Spring Secrets: Pine Point, Book 3 (5 page)

Chapter Nine

“Counter or booth?” asked the waitress that met Sienna at the door of Zeb’s Diner the following night.

“Oh, counter is fine.” She pulled off her gloves and tucked them inside her purse. After a faculty meeting that had run until almost five, she hadn’t felt like either the gym or the grocery store, so here she stood. She chose a stool between a man eating solo and a woman sitting with her three- or four-year-old daughter. The woman had dark circles under her eyes, and the edge of a fresh bruise peeked from under her shirt sleeve.

“Something to drink?” asked the waitress. She gave Sienna a funny look, her gaze lingering a little longer than necessary.

“Decaf, please. I need to warm up,” she told the woman with the dyed-orange hair tucked into a messy bun on her head.
Josephine,
read the name tag over her ample left breast.

The waitress handed her a full mug and pushed over a plastic sugar container and two non-dairy creamers.

“How long have you worked here?” Sienna asked. From what she recalled, Zeb’s was the heart of Pine Point, both geographically and figuratively. It had to hold a secret or two. The people who worked here had to have borne witness to some kind of gossip.

The man sitting down the counter looked over and grinned. “Too long, right, Josie?”

Josie let out a long whistle. “About twenty-six years. Woo-whee. That’s a long time, ain’t it? Give or take. I left for a few months when I got married, but that didn’t take, so here I am.”

Twenty-six years, exactly Sienna’s age. She didn’t remember the woman, but then she and her mother had never stepped foot inside Zeb’s. They’d never had a spare dime to eat out. “Did you grow up here?” she asked. She itched to take out her notepad.

“I did.” She handed Sienna a menu. “I’m a Pine Point girl, born and raised.” She pointed at the man. “Same’s this fellow.”

“Now, Josie, I wasn’t born here,” the man said. He was eating apple pie and had dots of whipped cream in his beard. He winked at Sienna. “Moved here when I was all of two years old.”

“And you never lived anywhere else?”

“Nah.” The man returned to his pie. “This is a good town with solid people. Sure, cities might have fancier places to shop or eat dinner, but no one knows you in cities. They’ll steal from you any chance they get. Why would I want to live anywhere else?”

“Maybe the weather,” Josie said. “If I can save up some money, I might look into one of those condos down in Myrtle Beach. Better place to pass January and February than this frozen tundra.” She slapped her palm on the counter, and Sienna jumped. “Now I recognize you.”

“I’m sorry?”

Josie leaned forward and rested her chin on one palm. “You’re the Cruz girl. Lived here when you were younger, right?”

“Ah, yes.” Her cheeks warmed. “Sienna.”

Josie snapped her gum and shook her head. “Such a sad thing when your mama passed on.” She looked at the man. “You remember that, Sam? Remember that pretty Spanish woman who used to stop in here sometimes?”

“Oh, no,” Sienna said. “I think you must have her mistaken for someone else. My mom…”
never would have come in here
, she almost finished, but Josie nodded and snapped her gum with vigor.

“Sure she did. Used to come in on Friday afternoons when the owner was sellin’ the day-old bread and pastries for seventy-five percent off.” She stopped suddenly, as if aware she’d said something wrong. “Wasn’t just your mama, of course. Lots of people came in. The price of bread in the grocery store always was a damn crime. Still is, the way they jack up those prices and…” She dropped her gaze and turned to make a fresh pot of coffee.

My mother shopped here? Sienna’s face burned even hotter. It made sense, of course. Her mother had stretched every dollar.

“Where did you get that dress?”
one of her classmates asked.
“It looks like one I had a long time ago.”

Seven-year old Sienna twisted her hands in the patchwork skirt.
“My mom gave it to me. For my birthday.”

The classmate, Stella something-or-other, studied her with beady eyes.
“Well, it looks a lot like one my mom took to the Salvation Army last month
.
”
The girl took an extra brownie from the serving line and walked off to join her friends at the popular table in the center of the cafeteria.

Sienna left her tray sitting on the line and bolted to the closest bathroom she could find. She’d loved this dress from the moment her mother brought it home. Now she wanted to rip it off and throw it in the garbage.

