2
Tallia hung up the phone and tossed it on the bureau. Peeling off her nightgown, she grabbed the first pair of jeans she could find. She yanked open the miniscule closet and searched on the floor. A red t-shirt and her navy blue Red Sox sweatshirt would have to do.
She pulled on some socks before heading to the bathroom.
Blake Carmichael was coming over to pick her up. She could hardly believe it.
Of course, like every single woman at Seaview Bible Church, she’d been checking him out for months. He was more attractive in person than he was on the big screen. For a movie star, he seemed like a nice guy the few times she’d met him. He attended an all-men’s Sunday school class, and he didn’t go to any of the singles events the church put on. He did volunteer and they’d worked on a couple of projects together.
They’d chatted a few times, and she’d introduced Kelsey to him months before, since Kelsey went to school with Eli. But really, she barely knew the man.
Her hair was a straggly mess. She grabbed a brush and started to work out the snarls, cursing its coarseness for the millionth time. Giving up, she ran back to the bedroom and grabbed the navy Red Sox cap and stuck it on her head, pulling her long, thick hair through the gap in the back. She secured it with a ponytail holder.
She thought of Kelsey. Where could she and Eli be going in the middle of the night? And what were they doing?
A small wave of anxiety tugged at her heart.
Oh Lord, keep her safe. Don’t let her do anything stupid.
Tallia thought of all the trouble a teenaged girl could get into and shuddered.
Keep her pure, Lord. Please keep her pure.
When Tallia found Kelsey, the teen was due for a tight hug followed by a smack upside the head.
Tallia needed makeup. Did she have time?
The obnoxious buzzer sounded. Nope, no time.
Tallia ran into the living room, flipped on the overhead light, pushed the intercom, and spoke. “Hello?”
“Hi, it’s Blake. I’m here.”
“Come on up. Second floor, door’s open.” She pushed the button to unlock the outside door, opened the door to the hallway, and ran back into her bedroom.
A moment later she heard a soft knock on the open door. “Come in.” She yelled through the small space.
The door creaked.
“Tallia?”
Blake’s deep voice sent a small shiver down her spine. She stifled a nervous laugh as she answered. “Be right there, Blake.”
She rummaged through her closet. Sneakers? But where was the other one? No time to look. Pumps? Right, searching for two teenagers in the middle of the night would probably not go well in spicy, red leather heels. Coffee brown cotton boots with rubber soles. Perfect. She slipped on the first boot, grabbed the second, and hobbled down the short hallway towards Blake.
Her heart dropped when she entered the living room. The apartment was a pit. Dirty dishes overflowed in the kitchen sink. The living room was a disaster and more crowded because of the Christmas tree in front of the window.
And Blake Carmichael’s tall frame and broad shoulders seemed to fill half the tiny space as he stood amid the clutter. In his radiance, the rest of the room looked dingier than usual.
He wasn’t looking at the mess, though. He was standing in front of Tallia’s favorite painting, studying it.
“Hey. Sorry to make you wait.” She said, plopping on the couch to pull on the second boot. “I’m sure you’re anxious to get going.”
Blake smiled. “No problem.” He turned back to the painting. His finger grazed the signature on the bottom right corner. “You painted this?”
“Yes. What do you think?”
“It’s…indescribable.”
“Like indescribably awful? Or head-on collision indescribable?”
“What? No, it’s amazing. You’re very talented.”
She looked up at the picture, though she’d seen it many times. It was the first of many. Realistic, with just a touch of the fantastic. A city park, a little league field, a baseball game going on. In the background, the World Trade Center. When she’d first painted it, she’d added a plane just about to crash into the north tower. Then she’d covered over that and painted a plane on the other side. As if it missed.
And she’d covered over that, too.
The first plane was too much reality, the second, too much fantasy.
There was no airplane in the picture now. It was a pre-9-11 reality. The pitcher had her brother’s nose, and the boy sliding into home had his eyes. Everybody who’d known him saw Sam’s face in the businessman standing at the edge of the field. He was young—mid-twenties—and looked like he’d just stopped for a moment to watch, to reminisce about his own little league days. He stared at the boys, wonder on his face.
Just the way he’d looked the last time she saw him.
Blake pointed at the man in the picture. “Amazing detail. It looks as if he has somewhere he has to be, but he just couldn’t help but stop and watch.”
Blake had pulled Sam out right away, though his small image was one of many people in the picture. “Thank you.”
He turned her way. “You ready?”
