Eleven

 

 

 

Naomi flitted between consciousness and a dream state.  Due to the number of drugs streaming through her IV, she teetered between lucid and fog-brained. If she talked on the phone to Colt or Drea in the mornings, she might not remember the things they discussed by nightfall.

But that got better over time.

On Thursday, she was moved out of isolation and into a regular room where Colt waited with roses in every color, miniature chrysanthemums, burgundy and gold in autumn hues, and fragrant lilies as sweet-smelling as a field of clover.

Naomi looked stunned. Everywhere she looked, every available surface held a vase full of beautiful blossoms. “Oh, my God. These are…amazing.”

“Sydney said you could have flowers.”

Standing in the doorway, Sydney piped up, “I thought he meant one bouquet. Who knew he’d clean out Drea’s shop?”

“You did this all on your own?” Naomi asked in wonder.

Colt’s lips curved. “Now you’ll never be able to say you didn’t get flowers.”

“I’ll say.” She fumbled with taking out her cell phone. “I need to get a picture of this.”

Colt did it for her. “How are you feeling?”

“Much better.”

“She’s still weak as a baby kitten,” Sydney added. “So no hanky-panky. I’ll leave you two alone if you promise you’ll behave yourselves.”

“Hanky-panky? Who talks like that?” Colt muttered after the head nurse had gone.

“She’s been sounding like that all week. Maybe she’s used to talking to little kids. I’m so relieved to finally be out in my own room. Yesterday, they brought in another guy with the flu, a retired history professor. Ever since I woke up, it’s been depressing. I was afraid I might not make it out of there.”

“But look at you now,” Colt said, trying to make her feel better. He didn’t want to mention that she still looked sick. Her lips were off-color. Her skin still showed purple splotches. And the whites of her eyes looked almost yellow.

“Stop it. I know how awful I look. Sydney gave me a mirror this morning. I’m just grateful to be alive. This year, when Thanksgiving comes around, I’ll be able to offer something real that I’m truly thankful for…I survived the flu.”

“When do they think you’ll get out of here?”

“I’m not sure. But I’m doing everything they tell me to do so I can go home, even if it is my rundown little house. Are you making any progress on it?”

His face flashed concern. “Some. Just don’t expect a miracle.”

“Believe me, I won’t. I just want to get home to my own bed.”

He squeezed her hand. “You’ll be there soon.”

Nick stood in the doorway with Jordan holding a pretty vase filled with carnations.

Jordan glanced around the room. “I see why all Drea had left were these. It makes sense now.”

“I got carried away,” Colt admitted.

Nick slapped him on the back. “Nothing wrong with that unless you’re planning to take a gun away from a mugger.”

“What?” Naomi said, trying to sit up. She studied Colt’s face, stared at the purplish yellow bruises around his mouth and the one at the corner of his eye. “Is that what happened to your face? You confronted a mugger?”

Colt glowered over at Nick. “Anyone ever tell you that you have a very large mouth?” He angled back to Naomi. “No need to worry. He’s long gone by now.”

Jordan moved closer to the bed. “Brent arrested him this morning trying to crawl through a back window at Murphy’s Market.”

Naomi twisted in bed and took hold of Colt’s chin. “When exactly did this mugging take place?”

Nick stuck his hands in his pockets and smiled at Colt. “Sunday night. Late. Colt had just closed up the shop. This guy jumped him in the parking lot, waving a gun in his face.”

“He was armed?” Naomi asked.

Nick answered for Colt. “Yep. And after several days of tracking this lowlife, Brent found him down at his makeshift campsite near the inlet under the cliffs.”

“What happened to his friends?” Colt asked, suddenly curious.

“No sign of them,” Jordan answered. “But Brent thinks they’re still in the area based on a few thefts that have occurred around town. Break-ins at businesses mostly, like the one at Murphy’s, but a few homeowners have experienced daylight burglaries at their homes while they’re away at work.”

