Maine Squeeze (22 page)

“Rich much?” Blair asked as we climbed out of the Bobb's catering van. I stood next to her and looked up at the “cottage” in front of us. It was a large, white house overlooking the ocean, with green shutters, a wide porch that wrapped around the entire house, a gorgeous rose garden, a shuffleboard court, and a three-car garage and a little carriage house. The Hamiltons probably put more money into mowing their lawn than my parents put into our entire house.

“So this is how the other half lives,” Evan said, getting out of the backseat of the van.

Samantha walked around from the driver's seat. “Wow. The Hamiltons do all right, don't they? I'm so jealous, I almost hate them.”

“As long as they keep inviting cute grandnephews here, who cares?” I whispered to Sam.

“No doubt. So I've been thinking about what this year's excursion should be,” she said as we started to unload the van, carrying trays of food into the house. “You know, last year we did the sailboat cruising thing. What should we do this year?”

“I haven't really thought about it,” I said. The memory of Ben asking me to go to Acadia with him flitted through my brain. That was a summer getaway excursion plan, and for some reason it didn't make me want to … excurse. It made me want to
excuse
myself.

“I have two ideas,” Sam said. “One, we take a road trip somewhere we've never been before. It could be Maine, it could be Canada—Nova Scotia, maybe. Or two,
we
have a party catered by Bobb's. And Trudy has to wait on
us
.”

“That sounds good,” Evan said. “Am I invited?” He pulled open the back door we'd been instructed to use, and held the door open with his foot for the rest of us.

“No,” Sam said bluntly.

“Come on. I got to go last year,” Evan complained as I walked past him.

“That was then—” I began.

“This is now,” Evan said. “Why was
then
so much better than now?”

Don't,
I thought.
Don't do that
. He was really turning it up a notch with the flirting lately. As I bumped into him in the kitchen, struggling to set down the tray I was carrying, I thought about what Richard had said, how we couldn't get through a shift at Bobb's without touching each other. Was that true?

I tried to keep my distance while we got ready for and then worked the party, which was held on a large deck overlooking the ocean. Everyone was very nice to us, except for one grumpy older man who kept insisting the shrimp were no good, that he expected
prawns
, not “itty bitty shrimp.”

“But jumbo shrimp is an oxymoron,” Evan said. “Sir.”

He grunted at both of us and then turned away to get another glass of champagne, or whatever he was drinking. They'd hired a bartender from somewhere else, since (a) all of us were underage, and (b) Trudy's selection of liquor was limited to Geary's Ale and a few domestic beers.

I saw Blair laughing with Troy Hamilton, and Sam gently interrupting to tell her to go to the kitchen for the cheese puffs. Then Sam and Troy leaned against the deck railing for a couple of minutes, talking.
Good for her,
I thought.
Go, Sam, go
.

“Hey, Sam? Could you drop me off here?” I asked as we drove past the Landing on our way back to Bobb's. I was thinking that I could see Ben when he finished work, and in the meantime I could visit with Haley.

“Sure thing,” Sam said, pulling over and stopping. “Tell Haley I said hi!”

“Yeah, for me, too,” Blair added.

I climbed out of the van and was about to close the sliding door behind me when Evan stopped me. He hopped out of the van. “I could really go for an ice cream. All that small talk and politeness gave me a sore throat,” he said, as if that explained why he was following me.

“Yeah. Sure,” I said as Sam drove off in the van with Blair. I felt kind of bad that they'd have to unload everything without us now. But most of it was empty trays and dirty silverware.

“Sure what?” Evan laughed as he fell into step beside me. “You sound like you don't believe me.”

“Should I?” I asked.

“I have no idea what you're talking about.”

“Never mind,” I said. “It just seems like a coincidence, that's all. I get out of the van, so you do?”

“Okay, so. In your … fantasy world … a person wants a little mocha chip and suddenly it's a plot?”

I started laughing, despite myself. Okay, so maybe my ego was getting a little out of control. Evan was allowed to crave mocha chip. It didn't have anything to do with me. Although … if he really wanted the ice cream, why hadn't he jumped out of the van first?

We walked over to the Landing's takeout window. Haley was leaning on the wooden shelf with her elbows and staring out at the water.

“Pretty boring between ferries, huh?” I asked.

“Hey, Coll!” she said, her face lighting up when she saw me. Then her expression changed a bit. “Oh. Hi, Evan,” she said coldly.

“Haley. What's up?” Evan asked.

“Not much.” She sighed. “Pretty slow. How was the catering thing?” she asked me.

“Fabulous,” I said.

“Yeah, fabulous for them, because all the chicks were lusting after this guy at the party,” Evan said.

“No, we all weren't,” I said. “Sam likes him, and he likes her—”

“Same old, same old,” Evan said.

“Yeah. It is getting old,” Haley said. She stared at Evan. “Really old.”

She was acting very standoffish toward him. I realized she probably hadn't seen him much at all this summer. She was no doubt still angry with him for making me cry last fall. She can hold a grudge longer than you'd think it's humanly possible.

“Anyway, aren't you guys supposed to be at work?” she asked.

“We get a break before dinner,” I said. “So I thought I'd come see you.”

