Just Past Oysterville: Shoalwater Book One (32 page)

“
Where did you get the
truck?” she asked.

“
I rented it in Benson, and
left the car for Grace to pick up. Then we started our little cat
and mouse game across the country. I thought you had me in Gold
Beach, when I couldn’t find the exit to that darned library parking
lot.”

Cassie laughed, and then frowned, “If you
knew it was me, why didn’t you just stop us?”

“
What good would
that
have done?” he
replied, sipping from the coffee and taking a huge bite of his
doughnut.

“
I suppose I could have
hog-tied you and brought you back to Bowie in the bed of the truck,
but you would have just taken off again. I can’t spend the rest of
my life tracking you down; the rental fees alone would break
me.”

Cassie smiled again, but sheepishly, still
feeling guilty for the lies she had told and the trouble she had
put Guy and Grace through.

“
Besides,” Guy went on, “I
saw you and Jack together enough to feel like you were safe with
him, so I thought I'd just tag along until you got to where you
were going." He grinned suddenly. "I’ve known you your whole life,
Cassie, and your mother a long while, too. If I’ve learned any one
thing, it’s this: when one of you makes up her mind to do
something, it’s best to just stand aside and let you do
it!”

Cassie laughed again, some of her anger with
God and worry over Jack starting to dissipate. Guy was right; he
had known her all of her life and he was the closest thing to
father she had ever known. It was such a relief to have him near,
to not be alone. The old photograph of Guy, waist deep in the
river, baptizing Kathy Belanger and her baby daughter, sprung to
Cassie’s mind and her eyes filled with tears. They loved her so
much, and she had treated them so badly.

“
I’m sorry,” she whispered,
her voice quavering, “I’m so sorry that I worried you and Grace, I
just didn’t think.”

Cassie broke down, burying her face in her
hands to hide her tears. The next moment Guy was beside her, his
familiar arms circling her, and she clung to him, desperate for his
reassurance. She heard him murmuring prayers as he stroked her
hair. Finally, the worst having passed, she sniffled and lifted her
head. Guy smiled at her and kissed her forehead, slipping back over
to the other couch. Cassie took a sip of her cocoa and then, slowly
and methodically, gave Guy the step-by-step of her trip West. The
hands on the big clock had made two revolutions by the time she had
finished.

There was a long silence, punctuated by
Cassie’s occasional sniffle, and the squawk of the dispatch radio.
Guy took her hand and said another quick prayer, thanking God for
her safety, then sat back with a long sigh.

“
That’s a story and a half,”
he said, “but Jack sounds like a good guy. I can see why you
thought that he might be your father. I wish I had a clue, but your
mom never mentioned him, or your father, to us.” Guy glanced at his
watch. “Has the doctor said anything, yet?”

As if on cue, a nurse stepped into the room,
smiling awkwardly. Cassie had the sudden impression that she had
been waiting behind the half-closed door until Guy had finished his
prayer. She looked to Cassie to be in her middle thirties, pretty,
with dark red ringlets cascading over the shoulders of her crisp
white uniform.

“
Cassie Leland?” she asked, checking her clipboard.

Guy raised an eyebrow in Cassie’s direction
but said nothing. Cassie blushed to her roots under her pastor’s
gaze.

Names are like clothes, different suits for
different occasions, that’s what I say.

“
Yes?”

The woman offered her hand, which Cassie
shook.

“
I’m Aimee Phillips,” she
said, “and I wanted to thank you for getting Jack here so quickly,
he’s a very old friend, and I think you may have saved his life
tonight.”

Cassie nodded, fighting back tears.

“
I didn’t know that Jack had
a niece,” Aimee went on, “but I sure
thought
you looked familiar,
when you came in.”

“
Is Jack going to be okay?”
Cassie asked, changing the subject.

“
We’re pretty sure he’ll be
fine,” Aimee replied, checking her paperwork again. “He did have a
heart attack, but luckily it was fairly mild. Too much fried food
would be my guess. We’ll keep him here a couple of days for
observation, get him going on some blood pressure medication, but
he should be home by the end of the week. We gave him enough
morphine that he should sleep until tomorrow afternoon.”

