicole said, disbelieving.  “I admit it's kind of
weird, but he's probably going through some emotional thing.  Is he retired? 
Because I'm thinking that maybe he's just bored, and I'm sure Aunt Nina's death
left a huge void in his life.” 

Anthony
didn't touch the topic of Abel's emotional voids, but he did address the more
concrete topic of his occupational status.  “He is retired, yes, but I wouldn't
say by choice.”

Nicole's
eyes widened.  “You mean he got fired?”  Now she really felt sorry for the guy.

“No,
his business failed.  Now I don't have all the facts, but I do know that Abel
was running his own hedge fund company for many years, but with the downturn in
the economy, he struggled quite a bit, and ultimately, he just couldn't make it
work.  That's what my sources indicate anyway.”

“You
have sources?”

“Your
mother used to have me check up on him from time to time.  Whatever I could
find out.  Since I work in finance, too, it's not difficult.  And then
after...” 
After the divorce
, Nicole figured.  “I suppose I was just
curious on my own.”

“Why
did mom have you check up on him in the first place?”

“Looking
out for her sister, I suppose.  You know I just did as I was told,” Anthony
said with lighthearted deprecation.  A charming notion, but not quite true
overall.  Nicole was pretty sure that her mother had never
told
Anthony
to cheat on her, but he'd done it anyway.  Sometimes Nicole wondered if it had
been that one affair several years ago that did her parents' marriage in.  If
there had been more and what Gwen had or had not known.  But of course, Nicole
didn't truly want to know herself.

“Listen,
maybe I should come down there,” her father suggested now.  “Check out Abel's
situation for myself.”

“Dad,
you don't need to do that.”

“Sweetie,
let me look out for you, let me help you.”

“You
always do—and I appreciate it.  But I think he's harmless.  I mean, yes, it was
odd that he wanted to be in the house when I wasn't there, but he let it drop. 
It's not like he pushed the issue or acted psychotic about it.”

“Well,
if he comes around again, don't let him go in unattended.”

“I
know—look, I remember how he acted at the reading of the will—like there was
more he wanted or expected.  You think I'm so gullible, but I
remember
. 
All I'm saying is that if Abel is lonely and missing Aunt Nina, what's the harm
in meeting him for lunch in town?”

Rap,
rap, rap.

“Oh,
that's the back door.  Dad, I've got to go, can I call you tomorrow?”

“All
right, if you need me, call.  Honestly, I think you might be in over your head
with this inheritance.  Why don't you come home to
Boston
, and I will hire
some people to go down to
Chatham
and—”

“No,
Dad.  Don't make me annoyed please.  I can handle this!  I am
not
in
over my head.”

Anthony
backed off.  “Okay, if you're sure.  Just remember always to be cautious.  Love
you.”

“Love
you, too.”  When she hung up the phone, Cameron was looking at her.  “What is
it with the men in my life?  They're always trying to protect me from the
world.”

“Somebody's
got to,” Cameron said.  She smirked at him and left to answer the door. 
Michael was on the other side of it, holding a white paper bag.  “For you,” he
said.

“Me?” 
Smiling, she took it.  “You don't have to bring offerings every time you
come.”  He reached to take it back, but she snatched it away before he could. 
“What is it?”

“Dessert. 
I got it to-go.  Some kind of chocolate chip caramel crunch cake, I think.”

“Oh
my God.”  She clutched it.  “I might even lick the bag.”

“Nice
...
”
he said with a vaguely suggestive smile. 

Automatically,
she stepped back and Michael came forward, bringing his body up very close to
hers.  She breathed in the faint trace of his aftershave or whatever that
masculine seductive scent was that she'd come to associate with Michael.  Her
pulse quickened as arousal pooled in her lower body.  She wasn't quite sure how
this would all go or if this attraction was mutual.  What if her sister had
been right?  What if Michael already had a girlfriend? 

“We’re
watching a movie, come on.”  She started to lead him toward the living room
when Michael said, “You know what, I’ll meet you in there.  I’m going to get a
drink.”

“Okay,”
Nicole said.  “Put this in the fridge for me, will you,” she added, handing him
the bag with the cake.  And then left him alone in her kitchen.

Like
most goodbyes, the next morning's version was harder than it should have been. 
Trevor leaned down to give her a hug.  “Take care, Nic.  We'll call you later.”

“Are
you sure you have to go already?” she asked plaintively, then hugged Cameron. 
“This was the best,” she murmured into his shoulder, “and thanks for my dog.” 

Suddenly
her throat got tight; tears crept with sharp little legs from behind her eyes. 
“Don't get upset,” Cameron said, squeezing her lightly, “we'll see you again
soon.”

Once
Cameron stepped back, Trevor handed Puddle back to Nicole.  Automatically, the
dog curled into her arms.  “Shouldn’t she have more energy?” Nicole wondered
aloud.  “She seems so...lackadaisical.”

“She's
fine,” Trevor assured her. 

Nicole
wasn't completely convinced.  “Maybe it's the stress of the new environment,”
she theorized.  “Maybe she sleeps to escape?”

Cameron
wrinkled up his face.  “Doubtful.  People sleep to escape.  The rest of the
animal kingdom runs to escape.”

Trevor
tugged lightly on Nicole's ponytail, bringing her gaze away from Puddle's
snout, which was buried in the crook of her elbow.  “She's fine, no worries.” 
Trevor was so laid back about it, it was hard not to believe him. 

“Before
we go though...” Cameron said, picking up his duffel bag and slinging it into
the backseat.  “There's something we have to talk to you about.”

“What?” 

Once
Cameron slammed the car door shut, his face darkened—and all of a sudden even
Trevor looked serious.  “What's wrong?” Nicole said.

“It's
about your friend.”  Cameron jerked his head toward the backyard.

“Yeah,”
Trevor spoke up.  “Don't get too close to him, Nic.”

Her
stomach sank.   This could not be less what she wanted to hear.  Immediately
she feared that perhaps her friends knew something she didn't know—didn't want
to know.  “Why?  You guys didn't like him?”

“It's
not that,” Trevor said.

“We
just don't trust him,” Cameron explained.

“Something
about his whole story just doesn't map.”

“But—”

“C'mon,
he spends his vacation on a boat, alone?”  Cameron scoffed.  “Who does he think
he is, Hemingway?”