17 ACROSS: Causing one to gasp; thrillingly beautiful
Cassie had to read it a second time. She didn’t know what the twelve-letter answer was for 17 Across, but the clue made her heart beat a little faster to know that Zan was able to think of a word that meant “causing one to gasp” and “thrillingly beautiful” and still manage to associate it with her.
She looked hard at her reflection in the sliding glass door as she wondered if he’d ever included such lovely clues in his crosswords before. The answers she could remember from years past were words like dependable, loving, and sensible.
But thrillingly beautiful?
Cassie squinted at her image again, trying to find something thrilling or beautiful there, and then she grinned from one ear to the other.
Causing one to gasp!
She especially liked that clue, but it poked her with an instant reminder of Richard’s reaction when she’d unwittingly opened the door to him while donning a full Kabuki-style facial mask. The recollection caused her to chuckle out loud while she smeared another blob of peanut butter onto a saltine.
The sun would be coming up soon. As soon as she finished eating, she’d grab a quick shower and get dressed in the hope that she might have time to share some coffee with the sunrise before Tameka arrived at eight thirty. Florida certainly held the top spot in the country for amazing sunrises, and she’d been kind of dreaming about experiencing one of them close-up from outside at the end of her dock. This morning might just find her in the right place at the right time to do that.
Cassie downed the last of the cold skim milk in her glass and then reached forward to move the crystal “Surprise Yourself” box closer. She plucked out the first card and read the scripture verse on the front.
“He who has begun a good work in you will complete it” Philippians 1:6.
She popped another cracker into her mouth as she turned over the card.
Think about the bigger picture today.
Funny, that was just what she intended to do.
And then the second sentence gave her a bit of a scrape.
Who are you destined to become?
Cassie sighed, fixing her focus on the chair rail on the wall across from her for no good reason except that it was there.
“I wish I knew,” she told the card, and then she tucked it into the back of the box and closed the lid.
The question hummed inside her as she put away the jar of peanut butter and placed the knife in the dishwasher. It continued to sing softly throughout her shower and while she applied some makeup and put on her clothes. Pumping up the volume, it throbbed to the beat of her heart as she dragged a chair out to the edge of the dock and sat down, resting a cup of coffee on the knee of her denim jeans. She reached over the arm of the chair to scratch Sophie’s neck. The collie sat beside her, erect and looking out at the water, a stuffed reindeer hanging out of her mouth.
Who am I destined to become? Cassie asked herself in harmony with the echo of the message on that card.
She thought back to the morning that she and Zan had brought Debra home from the hospital. Sitting there in the bright white rocking chair, surrounded by pale green walls and a border around the room illustrated with happy dancing bears wearing soft yellow hats and light blue ribbon sashes, her destiny became so clear. Her future was all about that tiny baby in her arms, as pink as the cashmere blanket that held her. Cassie knew then that her destiny was to become the best mother she could possibly be.
Debra was all grown up now, and she’d probably had those very same thoughts on the mornings when she’d brought Zach and Jake home from the hospital. When Zachary had been christened at the little stone church near Debra’s home in suburban Baltimore, Zan had wrapped his arm around Cassie’s shoulder and squeezed her toward him.
“Well, Mac,” he’d said, “this is one of those defining moments. Our girl has officially broken free of us, and it’s just you and me now.”
The horizon beamed with pink and orange as the memory tickled Cassie’s heart. Zan was gone, and she was alone. She’d never imagined she would grow old without him.
Think about the bigger picture today. Who are you destined to become?
It was a very good question, and she was just on the brink of that place where she needed to answer it soon. While she pondered the subject, the bright pinks and oranges on the horizon gave way to purples, and then the blue Florida sky emerged. The occasional cotton ball of white fluff appeared, but for the most part she saw an endless indigo canopy stretched out over the river canal, beyond the roofs of the houses on the other side of the wooden docks, and clearing the tops of the tallest palm trees in the distance.
By the time Tameka arrived at 8:35, Cassie had spent more than enough time with her own questions and thoughts. She was ready for a second cup of coffee and some digging for information.
“I spent the morning watching the sun come up,” she told her friend, as she set down two mugs of hot coffee between them at the dining room table. “You really have to give the place credit for those sunrises, don’t you?”
“I try to see as few of them as possible,” Tameka replied playfully. “I much prefer to sleep through them and concentrate on the sunsets instead.”
