Chapter Eight
“Wow, this place is packed.” Leah scanned the parking lot next to the Poseidon Grill for an empty spot.
Ryan pointed. “Maybe you can squeeze in at the end of the row over there.”
“It’s either that or go park on the street.” Leah edged her Audi in next to a compact car and turned off the engine. The repair shop had promised to fix Ryan’s Jeep on Monday. Until then, she was doing the driving.
“Did you see the live music sign out front? My guess is people came for dinner and are staying to hear the band later. That’s in addition to our group upstairs.”
She opened the door and stepped out. “The merchants are making a killing this weekend on the Fall Festival. Paige said she’s had a steady stream of customers through her shop, and they weren’t all just browsers.”
“These weekend events are great for the economy.” Ryan met her at the front bumper. “Speaking of Paige, there she is now.”
Leah glanced in the direction of the street where Quentin and Paige approached carrying a large wooden box between them. Thankfully, they’d cleaned the time capsule so it was no longer caked in dirt.
“Hey, I’ll get that.” Ryan hurried over to take Paige’s end.
“Thanks. What did we put in this thing, rocks? It weighs a ton.”
“I can’t wait to find out. I barely remember what my own contribution was.” Leah smiled at her friend. “You look spectacular, by the way.”
Paige wore a gold dress that hugged her figure and swirled out around her knees, and a pair of strappy heels that added a good five inches to her height.
“Right back at you. That shade is fabulous with your complexion.”
Leah glanced down at her tangerine-colored dress. The scoop neck revealed a hint of cleavage and left her shoulders bare, while the side slit parted high up on her thigh with every step she took. “Is it too much? The saleswoman at All Dressed Up insisted I buy it.”
“You look perfect. That clerk knows her business.” Paige held the door to the restaurant open for the men.
Quentin grinned as he passed through carrying his end of the time capsule. “You both look extremely hot. Right, Ryan?”
Ryan’s blue gaze locked with Leah’s in a long moment of wordless communication. “Even prettier than you were back in high school.”
“Then there’s Nina.” Paige gestured toward their friend, who stood beside a table in the dining room speaking with Dr. Carlton and his wife. “If I didn’t love her so much . . .”
Nina wore a dark red, deceptively simple dress that stopped at mid-thigh, displaying legs a supermodel would kill for. She was so beautiful, it almost hurt to look at her.
“Good thing we do, right?” Leah’s lips curved. “Jealousy isn’t a pretty emotion.”
“What do you have there?”
She jumped when a hand landed on her shoulder and glanced up at Irving Stackhouse, their chief of police. “It’s the time capsule we buried back in fifth grade. We dug it up last night for our reunion.”
“I heard about that.” He nodded at Nina as she joined them. “Should be entertaining to revisit the past.”
“We plan to have a great time,” Paige said. “Are you here to enjoy the music later?”
“Don’t I wish.” Stackhouse grimaced. “No, my officers and I will be in and out periodically all evening to discourage drunk drivers. My whole force is working overtime on such a busy weekend. Nothing like the local police presence to inspire sobriety.”
“We’ll keep that in mind.” Quentin pressed a hand to Paige’s back to nudge her out of the way. “Are we going upstairs? This thing is heavy.”
“Yep, straight up.” Leah smiled at the veteran cop, who’d been a fixture in town as long as she could remember. “Good talking to you, Chief.”
“You bet.”
Quentin and Ryan led the way up the stairs with the time capsule between them. When they reached the open room at the top, decorated with the welcome banner and streamers Leah and Paige had strung up earlier, the handful of people already present cheered.
“Put it on the table by the back wall.” Nina directed the men toward the rear of the room.
Ryan let the box down with a thump. “I can’t wait to see who included the gold brick.”
“No kidding.” Quentin dusted his hands on his slacks. “Where’s the bar? That was thirsty work.”
As more of their old classmates arrived, Leah mingled, catching up with a few friends she hadn’t seen in years. Still, her gaze returned again and again to Ryan. The previous night had been perfect, but—
“You look pensive.”
She glanced up and smiled at Sloan. “You changed your mind about attending. The reunion wouldn’t have seemed right without you.”
