Saltwater Cove Read online

  “Mom!” Jade called out. “Who is it?”

  “Oh it’s no one – I mean, not no one. No one that you know.”

  Jade and Brandon shot each other a look.

  “Is it someone that we’re allowed to know?” said Jade with a smile.

  Her mom returned to the dining room followed by a large police officer. He had a mustache and a sort of frowny look on his face.

  “Uh oh, your mom’s new in town and she’s already in trouble,” said Brandon.

  “Oh no, not at all,” said the officer. “I was just stopping by to give your mom some information about her friend.”

  “What friend, Mom?” asked Jade.

  “Ah, just someone I knew before you were born. Chief Hank, this is my middle daughter, Jade, and her husband, Brandon.”

  Chief Hank gave an awkward wave. “It’s very nice to meet you both, I didn’t mean to interrupt your dinner.”

  Jade shook her head. “There’s not much to interrupt. We scarfed it down so quickly that it was more like sharks feeding than a dinner.”

  Everyone laughed.

  Brandon reached towards the lasagna, “I’m not quite done yet,” he said.

  “Would you like to join us?” her mom asked.

  Chief Hank shook his head. “No, I don’t want to be a bother. I was just heading home and thought I would stop by.”

  “We don’t bite,” said Jade. “And we definitely can’t eat all this lasagna on our own.”

  “No really, I’ve got to run.”

  Jade watched as her mom ran off to the kitchen and came back with a plastic container. “Well at least take some with you, and if it’s not good, and you don’t like it, you can just throw it away – I won’t know the difference.”

  He laughed and accepted the container. “I’m sure it’s delicious. Well, it was very nice meeting you all, I hope I’ll be seeing more of you, and – have a nice evening!”

  “You too,” said Jade.

  Brandon was already halfway through his second piece of lasagna and added a muffled goodbye. When her mom got back to the table, Jade asked her what friend she was talking about.

  “Oh honey, it’s someone that I knew years ago and I saw a picture of her here on the island and I thought that maybe the police would be able to look her up for me.”

  “Look her up? Is she a criminal?”

  Her mom laughed. “No Jade, of course not. I promise that I’ll tell you all about it if I ever get in contact with her family.”

  Jade cocked her head to the side. “Not in contact with her? Is she missing or something?”

  “Oh, no, but – I’ll just have to tell you the whole story later. Finish up your lasagna so I can give you a tour of the barn.”

  She cut herself a sliver of lasagna – she was stuffed, but she needed just one more taste.

  “Okay!”

  She decided to drop it for now, but there was definitely something weird about this friend. Or this Chief. Jade was determined to get it out of her mom sooner or later.

  Chapter 4

  After a quick tour of the barn and a short walk around the property, it was already time for Margie to drive Jade and Brandon back to the ferry terminal.

  “That went so fast! Please come back soon. Or I can come to you! But I don’t want to be a bother,” she said as they drove to the east side of the island.

  Jade laughed. “You could never be a bother, Mom. I think I’ll come back next week. I can work from home a lot of the time, so maybe I can even stay with you once you get your internet up and running. I can work from the house and we can hang out.”

  “That would be great!” Margie found a spot to park and stopped the car. “Well, you two better get on the ferry so you don’t get stuck on the island overnight.”

  Brandon laughed. “If I left the planning up to Jade, we would definitely get stuck here overnight.”

  Margie’s jaw tensed. It was the only way she could keep herself from responding to Brandon’s dig at Jade. No matter what Jade did (or didn’t) do, Brandon could find some way to criticize her. It drove Margie insane, but her attempts to stop him in the past had failed. She learned that her only option was to keep quiet.

  He unbuckled his seat belt. “Thanks again, I’m sure I’ll be seeing you soon, too.”

  “Yes, anytime. Don’t hesitate to pop over!”

  Jade leaned over and gave her a kiss on the cheek before opening the car door. “Love you Mom! Have a good night!”

  Margie sat in the car and watched as they made their way down the hill. She didn’t want to leave until she saw them disappear safely onto the ferry. Even though her daughter was twenty-five years old, there were some habits that she just couldn’t break.

  Once she was satisfied that they made it on, Margie sat in the car and debated what to do next. It was a lovely night, and the idea of going back to her empty house seemed much too lonely. She decided that she would walk around Friday Harbor and take in the sites.

  Margie got out of her car and strolled down the street. It was much livelier now than it was even a month before when she came to “buy” the property. As the weather warmed and summer vacations approached, more and more people would fill the island. It made her feel full of hope – not just for her future business, but for life in general.

  Walking slowly, Margie enjoyed the music and laughter booming out from the restaurants along First Street. She stopped in front of a real estate agency window – they had printouts, with pictures, of local properties for sale. Margie could not believe the prices of some of these places. The houses were going for millions of dollars.

  She got an uneasy feeling, wondering how much her brother’s property was actually worth – she knew that he bought it many years ago, and it likely wasn’t outrageously expensive at the time. But the truth was, it was a large piece of land with water access and beautiful views; he probably could have sold it for at least one million dollars, if not more.