“I think I'd go home and chill by myself for a while,” Haley said with a pointed look at me. “If it were me.”

“Uh, maybe you're right,” I said as I heard the ferry horn. “Maybe we should get back to work.”

Evan shrugged. “Okay, but I want the mocha chip first.”

“Cone or dish?” Haley asked. She quickly got Evan a double cone, and me a single dish of praline pecan. I wanted to get out of there before Ben showed up. I felt this nervous energy, like I was doing something wrong.

Relax, Colleen. It's only ice cream. And you're not even sharing a spoon
.

“We'd better get going,” I said, heading for the road.

“Yeah, we'd better,” Evan said. “It's a bit of a walk from here. Want to call a cab? Or, wait. Even better—let's hitch.”

“I don't hitch rides,” I said.

“Don't worry. You'll be safe with me,” Evan said.

Somehow I doubted that, as he hailed an old station wagon that was driving past. It felt like we were running away together—except for the fact that we were carrying ice cream and wearing black-and-white catering uniforms. Which kind of took some of the thrill of adventure out of it.

We got into the backseat of the station wagon against my better judgment. Two guys I'd never seen before, a skinny one with long straggly hair and a large-ish one with a crew cut, both (sadly) bare-chested, turned around and nodded at us. “Right on,” they said in unison.

“Where are you headed?” the straggly-haired guy asked.

“Bobb's restaurant,” Evan said.

“Right on.” The crew cut guy nodded in approval.

Evan and I glanced at each other. “Is there any other answer?” I whispered.

“Right on,” he replied, and we both grinned.

We were halfway through the dinner shift at Bobb's when Trudy said she wanted to talk to me in the kitchen. I had no idea what it was about. I'd brought out the wrong salad dressing a couple of times that night, but it wasn't like her to get on my case about small mistakes.

“The Hamiltons just called,” she said. “Olivia Hamilton, to be exact.”

“And?” I asked. I was expecting praise, expecting her to have said she wanted to hire us for another event. “The party went really smoothly—did she say that?”

Trudy wiped down one of the prep tables while she spoke. “Not exactly. She has a problem.”

“Problem? What kind?” I asked.

“Some of her jewelry's missing. An entire box, I guess.”

I put my hand to my throat. “You're kidding!”

“I wish that I were.” Trudy frowned at me. “This is very serious.”

“Okay. So who do they think is responsible?”

“Well, that's just it, Colleen. And believe me, I hate to say this. But I've talked to everyone else already—Sam, Blair, Evan. And you were the last one in the house, and—”

“What? But I didn't—I wouldn't—”

“I didn't think you did, either. But there are witnesses.”

“Witnesses?” Why was this turning into an episode of
Law & Order
? I was being accused of a crime. What next—I was supposed to hire a lawyer, wasn't I?
Were
there any lawyers on the island? “Trudy, the only reason I was the last person in the house is that I was the last person in the van, because Blair forgot a tray on the deck and I ran back in to get it.”

“Well. The fact remains that you were in the house after everyone else—”

“But the entire family was still in the house!” I protested. “So how would I even know where to look or what to steal? I don't think like that. I've never stolen anything.”

“I promise I'll check into this. I'm not letting you go right away,” Trudy said. “No one's going to press any charges until there's some more facts. But this is the story right now, so far. We'll see what develops in the next few days.”

“Trudy! How can you even
think
I'd do something like that? You've known me for
four
years. Have I ever—”

“I'm sorry, Colleen. But—”

“You know what? Never mind. I can't believe this. I didn't take
anything
, and I can't believe I even have to tell you that!” I stormed out through the back doors and ran to the end of the dock. I was so upset that I started crying.

I heard footsteps clomping down the dock toward me. I turned around and there was Evan, reaching out for me, putting his arms around me, holding me close. I didn't bother to resist. I didn't have the strength to—besides, I needed him.

“She thinks … she thinks …” I sputtered.

“Don't worry.” Evan stroked my hair. “I know you didn't do anything. Trudy will find that out.”

“But why would she …?”

“She had some woman call up and yell at her,” Evan said. “Ten to one, Mrs. Hamilton finds her jewelry tonight.”

I kept sniffling, and he kept running his hand over my head, and then he kissed my cheek.

“And you know what? The stuff she was wearing today was so gaudy that I'm surprised it could even
go
missing. I mean, it could light up an entire town.”

I smiled. “True.” I brushed his T-shirt sleeve against my face to dab away the tears, and it was so soft, and smelled just like I remembered him.

Suddenly, out of the corner of my eye, I saw someone else on the docks.

My eyes widened in horror. That figure in the dark was
Ben
.

And as soon as I recognized him, he turned and ran.

Chapter 19

“Ben! Ben, wait!” I called.

Evan was still holding my arms, not letting me go right away. I twisted my way out of his grasp just as I heard a car peeling out of the parking lot. I teetered on the dock, nearly tipping over. Evan caught my arm to keep me from falling into the water, but I shook him off. “Let me go!” I said.

I ran inside and found Trudy as quickly as I could. She was at the host stand with Erica, inserting the sheet with tomorrow's lunch specials printed on it into the menu.