“Well, those are good, too.”
Tameka’s smile was so engaging and warm. Her teeth were as white as pearls against her light tea-colored lips and dark brown skin, and her cocoa eyes sparkled like glass in sunlight.
“I think I have some pretty good news for you.” She gleamed, and Cassie straightened in anticipation.
“You do?”
“I haven’t been able to find out who’s behind the offer, but those mystery guests I told you about are willing to pay you eleven grand more than the asking price for your house.”
“You’re joking.”
“I’m not. Their representative paid me a visit yesterday.”
“Do you have a guess about who he’s representing?”
“Well, the Holiday rumor mill has been circulating a theory about Richard Dillon being behind this. He used to be an attorney for a big developer, so it’s not so far out of the realm of possibility.”
“Is that what you think?”
“No, I don’t think it’s Richard. The questions this guy was asking just don’t seem to be questions Richard would need to ask. He’s been living in this community long enough to know.”
Cassie nodded, trying to keep her expression as close to blank as possible without going over the edge to unconvincing.
“So who does that leave?”
“I hope I’m wrong, but I think this guy is a front for the Mandalay Corporation.”
“Who’s that?”
“They’re developers out of California. There’s a history there of buying up property that backs up to a central location of interest, like a lake or some developed tourist attraction like a national park.”
“Or a golf course?” Cassie asked, trying to maintain a display of casual curiosity.
“Right. This would be small potatoes for them, but I can’t get a line on anyone else. They usually come in and strip the place down to the bare bones and start again. It’s great for bringing jobs into a community, but it’s not so great for the residents when their taxes go sky-high and their quiet surroundings turn into an amusement park of tourists and traffic. I’d hate to see that happen to Holiday.”
“I don’t really see it happening, Tameka. I mean, Millicent, for one, isn’t going to sell. They can’t just build around her.”
“Oh, Cassie, if it’s Mandalay, they can and they will. And when it becomes unbearable for her to remain, they’ll give her a pittance for her house and she’ll take it just to escape. The golf course is the main attraction here, I think. As I said, that’s very small potatoes for Mandalay, but it goes to auction next week. Once they have that, there will be no stopping the progress.”
“What if someone else buys the golf course?”
“Someone who can afford to outbid Mandalay? Not likely.”
Cassie’s spirits dropped. She wanted to ask Tameka if she could help Richard get the golf course before it went to auction, if she had any information or connections that could aid him, if only for the good of the community of Holiday. But she couldn’t break his trust, and she’d promised her silence.
“So you have a decision to make,” Tameka told her. “Do you want to take their offer?”
“Oh, Tameka, I don’t know. It seems like such a betrayal of Holiday.”
“I understand. But your goal is to leave here, so I have to present the offer to you and let you decide based on your own priorities.”
“Why do you have to be so fair-minded?” Cassie said, chuckling. “Can I have some time to think about it?”
“I’ll call you in a day or two.”
Cassie stood in the doorway and waved at Tameka after she pulled out of the driveway. The minute her Dodge Caravan shifted into Drive and headed down the street, Cassie closed and locked the front door, raced through the living room, grabbed her purse and keys, and flew into the garage.
She’d only been to Richard’s house that one time, the first night they met, when she gave him a ride home after the Hootzes’ boat sank. She wasn’t sure she remembered how to navigate the twists and turns of his neighborhood, but she defied her own doubts and drove straight to the one-story ranch with the brick planter out front.
She knocked on the door and then tapped her foot while she waited for him to answer.
“Cassie!” Richard exclaimed when he opened the door.
“I should have called,” she said. “Are you busy?”
“No. Come on in.”
She brushed by him into the foyer, and while he closed the door behind her, she peered into the living room and immediately met the gaze of a large albino fish with red eyes and a thick mustache. Its glass tank was built into an enormous wooden cabinet that acted as a separation wall between the living room and dining room.
“What’s up?” Richard asked as he led her inside.
She couldn’t take her eyes off the odd fish, and she approached the aquarium and gave the glass a soft tap. “Hi there.”
“That’s Chi Chi.”
“Chi Chi?” she repeated with a laugh. “Well. Good morning, Chi Chi.” Several other varieties of fish swam out from behind the plants at the back of the tank.
“Chi Chi Rodriguez. He’s an Albino Aeneus Cory Cat. There are a couple more like him in there.”