  Margie peered from picture to picture, hoping that she could find something that wasn’t quite that expensive. No such luck. At least not for a property right on the water. It was obvious that her brother lost out on a lot of money by gifting her the barn and the house. He never much cared for money, and he never had a wife or family, so he was rather generous with them all. She decided that he probably felt sorry for her – something that she never intended.

  After the divorce, the court determined that she was entitled to seven years of alimony. At the time, Margie felt strange taking the money from her newly ex-husband, but she had no other options. When they met in college, Margie was in school for engineering, but soon Jeff proposed to her and they were married. Margie became pregnant almost instantly and Jeff convinced her to put her schooling plans on hold so that he could focus on finishing his education and starting his business.

  For the most part, it worked wonderfully. Jeff started an accounting business and was free to focus entirely on building it from the ground up. Margie was happy to raise the kids, take care of the home, and try to be Super Mom. It wasn’t exactly what she planned for her life, but she loved being a mother. She loved being a wife. And she was darn good at it.

  It was strange to her how cut and dried the divorce was – the judge simply took the number of years they were married, divided by three, and rounded down. Seven years of alimony for her to build a new life for herself.

  Margie was forty-two years old at the time and she had no job history on her resume. She looked into going back to finish her credits for engineering, but it was unbelievably expensive. Tuition at the public university was more than $13,000 per year. She decided on going to community college to get a degree as a medical assistant.

  That helped her become self-sufficient, sure, but by no means did it get her where she wanted to be. She thought she’d be able to save up enough to buy herself a small house, but the housing prices in Seattle had ballooned over the past twenty years.

  It wasn’t even that her kids were still in the a
rea – once Connor went to college, she could have left and moved somewhere less expensive. But Seattle was home to all of them, and she wanted to keep it as home for them. At that she knew she failed.

  Jeff ended up opening an accounting branch in New York City and he spent most of his time there. It wasn’t his fault that they’d fallen out of love – he was quite civil about it all. He sat her down one day, took her by the hand, and told her that he would always love her but he couldn’t be married to her anymore.

  A breeze drifted through the streets and Margie felt a chill run down her spine. She should have brought a jacket, but she hadn’t planned on being out this late. It was best to keep moving.

  She took a left onto Spring Street; the road had a decent incline, which she hoped would get her heart rate up and get the blood flowing. She was moving a bit slowly to take in all the shops and restaurants along the street. There was a grocery store, a few storefronts for kayaking and whale watching tours, and a number of shops with knickknacks.

  Margie loved knickknacks – she stared into the window of a store that was filled with San Juan Island dishtowels and aprons and other kitchen paraphernalia that she couldn’t resist. She made a mental note to come back later this week when the stores were open.

  After walking past the majority of the shops and stores, she came to a traffic circle. She wanted to keep going and see what else was nearby, but something caught her eye. On the edge of the traffic circle, there was a small parking lot and shopping plaza. On the sidewalk laid a pile of flowers and what looked like a poster. Margie carefully made her way there to see what this was about. When she got close, her heart sunk.

  In memory of Kelly Allen, beloved wife, mother, sister and daughter.

  The same picture that was in the newspaper stared back at her now, Kelly’s laughing face and big brown eyes. Margie took a step back. It was still shocking to see Kelly’s face. She had only seen her once before, twenty-three years ago…and she looked very different then.

  The night they met was a Sunday, and a dark and stormy one at that. Margie had just had Connor, and that night was another struggle to chase the two older children around the house and into bed. Jeff was away on business, as he often was back in those days, trying to get things off the ground.

  Margie had finally gotten the kids to bed and hadn’t heard any little feet creeping downstairs for almost an hour when there was a knock at the door. She ran to answer it as quickly as she could; she didn’t need this person waking the kids and forcing her to start the bedtime ordeal all over again.

  When she opened the door, she saw a small, frightened looking young woman, her dark hair soaking wet. Margie was struck by the wild look in her eyes.

  “Yes? Can I help you?”

  The woman stared back at her but didn’t say a word.

  Margie leaned closer. “Are you okay?”

  “Is this…Jeff Clifton’s house?”

  “Yes, I’m Margie Clifton. Have we met before?”

  The woman shook her head. “No, we haven’t. Actually – this is a mistake. I have to go.”

  Margie watched as the girl turned and swiftly walked down the sidewalk.

  She ran after her. “Young lady! You can’t go out in this storm. Please come inside, I can help you call a cab or something.”

  The girl stopped and turned around. She looked tortured.

  “Please. I insist.”

  The girl finally agreed to come inside. Her clothes were completely drenched. When she was in the light, Margie thought that she looked like a high school student.

  “Hang on a second, I’ll grab you some dry clothes and make some tea. Then we can get you back home, okay?”

  The girl nodded. Margie went upstairs and heard Connor crying. Of course – it was time for him to get a bottle. She gathered some dry clothes and picked Connor up from his bassinet. When she got back to the front door, the girl was nowhere to be seen. Margie wondered if, in her sleep deprived state, she’d imagined her. But she quickly found her, sitting at the kitchen counter, staring off into space.

  “Here – you can change into these. There’s a bathroom right over there.”