“Honey?” Josie’s gum popping brought her back to the diner. “You want some more time, or are you ready to order?” She moved down the counter and cleared plates in front of the woman and child. The little girl yawned, and her chin almost hit the counter as her eyes drooped in sleep.

Before Sienna could answer, the front door opened, and the Ericksen sisters walked inside. They peeled off matching red jackets and draped their scarves over the coat tree. “Hi, Josie.” Ella waved. She was heavily made up and wore a skin-tight pink sweater, black jeans, and stiletto boots. In contrast, Becca wore a blue sweatshirt, cargo pants, and heavy work boots.

“Hi, yourself,” Josie answered. “You two are late tonight.”

Becca rolled her eyes. “Tell me about it. Beauty Queen here couldn’t manage to pick me up until ten minutes ago.” She jabbed a thumb at her sister, who tossed her long ponytail and shrugged.

“Something came up,” Ella said.

“Something always comes up,”
Becca mouthed at Josie.

Sienna smiled and turned back to her menu. Becca ran the local animal shelter
,
evidenced by the sweatshirt, work boots, and no-nonsense ponytail. She couldn’t remember what Ella did for a living. Something that involved glamour and fashion, from the looks of her. Sienna studied them from the corner of her eye. Becca bent over her menu while Ella twisted her ponytail around her fingers and scanned the room. Her gaze settled on Sienna.

“Hi,” she called out before Sienna could look away. Ella folded her hands on the table as if she was holding court and gave Sienna a dazzling white smile. “You’re our new upstairs neighbor, right? Come join us.”

“Oh, no, that’s okay. I’m fine.”

Ella lifted one perfectly groomed brow. “You’re sure? We’re better company than Mr. Moriarty.”

The man on Sienna’s right glanced over.

“No offense,” Ella added.

He grinned and pushed back his empty pie plate. “None taken, I suppose.” He put on his coat, left a five-dollar tip for his pie and coffee, and walked out. A moment later, the woman and child followed him.

“Thanks, Josie,” the woman said in a tired voice. She pulled on the little girl’s coat and tugged a hat over her head.

“You’re welcome, Chloe. Anytime. You know that.” As the door closed behind them, Josie pulled a ticket from her pad, scribbled something on it, then took a ten dollar bill from her own pocket and put it into the drawer of the cash register. She gave Sienna a dark look. “Husband likes to hit the bottle, then likes to hit her.” She scowled. “I tol’ her a dozen times to leave him, but she says she ain’t got no place to go.” She scrubbed the counter with a bleached-white towel. “She could stay with me, she and Ellen. I tol’ her that too. I got an extra bedroom.”

“So why won’t she?” Sienna wanted to ask Chloe’s last name, but she didn’t dare.

Josie looked up and scowled more fiercely. “’Cause her husband is a judge over in Silver Valley. She ever left him, he’d come after her. Probably take custody of Ellen. Chloe knows it too. So she just takes it.” She tossed the towel aside and pointed at Sienna. “Don’t you ever take shit like that from a man.”

“Don’t worry.” Sienna thought of her workouts with Mike. Maybe she could convince Chloe to take a few boxing lessons at the gym.
Local judge beats and blackmails his wife
. It hadn’t taken long for Pine Point to reveal its first ugly secret. But the thought saddened her, and she couldn’t get the picture of the woman’s bruised arm from her mind.

The front door opened and she looked over, glad for the distraction. The construction workers Sienna had met at the gym walked inside.

“Hey, Josie.” Mac waved a giant arm.

“Hey, boys.” She poured two cups of coffee without asking and hollered over her shoulder to the cook on the line, “Guys are here. Two medium-rare burgers with the works.”

“Not like we’re regulars or anything,” Damian said as they joined Sienna at the counter. “It’s Sienna, right?”

She nodded. “You know what, I’ll take a burger with the works too. Sounds delicious.”

“You got it.” Josie refilled Sienna’s coffee mug and folded her arms on the counter. “How’s things, boys?”

