The café door opened, and Helena appeared in the doorway. “Nate,” she said, clearly exasperated. “Don’t make the poor girl stand out there in this weather.” She propped the door open with her hip. “Come on in, Maddy. And welcome to Fade Island.”
The café interior was warm and inviting. There were a few small wooden tables scattered about, a plush sofa covered in a nubby, maroon fabric off to the left, and a coffee bar in the back. A menu board hanging behind the bar held only the chalky smears from a swipe of an eraser, but nevertheless, the smell of freshly brewed coffee punctuated the air.
After a few customary niceties of the recently reacquainted, I said, “Oh, I wanted to drop off my grocery order.” I pulled the folded form from my back pocket. “I’ll probably order online next time, but I really wanted to stop in, see the café, and say hello of course.”
Helena took the order. “I’m glad you decided to come in. I thought I saw you drive by yesterday in Adam’s old Lexus.”
Aha, so I was right about the car!
“Yeah, that was me,” I replied, feeling somewhat foolish that I’d been noticed and had not stopped in.
“How ’bout some coffee?” Nate chimed in. “It’ll warm you up before you go back out in this mess.”
Helena added, “I was about to make myself a cappuccino. But I can make you whatever you like. I even have soup today since we’ve had a lot of fishermen stopping by lately.”
“Just a cappuccino is fine,” I said as I sat down at one of the tables in the middle of the café.
Just as Nate was about to sit down in the chair across from me, the café door swung open. I fully expected it to be a fisherman or maybe Max. But no.
It was Adam who stepped in, clad in a dark brown field coat, jeans, and hiking boots. Very outdoorsy, very handsome, I noted. He looked especially good as he ran his fingers through his wet hair, and a trickle of rainwater trailed down his temple.
Adam caught me watching him and started to smile, but then Nate distracted him as he waved him over. “We were just getting caught up with Maddy,” Nate said.
Adam came over to the table, and Nate motioned to the chair across from me. “Here, have a seat.”
Adam glanced at the empty chair, and then, smirking, he said, “Actually Madeleine and I had a rather unexpected, but certainly not unpleasant, opportunity to get reacquainted last night. I think it’s safe to say we’re all
caught up
.” He looked my way and added, “Isn’t that right, Maddy.”
Nate looked perplexed, and I tried to explain lest he think the worst from Adam’s vague, innuendo-laden comment. “We sort of ran into each other yesterday evening.”
Adam coughed to stifle a laugh. I shot him a pointed look, but he pretended not to notice.
Nate, surely catching all this but being too much of a gentleman to comment on it, said to Adam, “OK, well, what brings you down to the café today, then?”
“I need to discuss something with you,” Adam said, suddenly serious and somber.
Helena was returning with the cappuccino, and she smiled and said “hi” to Adam.
Adam nodded to her, and Nate said, “Let’s give the girls some private time. We can talk in the back room.”
Helena set the steaming mug on the table and sat down. “What was that all about?”
I watched as Nate followed Adam through a door in the back of the café that I guessed led to the mysterious back room. “I don’t know. Um, Adam said he wanted to talk to Nate about something.”
“Hmm,” she said, “I overheard your conversation. So you ran into Adam last night, eh?”
“Uh, kind of,” I muttered. My cheeks warmed; surely I was blushing.
Helena didn’t ask for details, thank heavens, but her eyes did meet mine. She leaned forward and whispered conspiratorially, “You should go for it, Maddy.”
“I don’t think so,” I replied a little too quickly.
She drummed her perfectly manicured fingernails on the table, seemingly contemplating something. “I’ll tell you a secret, but you have to promise to keep it to yourself.”
What is it with this island and secrets
? I thought. Out loud, though, I said, “Sure, my lips are sealed.”
Keeping her voice low, she said, “Bet you never knew Adam wanted to ask you out back in high school.”
I almost spit out my cappuccino and then checked to make sure the back room door was definitely closed. “No way. He never even looked my way, and besides, he was dating Chelsea.”
“That girl was a bitch,” Helena snapped. “He would have been better off if he’d dumped her back then.” Not knowing how to respond, I just sat and let her go on. “Believe what you want, Maddy, but I know for a
fact
Adam had a thing for you. And I bet he still does.”
“How can you be so sure?”
She nodded to the back room. “Nate told me.”
“It doesn’t matter.” I sighed. “That was a long time ago, and I don’t get the impression he’s interested now. I mean, not really.”
Sure, Adam may have flirted last night, but Helena was making it sound like he’d once been
genuinely
interested in me.