  The girl accepted the clothes without a word and went to the bathroom. Margie prepared a bottle for Connor and was already feeding him by the time she returned.

  “You can set your wet things there – I can even throw them in the dryer once I finish feeding Connor if you’d like.”

  The girl shook her head and stared at Connor with wide eyes. “No, that’s okay.”

  “Are you – do you go to the school nearby? Fairview High?”

  “No. I’m a freshman. At Portland State.”

  “Oh, okay. I had some friends go there. You’re far from home.”

  The girl nodded and stood up as though she were going to leave. “Listen – thank you for everything, but I have to go.”

  “If you’re in some sort of trouble, I can help you.”

  She stood for a moment, biting her lip. “I’m pregnant. And – I’d like you to take the baby.”

  Margie’s jaw dropped. That certainly wasn’t what she expected. “Well – I mean, I just had a baby of my own. And I have two others. This is quite touching, but I’m sure that you can find…”

  “Jeff is the father. Jeff is the father of my baby. I haven’t told anyone.”

  If Margie wasn’t already sitting down, she would’ve fallen over. “Excuse me? What did you say?”

  “I didn’t know that he…was married. I just found out, and…”

  “You must have him confused with another Jeff,” said Margie, her voice rising. Jeff always told her that as his business became more successful, they would need to be careful of people trying to scam them. His voice flashed in her mind. “We can’t let people think that we’re suckers, right?”

  “I’m not confused,” the girl said softly. “He’s lying to you. You should leave him, you shouldn’t let him –”

  “My husband is not lying to me. We have been happily married for five years.”

  Connor started to cry. Margie popped him on her shoulder, trying for a burp.

  “I’m sorry,” the girl said before grabbing her wet clothes and running out the front door.

  The next morning, Margie wondered if she dreamt it all. She ran through the conversation in her head again and again. Was it possible that it was all in her head?

  But in the bathroom, she found a keychain. It was just a name – Kelly, on a miniature license plate, probably picked up on a road trip somewhere. It didn’t make any sense. Jeff was a good man – a great man. He was a wonderful father. Why would he do something as irresponsible as having an affair with an eighteen-year-old girl? It made no sense.

  Margie was afraid to even bring it up at risk of insulting him. The most she dared to do was tell him that a young woman named Kelly dropped by looking for him.

  “I don’t think I know a Kelly,” he said evenly. “Did she say what she wanted?”

  “No,” replied Margie. “Just stopped by to say hello.”

  She watched him carefully, and he didn’t react in the slightest. It was as though she’d told him that the mailman stopped by. She tucked the keychain away in her jewelry box, deciding that she’d think it over again later once she wasn’t as exhausted with taking care of the baby.

  Yet later never came. The kids were young and needy; Margie honestly forgot about the whole ordeal. Until recently.

  Margie reached into her pocket and pulled out the keychain, running her fingers over the letters. Was it some coincidence that fate brought her back to this island and reconnected her with this woman?

  A single drop of water hit Margie on the nose. She looked up, just as a bolt of lightning flashed across the sky.

  Chapter 5

  The sun was still rising as Morgan made her way to the bike rental place. All she had with her was a backpack – she wanted to travel light. She climbed the steps to the storefront and peered into the windows. It was dark and no one wa
s inside.

  What in the world? What kind of business isn’t open early in the morning?

  Leaning back, she looked at the store hours in the window. “They don’t open until nine!”

  She groaned. Maybe this was that island time thing people always laughed about. It wasn’t funny to her, though. She pulled out her phone and searched for a taxi company. There didn’t seem to be anything on San Juan Island – no taxi, no Uber, no nothing. How odd – it was like she’d gone back in time.

  It was more than nine miles to get to where she was going, and so far, nothing was going to plan. She missed the first ferry into Friday Harbor and had to wait an hour for the next one. Now her admittedly weak plan for transportation was sabotaged.

  It didn’t matter. Nothing would stop her. She put the address into her phone and started walking.

  The route wasn’t too bad at first, but the road quickly ran out of sidewalk. She found herself squeezing onto the shoulder of a two lane road where drivers went way too fast for her comfort. Maybe there was a bus? She stopped and checked her phone – nothing. At least nothing that Google could find for her.

  With a sigh, she tucked her phone into her back pocket and decided to retie her shoe before she kept going. From behind, she heard a car slowing down. The muscles in her legs and back tensed.

  “Do you need a ride?” called out a voice.

  Morgan turned around to see a small SUV with mountain bikes on top and four passengers stuffed inside. A ride would solve about half of her problems at the moment. But at the same time, she’d never hitchhiked before, and it didn’t seem like a great idea. On the other hand, these people looked young and nice – not at all like they’d kill a hitchhiker.

  “Where are you headed?” she asked.

  “We were going to check out Mount Finlayson. It’s just up the road.”

  “I’m headed to Cattle Point.”

  “Well that’s not far from where we’re going,” said the woman in the passenger seat. “Are you going for a hike? Would you like a ride there?”

  A hike. Ha. Morgan bit her lip. It would save her a lot of time and these people seemed normal. How different was it from Uber? Except that it was free.