Back To Us (Shore Secrets 3) (18 page)

Ten years. The same time frame when everything went south in his life. In his own, messed-up way, Dad had been trying to protect him. Ward braced his hands on the sink. Leaned his forehead against the maple cupboards as frustration surged through him. His one, epically stupid mistake had cost him Piper. Had cost him a scholarship and the chance to play. Now Ward realized it had cost him a decade with his sister, too.

“When he died, a lawyer told Mom, and she told me. But you didn’t reach out yourself, so I figured you still didn’t want to talk to me.”

Ward plowed a hand through his bedhead as he turned to face her. “Calling Dad disorganized would be the understatement of the century. There was a ton of stuff I couldn’t find. Since he didn’t know the heart attack was coming, he didn’t get his affairs in order. The lawyer wouldn’t tell me squat. I swear I never knew how to get a hold of you.”

“Well, I’m here now.”

“Why?” He shook his head. “I mean, I’m glad. Really glad. But why now?”

“We need money to record another demo for Yellow Snow. And a tricked-out tour bus. I’m tired of sleeping in crappy motels. So I want my share.”

“Of what?”

“The farm.”

It was so ridiculous, so out of left field, that Ward couldn’t help but laugh. “You mean the massive tax bill Dad blew off that I’m still paying, three years later?”

“He cut me out of his will. Gave you everything. I only want what’s fair,” she insisted with a stubborn jut to her chin.

The old man probably cut Lori out because she turned her back on him. Should he have held a grudge against his own daughter? That wasn’t for Ward to say. What he could say was how damn lucky she was not to inherit the money pit of a house, an insolvent farm and a stack of overdue bills that landed squarely on Ward’s shoulders.

“He buried me in debt. Ruined my own credit rating while I worked like a dog to get out from under it. There’s no great inheritance, Lori. But you’re more than welcome to stay here, in the house, whenever you want.”

“You don’t understand. I want what you get from selling the farm.”

Where the hell was she getting this idea? “It’s not for sale.”

“Don’t lie, Ward. And don’t be greedy. Word gets around in the Finger Lakes. I hear a lot of things, sitting in bars waiting for Yellow Snow to perform. I know all about your deal.”

The more she talked, the more confused he got. He could count the number of people who knew about his deal with Piper without using all of his fingers. Gray, Joel, Zane, Dawn, Ella and Casey. None of them would’ve said word one to anyone outside their circle. Ward trusted them with his life and, more to the point, with his secrets.

“Lori, I live here. I’ve built a business here that might actually take off if pieces keep falling into place. I’m not selling this land.”

“Oh, yes you are. Some of it, anyway. That wind farm is offering you a fat wad of cash. I hear you’re getting it in a month. I want my cut.”

So one of his guesses had been right. That shady broker did represent a wind farm. Weird that Earl Hickock wouldn’t tell him outright, and yet his sister had learned about it through the rumor mill. Nothing on these shores stayed secret for long.

He didn’t want to believe her. Sure, Ward believed she wanted the money. But it hurt too much to think that now they were finally face to face, Lori didn’t want to at least try to get back to being a real family. “This is why you came back? Not to see me? Just for a handout?”

Lori’s bottom lip quivered, like it used to when he caught her playing with one of his toys. That flashback tugged at his heartstrings. It was so hard to reconcile his memories of the tomboy who used to stick to him like glue with this demanding stranger.

Her mouth firmed. “Two birds, Ward. I’m seeing you. Making nicey-nice. And in a month I want to see my money.”

“I don’t know where you’re getting your information, but I didn’t agree to the deal. Nothing’s set in stone. Even if it was, I need that money to expand my business.” Inspiration hit. A way to compromise. “You want to come work in the distillery? I’ll pay you a decent wage. But that’s the only way you’re getting any cash out of me.”

“This isn’t a negotiation. Heck, I’m making it easy for you. Give me half of your wind farm deal. That’s all.” Lori’s eyes narrowed. She slapped her palms on the butcher block island between them. “Or I’ll go after half of everything—the house, the land and your business. I’ll contest the will, tie you up in courts and bleed you dry with lawyers’ fees. Be reasonable about this, and I’ll be out of your hair.”

