That Thing You Do (Whispering Bay Romance Book 1) (Volume 1) (11 page)

“Gotta work,” he said, swallowing
down the rest of the pie she’d sliced him. If Betsy Donalan knew he planned to spend the night in the senior center with Allie Grant she’d be calling the Whispering Bay Gazette to announce their engagement.

He thought back to their text conversation. He hadn’t meant to flirt with her. It had just come naturally, but flirting, or anything else that might come equally as naturally with Allie
was a bad idea.

He kissed his mother and said a quick goodbye before she could get another word in.

I’m happy enough
. Those had been his exact words to Allie last night. He thought it over a second. Was he happy? Hell, he wasn’t unhappy.

Why did women always overthink everything?

O
kay, so maybe Allie
was just a
tiny
bit afraid of Tom Donalan.

No, not Tom Donalan exactly. It was the whole set up that had her squirmy. And then of course, there was the problem of what to wear. She was
not
dressing up for tonight’s sleep-in at the senior center. Allie chanted this to herself while she got ready. It was like a mantra of sorts to remind her that tonight was strictly
business.

Still, that little fantasy she’d been holding onto for the past twelve years, the one where she saw Tom again for the first time? In that fantasy she was a goddess to be reckoned with. Her long dark hair was straight and shiny, her brown eyes were made up to look smoky and sexy, and her perfect curves were accentuated by a designer gold lame gown.

In other words, she was
Sophia Vergara.

Eat your heart out, Fat and Bald Tom Donalan
.

Of course, in reality Tom wasn’t fat, nor was he bald, and she certainly didn’t look anything like Sophia Vergara. Allie’s long brown hair was straight and maybe just a tad bit shiny (shampoo had a tendency to do that), but her eye makeup was minimal, and as for the perfect curves? Not even close. She was more Olive Oyl
than sexy Latina star.

Her legs were her best body part, but she couldn’t justify wearing a short skirt tonight. Plus, she’d only packed a couple days’ worth of clothes, so she had to work with what she had. Jeans, white T-shirt, a red sweater and her cowboy boots. Which were the only cool thing about her ensemble. The boots were turquoise leather with a
Fleur de Lis
cream embroidery and
a conservative two inch heel making her almost six feet tall. Allie had never felt comfortable in girly heels, but if the temperature ever went below sixty (chilly for native Floridians) she’d be in these boots. Lauren had been right about the rain. It poured for a couple of hours straight, instantly bringing cooler weather.

She sprayed some cologne along the inside of her wrist and did
a quick inspection in the mirror. It was exactly the look she was going for. Casual, slightly hip, and semi-attractive journalist who hadn’t put much thought into what she looked like (ha!).

Both Mimi and Claire remarked on her appearance over dinner.

“You look great,” Mimi said.

“No, she doesn’t. She looks
hot
. Can I borrow your boots?” Claire asked.

Allie helped herself
to some of Mimi’s homemade lasagna. “My sixteen-year-old niece thinks I look hot. Should I be flattered or am I being played for a pair of boots?” she mused aloud.

Cameron snickered.

“Both,” Mimi said.

Claire flushed. “I mean it. You look awesome, Aunt Allie.”

“You’re great for my ego, kid. Maybe I
should
move back to town.”

“Well, you already know how I feel about
that,” Mimi said.

The rest of dinner went by quickly with the majority of the conversation devoted to talk of Allie’s upcoming ghost adventure.

“I think it’s really cool what you’re doing,” Cameron said, as he loaded the last of the dirty plates into the dishwasher. “Can I see your phone?”

“Cameron,” Mimi said, “We’ve been through this before. You’re not getting a cell phone.”

“All the kids at school have a phone. And Claire has one.”

“You’re not all the kids at school. And Claire is sixteen and driving. She needs a basic phone for security reasons. When you learn to drive, then you’ll get a phone, too.”

Cameron looked at Allie with those big brown eyes that looked exactly like Zeke’s.
He’s going to be a heartbreaker
. She didn’t envy Mimi one bit.

