Dead and Breakfast (27 page)

“Ah.” Victoria’s face lit up with recognition. “Something happened with Autumn, didn’t it?”

Liam stuck his head in the fridge so that Victoria couldn’t read his expression.

“Whatever,” she said, annoyed. “Listen, I’m loaning you money for your bike tour company.”

Liam grabbed a can and closed the fridge door with his foot. “That’s nice, but I’m not in business with Randall anymore.”

“Good. You’re better off.” She thrust the envelope in Liam’s direction. “Take it. I heard you got fired from the Cayo. Use the money for your own start-up. Just promise me you won’t turn into—”

“My father? Pops?” Liam held the beer can in his hand, the cold stinging his skin. He put down the can but didn’t accept the money.

“I was gonna say, a drunk.”

“Same difference. Does your grandfather know you’re doing this?”

“Yes,” she said. “It’s an investment, and there’s nothing grandfather likes more than investing in the future.” Victoria swallowed and stared at her flip-flops. “But, if you must know, there’s a condition.”

Liam fought back laughter. “Of course there is. Why would you do anything without strings attached?”

Her eyes hardened. “I will ignore that comment. With this money, you could be in business tomorrow.”

“If . . . ?”

Her face reddened. Whatever this condition was, it sure embarrassed her to say it. “If you agree not to see Autumn anymore.”

Liam blinked several times. Then he muttered, “pathetic” under his breath.

Victoria charged toward him and Liam backed into Pops’s old workbench. A jar of nails rattled on the top shelf but held fast.

“If you must know,” she said. “It was not my idea, but grandfather’s. He’s looking to purchase the Cayo Hueso, and he’s concerned about your loyalties.”

Liam pushed off the bench. “Tell him he doesn’t have to worry.”

Victoria relaxed. “I told grandfather you wouldn’t do that.”

“No, I mean, I’m not going to stop seeing Autumn.” Even if Autumn returned to New Jersey tomorrow, there was no way he’d ever agree to such terms. Liam watched Victoria’s tough exterior crumble. He felt bad for hurting her feelings, although it’s not like she’d never hurt his.

“You won’t take the money?”

He shook his head. “Not on those conditions.”

Victoria paused for a moment. She softened her shoulders and stepped toward him, setting the envelope in his hand. “It’s a check,” she cooed. “A blank check. No more working for other people. You could be your own boss.” Liam smelled her crisp perfume.

She sidled up to him and leaned in, practically pushing up against him. Liam’s head buzzed from the alcohol. He flashed back to last year, before he went to North Dakota. Before his dad went to rehab. Before he met Autumn. Before a ghost tried to kill him. His life was no simpler now. Everything came full circle.

Victoria whispered, her warm breath on his skin. She turned her face toward his and looked into his eyes. He didn’t pull away. Why wasn’t he pulling away from her? She brushed her lips softly against his. It could barely have been considered a kiss.

Liam heard someone clearing her throat. Victoria slowly turned and a smile broke out on her face.

“Autumn,” she said. “I didn’t expect to see you today.”

Liam squeezed his eyes shut. Now, he was truly done for.

Autumn felt sick. She had borrowed her mother’s car so she could apologize to Liam for arguing with him last night, but all she wanted to do now was get back into the car and run him over with it. Then she saw Victoria’s smug smile.
Correction, I want to run Victoria over first.

Victoria wiggled her fingers. “See you in school,” she said to Autumn before climbing into her convertible and driving away.

Liam straightened up, but he stumbled, and Autumn noticed two beer cans rolling around by his feet.

“That’s not what that looked like,” he said.

Autumn’s eyes weighed heavy on her face. Every time she blinked, she could feel how swollen her lids must have been. She’d been crying all night. She didn’t have the energy to debate about seeing Victoria blatantly kiss him.

“It doesn’t matter.” Her voice shook. “I came here to apologize. I thought we could make a long distance relationship work.”

“Thought? We still can.” Liam reached for her.

Autumn snatched her hand away. She didn’t mean to be so harsh, but what could Liam expect? She caught him kissing his former girlfriend. “No. I don’t think we can.”

“Because of Victoria?”

“Because of lots of things.” Autumn scanned the carport, her eyes falling on a warped, wooden workbench; a tin trashcan attracting horseflies; and a dented white fridge that hadn’t been scrubbed in ages. She wondered if the inside of the house was as equally depressing. “The Cayo isn’t doing well. Aunt Glenda is going to sell, and my mom is likely to pack up and move to El Paso. Don’t you see? Everyone I love is going to be hundreds of miles away from me.”