Talk about a sucker punch straight to his gut. This was nothing like the reunion he’d imagined. No wonder Lori hadn’t really hugged him. She didn’t want him back in her life. Just half of the money he didn’t even have yet. And wasn’t planning on taking. Shit, this was complicated.

Ward tried one more time. “Lori, I don’t want you out of my hair. I want the chance to be your big brother again.”

“Pretty sure that would only complicate things. And I’m going on tour with Yellow Snow, anyway.”

“Don’t go. I can’t afford to give you any money, but I’m serious about giving you a job.”

“You can afford it if you take the deal. What do you care if there’s a windmill on the property? It won’t stop you from making booze. You get money, I get money, everyone wins.” Lori pulled a paper with the logo of a local motel out of her pocket and laid it in the middle of the island. “Here’s my number and my email. Let me know when you’re ready to pay me.”

Being held up like this pissed Ward off. A lot. But he still couldn’t just let her walk out the door. Especially not with such an ugly end to the conversation. “Stay. We can talk about this over coffee. I’ll even scramble up some eggs.”

“I’m sure you have to get to work.”

Yeah. But the ship had sailed on his morning plans the moment he opened the front door. Hell, the ship had sailed on
all
his plans the moment she made her out-of-the-blue demand. With a wry half smile, Ward said, “I own the place. I can go in late.”

“Look, I know you’re trying to be nice. But Rich told me not to get involved. In and out, quick and easy.”

Ahhhhh. Now it made more sense. Her boyfriend was behind this whole plan. Which meant there was still a chance he could get through to Lori. “If you don’t trust my coffee, I’ll buy you breakfast. Take you anyplace you want.”

Lori bit her lip. Did that crossed-foot-swaying thing again. And then she shook her head. “I have to go. Rich is waiting.”

“Here? Outside?” The conniving little shit. “Invite him along.”

“Just...call me when you have the money.” She turned, made it through the doorway before darting back to squeeze his forearm. “It really was good to see you all grown up, Ward.” And then Lori ran down the hall. The front door slammed a moment later.

Ward’s mind raced as he hurried to the living room window to catch a glimpse of Rich. If he took the wind farm deal, the town would cry foul. The amount he was charging Piper for the land wasn’t even a third as much as Hickock was offering. If he stuck with Piper, he wouldn’t be able to afford to pay off Lori. And if Lori made good on her threat to call in lawyers, he could lose the distillery. All because of some greedy asshole who drove a...beat-up truck with mud flaps covered with cartoon sexpots. Classy.

Really, what it came down to was that if he made his sister happy, he’d piss off the town and lose Piper. If he made Piper happy, he’d piss off his sister and lose everything else. There was no solution where Ward got to be happy, that was for damn sure. No way could he talk through it with any of his friends, either. Eighteen days left in his big experiment with Piper. Eighteen days before he had to give Hickock an answer.

The coffee machine buzzed. Ward wished it was half an hour ago, when his biggest problem was being tired as shit. Tired he could fix. This problem Lori had just dropped in his lap? No matter how much coffee he drank, Ward didn’t think he’d come up with a solution.

Chapter Fourteen

Piper waited by her car, shivering a little, as she watched Ella’s car turn into the Cosgrove’s parking lot. Right behind, Casey’s Jeep kicked up loose gravel as she came in fast, like always. Maybe a little faster than usual this morning. When you got an SOS group text pre-sunrise, it motivated you to step on the gas.

The sound of four doors slamming cracked through the pre-dawn stillness. Ella and Casey wore yoga pants and hoodies just like Piper. The I-should-be-wearing-pajamas outfit of choice of women everywhere. Piper sincerely hoped she’d make it home to change before the general store opened and anyone else saw her. “Hurry up,” she hollered. “I’m freezing. You can really tell October is only four days away.”

Casey grabbed Zane’s hand as they walked up to the sidewalk. “Why didn’t you just go inside?”