She pulled out her phone and checked it for incoming messages. Nothing. She’d hoped by now she would have heard something from Phoebe Van Cleave and The Sunshine Ghost Society, but either Phoebe wasn’t as interested as she’d first sounded, or there was nothing to report. It looked like Allie was going to be on her own tonight. She handed Cameron her phone. “It can’t hurt him to look at it,”
she said to Mimi.

Cameron studied the phone for a few seconds. “Can I play a game on here?”

“Sure. Just don’t mess with my settings.”

Mimi gave Cameron the stinky eye. “Did you finish your homework?”

“Yep.” He ran into the living room, taking Allie’s phone with him.

“Thank God Zeke will be home tonight,” Mimi said, putting the leftovers in the fridge. “Oh, before
I forget, take this.” She handed Allie a large wicker basket.

Allie opened the lid. Inside were candles, a lighter, a woolen blanket, cheese, crackers, and a thermos. “Gee, all that’s missing is a bottle of wine and some mood music.”

Mimi smirked. “Don’t think I wasn’t tempted.”

“This is all great, but I’m not going there to have a picnic.”

“Of course not, but you might
get hungry. And there’s coffee in the thermos with a little zing added.”

The doorbell rang.

“I’ll get it!” Claire yelled.

“It’s Mr. Donalan!” Cameron chimed in a few seconds later.

Allie steeled herself. She could do this. She was, after all, a professional, and tonight could be the biggest night of her journalistic career. She picked up her backpack and Mimi’s basket of
goodies and headed into the living room.

Tom wore jeans and a black turtleneck sweater and he looked…
good
. Too good as far as Allie was concerned. The stubble he’d been sporting this morning was gone, which meant he’d shaved for the occasion.

Claire stood behind him and mouthed WOW.

Yeah, my thoughts exactly
.

Mimi shooed Claire away and that was when Allie noticed that
Tom wasn’t alone. Standing next to him was a miniature version of him whom Allie could only assume must be Henry. No one seemed surprised to see him. Well, no one except her, that is.

“Thanks for letting Henry spend the night,” Tom said to Mimi.

“Henry’s welcome here any time,” Mimi said, smiling down at Tom Donalan’s progeny.

Cameron grabbed Henry’s overnight bag and the two
of them were about to take off for Cameron’s bedroom when Tom interrupted them. “Hey, it’s rude not to say hello,” he said to his son. Tom turned to her with an expression Allie couldn’t read. “Henry, this is Cameron’s aunt, Allison Grant. She’s a journalist doing a story on the old senior center.”

As well as my ex-girlfriend
, Allie thought he might have added. Probably wouldn’t have been
appropriate, though.

Henry politely extended his hand. “Nice to meet you, Mrs. Grant.”

“That’s Miss Grant,” she said, shaking Henry’s hand. “And…it’s nice to meet you, too.”

 
She was meeting Tom Donalan’s son
. It was like she was in a real live version of the
Twilight Zone
.

 Mimi must have known all along that Henry was coming over tonight. The fact that she hadn’t said
anything…

A myriad of emotions washed over Allie. Confusion, betrayal (for the love of God, Mimi could have warned her!) and strangely enough, a tiny bit of pride. Although why she should feel proud, Allie didn’t have a clue. Except that although she’d just met him, she could see Henry was a terrific kid. Handsome, polite, well-spoken. The kind of kid Mimi and Zeke would be happy to include
among Cameron’s friends.

Allie stood there, frozen, listening to Mimi and Tom talk about the upcoming soccer season, and then Tom mentioned calling Zeke to set up a potential father/son camping trip for the four of them. Talk about cozy! Her ex was wiggling his way into her family’s life and there was nothing she could do about it.

Four more days and she could get back to her old life
in Tampa.

It couldn’t happen soon enough.

“You ready?” Tom asked her.

She tamped down whatever emotion she hoped wasn’t showing on her face and nodded.

Cameron handed her back her cell phone. “When you get a chance, check your apps,” he whispered so that only she could hear.

She grabbed the rest of her things and followed Tom out the door.

*~*~*

T
om unlocked
the door
to the senior center and handed Allie a flashlight. “I’ll get the rest of the stuff out of my truck.”