“I’ll admit to feeling my age in this group, so I asked Edgar to come along with me. After all, he helped a couple of the dads with the actual hole-digging during the burial party twenty years ago.”
“I’m thrilled Edgar’s back to work after kicking cancer’s ass. Oh, there he is over by the window, talking with Jesse and Ryan. I’ll make sure to tell him I’m glad he came.”
“You do that. The man dotes on you.”
Leah grinned. “That’s because I laugh at his jokes.”
“Or you’re just a lot prettier than I am. I’ll talk to you later, Leah.”
“Sure.”
After Sloan strolled away, she headed over to the food tables to consult with Arnold Dorsey. Assured by the restaurant owner that dinner was ready to serve, she clapped for attention and announced the buffet was open.
Fifteen minutes later, plate in hand, she slid onto a chair next to Nina and let out a sigh. “I think the party’s going well. Everyone seems to be having a good time.”
“I’d say so.” Her friend paused with a skewered prawn halfway to her mouth. “You’re positively glowing. Great sex tends to do that for a woman.”
Leah choked on the water she was sipping. “What makes you think—”
“Ryan has been watching your every move all evening and is wearing the same satisfied expression.” Nina lowered her voice as a laughing couple passed behind them. “My superior powers of deduction tell me you two heated up the sheets last night.”
“God, are we that obvious?”
“Only to someone who knows you well. So, are you and Ryan—”
Leah gulped more water as her face heated. “Doing it? Yes, and it was pretty darn amazing.”
“I was going to ask if you’re officially a couple.”
“Not really.”
“Why not?”
She shrugged one shoulder. “We agreed this is temporary . . . just until he goes back home.”
“That works for you?” Nina asked.
Leah pressed a hand against her chest and rubbed. “I’m determined to live in the moment.”
“Hmm.”
“What the heck does that mean?”
“Nothing.” Nina glanced up. “Hey, Ryan, have a seat.”
He pulled out the chair beside Leah and sat. “Paige and Quentin are on the way over, and I ordered a round of drinks for us.”
“You’re the best.” Nina gave Leah a quick glance. “Some people should keep that in mind.”
“Huh?” Ryan frowned. “Did I miss something?”
“Nope.” Nina leaned an elbow on the table. “So, tell me what’s next for Crossroads. Or is that classified info? Would you have to kill me if you leaked your secrets?”
“Not kill, but I’d expect you to sign an oath of silence in your own blood . . .”
Leah’s grin faded as she met Pete Brewster’s gaze from several yards away. He leaned against the wall beside Sloan Manning and George Dorsey. She responded with a brief nod. The man had been a bully when they were kids, and nothing much had changed over the years. The fact that he was her ex-husband’s best friend and lawyer had always irritated her.
After a moment, he said something to Sloan then approached. Stopping a meager foot away, he triggered an urgent need to put some space between them, impossible with the table hemming her in.
He crossed his arms over his chest. “I haven’t spoken to Brock in a while. How is he?”
Her stomach tightened. “I don’t have a clue. We aren’t in touch.”
When Paige and Quentin arrived, carrying full plates, Pete finally stepped back. “I heard he has plans to be in the area soon. If you do talk to him, tell him to look me up.” Turning on his heel, he strode toward the bar without waiting for an answer.
Leah shivered. “Jerk.”
Beneath the table, Ryan laid a hand on her thigh and squeezed, but he didn’t comment as a server approached with a tray of drinks. His silent show of support dissolved some of her tension, and she let out a long breath, determined not to let mention of Brock ruin her evening.
Paige held up her glass. “To old friends. Cheers, everyone!” Around the room, others echoed the sentiment.
Leah met Ryan’s gaze and clicked the edge of her glass to his. “Cheers to us.”
“Are you okay?”
She nodded in response to the concern in his voice. “Absolutely. Let’s eat. These salads look delicious.”
He regarded her for a long moment before picking up his fork to dig into the chicken pasta on his plate. “Rabbit food, but to each his . . . or her . . . own.”
“Darn right.”