“So don’t be surprised if Brent comes knocking on your door for a positive ID of your attacker,” Nick stated.

Turning to Naomi, he added, “Look, Jordan and I just wanted to drop off the flowers and tell you to take your time coming back to work. Don’t rush. Make sure you’re completely at full strength. That’s an order, young lady.”

“He means it,” Jordan said. “Your sick leave kicked in and will continue until you’re ready to come back. In other words, take the time to recuperate fully. You don’t want a setback.”

“I get the message,” Naomi said. “But I really can’t wait to get back to my routine.”

“You’ll have to have a doctor’s say-so before I’ll let you walk into the bank,” Nick added for emphasis. “Without that, forget it.”

“That means listen to your doctors,” Jordan went on. “Your job will be there waiting for you.”

After the couple left, Naomi eyed Colt. “Why didn’t you tell me about the mugging?”

“Because it was no big deal.”

“Any time you’re attacked in a parking lot, it’s a big deal.”

“I’ve been trained to take care of myself. I’m actually pretty good at it.”

“Oh, shut up. That doesn’t mean you should keep what happened to yourself.”

“You were in ICU, in an isolation unit to boot. I didn’t want you upset or worrying about anything except getting well.”

She let out a sigh. “Why are you so pigheaded? You aren’t invincible. No one is. That guy could’ve killed you.”

“He wanted money. I took him down. Let’s move on from it, okay? Tell me more about what you expect this kitchen of yours to look like. For several days now we had to guess. I hope we guessed right.”

It was the perfect diversion. She went on about colors and appliances and laminate until her voice gave out. She even dozed off in mid-conversation.

He took the opportunity to go look for Sydney and found Aubree Wright manning the nurse’s station instead. “Hey, there. I’m Colt Del Rio, a friend of Naomi’s. Is there any way you can estimate when she might get to go home?”

“We all know who you are and what you did for Naomi.”

Colt felt a panic rise in his throat. Had someone spilled the beans about him paying for the upgrades to her kitchen? “What did I do for her?”

“You got her to the hospital in the nick of time, otherwise she could’ve died.”

“Oh. Yeah. That. Okay. Sure. What about her getting to go home?”

“I’d say another forty-eight hours or so just to be on the safe side. She’ll still be on antibiotics, but Saturday looks promising.”

“Great. I just wanted to make some plans for her homecoming.”

“Keep it low-key, okay? She doesn’t need a lot of…stimulation…if you know what I mean.”

Colt wasn’t sure he did, but in his experiences, nurses always knew the score better than anyone else in the hospital. You could always count on them for a reality check.

 

 

Colt went back to work with a forty-eight-hour deadline on his mind. He’d learned at an early age that rushing through a project was never a good idea. But he and Zach didn’t have much of a choice. If Naomi got sprung on Saturday, then they had a lot of finishing touches to do in the meantime.

Which is why he wasn’t happy when he looked up to see a uniformed officer swagger in and break his momentum.

The chief of police had a rangy build with raven hair, graying at the temples. He had a straight nose, strong chin, and crow’s feet at the corner of his almost pure-black eyes.

Because like recognized like, Colt figured Brent Cody was at least a quarter or maybe sixteenth Native American, origin unknown at this point, but it didn’t matter.

Colt could tell the cop seemed proud of his heritage. That went a long way in his book.

Across the room, Brent noticed the annoyance on Colt’s face at the interruption. “Hey, there. I’m…”

The saws and hammering came to a halt, silent for the first time in hours.

“Jordan mentioned you might be stopping by. Colt Del Rio.”

The two men shook hands.

“Welcome to Pelican Pointe. I’m sorry it started out with a mugging.”

“No need to apologize. I didn’t see you there.”

Brent shoved a mugshot toward Colt. “If you could ID this guy as the one who tried to rob you, I’d appreciate it.”

Colt studied the picture for about five seconds. “Yep. That’s the dude. See where I cracked his nose? And that busted lip is also my doing. Did Cord turn in the guy’s Smith & Wesson?”