“Shitty.” Mac grinned. “I hate electrical work. I hate working inside, period. But it’s a paycheck.” He took a long, loud slurp of coffee.

She thought he might have played football at Pine Point High. A fuzzy memory from eighth grade slipped into Sienna’s mind, going to a game and holding hands under the bleachers with a boy whose name she couldn’t recall.
Her-bert, Her-bert
, the crowd had chanted above them.

Behind the counter, the burgers sizzled on the grill, filling the space with fragrant smoke and making Sienna’s mouth water.

“How’s Mike?” Mac asked. “He coming out tonight?”

Sienna shook. “Um, no. I don’t think so.”

“Oh. Thought he and you might—ah, never mind.” Mac shook his head and took another slurp of coffee. “Open mouth, insert foot, that’s me. Don’t listen to a word I say.”

The burgers arrived, preventing Sienna from having to respond. Instead, she listened to the conversations around her.

“So you gonna see her again?” Damian asked Mac after a few bites of hamburger.

Mac shrugged. “Dunno. She said she wants to keep things casual.”

“Or she wants to keep her options open ’til something better comes along.”

Josie grinned as Mac elbowed his friend. “What’s better than all this?” he asked, looking down and patting a belly that had obviously enjoyed many burgers at Zeb’s.

“All I’m sayin’ is, when a woman doesn’t want to be seen in public with you, it’s a bad sign.” Damian looked up. “Josie, you’re a woman.”

“Last time I checked.” She replaced the gum in her mouth with a fresh stick.

“What do you think? Mac here’s been seeing this chick for…” He turned to Mac. “What is it now? Couple months?”

Mac shrugged and continued to eat.

“She goes over to his place. He goes over to hers. But the minute he wants to take her out, dinner or a movie or anything like that, she puts on the brakes. Says she doesn’t want to rush into anything.”

“Huh.” Josie leaned on the counter. “Hate to say it, but you might be right on this one. Sounds like a bad sign. Unless she’s some kind of introvert with one of those phobias of public places.” She turned to Sienna. “You know what I’m talking about? What’s that called? When people are afraid to go outside their homes?”

“Agoraphobia?”

Josie snapped her fingers. “Yup. That’s it. Saw a
20/20
show on it once.” She shook her head as she took two sandwich platters from the line and carried them over to the Ericksen sisters. “Damn shame,” she said without missing a beat when she returned. “Can’t imagine being afraid of people.”

“I don’t think she has agoraphobia,” Damian said. “Far as I know, she’s got a job. So she leaves the house for that.”

Mac belched loudly. “You all done discussing my personal business yet?”

Sienna bit her lip to keep from smiling too much. Josie disappeared into the kitchen, and the guys’ conversation turned to the thought of more shitty work tomorrow, plumbing this time, from the sounds of it.

Sienna finished her burger and left a generous tip. Looked as though she wouldn’t have to travel too far to discover some of Pine Point’s secrets. She hurried upstairs and took a quick shower. Then she sank into the recliner, grabbed her yellow notepad, and spent the next two hours writing notes on all she’d seen and heard.

Chapter Ten

“Ma, what are you doing?” Mike came home from work the following night to find his mother balancing on a step stool in the middle of the kitchen. Two open cans of paint sat on the counter, along with a collection of brushes and newspapers. Loretta wore jeans and a paint-streaked sweatshirt, and her gray hair looked as though it had a few extra dabs of white in it.

“I’m doing the edging,” she explained and waved a brush at the seam between the kitchen wall and ceiling.

“I can see that. And you’re doing a very good job, by the way. But I thought you wanted to paint the living room.”

“I do. That room’s too big for me to handle it, so the twins are coming over this weekend.” She looked up at her handiwork and rubbed her nose with the hand holding the paintbrush. A white streak appeared on her forehead. “But there isn’t much surface area in here. I want to paint over this eighties’ mint green and make it all black and white.” She gestured at a magazine flipped open on the table. “Like that.”