Cassie felt a knee-weakening wave of relief
rush through her, as she squeezed Guy’s hand. He squeezed right
back.

"Just to let you know," Aimee said, "We sent
a tow truck to pick up Jack's van. You can tell him that Wally has
it in the shop, and he'll call in a couple of days for
instructions."

Cassie thanked her, barely
understanding what she was saying;
Jack
was going to be okay!

Aimee introduced herself to Guy, and asked
if the two of them needed a place to stay for the night. “Not me,”
he replied, “I’m going to have to head back home tonight. I have to
be back in Bowie day after tomorrow; I just wanted to make sure
that Cassie got here safe."

“
How about you?” he asked
Cassie, and she smiled as he squeezed her hand again.

“
I…I don’t know. I need to
find a hotel I guess…”

Aimee looked at her, puzzled. “A hotel?" she
asked. "Aren’t you going to stay with your Uncle? Jack’s place is
only a few miles up the road.”

“
Oh,” Cassie said. In the
panic of the last several hours, she hadn’t given a thought of
where she'd be sleeping tonight.

“
I’ll tell you what,” the
nurse replied, “I’m off shift in about twenty minutes, how about if
I give you a lift to Jack’s apartment? Since you’re a relative, I
can give you his keys and things; at least you won’t have to try to
find a hotel at this time of night.” Cassie agreed wearily. By now,
she was so exhausted that she would have agreed to a cot in the
local jailhouse if it meant she could close her eyes and get some
sleep. Aimee told her to wait there and she would meet her when the
shift ended, leaving Cassie and Guy a few minutes to say
good-bye.

“
Is Grace going to kill you
for not bringing me back?”

“
Nah,” Guy smiled, “she
wanted me to make sure you were safe, that’s all. It sounds like
Jack’s going to be okay, and you have a place to stay, Grace will
be fine with that.”

Guy paused a moment, thinking, and then
continued, “Well, maybe I’ll give her a call tomorrow and let her
know what’s going on before I get home--”

“
--and she can kill you.”
Cassie finished, laughing.

“
Exactly!”

Guy and Cassie took hands and said a quick
prayer, then he hugged her fiercely and she was surprised to see
tears in his eyes.

“
You take care of yourself,
Kiddo,” he murmured, “call Grace tomorrow and let her know you’re
all right. And you call us if you need anything…
anything
, you understand?”
Cassie nodded and squeezed his hand one last time. Guy turned to
go.

“
Hey!” she called, as he
reached the door.

“
Yeah?” Guy said,
turning.

“
Don’t lose your banana
comb!” Cassie smiled.

Guy grinned and waggled a finger at her,
“Don’t you go pulling a knife on anyone!” he laughed. Then he was
gone.

*

Aimee and Cassie headed north in the nurse’s
Honda, the streets gleaming wetly beneath the blue-white glow of
streetlights. They made some small talk about the weather, but it
was clear that Aimee was tired from a long shift and Cassie from
her lack of sleep. The conversation lapsed into a comfortable
silence and the lull of the windshield wipers, skimming the morning
mist from the glass, soothed Cassie to sleep. When she awoke, they
were pulling up to a curb just off the main street.

“
Here we are,” Aimee said, shutting of the engine and
lights.

Cassie looked around dazedly for a moment,
expecting to see an apartment complex. Instead, what she saw was a
looming, two-story building, covered with heavy wooden shingles,
and painted a flat gray. It took her a moment to realize that she
was looking at Jack’s bookstore. A solid set of wood steps led up
to a second-story landing and a single door. A dim light gleamed
through the door’s small window. Aimee had parked her little car
behind a gleaming red Jeep with a black leather ragtop.

“
Oh good,” she said, coming
around to meet Cassie on the sidewalk, “Beth’s here.”

Cassie grabbed her bag from the backseat and
followed Aimee up the stairs. They knocked and a moment later came
the sound of light footsteps, and the door opened.