“He did. The gun was stolen from his father, a professor at Stanford. Ben Petrie is the name of the guy who tried to mug you. The others are Galen Pierce, John Snipes, and Matt Samuels, all are from wealthy families in Palo Alto. The university kicked them all out almost a week ago. It seems these four kids got in trouble over a fraternity hazing that went wrong. According to the Santa Clara County Sheriff’s Office, these guys almost killed a kid. It seems this same four also cheated on their first exams this semester, which they’ve apparently done before. This time I’m told, they’re banned from the school for good. And when they got expelled, without a dime from their parents, they decided to invade our little town on the way down to L.A. Seems we looked like an easy place to start a crime wave.”

Brent paused long enough to smile. “You put a damper in those plans when you fought back. You didn’t go down quite the way the rich kid thought.”

“Where were these other buddies of his? How come it was just Ben that night?”

“His other friends were breaking into houses. Ben thought it might be easier to go for the mugging angle, up close and personal.” Brent chuckled. “Thanks to you, he sees the error of that now. With a positive ID I can charge him with all kinds of things.”

“No problem. And his friends?”

“They’ll surface sooner or later. My guess is they’re still around, sneaking out of their hole at night to steal whatever they can find that’s valuable enough to pawn somewhere down the road. Anyway, I’ll let you guys get back to work.” Brent turned to Zach. “Did you mention to Colt that we’re getting a softball team together for next spring?”

Zach frowned. “Not yet. I wasn’t sure if that was still on or not. It’s months down the road yet.”

Brent nodded. “Simon tells me you can handle centerfield.”

Colt flipped his hammer into his tool belt. “Bremmer’s always had a big mouth and a pushy side. Never cared much for it.”

Brent scratched his chin. “There’s still time to sign up, if you’re interested. What’s better in the spring than beer and playing ball?” He gave a slight salute and headed out the front door.

“I used to work for that guy. Well, for his wife. Security detail at her dig site,” Zach informed him.

Colt’s eyes widened. “You’re a fascinating man, my friend. What haven’t you done?”

Zach grinned. “You’d be surprised.”

“I don’t think so. You’ve got a mysterious side to you.”

“Not me. I didn’t kill people for the CIA. That’s the rumor floating around town,” Zach stated and noticed the look of disdain cross Colt’s face. “Hey, don’t take it personally. They said the same thing about Simon. But it sure beats the hell out of all the nasty stuff they said about me when I was off my meds.”

Colt found that funny and slapped Zach on the back. “We’re approaching this all wrong. The truth ain’t half as interesting as a lie. We should start some new rumors and fan the flames.”

“Like what?”

“Give me time, I’ll come up with something that’ll blow their socks off. How’d it go with the florist the other night?”  

“Drea? She’s looking at twenty-five grand or so for the renovations on the loft. That place needed upgrading a long time ago. I turned the estimate over to Ryder. She’s thinking it over.”

“No, man. I mean the…the pizza date. How’d that go? The personal thing you two have going on between you guys. That.”

“Oh. We laughed and talked like we used to do before things soured.”

Colt sighed, hoping for a few more juicy details. “See what I mean? You’re a man of mystery, Mr. Dennison, a man of discretion when it comes to the ladies. That part’s awesome about you.”

 

 

But across town, Drea was taking a totally different tack. She waited for visiting hours to start before bursting into Naomi’s room. She’d come prepared to talk and catch her friend up on everything that had occurred since last Saturday.

“At church I saw for myself how Ophelia and Seth acted toward each other. I think you’re right. Those two are in love. They looked so cute together, Seth scribbling away on his note pad to talk to everyone and Ophelia doing her best to make sure people didn’t press him too hard.”