She was about to say something else, but just then Adam and Nate emerged from the back room. As Adam headed toward our table, Helena got up and whispered to me, “I have your number on the order form. We’ll talk more later, OK?”
I nodded, and from back at the coffee bar, Nate called out, “Hey, babe, can you give me a hand over here?”
It was like they were both conspiring to give Adam and me alone time. Maybe they were. I took a sip of cappuccino as Adam slid into Helena’s vacated seat. “Hey,” he said, leaning back in his chair and throwing me off with a particularly captivating smile. “Sorry about bringing last night up in front of Nate.”
I wanted to play it cool, because, really, he didn’t look remorseful in the least.
But I couldn’t help but break into a smile of my own. Not when he looked this damn good—hair still damp, eyes a sea of blue. So I gave up on being mad and said, “No problem.”
Another dazzling smile and then he said, “It stopped raining.” A vague gesture to the window. “Do you want to take a walk with me?” Adam’s voice was liquid silk, his tone softly sweet but dangerously alluring.
Unable to resist, I said, “Yeah, sure.”
So much for my grand plan to stay away from him
. Hell, I was already caving. But after hearing Helena’s revelations, I wanted to spend more time with this man. I didn’t care to talk about the case, think about the case, nothing. I just wanted to enjoy this moment with a gorgeous guy who, just maybe, had a thing for me. Still.
We left the café—but not before saying our farewells to a smug-looking Helena and Nate.
Clever matchmakers
, I thought, smiling, as Adam and I walked side by side through town, passing the brightly colored buildings. “I love all the colors,” I told him. “I’ll have to come back next year when everything’s open.”
“You should,” Adam replied. “It’s a lot different in the summer.”
“What made you choose the art deco theme?” As soon as the words were out of my mouth, I winced. I’d promised Ami I’d not say anything to anyone about knowing Adam owned the island. I was sure she’d especially meant the owner himself.
But Adam just chuckled. “Ami?” he asked, quirking an eyebrow.
We reached the top of the hill that led to the dock parking lot, and I slowed. “Please don’t be mad at her. I was the one digging for information.”
Maybe that wasn’t the best thing to say, but I didn’t want Adam to be angry with Ami. Much to my relief, he said, “It’s fine, I’m not mad.” And he really looked OK with it. “Come on,” he added. “We just have a little further to go.”
I knew we were nearing the southern edge of the island, but I had no idea what our destination was. Adam led me to a narrow, gravel pathway that cut through some lowlying scrub grass and shrubbery. We walked to the end of the pathway, to a point where the land just appeared to drop off to the sea.
Cautiously, I peered forward. A set of uneven steps, crudely cut into the cliffs, weaved their way down to a narrow peninsula. The blanket of thick fog at the base made it impossible to see more than the outlines of the rocks below. “Where are we going?” I asked, turning to face Adam, as the wind, icy cold this close to the sea, whipped hair into my face.
Adam reached out and gently smoothed the wayward strands back, the warmth of his fingers a welcome contrast to the cool air.
“You’re cold, Maddy. Here, take this,” he said, shucking his coat off and holding it up for me to slip on.
“Thanks.” I slid my arms into the sleeves, and then Adam gently lifted my hair and secured the jacket around my shoulders.
“Better?” he asked, turning me to face him once more, while rolling the sleeves up over the bulkiness of my sweater.
“Mm-hmm,” I answered, breathing in the unique scent of Adam.
I could get used to this
.
He rubbed my very cold hands between his own very warm hands. “You ready, then?”
“Are we going down
there
?” I asked, my voice raising an octave as he began to lead me to the top of the precarious-looking steps.
“Don’t worry, I’ll keep you safe.” He squeezed my hand reassuringly. “It’s actually pretty cool down there when the weather is like this. I think you’ll like it.”
For some crazy reason, I
did
feel safe with Adam. Besides, I was curious to see what—besides the black, jagged edges of rocks peeking through the fog—was on the peninsula.
I stayed close to Adam as we began the steep descent, the misty air engulfing us. “What’s down here anyway?” I asked, my voice muted by the ever-increasing volume of the crashing waves.
“The lighthouse,” Adam replied.
Chapter 5
At the base of the steps, in the shadow of the towering cliffs, surge after surge of waves battered the sides of the rocky peninsula. Viewed through the cottony haze of fog, the landscape of oil-black rocks—some unusually large and oddly shaped—lent a mystical feel to the whole area.
“Pretty cool, eh?” Adam asked when he caught me, mouth open, ogling the place.