A tall willowy woman stood in the doorway.
Her black hair, just starting to gray at the temples, was pulled
back and held in place with a leather barrette. High cheekbones and
long raven lashes accentuated her bright, coral-blue eyes. She
glanced from Aimee to Cassie, and when her gaze fell on the younger
girl, something seemed to surprise her, her azure eyes widening and
her hand starting to rise toward her mouth.

There was a long pause as she stared at
Cassie Belanger, her face gone slightly pale. Then she blinked, as
though shaking herself from a daze, and turned her eyes from
Cassie’s face.

“
Aimee,” she said, taking
the woman's hands in her own, “Thank you for calling, I was just
starting to worry. I still think I should have come down to the
hospital. You're certain he's going to be okay?”

“
He’ll be fine.” Aimee
smiled, “And he wouldn’t have even known you were there, with all
the drugs we pumped into him. Better that you keep the home fires
burning tonight; you can visit Jack tomorrow afternoon when he’s
awake. Until then you both need your rest." She smiled. "He’s a
tough old goat, and too stubborn to let a measly heart attack beat
him.”

The dark haired woman rolled her eyes.

“
Don’t I know it?” She
sighed, and then seemed to remember that they were standing on the
dark, cold landing at just after five in the morning, “Come in,
both of you, come in!” She ushered them into the small apartment,
closing the door behind them.

From the stunted hallway, a small living
area gave the illusion of space beneath a high, vaulted ceiling.
Beyond this, Cassie could see a tidy dining area and a door that
she presumed led into the kitchen. One corner of the living room
was taken with a small, antique writing table, the two adjoining
walls with a leather sofa and love seat the color of warm caramel.
All four walls were covered, from floor to ceiling, with books. The
carpet was a deep brown shag, and at least as old as Cassie, but
clean and not too worn. The one space on the wall that was free of
books stood above the writing table; this housed a stereo and three
deep shelves of records and compact discs.

Cassie could see the corner of an old,
upright piano, its top littered with picture frames, through the
entrance to the dining area. It took her a long minute to realize
what seemed out of place in the room: there was no television! She
wondered, for an instant, if Jack kept a TV in his bedroom, but
decided that he probably didn’t. Who had time for the idiot box (as
her mother had called it) when there were hundreds of books here to
be read, and probably thousands more in the shop below?

“
Can I get you something to
drink,” the woman asked, breaking Cassie’s reverie, “some water,
perhaps, or orange juice?”

“
No, thank you,” Cassie
answered, feeling suddenly, strangely shy, “I’m fine,
Ms…?”

The woman laughed, a high, silvery tinkle,
and extended a hand towards her. “I’m getting too old to remember
my manners,” she smiled, “I’m Elizabeth Marshall, but please, call
me Beth. I look after the store when Jack is gone.”

Cassie might have been a
young woman, but she
was
a woman, and she didn’t miss
the way Elizabeth Marshall’s voice softened when she spoke Jack’s
name, or the sad determination that crossed her face for a moment
and then was gone.

The younger woman realized, in that moment,
that Beth was very much in love with crusty old Jack Leland, and
probably had been for some time.

Cassie felt a warm rush of empathy for her,
and a sudden surge of irritation with Jack that made her jaw
clench.

Beth smiled knowingly, still holding her hand, and murmured,
“Careful honey, don’t close the cover until you’ve read the whole
book.” Cassie blushed, embarrassed at being read so easily and,
finally, Aimee broke the uncomfortable silence of the
moment.

“
Well,” she said, a little
louder than she meant to, “I’m going to head home. I’ve got a
husband to feed and send off to work, a hot bath, and a warm bed
waiting for me!”

Elizabeth laughed again and walked the young
nurse to the door, giving her a quick hug and thanking her once
more.

“
Sounds like quite a
schedule,” she said, then bid the younger lady a goodnight and
closed the door behind her.

The two women looked at each other, and
Cassie felt that shyness again, beneath the older woman’s strange,
questioning gaze. Finally, Beth smiled.

“
Well,” she said, “I’m going
to brew us a nice cup of tea to put us to sleep, then I’ll make up
the couch for you.” She started toward the kitchen, calling back,
“Why don’t you put your bag down and have a look
around?”