3 Mango Bay (11 page)

CHAPTER THIRTY ONE

Lucy was driving and I was in the passenger seat. We were headed down McCall Road, which was good. It meant she
wasn't
taking me straight back to Serenity Cove. She was taking me the long way. We'd get to spend more time together.

“
So Walker, how do you know Buck Waverly? And how did you get him to ask my mom out?”

I smiled. “You probably won't believe this, but here goes. Earlier today I was helping Buck do a live interview with Mary Hart on Entertainment Tonight, and . . .”

“Wait. Mary Hart? Entertainment Tonight? You and Buck were on TV today?”

“
No, Buck was on TV, not me. I was just there to help set things up.

“
So anyway, after the Entertainment Tonight thing, Buck and I started talking, and he asked if I could get your mom to go to dinner with him.

“
So I called her and she said 'yes', but only if you and I went along.”

Lucy looked at me and shook her head. “Walker, I've only known you for three days. In that time, I've seen you save someone's life, I've caught you with a naked woman on your couch, and you set my mom up on a date with a movie star.

“All this in just three days. Is this normal for you?”

I thought about it and she was right. A lot had happened in three short days.

I was about to answer her question, but before I could, she said, “So mom called and told me about the girl in your motorhome this morning. She said you were a hero last night. You rescued that woman after someone drugged her drink.

“
You rescuing damsels in distress, too? Do they always end up at your place half dressed?”

I made sure Lucy was finished talking before I answered. I wanted to give her time to change the subject, maybe give me an escape route. But it didn't happen.

So I answered. “No, it's not every day that I rescue damsels in distress. And when I do, they usually don't end up naked.”

Lucy shook her head. “So Walker, who is this woman, and why did she call
you,
of all people?”

I hesitated for a moment, then said, “She's my realtor. And she's a friend. I owed her – she rescued me once, probably saved my life.

“She called me because she knew I'd come. And she knew I'd protect her.

“
If
you
called me, I'd do the same for you. I'd even let you sleep in my motorhome. Even let you get half naked if you wanted to.”

Lucy laughed. “Hold on there, cowboy. You're getting way ahead of yourself. I won't be getting half naked in your motorhome any time soon.”

Lucy took a right, and started heading back toward Serenity Cove.

“
Walker, I'm not mad at you. I just don't know if I can trust you. Too many things happen when you're around.”

I nodded. “Lucy, it's not usually like this.  Most of the time I live a pretty boring life.”

Little did I know, how much that was about to change.

We arrived back at Serenity Cove a few minutes later and Lucy drove to my motorhome. Looking next door at her mother's trailer, she said, “That's interesting. Mom's minivan is not there. They're not back yet.”

I smiled. “Maybe they're down at Buck's. Maybe they parked down there.”

Lucy looked at me. “You don't think my mom would go over there do you? God help her if she did.”

I shrugged. “They're both adults. They can do whatever they want to.”

She shook her head. “No they can't. Not on the first date. Not my mom.
I'm going down there to see.”

Lucy put her 4Runner in gear, and drove slowly toward Buck's bus. As we got closer we could see there were no lights on inside, and the minivan wasn't parked in the driveway.

“Walker, this is starting to bother me. They should be back by now. It's only a five minute drive from the restaurant and it's been almost a half hour. So where are they?”

I didn't say anything, so we sat in silence for a few moments. Listening to the quiet of Serenity Cove.

Lucy kept glancing up at her rear view mirror, hoping to see Polly's minivan heading in our direction. After what seemed like five minutes, I spoke up. “Maybe they drove to the beach. It's nice out there after dark.”

Lucy looked at me hard, shook her head, then put the car in gear. We were moving again, following the loop through Serenity Cove which would take us back to the entrance.

When we reached the street, Lucy stopped and put the vehicle in park. “Okay. So they're not here. What should we do next?”

“
How about this,” I suggested. “Call your mom, ask her where she is.”

“
No, I can't do that. I don't want her to think I'm checking up on her.”

“
But you
are
checking up on her. “

“
I know, but I don't want her to know. So what else do suggest?”

Before I answered, I thought it through. Lucy was worried something had happened to her mom. If I suggested that they had probably just stopped somewhere, it wouldn't settle anything.

“Let's drive back to the restaurant and make sure they're not broken down somewhere between here and there. If we don't find them, we'll come back here and wait until they show up.”

Lucy nodded, “Right, maybe they broke down. We'll go check.”

She put the 4Runner in gear and we took off back toward the restaurant. While she drove, I checked every driveway and parking lot looking for her mom's minivan.

A lot of older people in Englewood drive minivans, and there were plenty of them parked in the driveways of the homes we passed, but none of them were Polly's.

When we got to the restaurant, Lucy pulled into the parking lot. There were more cars now, but Polly's minivan wasn't one of them.

“
They're not here. Now what?”

I shook my head. “Look, if she were in trouble, she would have called you by now. Or Buck would have called me. Both of them have phones. They would call us if there was a problem.

“So let's do this. We'll go back to Serenity Cove and wait for them to show up. They may already be back there for all we know.”

Lucy said nothing. She backed out of the lot and drove slowly back to Serenity Cove. We both kept our eyes peeled for Polly's minivan, but didn't see it along the way.

Back at Serenity Cove, Lucy pulled up to her mom's trailer. The minivan wasn't there. It wasn't at Buck's bus either. Lucy drove the road that circled through Serenity Cove, making sure that they hadn't returned while we were out looking for them.

On our second loop through the park, Lucy pulled into my driveway.

She turned to me and said, “Okay, sport. We're going to wait for them here.”

I shook my head, “Not out here. It'll look suspicious. Let's go inside. I'll introduce you to Bob.”

Without waiting for an answer, I hopped out and headed toward my motorhome.