“Including me,” he said.

“Including you.”

“Stay here with me,” he pleaded. “Pops won’t care.”

Autumn scoffed. “I can’t. You don’t have a job. I won’t have a job. Neither of us have money.”

Liam crushed an empty beer can and threw it against the wall. “I love you, Autumn. Why isn’t that enough? Are you just going to throw that away?”

The air rushed out of her chest. He loved her? She’d always imagined the moment a guy confessed his love, but Liam didn’t appear sober. This wasn’t that moment.

“You were kissing Victoria,” she said.

“She kissed me before I could stop her. Don’t you know me better than that?”

Impending tears burned the corners of her eyes. She was amazed she had any tears left inside her. “This is for the best.”

“You don’t want to throw your life away on me,” he said, flatly.

Autumn narrowed her eyes and gave Liam a hard look. “I don’t love you.” Something pressed on her heart, as if an invisible fist had grabbed hold and was squeezing tightly. “Liam, I didn’t—I don’t.” She couldn’t finish her thought. She didn’t mean to say she didn’t love him. Where did those words even come from? “Inez.”

“Don’t blame her for how you feel. If you don’t love me, it’s okay.” Liam turned away from her. “Go home to Jersey where no one can get to you. Not Inez. And not me.” Liam fled the carport and went inside, slamming the door so hard, it practically fell off the hinges.

The pressure lessened its grip and Autumn exhaled slowly. She climbed into her mother’s car and drove away. It wasn’t until she was nearing the Cayo that she realized she had meant to tell Liam she loved him. Instead, Inez had spoken for her.

#

Pops crouched down and smacked Liam’s face. First they were light taps on the cheek, but as Liam became increasingly hard to wake, the taps became slaps.

“Wha? Wha?” Liam asked, rousing.

“Come on, kid,” Pops said, shaking his head. “What’s the matter with you?”

Liam draped his arm over his face. “Ugh, go away.”

Pops lifted Liam’s legs and sat down on the couch. He kicked aside empty beers cans that littered the carpet below. “You can’t be drinking beer like this. You’re only eighteen.”

Liam curled up and turned away. “Oh, like you and your navy buddies didn’t drink when you were my age.”

“That’s different. The times were different. Get off the couch and go to your room. Tomorrow, I’m throwing out all the alcohol.”

Liam rolled off the couch. He could barely get to his feet. “Then how will you survive?”

“What’s that supposed to mean?”

“What do you think it means? Why is Dad in rehab? It all starts with you. You drink more than anyone, you’re just good at concealing it. Did Inez’s death drive you to drink? Out of guilt?”

“We’re not talking about this,” Pops said through gritted teeth. “You don’t know everything.”

“Why? If you killed her, tell me. If you didn’t kill Inez, then you’re protecting the person who did.” Pops left the room. Liam shouted, “Autumn dumped me! Another Breyer loser whose woman left him!”

But Pops was out of earshot. Liam went to his room and slammed the door. Truth was, Autumn didn’t dump Liam because of Pops. She dumped Liam because of Liam. Just like Victoria. Just like the few other girls before them. Liam was not the guy everyone wanted him to be, even when he tried.

#

By the time Autumn returned home, she had no more tears left to cry. So, she flopped into one of the dusty chairs in the parlor and stared at the floral wallpaper.

Her cell phone buzzed in her pocket. She slid the phone out to see her father’s name on the screen.

“Hey, Dad,” she said, forcing her voice to sound perky. She wanted her father to think she was excited about coming home. The last thing she wanted was to hurt her dad’s feelings. Besides, Autumn had burned her bridges. It was time to start fresh in Jersey.

“Hey pumpkin. Are you excited to move back?”

Autumn forced a smile, even though she knew her father couldn’t see her. “You bet.” She reminded herself that she’d been wishing for this moment, and at last it had arrived. If only it wasn’t at the expense of her and Liam. But seeing him with Victoria just made her understand that Liam wasn’t serious about her, even though he said he loved her. And why should he be? They were only eighteen.

Now, Autumn genuinely smiled. “I’m super excited to see you.”

“That’s great,” her father said. She noted he seemed more relaxed now. “I’ve almost got all the boxes moved out of the guest room. I hope you don’t mind sharing the space with old tax records.”

