The Siren's Call (Last Chance Motel Book 3) (3 page)

“Once we make a plan, I’ll talk to Mike, okay?”

“Oh, Mary, would you? That would take so much pressure off me.”

“You worry about getting your financial affairs in order. I’ll worry about Jenny, but I won’t talk to Mike without your blessing. Between the two of us, we’ll get this family on the right path again.”

Eva leaned over the counter and kissed Mary’s cheek. She couldn’t have wished for a more understanding mother-in-law. So unlike her first one.

R
iver Egan was dangling his feet over the pier when Jenny paddled out of the mangroves and beached her kayak.

As she was getting out, River called, “Say there, little lady, can I borrow your kayak?”

“Sure. I’m finished with it,” waved Jenny, smiling.

River jumped into the water and waded over to Jenny. “Thanks. I don’t think we’ve been properly introduced. My name is River Egan,” he announced, holding out his hand. “We met earlier over a disagreement between you and my grandson.”

“You stood up for me. I remember. My name is Jenny.” She handed him her paddle and life jacket. “River is a funny name.”

“Really? I’ve always thought it to be a stupendous name.”

“What’s ‘stoopendus’ mean?”

“Grandiose.” River smiled. “When I was a young lad, I dreamed of sailing the Ohio River, and then down the Mississippi into the Gulf of Mexico, until I caught the flow of the Caribbean currents, and then just seeing where the winds and the currents took me . . . so you see my name fits.”

“I guess so,” shrugged Jenny.

“I hope you didn’t get into any trouble the other day.”

Jenny shook her head. “Nope. Nothing else was said, but it still makes me mad that dumb boy, err, I mean your grandson, lied and his mama believed him.”

“You’re right about that, Miss Jenny. You are a truly righteous person, young lady. So few left on Earth.”

“What does that mean?”

“It means you thirst for justice. I’m afraid you are going to have your pure heart broken for the world is a web of mischief.”

“You talk funny.”

“I do, indeed, child. I do indeed.” River pushed the kayak into the water and jumped in. “Goodbye, my good lady Themis. Tell my daughter by the pool that I’ll be back before nightfall if the gods allow.”

Jenny swiveled around and looked at the guests lounging around the pool. She didn’t see Mr. Egan’s daughter, but waved goodbye as he paddled off in her kayak.

By the time Jenny reached the pool, she had forgotten about the message she was supposed to relay. It seemed her mind just wandered from one thought to the next without her even realizing it. She went for a swim instead.

“Y
ou’ve got to do something. You’re going to have to call the police or the Coast Guard, I don’t know, but SOMEBODY!!!” complained River Egan’s daughter. Apparently, her father hadn’t been seen for hours.

Eva and Lillian listened sympathetically to the woman’s concerns after exchanging a furtive glance.

“Perhaps he went on a tour,” suggested Lillian, Eva’s night manager. “I remember showing him brochures about scuba diving and snorkeling tours. Or maybe he’s at Aussie Jack’s across the road.”

“He would have told me,” insisted the daughter.

Jenny came into the office from swimming and stood by the door, wrapped in a pool towel.

“I can call the hospitals if you like,” Lillian proposed, “but it’s too soon to call the police for a missing person.”

The woman pounded the desk. “Someone has got to do something and do it now!”

“Where was the last place you saw Mr. Egan?” Eva asked.

“He was sitting on the pier,” his daughter replied.

“Oh, golly!” gasped Jenny.

Everyone turned to look at her.

“Mr. Egan went kayaking and said he would be back before dark.”

Eva sighed with relief and turned to face Mr. Egan’s daughter. “See there? Nothing to worry about. Mr. Egan will be back soon. Just went for a nice kayak spin.”

“I demand that you send a boat out right now to look for my father and bring him back.” The woman then turned to Jenny. “And how do you know where my father went?”

“I saw Mr. Egan down by the pier, and he asked if he could borrow my kayak, and I said sure. I gave him the kayak that I was using. He called me Themis.”

“I know it was my father, then. Who else would call someone Themis? And, young lady, why didn’t you let me know he had gone?”

Jenny remembered that she had promised Mr. Egan that she would tell his daughter where he had gone.

“I . . . I don’t know. I went swimming and I forgot,” Jenny stammered, looking frightened and glancing back and forth between Mr. Egan’s daughter and Eva.