“What are these others, here?” she asked, pointing at the smaller, rounder occupants that looked as if they’d been dipped in gold.
“Gold Veil Angels,” he told her. “Jack and Arnold.”
Cassie looked at Richard, and he gave her a sheepish grin.
Pointing at the darker, striped guy keeping to the far side of the tank, she said, “Let me guess. This one’s Tiger?”
“How did you know?”
“My husband loved golf, remember? Jack Nicklaus, Arnold Palmer… What is it with the game of golf?” Cassie asked him, shaking her head. “Men become absolutely giddy and obsessed!”
Richard stared at her in disbelief. “Uh, it’s golf,” he stated. “The greatest sport in history.”
“Oh, please. Can I sit down?”
“Be my guest. Can I get you something? Coffee?”
“No, thank you. I wanted to tell you about a conversation I had with Tameka this morning. She got an offer on my house, without them ever setting foot inside.”
“Ahh,” Richard groaned, and the two of them sat down at opposite ends of the micro-suede camel sectional. “Any idea who’s behind the offer?”
“Have you ever heard of the Mandalay Corporation?”
Recognition sparked in Richard’s crystal blue eyes, and he nodded. “Of course.”
“Tameka hasn’t been able to confirm it yet, but she thinks that’s who it is.”
“I thought they stayed out West,” he remarked. “California, Arizona, New Mexico; those are Mandalay’s usual stomping grounds, if I remember correctly. And Holiday seems like small-time for a company like Mandalay. Why did Tameka zone in on them?”
“She didn’t say. She just said that’s who she suspected.”
Richard leaned forward, his elbows pressed into both knees, and Cassie watched as the wheels of thought churned in his expression.
“Thank you, Cassie,” he said.
“I knew you wanted to know who you were up against.”
“I don’t know how much good it will do to know, but I appreciate it,” he told her.
“You know, I’ve really been thinking about this,” she said. “And I can’t figure it out.”
“Figure what out?”
“Well, why are they offering so much more than the appraised value? I mean, if they’re buying up all the property in the area, shouldn’t they be trying to get it for as little as possible?”
“I can’t begin to tell you what the logic is behind any of it,” Richard admitted with a shake of his head. “Are you going to accept their offer?”
“That’s why I wanted to speak to you. How much damage will I do if I take the money and run?”
Richard turned his head and watched the fish swim for several moments before answering. “I’m debating on giving you the selfish answer or the one that’s good for you.”
Cassie smiled. “Why don’t you give me both?”
“I don’t want you to go,” he admitted as he looked into her eyes with such intensity that it rocked something inside her. “So, no, I don’t think you should take their offer. I think you should hold out for a legitimate buyer, someone who is going to appreciate the work you’ve put into making that house a home for them.”
“And?”
“Oh. Well, the flip side is that, yes, you should take their offer. You can be back in Boston by the new year and put sinking pontoon boats and ballroom foot-stomping lessons and everything else about Holiday far behind you, once and for all.”
Not so fast, she thought. What if I don’t want to put everything about Holiday behind me?
The sudden consideration astonished her, even as it jiggled around in her mind.
“Speaking of the new year…,” she began. She pressed her pant legs with both hands. “The seniors are having a costume disco party at the church on New Year’s Eve. The flyer says it will say good-bye to the seventies—never mind that most of them have already said good-bye to their seventies.”
Richard grinned. “I heard. Also never mind that they’ll all be home and in bed by 9:30.”
“Could be,” she replied on a laugh. “Do you have a date?”
“Did you just call me a senior?” he asked.
“Certainly not!” she exclaimed, punctuating it with a giggle. “But I know they all adore you. So I wondered if you’d like to go with me.”
Richard gazed at her without speaking, something akin to curiosity in his expression.
“We can wear spandex and polyester and big hair,” she teased. “It will be a happening!” She paused. “Will you be my date, Richard?”
“Millicent won’t mind?”
“Well, she’ll be with us, of course.”
“In that case, I’d love to,” he said, and then he pointed at the ceiling in an overly casual Travolta move.
“That’s great! I’ll stock up on hair spray and dig up some spandex.”
He’d almost decided not to invite Cassie along, but as Richard turned and glanced at her now, he was really glad that he had. The window on the passenger side was rolled three-quarters of the way down, and there was a chilly breeze pushing back her hair. She closed her eyes and tilted her face into the sunlight, and he thought what a beautiful, porcelain face it was.
