SARAH WAS SITTING AT FLORA’S Tea Shoppe when she saw the Range Rover drive past. “Now where’s he going?”
Penny, who had just sat down for a break after the lunch crowd, craned her neck to see over the blue gingham half curtains. “Not here for lunch, that’s for sure.”
The phone rang. Penny jumped up. “Please let that be a catering gig.”
Two seconds later, she hung up. “That was Bethanne. He just checked out.”
“The hell he did.” Sarah jumped up. Her coffee cup rattled on the table. She headed out the door.
“You think you can outrun him?” Penny said, following her out to the street. Several doors down, the gate to the inn opened, and Bethanne hurried toward them.
“Why did you let him go? I wanted to hit him up for some cash for the center.”
“I couldn’t help it. He came back from lunch with the Crispins. He was going to leave tomorrah, but he said he’d miscalculated and had to get back for a meeting in the morning that he didn’t want to miss.”
“Probably couldn’t wait to unload those carousel animals. Some of them have to be worth twenty or thirty thousand apiece.”
“No way,” Bethanne said.
Sarah nodded. “Not all of them, I seem to remember Ned Reynolds had to replace a few of them after one of the storms. Those I think were fiberglass or something and would be less valuable. But don’t quote me.”
“That’s where he went this morning?” Bethanne said. “He was going to look at the animals?”
“Looks like it. Well, to hell with us, and to hell with him, too.”
“Were you really going to ask him for money?” Penny asked.
“Damn straight.”
“I don’t believe you.”
Sarah frowned. “Why?”
“You soliciting, much less asking for money from a rich white guy?”
Sarah broke into a grin. “You know me so well. Actually, I confess I was having second thoughts about it. He caught me in a weak moment.”
“Well, I don’t see anything wrong in accepting money for a good cause, no matter the gender or color,” Bethanne said tentatively.
“That’s why we love you,” Penny said. “Come on in, and I’ll make us fresh coffee.”
The three women turned to go into the tea shop.
Ervina was standing in the doorway.
Bethanne squeaked, Penny froze, Sarah frowned at her great-grandmother. “Damn me, Ervina, why do you do that?”
“Watch what you say, girl. You might get what you wish for.”
Even Sarah recoiled at that one. “I didn’t mean it. And I don’t believe in curses. Though if I did,” she added under her breath, “I’d put one on the man driving out of town.
“He already got one on him.”
Sarah groaned. “Please tell me you didn’t do anything to him.”
“Not my doing. He brought that one with him, and he took it back with him. It’s riding on alongside him in that big car of his.”
“What is she talking about?” Bethanne whispered to Penny.
“Not a clue.”
“Did he really find the carousel animals?” Sarah asked.
Ervina nodded.
“What’s he going to do with them?”
“Up to him.”
Ervina walked past them and started down the street.
“Is he coming back?”
Ervina paused, looked back over her shoulder. “How do I know?” And kept walking.
CAB FELT THE heaviness close in almost as soon as he reached the highway. The weekend was just catching up to him. The drive, the funeral, the carousel, the crazy people, the little town gasping its last breaths. It would be good to get back to the city, where things were set, where he knew where he stood.
He had a good job, a great job. And a fiancée any man would be proud of and who could help his career. A major project that would push him up to the next level.
The girl in the pink bike helmet pedaled across his mind and disappeared.
He shook off the image. The residents in Myrtle Beach would find a better place to live. A nicer neighborhood.
Like Stargazey Point? Is that what you want for Stargazey?
Stargazey was different. It had a history. It could make a comeback.
The Crispins are one step ahead of the tax assessor. Do you want what happened to Silas’s barbecue place to happen to them?
“No.” But it wouldn’t happen to the Crispins.
Who was he kidding? It happened all the time. Up and down the coast, whole villages disappeared, to be replaced by exclusive homes, yacht clubs, and resorts.
By the time he reached the outskirts of Atlanta, his stomach was tied up in knots. His mouth was dry, his eyes hurt. The skyline was rising before him, beautiful, in a remote, aesthetic way. But he didn’t feel the same joy he’d felt when he saw the ocean as he drove into Stargazey Point.
But it was always like that when you got back from a vacation. The reluctance to give up the relaxation and get back to the grind.
Only usually, he couldn’t wait to get back.
Well, this was different. An obligation. Not a vacation at all.
You’ve got unfinished business in Stargazey, and you know it.
He would call Jonathon Devry in the morning and tell him to sell everything.
But the troubling feeling followed him through the garage and up the elevator to his condo. He’d called Bailey from the road as soon as he had phone reception and left a message that he was on his way home. He’d called Frank and left him a message saying he was coming back tonight and would be at the meeting tomorrow morning.
He let himself into his apartment, threw his bag on the closet floor, and fixed himself a drink. He was standing at the window looking at the view when Bailey walked in.
Good, back to normal. They’d have a nice nouvelle dinner that didn’t include grease, fatback, or carbohydrates, they’d come home and have makeup sex. Tomorrow, he’d work on the Myrtle Beach plans. Get back to work. He had some dynamite new ideas for the project.
He turned, with a smile forming on his lips.
Bailey pushed her glossy hair back and came toward him, leisurely, not rushing, building the anticipation. She dropped her purse on the couch and gave him her pouty look.
And Cab felt one thing. An overwhelming desire to run.
He checked himself, finished his drink, and came to her. Kissed her like he hadn’t seen her in months instead of two days. His body responded like it always did, but he felt somehow disengaged.
He was tired; by tomorrow, they’d slip seamlessly back into their lives like nothing had changed.
But something had changed. Cab didn’t know what exactly, just that it was going to be major, and he had no idea how to plan to face it.
She took his hand, pulled him toward the bedroom.
“We have to hurry,” she said in that soft seductive voice. “Frank, Tony, and George Erickson are meeting us for dinner. George is anxious to get started on the demolition in Myrtle Beach.”