Like every horror-flick heroine who idiotically walks into the empty building and gets hacked to pieces by a chainsaw-wielding psycho? Not a chance. “It is five o’clock in the morning. I’m not using the hide-a-key to waltz into a big dark building by myself. Too spooky.”

“You’re a scaredy-cat,” taunted Ella in a singsong voice.

Oh, that was rich. Piper hip-bumped her as she and Gray drew even. “
I’m
a scaredy-cat? Who called me—shrieking at the top of her lungs—last March to come over and kill a spider in the bedroom closet?”

“You can die from a spider bite,” Ella said, her voice frosted with fear. “You can’t die from the dark.”

“You can die from what hides in the dark. With a mask on. And tools to carve you up.” Piper had a love/hate relationship with horror movies. She loved watching them. Adored jumping so high that her popcorn flew in the air. But she hated the inevitable nightmares that were a side effect.

“Can we please not talk about dying? Not when we don’t have a clue why Joel texted us all to show up ASAP for an emergency?”

Whoops. “Sorry, Casey. I think my sensitivity chip is still asleep.”

“I think my everything is still asleep,” Ella said with a yawn.

Zane hugged her tightly. “Look, I’m sure everything is fine. If anyone was dying, he’d have told us to go to the hospital, right?”

“That’s still talking about dying. Geez, you’re bad at following directions,” Casey grumbled. She pulled the key out of a hideous ceramic frog on the porch step and unlocked the door.

“What can I say? I’m used to being in charge.” He flashed her an unrepentant smile as they all tromped inside.

Piper lunged for the lights. The slow buzz came first, then slowly they flickered to life. Piper exhaled and shook off her jitters. Until a hand landed on her shoulder a split second later. Its weight was the only thing that kept her from leaping into the air.

“Hey, beautiful.” Ward’s voice was morning-deep and scratchy. It made Piper think of rumpled sheets and dark caresses. Which didn’t exactly slow down her racing heart.

“So much for our one day to sleep in a little, huh?”

“Sleep is overrated. Why would I want to sleep when I could have my arms around you?” His actions followed suit as he pressed up close behind her.

“Not a bad way to wake up,” Piper agreed. It certainly made the early hour more bearable. If by bearable what she really meant was fantastically awesome. Cuddling up to Ward, even vertically and fully clothed, was better than just about anything. Better than when she booked the first-ever rehearsal dinner at the winery. Better even than the pumps she’d snared at a sample sale in Manhattan for eighty-five percent markdown.

“Or, instead of all of us jumping out of bed at the crack of ass so you can cop a feel, you guys could just have sex like the rest of us.” Gray hotfooted it back to the kitchen. Over his shoulder, he yelled, “What the hell are you waiting for, anyway?”

With an apologetic smile, Ella said, “Sorry. He’s really not a morning person.”

Zane stroked his chin as if contemplating how to solve a deep existential problem. “But he does raise an excellent question about Piper and Ward. One we’ve all discussed.”

“You’re all talking about our sex life?” That was...embarrassing.

“No. We’re talking about the lack of sex in your life,” Casey corrected.

That was...much
more
embarrassing. “Surely you have better things to talk about.” While Ward walked them forward in tandem step, Piper frantically tried to come up with a safer conversation topic. “Gray’s mom moving into Ella’s old rooms at Mayhew Manor, for example.”

“Old news.” Gray clattered pans together, doing God knows what in the kitchen. “She’s been there three weeks and couldn’t be happier.”

“And we couldn’t be happier living in my family’s house. See?” Ella spread her hands wide with an equally wide grin. “Nothing to discuss except why you and Ward aren’t doing the deed yet.”

Zane gave his chin another overly dramatic stroke. “You’ve only got...how many days left?”

“Fifteen.” Ward splayed his hand across her tummy, cinching Piper even tighter against him.

Hmm. She hadn’t realized their time was half over. Sure, they’d hit some bumps. Every couple did. But overall, dating Ward was working out. Soon, she’d get the land needed for her port line. And, it looked more and more like she’d get the man of her dreams, too. There was no downside.

