Sunny Says (11 page)

He squirmed slightly. “We can
discuss that later.”

“I think we should discuss it
now.”

He rubbed his fingers across his
mouth so vigorously that she thought he might take the skin off. “You can, on
one condition.”

She raised her eyebrows. “And
that is?”

“That I go with you.”

She considered his proposal for
a moment. Even if he had nixed the gang story, she knew that the position
offered would be great experience and would look good on her resume. Being able
to continue her investigation was icing on the cake, but the independent streak
in her was indignant at his suggestion that he be included. Another part of her
was relieved that he’d be around. Not only could she learn from his mentorship,
but her next interview was scheduled with a group from the Cut, an area where
most of the dives made El Gallo Rojo seem like Maxim’s.

“All right. I’ll try it for a
month or two. But I won’t sign a contract.”

“Fair enough. And you’ll forget
about moving?”

“For the moment.”

“Good,” he said, visibly
pleased. “Now, will you have dinner with me tonight?”

“Estella and I were going to a
movie.”

“I’ll take you both to dinner, then
we can go to the movie together.” He checked his watch. “If you’ll excuse me,
Foster and I have a tee time at the country club in about an hour. We’re
courting a couple of potential advertisers.”

“I wouldn’t count on it.”

He wrinkled his brow. “Why not?”

“Scattered thunderstorms in the
early afternoon. Being on a golf course when there’s lightning is dangerous.”

“The paper didn’t mention
thunderstorms.”

She sighed. “The paper is wrong.
Trust me.”

He looked skeptical. “Your ear
again?”

“My ear and a funny little
squiggle up my back. After twenty-two years, I’ve learned to interpret all the
signals.”

“Twenty-two? I thought you were
twenty-six.”

“I am. I didn’t get struck by
lightning until I was four.”

He frowned. “Struck by
lightning? You want to run that by me again?”

“When I was four years old, my
older brother, my cousin, and I were playing outside one summer afternoon. A
sudden thunderstorm hit, and we took shelter under a huge oak tree near our
barn. A bolt of lightning struck the tree and split it in half. My brother Neil
was only dazed, but I was unconscious for five days, and Lib was catatonic for
two.”

“Are you sure the lightning hit
you? Maybe a falling limb knocked you out.”

“Nope. The soles on all our
sneakers were melted and the metal snaps on Neil’s shirt were fused shut. He
still has faint scars on his chest from the burn. They’re about the size of a
pencil eraser, here, here, and here,” she said, pointing a row along her own
chest. “My grandmother was the first one to notice that after the incident I
could predict the weather. She said it was a gift.”

She could tell from his
expression that he wasn’t buying her story, which was why she usually kept it
to herself. She wished that she hadn’t told him.

“And I suppose,” he said
cynically, “that your brother can predict the weather as well?”

“No,” she said, clamping her
mouth shut and refusing to say more.

He smiled indulgently. “Sweetheart,
don’t ever tell the hard cases at the network about your signals and being
struck by lightning. They’ll think you’re nuts.” He tossed his napkin on the
table and stood.

“You don’t believe me, do you?
You’re still planning to play golf.”

He leaned over, kissed her nose,
and smiled. “I’ll take my chances.”

Kale, Foster, and their
prospective advertisers sat in the clubhouse and watched it rain. The first
roll of thunder had boomed when they were on the green of the fourth hole, and
they’d had to run for it.

“She predicted scattered
thunderstorms,” Kale said to no one in particular.

“Who? Sunny?” Foster asked. When
Kale nodded, he said, “Why didn’t you tell us?”

“You don’t believe that hogwash
Sunny spouts, do you?”

“Are you talking about Sunny
Larkin, the KRIP weather forecaster?” asked George Withers, one of the
foursome. “Fine job she does. Missed her last night. I always watch her on the
ten o’clock
news. Was
she sick?”

“No,” Kale said. “She was . . .
on another assignment.”

“Damned shame,” George said. “If
she’d been on, we’d have been warned and could have picked another tee time to
miss this frog strangler.”

“Oh, I don’t know,” Kale said. “She
must have made a lucky guess. Afternoon thunderstorms are common here this time
of year.”

“I don’t think Sunny has ever
been wrong,” said Harvey Levine, the other member of their group. “My son got
interested in weather forecasting and did a term paper on it last year. As part
of his research, he checked Sunny’s predictions against the Weather Service’s
for the whole semester. The majority of the time, Sunny and the service agreed,
but when they didn’t, she was always right. She’s a bright little lady.”

“She’s taking over Monday night
as news anchor,” Kale said. Foster’s brows rose in surprise but he didn’t comment.

“That so? Getting rid of that
Eubanks fellow who acts like a goosed rabbit?” George asked.

“He’s focusing on other duties
behind the camera,” Kale told him, trying to keep a straight face.

“Glad to hear that. Glad to hear
about Sunny Larkin too. She did a fine job with that story about the bank
robbery. Gutsy gal. Think you might have you a winner there. That being the
case, I expect I can swing some of my company’s advertising budget your way. How
about you, Harv?”

*    *    *

“Rats!” Sunny slammed down the
receiver. “The phone’s on the fritz again. What good is the darned thing if it
works only half the time?”

“I reported it for the third
time yesterday,” Estella said. “They promised to send someone out Monday to
check it, but I think they’re laying new cable or something. Anyway, that was
their excuse for intermittent service.”

“I wanted to find out the
screening times for the movie, and I can’t find the newspaper.”

“I think Kale took it with him.”

Sunny laughed. “Good. He can
read it while he watches the rain at the golf course. Is your cell phone handy?
Mine’s upstairs charging.”

“I think I left it in the
bathroom. Didn’t you warn Kale it was going to rain?”