An hour later the buffet had been cleared away, and most of the group had assembled around the table where the time capsule rested. The gathering had expanded to include a few curious spectators, mostly family members of classmates, who’d come upstairs to watch the unveiling along with the local community events reporter from the newspaper. She stood with her camera poised as Ryan and Sloan used crowbars to wrench off the cover.
With a hard yank, the nails came loose, and Ryan set the lid off to the side. “Finally.” He smiled at Leah. “Who plans to do the honors?”
Nina joined her up front with Paige, who rubbed her hands together. “Let’s see what we have in here.”
Leah stared down at the contents and laughed out loud. “Oh, my goodness, we really did put a rock in the box.” Reaching in with both hands, she lifted out a large, flat rock decorated with artwork and signatures from every member of the class. “I’d totally forgotten about this.”
Nina pulled out several books. “The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe, Matilda, and On the Banks of Plumb Creek. Wow, a few of us had great taste in literature when we were ten.”
“Not so much in music.” Paige waved a Hanson CD. “Remember these guys? Who’s the guilty party?” When no one fessed up, everyone laughed. Next, she produced a dog collar complete with a bone-shaped name tag. “I hope the dog wasn’t still attached when we buried the capsule.”
“Hey, that was my contribution.” Quentin took the collar from her and grinned. “My mom couldn’t figure out how Rowdy lost this.”
Leah fluttered a long, black feather. “Looks like someone plucked this out of a raven.”
“I shot it with my BB gun first.” Pete Brewster glanced over at his father, who’d joined the group. “Hey, Dad. Do you remember that? None of the birds were safe in our yard.”
Leah’s stomach turned, and she dropped the feather on the table. Gritting her teeth, she reached into the box and held up a purple bear. “Who still has their old Beanie Babies? This was my contribution.”
“Typical Leah.” Paige fished out two VHS tapes. “I contributed The Parent Trap. Who put in Ju-manji?”
“That would be me.” Ryan grinned. “I still love that movie.”
“We also have a Lego dinosaur and Jurassic Park trading cards.” Nina set them on the table. “Hey, what ten-year-old boy doesn’t love dinosaurs, right?”
“That T. rex was mine.” George Dorsey left the buffet table, where his father was clearing away serving dishes, to approach. Blue eyes gleamed as he picked up the Lego dinosaur. “I bet I still have a box full of Legos at my dad’s place.”
“Some things you just can’t let go.” Nina cradled a small red book sporting a miniature lock. “Oh, wow, this was my diary. You know, I think I still have the key at home in my jewelry box.”
Leah nudged her arm. “Great. I’ll be able to unlock your journal and read it to my class on Monday morning when I share our time capsule with them.”
“Not on your life.” Nina stuffed the diary into the purse slung over her shoulder. “I remember some of the things I wrote in there, and they aren’t anything I want to share with the public.”
“Spoilsport.”
“Call me all the names you want, but I’m still not budging.” She reached in to lift out a framed glossy photo. “Here’s a picture of our whole class, including Mr. Manning.”
Their former teacher stepped forward. “Oh, Lord, look how young I was. Do you think I had enough gel in my hair?”
Leah shot a smiling glance at Sloan. “You were a cool dude back then.”
“Sure I was. Are we finished here?”
“I think so . . . wait.” Leah held up a roll of film. “Who did this belong to?” When no one took credit, she shrugged. “Must have been from someone who couldn’t make it to the reunion.” She slipped the film into the black silk purse she’d brought instead of her usual jumbo bag. “I’ll get the pictures developed to share with my students. The official portion of our evening is over, folks, but please stick around to enjoy yourselves. Sounds like the live music has started downstairs.”
“Can I get a group photo for the paper before this breaks up?” The reporter stepped back and lifted her camera. “All the former students with Mr. Manning and the time capsule. Crowd in closer. That’s great.” She clicked several times before nodding. “Thanks, everyone.”
Ryan took Leah’s arm and led her away from the table where a few of their classmates gathered to check out the photo and the painted rock. His hand was warm on her bare skin, and the glow in his eyes heated her further.
“Do you want to head downstairs?”