Except, of course, for that niggling doubt planted by her parents.

“Yeah. Only fifteen days.” Zane wagged an accusatory finger at them. “Shouldn’t you be keeping her in a perpetual coma of sexual bliss by now? In order for this whole experiment to work?”

In a gruff warning tone Ward said, “This isn’t one of your classes, Professor. You don’t get to grade me.”

“Hang on, I did the math. The numbers speak for themselves. If you amortize over the past ten years all the sex you
should
have been having with Piper if you guys hadn’t broken up, and divide it by all the sex you
could
have been having over the past fifteen days, it still doesn’t add up to the number of times I’ve put a perma-grin on Casey’s face. You know, for comparison.” Zane looked ridiculously pleased with himself as everyone burst into laughter. They were laughing so hard that they didn’t hear Joel and Dawn until the two appeared at the edge of the circle.

Joel folded his arms over his chest. “I tell you we’ve got an emergency on our hands and this is your response? To talk about your sex life?”

Gray snorted. “Ward and Piper not having sex is rapidly approaching a state of emergency.”

“We were only masking our worry with humor.” Casey hurried over to her stepmother and grabbed her hand. “Seriously, what’s going on with you guys? Why the 911? Because I really am worried.”

“Everything’s fine,” Joel said.

“You should be worried,” Dawn blurted out at the same time. “We’ve got a huge problem.”

Gray made a time-out sign with his hands. Or at least Piper assumed it meant time out. All her years cheerleading, she could never keep straight which was safe, out, or time out. “One at a time. Dawn, why don’t you help me get the other flavors of coffee started while Joel gives us the lowdown?”

Masterful handling by Gray. Dawn was clearly in a tizzy. Giving her something to do with her hands would calm her down. Joel, on the other hand, was the ultimate calm-in-a-crisis guy. Facing down all those bullets and who knows what else in his former career probably gave him that alert but unruffled veneer.

Joel’s gaze skittered around the loose circle. “Maybe you should all sit down.”

Oddly ominous. “That doesn’t mesh with your ‘everything’s fine’ comment,” Piper said. “Especially since almost nothing is fine that requires getting up this early in the morning.”

“Spit it out,” Ward ordered.

“The police called. They found our ex-City Planner and ex-Treasurer.”

“Found?” Ward dropped his arms and stepped forward, his entire body as taut as a retriever scenting a duck. “Like they’re closing in, about to drop the net on those idiot thieves?”

Joel shook his head. “Even better. They’re not just found, but arrested.”

Piper could hardly believe it. The same shock she felt was mirrored on all her friends’ faces. Larry Paulson and Pam Flickinger had disappeared from Seneca Lake back in May, along with every cent in the town’s bank account. As mayor, Dawn got vague updates from the police and the FBI. After all these months, a lot of people had given up on ever seeing Pam, Larry, or the money ever again.

“Ooh—I’m imagining Pam in an orange jumpsuit. She won’t be able to get her quarterly Botox injections in prison, that’s for sure.” Casey rubbed her hands together with glee.

“Where did they find them?” Gray asked.

“Vegas, of all places.”

Piper sucked in a breath. “Oh, no—Las Vegas? Did they gamble away all of our funds?”

“They may be criminally stupid, but they’re not that stupid. That’s the rest of the good news. The FBI recovered the money, too. Traced it straight to a bank account in the name of Larry’s brother. Who, apparently, knew nothing about it. Turns out Larry and Pam were trying to stay under the radar, so they only spent a couple thousand.”

Applause and whooping broke out. Then everyone surged forward to hug Dawn. She’d shouldered a ridiculous amount of blame for not sensing that those two were up to no good. Almost got booted from office. And then pulled the entire town back together by sheer force of will and her sunny personality. It had hurt them all to watch her struggle.

Dawn banged a ladle on the stove to get them to quiet down. “I have to thank you all. When I thought about stepping down as mayor, you convinced me to stick it out. More importantly, you convinced me that I could still make a difference. The way you believed in me made me believe in myself.”