“Sure I warned him. But Mr.
Smarty Pants didn’t believe me. Sometimes he can be so hard-nosed. I wonder if
I’ve made a mistake accepting the anchor position and agreeing to stay here
under the same roof with him.” She plopped down on the den sofa next to where
Estella sat stretched out in a burgundy leather recliner. “Sometimes I want to
pinch his head off, and other times I’m very drawn to him. He’s a powerfully
sexy man. Being around him is scary.”

“Having the anchor spot is a big
break for you. And as for the other, why don’t you let nature take its course?”
Estella grinned. “From what I saw last night, your natures are moving right
along.”

Sunny felt her face grow pink.
She kept her eyes down, picking at a thread in the welting of the
flame-stitched couch. “He’d had too much to drink.”

“Maybe so, but it seems to me
that having a snootful only let down his inhibitions. The man has the hots for
you in a bad way, sweetie.”

“Oh, I know he has the hots for
me. But that’s the problem. I don’t want to be simply a handy access for his
temporary urges. I’m not into recreational sex.”

Estella looked at her sharply. “Sunny,
are you falling in love with him?”

“I don’t know. That would be the
pits, wouldn’t it? I don’t think I’ve ever really been in love. What does it
feel like?”

Estella smiled. “Different ways
at different times. But in the beginning, he’s on your mind constantly, like an
obsession. And there’s a sweet ache here.” She patted her chest, then grinned. “And
another fevered one . . . lower down.”

“Sounds like a virus.”

“May be.” She rubbed her hand
across the mound of her pregnancy. “It sure made my belly swell.”

Sunny laughed. “I don’t think I’m
ready for that yet, but I’m afraid I have all the other symptoms. Maybe I need
to take a tonic or something, have a good purge, as my grandmother used to say,
because falling in love with Kale Hoaglin would be the worst thing I’ve ever
done. Nothing could come of a relationship with him except a bushel of
heartache. In another couple of months our paths will be going in different
directions, and I’ll probably never see him again except on television.”

“Oh, honey, love is such a
special thing, and it comes along so seldom that you can’t toss it aside
without giving it a chance. If it’s real and grows strong, people have a way of
working out logistics. Look at Ed and me. I don’t see him for long periods of time,
but when I think of the alternative, I wouldn’t have it any other way.”

“Just listen to us,” Sunny said,
jumping up. “We sound like something out of’Dear Abby.’ How about a lemonade?”

*    *    *

That evening Sunny and Kale
ended up alone again for dinner. Sunny pushed most of her fish around on her
plate instead of eating it, which was unusual for her, since she ordinarily had
a voracious appetite. Odd, too, since the informal restaurant, a floating barge
permanently docked at the T-Head, was one of her favorite places to eat. She
squirmed in her chair.

She wished Estella hadn’t begged
off. Her friend had used her pregnancy as an excuse again, saying that her
stomach preferred a simple cup of yogurt to catfish and that her feet swelled
just thinking about sitting for two hours at a movie. Sunny sighed.

“Something wrong?” Kale asked. “You’ve
been very quiet tonight.”

“I don’t know exactly. I feel
restless. Peculiar.”

“Weather signals? Should we have
brought an umbrella?”

She glanced up at him sharply,
searching for some sign of ridicule in his expression but finding instead that
his mien was pleasant and open. “No, the only thing unusual in the weather is a
tropical depression in the Gulf, but it will go inland near
New Orleans
without forming into a hurricane.”

“Are you sure?”

“Positive. During hurricane
season, people around here get very antsy when storms start heading into the
Gulf. This one will hit land Tuesday night.”

He signed the check and took a
last sip of coffee. “How far ahead can you accurately predict the weather?”

“I can be fairly certain about a
week before and positive for three days. Does this mean that you’re beginning
to believe me?”

He smiled. “Let’s say I’ve
decided to keep an open mind. Especially since you’re the one responsible for
Foster and my signing up two big advertising accounts. Until George Withers and
Harvey Levine started raving about you this afternoon, I didn’t realize that
you’re such a local celebrity. You’re well respected in Corpus.”

“Does that surprise you?” she
asked, mildly affronted.

“Everything about you surprises
me, Sunny. Particularly the way I feel about you.”

“Oh?” She widened her eyes,
waiting for him to elaborate.

“We’ll discuss it later. In
detail.” He smiled. “Ready?”

They walked outside into the
deepening shadows of the balmy evening. The restless feeling Sunny had felt
earlier had escalated to an uneasiness that was at variance with the quiet,
winding-down mood of their surroundings. Palm trees rustled in the bay breeze;
boats were being moored in their slips; thin traffic moved at a lazy pace. A
few sea gulls, crying overhead, were making their last passes of the day before
settling for the night.

“I’m looking forward to the
movie,” Kale said, his hand at her back steering her toward the parking lot. “I
can’t remember when I’ve seen a film without having to read English subtitles.”

He stopped and looked around, a
puzzled look on his face. “I could have sworn that this is where we parked the
car.”

“Me too. Do you suppose it’s one
row over?”

They searched the entire lot.
The white Cadillac was gone.

“Damn!” Kale said, scowling and
raking his fingers through his hair. “I can’t believe we’ve been ripped off. “
He pulled out his phone. “I’m calling the cops.”

Sunny was as angry and dismayed
as Kale was. He’d loved Ravinia’s sporty Cadillac, and it infuriated her to
think that some lowlife had swiped it while they ate.

A few minutes later  a patrol
car arrived. The officer, a no-nonsense veteran, took down the information on
the car. “A vehicle like this,” he said, tapping his notebook with his pencil, “is
a big temptation for thieves, but it’s also very recognizable. I’ll put out a
report right away. Maybe we can locate it before any serious damage is done.”