“I can’t get over 76 degrees in December,” she said without opening her green eyes. “How long was it before you did?”
“I’m still not there,” he replied. “Any climate that allows me to golf in short sleeves in December has me at ‘Hello.’”
Richard pushed the gear into Park and flipped the switch to roll up Cassie’s window.
“It’s hard to believe you got me to come golfing with you,” she said with a chuckle. “I hope your friends won’t mind me riding along.”
“They’re expecting you.”
He rounded the back of the car to open her door, but she’d already opened it for herself by the time he reached it. So he took her hand instead and helped her out.
“Why do you drive so far away just to golf?” she asked him as they walked through the parking lot.
“Just?”
“Oh, I mean, to golf,” she corrected with a chuckle. “An hour in the car ju— um…to play golf seems a little excessive to me. I don’t even like to drive from my house into the city for a linen sale downtown.”
“The Pine Barrens course at World Woods is ranked one of the best public courses in the state,” he answered.
“I’ll just pretend I know what that means and nod like I’m impressed.”
“You really need to get out more.”
“Yyyeahh,” she said with a slow drawl. “You’re so right. Chasing a small white ball around acres of grass, sand, and water…that’s really something that’s been missing from my life.”
“Now you’re talkin’.”
“That was sarcasm.”
“It was reality.”
They walked toward the clubhouse, and Richard touched her arm and stopped her before they reached the door. “Listen,” he said, “no one knows that I have any designs on the course out in Holiday. Let’s make sure we don’t tip my hand?”
“Sure,” she said with a nod. “But find some way to show me the things you like about it, the things you’d like to recreate if you do buy the course out there.”
“What,” he laughed, “like a secret code? I’ll touch my index finger to the side of my nose and give you a nod.”
“Yeah,” she replied. “Like that.” He wasn’t entirely sure that she’d been joking until she walked through the door and looked back at him with that big, goofy grin of hers.
Ray Velasquez had bailed on them, but his other two buddies were there already, waiting on him. Richard led Cassie toward the table where they’d parked.
“Gary Todd and Steven Hearns, meet my friend Cassie Constantine.”
Each of them stood up and greeted her with enthusiasm.
What a couple of pushovers. A beautiful woman enters the picture and they mask every trace of the Neanderthals they really are.
“I hope you don’t mind me coming along,” she told them. “I won’t back you up by playing. I really just wanted to ride along in the cart and enjoy the sunshine.”
“We’re pleased to have you with us,” Steven said. “You’ll help us pretty up the place.”
“It already looks pretty to me,” she replied, nodding out the window. “Richard was telling me that this is a pretty spectacular course.”
“Par 71, 134 slope rating,” Gary told her as he led her, with his hand on the small of her back, away from the rest and out the door.
“One of the best courses in Florida, right here in our own backyard.”
“I don’t have a clue what you just said except that it’s a really good golf course,” she answered him, casting a glance back at Richard over the curve of her shoulder.
“By the time you leave here today, Cassie, you’ll be fluent in Linkspeak,” Richard heard Gary tell her, as if he was the foremost authority.
Pretty funny, coming from a guy who finished twelve shots back from me the last time we played.
Gary helped Cassie into the golf cart and then climbed in beside her.
“Uh-uh, Todd. No,” Richard warned, pointing his finger at his friend. “You ladies are in that one.”
Gary turned to Cassie and grinned. “I’ll see you later.”
Richard shook his head as he slipped in next to Cassie instead. “Sorry.”
“Oh, he’s harmless.”
“Don’t you believe it for a minute,” Richard said, turning the wheel and steering them up toward the first tee.
“It really is beautiful,” she said, looking around.
“And a pretty complicated course,” he replied. “I don’t have any illusions about trying to create something like this out of the Holiday property, but there are things I’d like to emulate.”
“Par 4, Dillon,” Gary called out as he and Steven came to a stop next to their cart. “Even you should be able to handle it. Let’s start out strong and impress your lady friend, huh?”
Richard rolled his eyes slightly at Cassie. She laughed and it sounded like a song, making it more difficult than usual to concentrate.
He stepped out from behind the wheel and deliberated as he weighed the distance to the green.
Driver off the tee box. Maybe then a four or five iron with the windup. Eight iron onto the green.
“Let’s go, Dillon. We don’t have all day.”
Richard looked back at Cassie. “Excuse me for a minute while I go teach this guy a lesson.”