“You’ve have done the same for every single one of us,” Ward stated.

“Thank you, Ward. The sentiment is appreciated, but I’m also quite sure you’re just trying to get me to stop the speechifying before the waterworks kick in on all the girls.”

His teeth flashed bright amid his dark beard. “You always did see right through me.”

Ward truly hated it when any of them cried. To his credit, though, it never ran him off. He bitched, moaned, cajoled and teased them into stopping, all while staying right by their side. All of a sudden, Piper realized how extraordinary that made him. How much patience and care it must’ve taken for a sixteen-year-old boy to hang with his friends when they were a total mess. How he had never taken the easy way out and disappeared until the tears dried up. It said so much about the sort of man he was, and the sort of husband he could be.

Piper
then
realized she’d forgotten to breathe. Husband? Really? After barely being able to tolerate each other’s company for the past three years without a mediator. After only dating for fifteen days. She was really going to go straight from not being at all sure if she could date him for a month to leaping into daydreams about white dresses and happily-ever-after with Ward?

Sure, they’d been best friends forever. Yes, she knew him inside, out, and every other which way. But it still felt like a leap. A leap that should’ve been planned and strategized and talked through. Not something her subconscious just belly-flopped into the front of her mind.

“To Ward’s great discomfort, I’m going to keep going. Because you all are my family.” With tears just glistening at the corners of her eyes, Dawn smoothed a hand over Gray’s head, and then Zane’s. “Some newer additions than others. Not a whit less dear, because you’re both an integral part of this unit now. None of us actually connected by blood. But the way we all look after and love each other...well, that’s family to me.”

Ward leaned over the counter, ripped off a hank of paper towels and wordlessly handed one to each of the sniffling women. His actions were often louder than his words. Piper was just fine with that. Most of the time.

Moving to Dawn’s side, Joel put his arm around her waist. “And because you’re our family, we don’t want to keep secrets from you. But we don’t want you to take this next piece of good news the wrong way.”

“You really are full of the ominous declarations this morning,” Piper noted. “Gray, you’re his boss—make him stop.”

Gray lifted his hands, palms out. “All I do is sign his checks. Joel’s a brilliant cooking island unto himself.”

“How many times do I have to tell you that I’m a chef, not a cook?”

“Until I stop getting a kick out of watching you bristle like a hedgehog.”

“Stop baiting the man,” Dawn ordered with a stern glare down her nose. “We’ve got a lot to get through and very little time.”

“Are you kidding? With the money found, you can take a break. Stop worrying.” Casey drew the back of her hand across her forehead with an overly dramatic swoop. “Take a vacation, even!”

Dawn smiled mysteriously. “You’re getting warmer.”

“The FBI would like us to go to Vegas.”

“Great.” Zane’s face lit up. “Are they going to fly you out there on one of their private spook jets?”

“Is there such a thing?”

Zane laid a finger aside his nose. “That’s a much longer discussion for another time. Probably classified. No, definitely classified. I just won’t tell you my source. That’ll be safer all the way round.”

The coffeepots beeped, one after the other. Joel lined up all the mugs for Dawn to start pouring. “No private plane. Sorry to disappoint, Zane.”

“Ah, well. There’s always another time.”

“I certainly hope not!” Dawn pushed two kinds of milk, three kinds of sugar and a handful of spoons to the middle of the counter.

“The FBI aren’t insisting, but it’s already complicated enough with how many state lines Larry and Pam crossed, which is why the New York State Police aren’t the only ones involved. As the official representative for our town, it’d speed things up for the indictment if Dawn goes out there.”

“Great. Indict away.” Casey made a shooing motion with her hands. “Far, far away.”

“And since it is Vegas...while we’re out there, we’re getting married.”

“We’re eloping,” Dawn blurted out right on top of him.

For a moment there was silence. Nothing but the scrape of Ella’s spoon around her favorite yellow mug with pink polka dots. Then she dropped it to the counter with a clatter. “What?”