Mike glanced at the checkerboard pattern in the glossy pages. “It’s nice. But don’t you think you’re a little—”

“Don’t you even say what I think you’re about to,” she warned. She waved the brush near his face. “Or I might give you a little edging while I’m at it.” She touched up the final corner and then climbed down. “I am certainly not too old to do a little painting.” She cleaned the brush and set it aside. “Or too arthritic, or too whatever else you were going to say.”

“I wasn’t going to say anything at all.” Mike dropped a kiss onto her head.

“Oh, dear.” Loretta frowned as she looked around the room.

“What’s wrong?”

“I don’t have anything to make for dinner. And this mess…”

He had already begun clearing away the papers and recapping the paint cans. He flipped the magazine shut and set it next to the couch in the living room. “How about we go out for dinner? Just you and me? We haven’t done that in a while.”

Loretta smiled. “No, we haven’t. And I’d love to.”

They walked into Zeb’s Diner less than an hour later. Mike looked around, half-expecting to see Sienna sitting in one of the booths. Pine Point wasn’t that big, and he’d heard through the grapevine she lived in one of the apartments up above. He would rather have gone across town, to the Ponderosa or even the more upscale restaurant with three buffets, the Corner Lounge, but his mother loved Zeb’s.

He kept his gaze down. What would he say if he did see Sienna here? What would he do? Before California, before Edie, before prison, before all those mistakes, he’d been a regular guy. Maybe, on his good days, a little bit of a charmer. A few of the guys out west had even called him Casanova, since he’d never had a problem talking to women or taking them home with him.

All that had changed.

“Hello, Josie,” Loretta crowed as soon as they arrived. “Look who’s taking me out on the town tonight.” She squeezed Mike’s arm.

“Most handsome boy in the place,” Josie said as she led them to a table in the back.

“I heard that,” a gray-haired man at the counter said.

“I’m sure you did.” Josie swatted the man as she returned to the cash register.

“So now tell me,” Loretta began. She unwound her scarf and took off her coat and gloves. “Have you met anyone? Any nice girl at the gym?”

The question caught him so off guard, his knee jerked and hit the underside of the table. “Ma…”

“What?”

Josie came over with two plastic cups of water. “Ready to order?” she asked, even though they’d just sat down.

“Uh, sure.” Mike scanned the handwritten page of specials taped inside the front of the menu. “Open-face-turkey sandwich for me.”

“I’ll take a cup of the soup and a salad,” Loretta said.

“That’s it?”

She swatted the back of his hand. “Yes, that’s it. I don’t pump iron all day long like my handsome boy. I don’t need all those calories.”

Though his face burned at the words, they soothed him too, down deep where most of him felt like it had calloused over years ago.

Josie smacked her gum, collected their menus, and strolled away.

“No one?” Loretta continued, as if their conversation hadn’t been interrupted. “I wish you would. I want you to be happy.”

“I am happy.”
And I have no interest in getting involved with anyone, nice girl or not.

She waved away his words. “Well, I’d like some grandbabies before I’m too old to pick them up or play with them.”

“Ma, geez.” He glanced around, thankful for a light Tuesday dinner crowd.

“I’m just saying.” She took a sip of water. “What about Sienna Cruz?”

Oh, my God.
Maybe taking his mother to dinner had been a colossal mistake.

“What about her?”

“Have you seen her again? How’s school going for her? Must be a challenge, coming into a class midway through the year.”

“I guess. I haven’t really seen her. Or talked to her.” Little white lie. Just a little one.

“That’s too bad,” Loretta said as Josie returned with their meals. “She was a beautiful young girl, from what I remember. Elenita used to show me pictures of her. I’m sure she’s grown into a gorgeous woman.”

Mike bent over his sandwich. Yes, she had. If she’d turned into an ugly, overweight, toothless hag, he’d have no problem getting her out of his mind. As it was, she filled almost every waking hour.

“You be nice to her,” Loretta said.

“I already told you I will. I’m nice to everyone.”

She shook her head and blew on a spoonful of soup. “I mean be extra nice. You don’t know what she’s been through.” She thought for a minute. “In fact, why don’t you invite her over for dinner one night? I’d love to see her again and welcome her home.”