“Hey, look, I know this is a huge imposition. You really don’t have to stay the night. I promise, I’ll be a good girl. No broken windows this time. Scout’s honor.” She used her finger to make the cross symbol over her chest and even smiled at him. Just to show him she meant it,
which she did, of course.

“Sorry, like I said, it’s an insurance thing.” 

Gone was the flirtatious mood Allie thought she’d detected from their text messages this afternoon. Right now, Tom was all business. Which was good because she needed to be all business, too. Only she really didn’t want to spend the next twelve or so hours alone with him. All business or not.

She brought
in her belongings, careful to keep her flashlight aimed at the ground. Hopefully the cockroaches would make themselves scarce tonight. She found a clear space in the center of the main room and set down Mimi’s picnic basket, then opened up her backpack and checked the contents: laptop, cell phone (which had a pretty decent camera), and a yellow legal pad for note-taking.

The building looked
exactly the way it did last night except the window she’d broken into was now patched over with clear vinyl sheeting and duct tape. Did Tom do that?

 Allie couldn’t help feel just a tad bit guilty over the trouble she’d caused him. She wondered again for the umpteenth time exactly what had made him change his mind about delaying the demolition. Maybe tonight, if the timing was right, she’d
ask him again. And maybe this time, he’d tell her the truth.

Tom lugged in more supplies. He had a broom, a blow up mattress, blankets, and a few kerosene lamps. He’d also brought along a radio, which he immediately set to a station carrying a baseball game.

“Hope you don’t mind,” he said. “The Braves are playing tonight.” He swept over a large area to clear it of debris, then squatted
down and began inflating the mattress with a hand pump.

Allie watched as the mattress filled with air. Queen size, she’d guess. She hadn’t given a thought to actually sleeping tonight. No, the mattress was all his. She was here to work.

She pulled out her cell phone to check the camera setting. There was a new app on her phone. She clicked on the icon and the small screen opened up
to reveal…
a ghost detector
. No wonder Cameron had been so pleased with himself!

She read the directions then casually held her phone out in the palm of her hand. On the screen, a yellow band went round and round in a circle, like those radar things from a submarine movie. According to the instructions, a blip would come across the yellow band in the presence of “extra energy,”
aka
a ghost.

Tom would probably laugh at this bit of technology, but Allie was thrilled. Not that she really believed it might work, but hey, you never knew unless you tried, right? Plus, it would give her something to do besides watch Tom set up camp for the night. A queen sized air mattress, blankets, and Mimi’s secret basket of goodies all combined were way too cozy as far as Allie was concerned.

“I’m going to walk around,” she said.

He barely glanced up at her. “Go for it.”

With the flashlight in one hand and her cell phone in the other, she slowly walked the perimeter of the main room. She glanced down at her phone screen. No blips, no beeps. She made her way down the hall facing the entrance to two rooms that had once been used as classrooms. The rooms were dark and
strewn with the same scattered trash she’d encountered last night.

She randomly picked the room on the right and went inside. Since Tom couldn’t see her all the way back here, there was no point in hiding what she was doing, so she held the phone out in front of her, allowing it to guide her steps. The yellow line continued round and round in the same circle.

Nothing.

She should
probably be disappointed, but she wasn’t. After all, it wasn’t as if she expected the thing to work. Fighting off a fit of the giggles, she repeated the routine in the next room. All she needed to complete the ridiculousness was the
Ghostbusters
theme playing in the background. She was about to give up when her phone made a strange sound. Allie glanced down to find a red blip on the screen.

She shook the phone. Just to make sure she wasn’t imagining it. The blip was still there.

This was priceless! Too bad Cameron wasn’t here to share in the fun.

All of a sudden the room went warm. The smell of lemons hit her like a slap in the face. It was the same sensation she’d experienced last night. Allie had almost begun to believe that she’d imagined it, but this was as real
as the ground beneath her boots. Her hand trembled, making it difficult to concentrate on the screen. She willed herself to take a deep breath.

The blip became bigger and the lemon smell stronger. It should have gagged her, but it didn’t. Instead she wanted to drown in it. To sink against its warmth, like a fire on a cold winter day. She shook away that ridiculous thought and concentrated
on her phone screen. According to her location, whatever was making the ghost radar go off was standing directly behind her.