“Likely story,” accused the distraught daughter. “It seems your daughter has a habit of making things up.”

Eva bit her lip to help her resist suggesting that the woman pack up and leave the motel. She was the most tiresome guest who’d ever stayed at the Pink Flamingo. She turned to Lillian and said, “Can you watch the desk for me? I’ll take the boat out and look for Mr. Egan.”

“No problem,” replied Lillian, keeping track of Mr. Egan’s daughter out of the corner of her eye. “I’ll take care of everything here.”

Eva grabbed the keys for the motel’s boat and started out the door. “You want to come with me, Jenny?”

Jenny’s eyes widened and a look of near panic overtook her. She shook her head and darted behind the counter.

“Lillian, give Mary a call and ask her if she will keep Jenny until Mike gets off work, will you?”

“Never you mind, Eva. I’ll take care of her. Jenny likes to help me, don’t you, honey?” Lillian replied cheerfully, smiling at Jenny, who was hiding behind the counter now.

Mr. Egan’s daughter harrumphed. “I’ll be in my bungalow waiting for news of my father,” she announced as she stomped past Eva and out the door.

Eva rolled her eyes at her night manager on the way out. Lillian grinned back.

Hearing the door slam shut, Jenny jumped up. “Is she gone?”

“Eva or the guest?”

“Both!”

“Yes, Jenny, you are safe. They are both gone. Now tell me why you didn’t give Mr. Egan’s daughter the message that her father had gone kayaking. It would have saved her from worrying that her father had fallen into the bay and drowned.”

“I just forgot.”

“Next time a guest gives you a message, come to the front desk first thing, and we will make sure the message gets to the right person. Then you won’t have to worry about it. Does that sound like a plan?”

Jenny nodded.

“Why didn’t you go with Eva to look for Mr. Egan?”

“Didn’t want to. Don’t like boats.”

Lillian laughed. “Don’t like boats. Well, child, then you shouldn’t live in Florida, especially the Keys.

Seeing Jenny’s stricken face, Lillian immediately regretted her remark. “But then I guess boats are not for everyone. C’mon. Help me with these towels.”

Lillian pointed to several baskets of pool towels.

Jenny went over and began folding. “Lillian?”

“Yes?”

“What’s a Themis?”

“She’s a who, not a what. Where did you hear that name?”

“Mr. Egan said I was a Themis. Is that something bad?”

“Quite the contrary, it’s good. Themis was the Greek goddess of justice, so Mr. Egan was saying you’re a just person.”

“Is Themis real?”

“No, she was just a character in a tale from long ago, but the sentiment is real. And Mr. Egan is right, you do take after Themis.”

“So it’s okay that he called me Themis?”

Lillian helped Jenny fold the pool towels. “I think it is a lovely thing to call a person.”

Jenny smiled and heaved a big sigh. She felt better than she had in a long time.

“D
addy, am I in trouble?” Jenny asked.

“No, honey, you’re not in trouble, but I think we need to get a few things straight,” answered Mike. He sat down beside her on the dock in their backyard. “Actually, I think that perhaps you can help me. I’m confused.”

“What are you confused about, Daddy?”

“I was under the impression that you were kinda afraid of the ocean and boats, stuff like that, but today I hear that you went kayaking by yourself. Help me understand what I’m getting wrong here.”

Jenny shifted and looked down at her feet. Deciding to tell part of the truth, she swung around and pointed to at the Atlantic Ocean on the other side of the road in front of their house. “I’m afraid of that. That’s the water that killed Mommy.”

“How is that water different from over here in the bay?” asked Mike, his face lined with concern.

“This water isn’t scary. No big waves. Lots of animals live here, and the water is shallow with islands everywhere, and our manatee is here.”

Mike rubbed his chin. “So you consider the bay water to be different from the Atlantic Ocean?”

Jenny nodded.

“How come you’re not afraid of kayaking?”

“Mommy and I went kayaking all the time. I know how to do it. I do it just like she taught me. I stay close to the mangroves. I don’t paddle in water deeper than my waist, and I wear my life jacket.”

“And you are still afraid to ride in a boat?”

Jenny hung her head and wouldn’t look at her father.

Mike tried a different tactic. “Would you be willing to ride in a boat with me now?”