As I unlocked the front door, I heard Lucy open the driver's door and step out. “Who's Bob?”

I turned. “He's my cat. I told you about him yesterday. You'll like him.”

Lucy reluctantly walked over and followed me inside. I turned on the lights and pointed at the couch, “Make yourself comfortable. You want anything to drink?”

“No, I'm fine. I'm not staying long. Just until mom shows up.”

I shrugged. “Fine with me. But I'm going to have a glass of wine. Are you sure you don't want any?”

Lucy stifled a yawn. “No. No wine for me. It'd put me to sleep.”

In the kitchen, I located the bottle of Merlot that I had purchased at Publix and poured myself a glass.  While I was putting the cork back in the bottle, Mango Bob showed up. He looked up at me, eyes blinking. Apparently, he had just woken up.

He rubbed up against my ankles, a sign that he wanted to be petted. I bent over and stroked his back and he purred loudly. He turned his head so I could rub his ears, and as he did he noticed Lucy sitting on the couch.

She had been watching us silently. Bob took a few tentative steps in her direction. Then stopped and looked back at me.

“It's alright Bob. She won't hurt you.”

Bob said, “Murrph?”

Then he walked over to Lucy and stopped at her feet. He sniffed her shoes, then hopped up onto the couch beside her.

Lucy smiled and began stroking Bob's back. “What's the deal with his tail? It seems to be missing.”

I nodded. “He's an American Bobtail. They all have short stubby tails like that. Makes them look like bobcats.”

Bob could tell we were talking about him. He rewarded us by twitching his little stump of a tail each time we said his name.

Lucy noticed. “That's cute. Each time you say his name, he moves his tail.”

I nodded. “You try it. See if he does it for you.”

She smiled. “Bob. Do you know your name?”

He did. He twitched his tail as soon as she said his name.

She tried again. “Bob, you're a good kitty.”

Again, he twitched his tail.

I smiled. “Lucy, pat your hand on your lap three times.”

She looked at me curiously.

“Just do it. See what Bob does.”

She shrugged, then patted her lap.

Bob knew what it meant. It was an invitation for him to jump up on her lap. And he did.

Lucy smiled at me, and silently pointed at Bob.

I nodded back.

Lucy closed her eyes and slowly stroked Bob's soft fur.

It had taken less than two minutes for Lucy to fall under the Mango Bob spell. His purring was having an amazing effect on her. It was like she had taken a very strong sedative.

The anxiety she had displayed earlier about not knowing where her mother was, had been replaced with a deep calm.

Picking up my glass of wine, I headed to the couch intending to sit down beside Lucy. Before I could do that, my phone chimed with an incoming call.

I put my glass of wine on the side table nearest the couch, and went to get the phone, which I'd left on the kitchen counter.

“Is it them?” asked Lucy.

The caller ID showed it was Anna, the half naked woman Lucy had found in my motorhome earlier this morning.

“No, it's not them. But I need to take this call. I'll be in the back bedroom for a few minutes. Make yourself comfortable.”

CHAPTER THIRTY TWO

In the privacy of the back bedroom, I answered the phone. The first words I heard were, “Walker, you want some company tonight?”

I knew right away that this could be trouble.

“Anna, you sound like you're feeling better.”

“
I am. After you dropped me off at the condo, I slept for an hour, then showered and went into work. I wasn't expecting much to happen. Just wanted to show up for an hour or two.

“
But a client that I showed a home to yesterday called and made an offer. We filled out the forms, and the seller accepted.

“
So out of the blue, I made another big sale. And in thirty days, I'm going to get one heck of a commission check.

“
So yes, I'm feeling pretty good. But you didn't answer my question. Do you want some company tonight?”

I hesitated, thinking how best to answer. After going through the possible choices, I came to the conclusion that in this case, an honest answer would be the safest.

“I have a previous engagement.”

“
A previous engagement? With a woman?  Could this be the same woman who knocked on your door this morning?”

“
Yes. And she's over here right now.”

“
Well congratulations, Walker. Glad to see you got things straightened out with her.  It'd probably be best if I call you back some other time.”

“
Anna, wait. I visited the Raft today. Found out what really happened last night.”

“
Really? Tell me, and don't leave anything out.”

I told Anna what I had learned. It took me almost fifteen minutes to get through the entire story because Anna continued to interrupt me with questions.

After I finished telling her everything, she said, “Well, I'm glad you went down there. I feel a lot better knowing they caught the guy.”

Realizing that I had left Lucy alone in the living room for more than twenty minutes, I said, “Anna, I've got to go. I need to get back to my guest before she bails on me.”

“I understand. We'll talk later.”

We ended the call and I went back up front to check on Lucy.

The first thing I noticed was she had kicked off her shoes and laid down on the couch. The next thing I noticed was the full glass of wine that I had set on the table was now empty. Apparently Lucy had gotten thirsty.

And it looked like the wine, along with Bob's purring, had put her to sleep.

Bob is magical this way. One minute you're wide awake with Bob at your side. And somehow, the next minute he's in your lap and you're petting him. Before you know it, his purring and kneading has lulled you to sleep.

Lucy had fallen under his spell and was out like a light. Bob was curled up in the crook of her arm, still purring.

Not wanting to disturb either of them, I turned off the overhead lights, leaving just the night lights on.

Peeking outside, I could see that Polly had returned. The minivan was parked next door and Buck's golf cart was gone. This was good news. It meant they had made it back safely.

The only question was whether I should wake Lucy and send her home, or let her stay and sleep.

I decided to let her sleep. Pulling a sheet from the overhead bin, I covered her and Bob, locked the front door, and headed back to my bedroom.

It had been a long stressful day, and I hadn't gotten much sleep the night before. I planned to catch up on it now.

If Lucy woke during the night, she could choose to go home or stay. It was up to her.