“Yup.” She stood, grabbed her coat, and headed towards the door.
“Did you leave a note, in case she returns?”
“Oh, good idea!” Tallia stepped beyond the cluttered bar into the tiny kitchen, yanked open her junk drawer, and rummaged inside for a piece of paper. No notepad. No loose paper. She finally laid her hands on an old business card, pulled out a pen, and wrote on the back, I’m looking for you. Call me ASAP!
She left the note on the end of the bar and hoped Kelsey would see it.
Blake led the way out the door.
Tallia climbed into the passenger seat of Blake’s expensive SUV. She wondered if he realized he’d parked right beside her white, nineties-model sedan. She settled back into the softest leather seats she’d ever felt and immediately felt guilty. “Sorry, Casper.” She said to her sad-looking car.
“Casper?” Blake said.
“Yeah. My car.” She pointed.
“Oh, it’s…um…”
She laughed. “Not much to look at, but she’s loyal to a fault.”
“I see.” He pulled out of the parking lot. “And you named her…Casper?”
“She earned it, believe me.” Tallia said. “The last time she died, I was pretty sure it was over. My brother told me he’d try to fix her for me, but he didn’t give me much hope. For three weekends David tinkered in his garage. I think he took every part out and never could pin down exactly what was wrong. He put her back together because I insisted. It seemed…disrespectful to leave her strung out all over the garage like that. And then…well, she started. She’s been running ever since. But since the car was most definitely dead, and it came back to life—”
“You named her Casper.”
“Right.”
“The friendly ghost.”
She giggled. “Exactly. Because, well, she should be dead.”
“Do you name all your cars?”
“Casper’s my first car, so yes, so far.”
His eyebrows shot up. “Your…first car?”
“My parents bought her for me when I graduated from high school. They’d been saving for years to help me with college, but I got a scholarship, so they had a little money to splurge.”
Blake stopped at a red light and waited. He glanced at her. “Do you mind if I ask…?” His voice trailed off.
“What?”
“Never mind.”
She considered him. “I’m thirty-one.”
“Oh. I wondered, because if you got that car for graduation, then it’d be—”
“Almost fourteen years old, but like I said, she’s loyal.”
He chuckled, shook his head, and turned left at the light.
“Where’re we going?” she asked.
His smile faded. “Dover. My ex-wife’s house.”
“Oh. Why don’t we just call and see if they’re there.”
“I called. No answer. But…”
Tallia watched his profile and knew he was wrestling with something.
“She’s on her honeymoon. The house should be empty. If Eli and Kelsey are there, I doubt they’ll answer.”
“Really? If they thought they were caught…?”
“There’s only one reason they’d go there in the middle of the night, Tallia.”
Heat filled her face when she realized what he meant. “Oh, right. I really hope…I mean, I want to find them, but not like…that.”
“Yeah. Me, too.” He closed his lips in a tight line and picked up speed.
Fifteen minutes later, Blake turned and weaved along back roads.
If Blake was right, and Kelsey and Eli were at Eli’s mom’s house, fooling around…Tallia couldn’t even consider it. How would she tell David? No, she definitely couldn’t tell him. She’d have to tell Dyann and hope her sister-in-law could break the news to Kelsey’s father in such a way that David didn’t decide to hunt down Eli and kill him.
Tallia focused on her brother’s reaction rather than thinking about what Kelsey might be doing with her boyfriend. Tallia was no stranger to the temptation to give in to that particular desire. She’d been fighting it for years. She’d had boyfriends, and some had eventually pushed for more in the physical relationship, including a few who’d professed to be Christians. And Tallia had always backed away. Her reward—she was thirty-one and single.
And she wasn’t a bit sorry.
She closed her eyes and prayed again that Kelsey wouldn’t give in to the temptation. She had to stop thinking about it.
“Your wife remarried?”
Blake seemed startled, as though he’d forgotten she was there. “I’m sorry?”
“Never mind. I was just curious.”
“Oh.”
A handful of seconds passed.
“Are you warm enough?” he asked.
“Yes, I’m fine.”
He adjusted the heater’s fan. “I’m thrilled she got remarried. And shocked. I never thought she would.”
“Really? Are you so irreplaceable?” Warmth filled her cheeks. Did she just say that? It sounded…flirty.
He chuckled. “Not in her view. I never thought she’d get remarried because if she did, I wouldn’t have to pay alimony anymore. And she’s become quite accustomed to the lifestyle the money brings.”
“I hadn’t thought of that. This guy must be something special.”