Autumn’s smile disappeared. The guest room? It was a tiny closet at the end of the hall that looked out onto the neighbor’s overgrown yard. “What about my old room?”

Her father cleared his throat. “Remember, honey, we turned that into Jennifer’s craft room. For her business.”

Autumn cringed at his use of the word, “we,” as if she too had agreed to let Jennifer take over her old bedroom.

“I never expected you to move back so soon,” he said. “We can’t really ask Jennifer to fit her new business into the little guest room. Besides, you’ll be in college next year. It’s only for the short-term.”

Autumn had never felt so transient. Just when she was moving back home, her father was anticipating her moving back out. “Well,” she said, her voice ripe with sarcasm. “I appreciate the welcome home.”

“Autumn,” he warned. “You can’t be upset. Your mother just sprung this on us.”

“I can’t be upset? First, I was told to leave. Now, I’m being told to move back. I thought, of all things, I would get to return to my bedroom. Because last time I checked, it was my room before it was Jennifer’s craft space.” Somewhere in the background, Autumn heard Jennifer’s high-pitched voice say, “If she doesn’t like it, she doesn’t have to come here.”

“I was there first!” Autumn cried out.

“We’ll have to talk about this later,” her dad said.

“There is no later.” Autumn’s voice was losing its steam. “I come home next week.”

Jennifer’s grumblings grew louder. “She’s being ungrateful.”

“I gotta go,” her father said quickly. “I’ll text you flight details later.” And then he hung up.

Autumn stared at her cell phone in disbelief. She felt like a ping-pong ball being batted between her parents. She had no control over her life anymore. A rise of heat crawled up her spine. Autumn threw the cell phone at the wall and screamed. “Inez! This is all your fault.”

Just then, a swirl of darkness surrounded Autumn and Inez materialized in front of her. Before Autumn could step back, the ghost lunged for her, and Autumn screamed.

#

Liam shuffled into the bathroom and rummaged around for painkillers. His head pulsed and throbbed as if someone had taken a drill to his skull.

He twisted the cap off the bottle of aspirin and threw two back in his mouth, washing them down with tepid tap water.

Pops stood in the doorframe with his arms crossed. “You might be surprised, but I wasn’t always a drunk.”

Liam spoke to Pops’s reflection in the medicine cabinet mirror. “No?”

“No, smart-ass. Sure, I used to drink in the service. We all did. It got bad after your mother left your father, and it got worse after your grandmother died. Let’s just say I don’t handle my issues well.”

Liam ran his hands over his face. “Well, that makes two of us.”

“I don’t want you to be like me kid,” said Pops. “You can have a good life if—”

“If, what?”

“If you quit trying to be like me. You’re better than I ever was.”

Liam stared into the sink and examined a glob of dried toothpaste he never washed down the drain. “Pops—”

“You know I never liked Inez.” Pops leaned against the doorframe, facing away from Liam, as if he couldn’t look his grandson in the eye. “She tried several times to break up me and your grandmother. On the night she disappeared, she made a pass at me, and Mariana caught her.”

“Where was this?” asked Liam.

“At the school dance outside the St. Veronica’s gymnasium. Inez shoved me against the lockers and kissed me right in front of your grandmother. You could hear the record scratch. Your abuela was furious at her sister. She slapped Inez and threatened her.”

“Did Inez leave after that?”

“She laughed it off, trying to save face. Eventually, she split. And we never saw her again.” Pops rubbed his arms as if trying to warm his body. “Your great aunt was a cruel woman. Alive, she was manipulative and nearly split me and Mariana apart. And dead—she was no better. Her disappearance marred my marriage. Your grandmother blamed herself all those years. But it wasn’t her fault. It was never Mariana’s fault.”

“I’m sorry, Pops.”

“Me too, kid. If I could do everything over again, I’d do it all different.”

“What do you mean?”

“Maybe, I could’ve stopped—.” He shook his head. “Never mind. I don’t think I could’ve done anything.” Pops shuffled off to his bedroom.

#

Autumn’s body jerked as she was transported to Inez’s memory. She opened her eyes and found herself in the old gymnasium at St. Veronica’s. But something was different about this memory. Autumn was no longer a close observer, seeing Inez’s world directly from inside her. Now, Autumn felt like someone had shoved her into the closet in Inez’s mind and she was peeking out through the window.