Spring Tide (7 page)

“Hey, Kris. Your hair—”

“Ignore that. Who brought the Brussels sprouts?”

“What’s that?”

“Who asked you to bring the bucket to my door last night? You can tell me.”

“I have no idea what you’re talking about.” He sniffed my breath.

I could tell by his face that he didn’t know about the bucket but did think I’d been partying.

As I made the journey to Derek’s I came up with six ideas for what I wanted to do with the sprouts, but had zero clue who might’ve left them for me. Not Sarah—she had a sunburn, wouldn’t go into public right away. Definitely not Derek—he’d want credit, would give them in person. The only person that came to mind was Mom. But if it was her, and she knew what had happened at The Bakery, she would’ve accompanied the sprouts. And then she would’ve escorted me back to Austin.

The patio door was unlocked as it always was and I sidled into Derek’s room, wasting no time in jumping on his bed, over and around his sleeping body.

“Jingle bells! Jingle bells! Jingle all the way!” I screamed.

His eyes just about popped out of their sockets. I’d gotten through one round of giggles and was starting into another when he slapped my rear and grabbed my foot out from under me. I fell on top of him, still laughing.

He pulled my hair. “I’m real close to hitting you right now.”

“Good morning, Polly Sunshine.”

“What are you doing here and why are you so skippy?”

“Brussels sprouts, baby.”

“What?”

“I think I’m still coming down from the assault.” I went from giddy to serious. “I need you, Derek.”

He cocked his head. He was so cute in the morning, every hair out of place, his confidence not yet roused.

“Will you take me to get my car now?”

“You are such a pain in my ass.” He threw off the covers. “Give me five minutes.”

I kept laughing.

He pulled up to The Bakery. The store was closed and Deborah’s car was in the lot. I had to go in, see her, and get it over with. He walked with me to the door and we stopped just inside. The black-and-white squares seemed so much bigger, the floor endless. The setting was the same, but everything felt different and my heart’s rhythm increased with the sweat that was beading at my hairline. I moved my sight to the display cases. There was nothing random about the pattern of breakage. The glass was slivered in long, vertical lines, the heaviest damage to the middle right of the shop lining up with the back door. Along that plane the fragmentation was so extensive that to touch it with one finger might result in an avalanche. From there, the fissures diminished the farther they were from that point. What had made it break that way? My thoughts were interrupted by Derek, who took my hand and pulled at it a little. I couldn’t stand looking at all the broken glass anymore and decided I’d call Deborah later. Derek went to his car and I went to mine.

I met Sarah at Cheveux. Within an hour, Ellen, the colorist, had done an outstanding job of resurrecting my hair and removing all signs of carnage.

Ellen presented me with the bill, but before I could look at it Sarah snatched it out of my hand.

“You may not.” I tried to take it back.

“My treat!” She shoved it into her shirt.

We quibbled over it for another minute but Sarah wouldn’t budge. I was grateful. The bill was a week’s pay and that was Ellen being generous because of what had happened to me. We went out the salon’s fancy stained glass doors to the parking lot.

“Okay, gotta shop for Bermudas, hide the atrocity.” She pointed to the sunburn on her legs that had significantly faded. “Your hair looks fantastic!”

Sarah left for the mall. I went home, put on a suit, and then went down to the sand with my tunes because I didn’t know what else to do. The beach was crowded, but walking out I spied mousy brown hair. I raised my hand to wave but he’d already turned and run away.
Hi, Aaron. Sarah’s not here.
I reclined into Sarah’s sacred lounger and was good and relaxed until a shadow blocked my sun, chilling my bones. I looked left and saw tall, dark, and handsome, his face somber and his eyes set on mine.

“Hello, Kris. Those are some nasty bruises. I heard about what happened at The Bakery and hoped it wasn’t you. I’m so sorry. You’re very lucky you didn’t get hurt worse.”

I slowly nodded and then covered my stomach with my arm. “I apologize—I can’t remember your name …”

“I never told you. Troy. The worst things always happen to the nicest people.”

“Thanks, that’s sweet of you to say. Do you live nearby?”

“I travel here for work. I’ve been coming to Corpus Christi for oh, the last two years or so.” He gestured to the shoreline. “Would you like to walk?”

I rose, persuaded by his solemnity while wondering what it was about him that made him so attractive. Maybe it was that he was uncommon—a considerate, polite person. That and his voice was just plain sexy.

He walked with his hands in his back pockets, his vision straight ahead. “Are you seeing anyone?”

“Why do you ask?” I kept my sight on his profile.

“Because you’re walking with me.”

“Why did you ask me to walk with you?”

He grinned. “You answer questions with questions. I like that. You’re very much like someone I used to know, but don’t take that as flirting. I just enjoy your company.”

“Yours too.” The breeze was much too cool and I wished I would’ve thought to put on my T-shirt. “Are you seeing someone?”

“You could say that. Why do you ask?”

“Because you asked me first.”

“I saw you playing cards with a guy the other day. It seemed to me that he makes you happy.”

Derek.
“He does.”

“You’ve figured out more than most girls, I think. Too many fall for shallowness,” he pointed to a parasailer, “like him. All cool, no substance. You know better.”

Damn straight.
“So what do you do that brings you here on business?”

“Human resources—recruiting, orientation, termination, that sort of thing.”

“Where do you travel from?”

“Not far.” A small smile formed on his lips and was taken back.

We walked in comfortable silence. He was shortening the length of his steps to match mine, staying slightly behind me. Despite the alteration, his movements were elegant, whereas Boy Wonder would come off like a big, bumbling yutz.