Jenny emphatically shook her head.

Mike knew he had pushed Jenny as far as he could on that subject, so he switched topics. “Jenny, I’m very serious when I say that I don’t want you kayaking alone. It bothers me that you didn’t tell anyone what you were doing and where you were going. What if you had tipped over and hit your head?”

“Mike!” called Eva, sticking her head out the kitchen window. “Can I see you right now?”

“I’m having my talk with Jenny.”

“I know, but I need to see you NOW!”

Mike glanced at Jenny. “Stay here until I get back.”

He got up and went into the house. “What?” he snapped, and was immediately sorry. Being a grouch was not the best way to start off a new marriage.

“I just wanted to warn you to be careful. We’ve been wanting Jenny to show less fear of the water. And now she has. It may not be the way we wanted, but she did get into a kayak and go on the water. We don’t want to stomp that initiative out of her.”

“I realize that, Eva, but it’s not safe to do what she did.”

“I know, but how old were you when you started going out on the water on your own?”

Mike frowned. “I was younger,” he admitted, “and I remember my mom yelling at me too.”

Eva shot Mike a quick smile. “See? Jenny’s not so different from her old man. I know you don’t want to be a helicopter parent. We want her to explore, but not give us a heart attack while doing so. She’s going in the right direction, Mike. It might be hard for you to see or accept it, but Jenny’s growing up. Go easy.”

Mike exhaled. “You’re right. Maybe she’s feeding off my fear because of what happened to Beth.” He gave Eva a quick kiss and went back outside.

Jenny was playing with her kitten, Snowball.

Mike went over and gave her a pat on her head. He looked out over the bay.

“Am I in trouble, Daddy?”

“No, baby, but next time you want to do anything in the bay, tell me, your grandmother, or Eva first. Okay?”

“Okay.”

“And if anyone tells you that they want to give you a message, tell them no. Tell them to call or go to the front office. Messages are not in your job description.”

“Okay.”

“Jenny, I mean it. I want you to remember that.”

“I will, Daddy.”

Mike sat down next to his daughter and playfully pulled on her ponytail. “Jenny, is there something on your mind? Is anything bothering you?”

“No, Daddy.”

“Are you sure?”

Jenny looked at Mike with guileless sincerity. “Yes.”

“You would tell me if something’s not right?”

Jenny giggled at an antic of Snowball’s and completely ignored Mike’s question.

Sensing that Jenny had passed her point of concentration for her age, Mike got up and went back into the kitchen to help with dinner.

Tomorrow he would call his mother and ask for advice about Jenny. He felt he was missing something important, but for the life of him, he couldn’t figure out what it was. Maybe his mom would point him in the right direction. With three different females in his life, Mike sometimes felt overwhelmed by the estrogen.

Jenny watched her dad walk back into the house. She couldn’t believe that she had just lied to her father. Jenny knew for certain she had sinned, since she didn’t tell him the whole truth. Yep, Jenny was sure she was going to go to hell, and her punishment would be drowning–just like her mother.

I
t was Saturday. On Saturdays, Jenny worked at the Pink Flamingo from eight till lunchtime and got paid fifteen dollars if she did a good job.

She was raking the beach sand into a pretty design when River Egan walked up to her.

“Hello.”

“Hello,” Jenny replied.

“Now I know why this beach always looks so nice.”

Jenny blushed, trying hard to hide her pleasure at his compliment.

River continued. “I understand my daughter caused a quite a ruckus yesterday and you were in the thick of it.”

Jenny kept raking while keeping her eyes on the sand.

“I just wanted to apologize to you.”

“I’m not allowed to take messages anymore. My daddy said so.”

“I see. Well, I realize that was partly my fault too. I’m sure you had more important things on your mind. I never should have asked you to do that.”

“Your daughter got real mad and yelled at Eva.”

“I know. I s’pose I caused a real mess.”

Jenny nodded.

“I just wanted to tell you I had a lovely time. I saw bald eagles, flamingos, ospreys, all sorts of fish, a shark, and a manta ray. So, thank you for loaning me your kayak.”

“It’s not mine. It belongs to the motel. You can take it out any time you want.”

“Nice to know that. Well, I can see I’m taking up your time. Just wanted to tell you about my adventure and apologize. I never meant to get you into trouble.”