“Sure. The local band playing tonight is really good.” She stepped closer when someone brushed against her from behind, and Ryan drew her tight to his side. She was slightly breathless when she spoke again. “Anyway, I have to hang around to take down the decorations and pack up the time capsule once everyone leaves.”
“Then we’ll listen to the music for a while first.”
They joined the throng of people on the stairs, and Leah teetered precariously as they neared the bottom.
“Careful.” Ryan grabbed her around the waist.
“Wow, I almost fell on my head. My purse caught on something, maybe the handrail. Good thing I zipped it closed earlier.”
“As much crap as you carry, that would have been a disaster for sure.” He guided her toward the bar area, where the band was playing a lively bluegrass tune. “Hey, they are good. I don’t see any empty tables, though.”
“Looks like Sloan and the Vargases just got one. Maybe another will open up soon. This place is packed.” When her purse vibrated, she unzipped it to pull out her cell and glanced at the display. “Uh-oh.”
Ryan slid an arm around her as Chief Stackhouse brushed past, headed toward a rowdy group in the corner that had been joined by Pete and Waylon Brewster. “What’s wrong?”
“My grandma just texted me, and I quote, ‘You’d better come over here. Damn bastards.’ ” Leah’s grip on the cell tightened. “Crap.”
“Interesting language coming from a senior citizen. Your grandma knows how to text at . . . how old is she now?”
“Eighty-two. Yeah, she’s up on all the latest technology, and she’s been known to use colorful language when she’s upset. Damn, I wonder what she pulled this time.”
“How much trouble can an eighty-two-year-old get into?”
“You’d be surprised.” Leah stuffed the phone back into her purse. “Do you mind leaving now? I need to get over to the senior apartments.”
“Of course not.”
She gave him a grateful look, then reached out to snag Nina’s arm as she passed them on the way toward the bar. “Ryan and I have to leave. Can you and Paige clean up without me and take the time capsule home with you? I’ll pick it up tomorrow.”
“Of course, but why the rush to get out of here?”
“Grandma texted.”
The concern in Nina’s gaze turned to amusement. “What’s she done now?”
“God only knows, but I’d better get over there pronto.”
“Go. Paige and I will handle everything here.”
“Thanks. You’re the best.” Grabbing Ryan’s hand, she tugged him toward the door.
“Call if you need bail money,” Nina shouted after them.
His steps faltered. “Is she kidding?”
“Not in the least.”
* * *
He sat alone in the dark office and focused on keeping his temper. He’d failed. Not once, not twice, but three times. Four, if he counted the pointless hours spent digging under the paving stones at the school the previous month. On sheer gut instinct, he’d followed Leah and Ryan and the others the previous night when they left Castaways to head up to the grade school. Sure enough, they’d dug up the box. He’d nearly shouted with glee when they’d turned down the access road to the carnival afterward. He’d only had to wait twenty minutes for an opportunity to break into the Jeep. But the damn time capsule wasn’t inside. One look at the blinking light on the dash of the Jaguar Paige Shephard had been riding in told him the alarm was set on the expensive vehicle. He couldn’t risk getting caught red-handed stealing the box.
He slammed his fist down on his thigh and swore. Earlier in the evening, he’d edged up through the crowd surrounding the time capsule while those idiotic women lifted out “treasures.” A bunch of ridiculous crap not worthy of the attention they’d given it. But he hadn’t been able to slip the film into his pocket before Leah stuck the roll in her purse. Stupid bitch.
“I’ll get the pictures developed to share with my students,” he mimicked in a high-pitched voice. Wouldn’t that be the ultimate show-and-tell? Those kids would have nightmares for the rest of their lives.
When his phone beeped, he pulled it from his pocket and glanced at the text. Did you get it?
With a grunt, he typed a response. Not yet.
Fuckin’ A!
He tapped furiously. I’ll take care of the problem. One way or the other.
You’d better.
He threw his phone down and let out a shaky breath. He’d save their collective asses, even if he had to break their cardinal rule in the process. If he couldn’t get the film any other way, he’d kill Leah Grayson on their home turf. And damn the consequences.