“I met the guy, and I don’t see it, but whatever. After this, I’m his biggest fan.”
“I bet it saves you a lot of money.”
There was a pause.
Blake opened his mouth to speak, closed it again, and half-smiled. “It’s not about the money. I never minded paying her alimony. I wanted to be sure Eli was taken care of properly. I’ve paid for the last six years, but she’s maligned me at every turn to Eli. As soon as the divorce was final, she packed up and moved back here. She fought me every time I wanted to see Eli. She told him every negative thing she could think of about me. I went into rehab when he was fourteen.” Blake paused again, and then continued. “He knew all about the drugs and the rest of my…lifestyle. I’m not saying she should’ve lied to him, but…well, I like to think I would have protected him a little bit. I mean, I’m no saint, but I’ve never told him anything bad about her. And believe me…” His mouth flattened into a thin line. “Anyway, she wanted him to hate me. I know I deserved it, but now that I’m a Christian, I’m trying to make amends. It’s hard enough without the way she’s been piling on the negatives about me for all these years.”
“I’m sure he doesn’t hate you.”
He stared straight ahead. “He does. Trust me.”
The road took a sharp turn, and Blake followed it.
Tallia admired all the Christmas lights adorning the widely-spaced homes lining the road.
“How’d you discover Eli was gone? Did you wake up and decide to check on him or something?”
“Oh, I’d just turned off the TV. I always check on him before I go to bed.”
“Sweet,” she said with a smile. “You always stay up so late?”
The mention of the hour must’ve reminded him how tired he was, because he yawned. “Not usually. I was watching a talk show. A friend was on.”
“Oh yeah, I always stay up to watch when my friends are on, but on the rare occasions that I don’t personally know the guests, I like to turn in early. You know, so I can be fresh the next night. The talk show host understands.”
Blake laughed out loud. “Sarcasm. Nice.” His smile faded. “Jack Morgan was on. He’s a good friend. A Christian, too. He’s helped me a lot these past couple of years.”
“Really? How?”
“His life took a similar turn to mine. He got divorced, fell pretty heavily into drugs and drinking. He became a Christian, went to rehab, and now he has a great relationship with his kids. He was my sponsor when I first got out of rehab. He’s like a brother to me.”
Tallia wasn’t sure what to say, so she asked the next thing that popped into her head.
“Why did your ex-wife choose to live in Dover, New Hampshire?”
“She grew up here. She moved back to be near her family.”
“So why do you live in Portsmouth?”
“When I told Amber I was moving to Dover, she threatened to move away if I got that close. I didn’t want to start things on the wrong foot. My house is actually in New Castle, which is about a half an hour from them.”
His tone had changed, and Tallia remembered how her brothers had always accused her of being nosy. And they were right, too.
“I’m sorry. I don’t mean to pry.”
“It’s not a state secret or anything.” He sounded defensive. “I mean, just pick up a tabloid and read all about it.”
“I don’t read the tabloids.” Tallia said, matching him tone for tone. “I just wanted to make conversation. Sorry if I got too personal.”
“Right. Sorry. I’m just…”
“Sensitive.”
He shrugged. “I guess.”
Blake drove onto a residential road with huge houses decorated with Christmas lights. He turned up a long driveway to a giant, three-story colonial.
“Nice,” she said.
“Amber has good taste.”
Lights shone through the windows, but Kelsey’s car wasn’t in the driveway.
“Looks empty.” She said, glad they weren’t here.
“If it were me, I’d put the car in the garage, in case a neighbor drove by.”
“Sounds like you have experience with this sort of thing.” She teased.
“Unfortunately, I do.” He shifted into park and opened the door. “Be right back.”
She watched him unlock the front door. A moment later, a few lights went on, and after a minute or so, they went back off. Blake appeared on the front porch, locked the door and returned to the SUV.
“It’s empty.”
“You have a key to your ex-wife’s house?”
“Only because she wanted to make sure I could get in if Eli needed came back for something.” He pulled out a piece of paper, handed it to her, and flipped on the map light.
She read the flyer, and then read it again, trying to make sense of it. “You don’t think they went to this, do you?”
“I found it in his backpack. The concert’s tonight.”
“In Boston!”
“Yeah, I know.”
“If they went to Boston…my brother’s going to kill me. This…do you know where this is? It’s a really dangerous area.”
“Is it?” His eyes crinkled in concern. “You’re sure?”
“Yes, I’m very sure.”
“We’d better hurry.” He backed out of the driveway.