“Why do you work at The Bakery?” He said after several minutes. “You seem too smart to be satisfied with icing cupcakes. Surely there’s something more you want to do with yourself, some passion.”

“I like science and The Bakery’s good for that.”

“I don’t understand.”

“Take shortening. When added to dough it shortens the strands of gluten and greases them so they don’t fully form. Because of that it makes a tender, less chewy product, as opposed to, say, French bread, which has little fat and has been kneaded to make the gluten strands long and elastic.”

“Your explanation suggests you should be in school to make the most of that knowledge.” He looked right at me. “Not here.”

“There’s plenty of time for that.”

We were suddenly standing by Sarah’s lounge chair. I realized then that I was unaware that we’d turned around at some point.

He leaned forward. “Thank you for the conversation. Take care of yourself, Kris.”

Long strides took him far down the beach, his white shirt the only thing defining him in the distance. A car alarm jerked me from my bemused state and I packed up, remembering the Brussels sprouts. I spent the next hour playing with them and wondering where they’d come from. It had to be someone from our building or someone that had my or Sarah’s security code. But who?

CHAPTER FOUR

“She said her attacker’s eyes looked strange. Devon’s been here, was there that morning. I’m sure of it now.” He yanked his hand through his hair. “And just when I thought everything was gonna be okay, I got signaled. Poof.”

“It’s summer. Donovan’s been taken to three boating accidents in the last three weeks and a roofing mishap that ended badly. Somehow we all made it through the disaster at the refinery last month and it’s only July.” She moved from a chair to the sofa and sat next to him. “There’s something I haven’t told you. For the last two months, I’ve been having visions of rats, hoards of rats, running blindly.”

He turned his body toward hers. “Funny you say that because I had to play exterminator that morning. There was one guy, his screams were so … it haunts me.”

“I’m sorry you had to go through that but there’s purpose in it.” She put her hand on his. “How many rats were there?”

“Five. Do you believe me now? This is isn’t the occasional thief gone renegade—it’s the darks, it’s Devon. And it isn’t gonna stop, Julia. He’s preparing for something, something big and has been for a long time. This is just the beginning—”

She threw up her hands. “But nothing like this has happened in centuries.”

“Have you thought about meeting with the other assemblies, comparing notes? I mean, I know that’s not done and each group takes care of itself but—”

“I’ve already made plans to visit The Sky and The Assembly of Roses.”

“We’ve got to band together, take out Devon. If we can do that his whole system falls apart.” He got up, went to the windows, and watched the waves churn up the sand. “At least for a year or so.”

She rose and stood behind him.

He continued to scan the shoreline. “Yeah?”

“Thank you for talking to me the other night, for trusting me enough to tell me about when you became aware.”

He nodded, his sight held to the water.

_______

B
y Sunday, I was dying for something to do since I was down to one part-time job. Derek’s ex, Pam, was hanging out with us for the weekend, so I offered to make bouillabaisse. Sarah loved it, Derek loved it, and everyone loved to watch Boy Wonder fight with mussel and clam shells. Sarah, Pam, Nick, and I went to the fish market and the grocery. The outing went well other than Nick riding the mechanical pony outside of the store and scaring the bejesus out of a four-year-old girl. Yeehaw.

After a couple of hours I’d sterilized Nick’s kitchen and had made salad and dressing. Sarah was assisting me by sitting on the kitchen counter and filing her nails. The stock had begun to simmer when Jericho knocked at the back door and entered. He gave the nod to Nick and Derek and walked into the kitchen. He lifted the lid on the broth and I smacked his hand with a wooden spoon.

“Why?” He rubbed his knuckles.

“Sorry. I’ve always wanted to do that.”

“What is all this?”

“Nirvana!” Sarah hopped off the counter. “Kris worked at a five-star in Austin all through school and makes bouillabaisse better than the exec chef. Stick around.”

“I do not make it better, but thank you.” I wiped my hands on a towel.

Jericho went with Sarah to the living room and they sat down with the others to watch sports bloopers. I was sectioning grouper and snapper fillets when I heard the crunch of gravel and glanced out the window. An SUV parked and I struck the knife against the cutting board. Light brown hair, a lovely face, and a cut physique confirmed it was him. If Derek or Sarah had known he was coming they would’ve told me. The sound of trampoline springs started up in my mind. Jericho said my name but I couldn’t speak.

_______

The sun had set behind the trees when a hard shove put me on my back, my right hand caught underneath me, my other pinned by Joshua’s arm. His mouth slammed onto mine and I couldn’t turn away.

He brought his head back two inches and stared at me, a strange, crooked smile on his face. “You don’t have to pretend with me. You’ve been wantin’ this for a long time.”

The squeal of the springs got more frantic.

I dug my nails into his wrist. “Josh, stop.”

My shirt and bra were yanked to my neck, my body writhing under his weight. His hands, his mouth …

I screamed but the trampoline was so loud. With his forearm against my throat, the fingers of his other hand slid the zipper of my shorts. I pushed hard but he was too heavy, too strong.

“You’re gonna like me.” He said into my ear as his body covered mine.

The porch lights went on. Nick’s mom was home from her business trip early.

She opened the back door and called for him, her hand shielding her eyes—she couldn’t see us.

“Hi, Mrs. Black. He went to get carry out, should be back in a few minutes.” Joshua said, his voice totally normal.

On the other side of the tall stone wall in Nick’s backyard, two kids kept jumping higher and higher on a trampoline.