OK, so I was impressed. I snapped my mouth closed and playfully elbowed him for looking so smug. But then I agreed that the atmosphere down here was definitely something worth seeing.
Adam pointed to a tall, stark white structure off in the distance, and realizing what it was, I exclaimed, “The lighthouse! Can we get closer?”
“Absolutely,” he said, smiling, as he led the way to what appeared to be the least treacherous route to the lighthouse.
Down here the terrain was unforgiving, especially in the fog. One wrong move could easily result in a bad fall. But I took my time, allowing Adam to help me traverse the more slippery surfaces and climb across the largest of the boulders.
At last we reached a swath of hard-packed sand. “It’s mostly easy going from here,” Adam said, breaking the silence that had ensued as we’d navigated our way.
Now that the most difficult part of our little journey was behind us, conversation resumed. We shared stories about our college days. Although I had a few good tales of my own, Adam surprised me with several hilarious anecdotes of his own. I laughed a lot, both at the content of his stories and the animated way in which he told them. Unlike the mercurial man I’d dealt with last night, when he spoke of these obviously happy days at school, Adam was more like the guy I’d once longed to get to know.
But that changed when I asked him about his company. Adam grew reticent, giving me short, clipped answers that sounded almost rehearsed. He finally just said he didn’t want to think about work, so instead I told him about how I’d become a novelist.
“I’ve heard of your books,” Adam said. “But I must confess I’ve never read any of them. I’ll have to pick one up.”
Thrilled that he wanted to read something I’d written, I said, “I have a bunch of extra copies at the cottage. I could just give you one.”
“Only if you sign it,” Adam said, his tone teasing as he lightly bumped his shoulder into mine.
We continued, closer, closer to the lighthouse, until Adam stopped abruptly. He turned to me. “You write mystery novels, right?”
His face was unreadable, so I answered with an “uh-huh,” my voice cracking on the second syllable.
“And all of them are fiction?”
I nervously pushed the toe of my hiking boot into the wet sand and replied, “Yep, all fiction.”
Adam looked to be contemplating my answer as he took several steps backward, beckoning for me to follow. I took a few tentative steps toward him, my eyes lowering to the squishy prints my boots were making in the wet sand. Impressions that were there for a moment and then gone as if they’d never been there.
I kept walking, watching my prints appear and disappear, but then Adam halted. To avoid stumbling headfirst into him, I thrust my hand forward, grasping the thermal material of his shirt. His chest flexed beneath my hold as he caught my elbows and steadied me. I met his gaze, and he asked softly, “Ever consider writing a book about the mystery right in front of you?”
I swallowed hard, all the while wondering if he meant himself…or the Harbour Falls Mystery. Worse yet, was he onto me? Was he trying to get me to fess up? My pulse began to race, and I searched his stormy eyes. I couldn’t tell him the truth. The mystery was too intertwined with his life. Hell, the mystery
was
his life.
I glanced down at my hand, still fisted in his shirt—maybe more so, now—and did what I was learning to do best. I lied. “Um, no, I think I’ll stick to fiction.”
Adam was silent, but then he released his hold on my elbows and raised one hand to nudge my chin. “You sure, Maddy?”
I croaked out a shaky, “Yeah, I’m sure.”
Adam’s mouth turned up into what I hoped was a smile, not a grimace. “Good to hear,” he said as he gently pried my hand from his shirt. Embarrassed, I ran a quick, smoothing pass over the material.
The fog had dissipated slightly, and I could now see we’d reached the base of the lighthouse. The structure itself stood perched atop layers of black rock, with no visible way up. “How to we get up there?” I asked.
“Over here.” Adam led me to a hidden, sandy trail that curved like a serpent through the rocks, ending at the lighthouse door.
Thankfully, any lingering tension quickly passed as we focused on making our way up the short trail.
When we reached the looming structure, I stared straight up and, without thinking, gushed, “God, it’s so much bigger up close.”
Adam smirked and cocked his head to the side. My cheeks warmed, realizing how fraught with innuendo
that
statement had been. “I mean, it’s bigger than it looked, uh,”—I flailed a hand to the barely visible rocky ledge from which we’d descended— “from up there.”
“Yeah, that’s what I figured you meant,” Adam deadpanned. He was doing his best to not laugh at me, so I rolled my eyes at him. But, really, I was just happy we were back to playful banter.
I turned to the metal door on the side of the lighthouse, put my hand on the handle, and pulled, and pulled. “Hey, it’s locked.”
Nothing like stating the obvious there, Maddy
.
Adam pulled out a key ring from the pocket of his jeans. “Lucky for you, I have the only key,” he said smugly.