Drea barely took a breath before moving on, “Then on Monday, Nate Cody went missing from his afternoon kindergarten class. Julianne, the principal, was beside herself trying to locate him. But it turned out okay because the little guy had just dashed home, which is right down the street, to change his clothes because he’d accidentally wet his pants and didn’t want anyone to see. Ethan and Hayden were so upset that he’d crossed Pacific Street by himself that they wanted to ground him for leaving school without letting anyone know. But Nate didn’t even seem to understand the term. So they decided to put the kid in time out instead.”

Naomi waited for her chance to get a word in but Drea continued with another story. This one from Tuesday. 

“And then I found out why Colt’s face had bruises all over it. He got mugged! Imagine walking outside and having a guy jump you in the middle of the night. The mugger had a gun and Colt managed to wrestle it away from him. We just don’t get that kind of excitement around here very often. Leave it to Colt, though. Makes you wonder about his past, doesn’t it? That he could take care of himself like that.”

Drea pulled up the uncomfortable chair next to the bed and took a seat. “And yesterday Carla Vargas, the county social worker, stopped by the shop to ask if I knew anyone who could take in a little girl for the holidays. Carla says the county has no available foster homes for her and no space in their usual residential placement facilities for a five-year-old girl. I said I’d ask around.”

“Drea?” Naomi said, finally butting in. “Take a breath.”

“What? Oh. Okay.”

“There’s something I want you to know about my childhood.” Naomi began to tell Drea the story. “I heard about what your mother did to your dad. I want you to know we have more in common than you might think. You aren’t the only one with bad memories from childhood.”

“Why are you telling me this now?”

“After being so sick, I figure I should start from scratch, let you know I’m not as put together as you think I am.”

“That’s good to know. I was beginning to think you were darn near perfect. I have my own things to get off my chest. I think I might still have feelings for Zach.”

“What? Tell me again how long I’ve been out of it.”

“Not that long. But I’m afraid it’s true.” Drea went into what had happened at the loft. “I completely forgot how sweet he is. We had dinner, and then he spent an hour going over everything in detail about the upgrades I wanted. He knew me, knew what I’d talked about from years earlier. Imagine that, recalling all the things I said back then that I wanted to change. Who does that? Who remembers that kind of stuff? Zach Dennison does. And then it dawned on me how great things had been between us before he went off track.”

“So you’ve decided to give him another chance? What if he stops taking his meds again?”

“I asked him about that. He said after much experimenting, Quentin finally found him a drug that doesn’t have as many side effects, no weight gain, no sleeplessness, and no…” Drea lowered her voice, “libido issues.”

“He told you that?”

“Oh, honey, Zach and I go way back. We can pretty much talk about anything. I’ve seen him bounce off rock bottom several times. And I’m sure he can say the same thing about me. On top of that, he knows all my darkest secrets.”

Naomi could see Drea’s eyes light up as she talked about her time with Zach. “It could be deemed inspiring that you’re giving each other another chance. I thought he had a girlfriend, though.”

“He does.” Drea noticed how Naomi’s face dropped and her eyes narrowed. “What’s that you’re doing with your face? Is that disapproval I’m seeing?”

“Are you sure that isn’t the reason Zach looks so appealing?”

“Hey, I’m not like that. I wouldn’t try to pull him away from her just to see if I could.”

“Are you certain of that?”

“Yes.” But Drea chewed her lip, considering every angle. “They aren’t that serious. He said so. They’ve only been going out a few months.”

“Who are you trying to convince, me or you?”

“Oh, be quiet. I had this all figured out before I came in here. It was so simple. Leave it to you to muddle things up.”

“I’m just saying take it slow before you step into the middle of something you’ll regret. Test the waters before you take the leap. Make sure this is what you want this time.”

“You’re right, absolutely right about taking it slow. But why is it I wanted to jump his bones? I didn’t want him to leave Monday night without kissing him.”

Naomi found the strength to sit up in bed. “It’s natural to feel that way when you’re a little lonely. This time of year can be brutal on the emotions. Believe me, I know.”

“But you have Colt.”

“I don’t have Colt,” Naomi corrected. “Something tells me no one ever will.”

“But you want to, right?”

“He’s…intriguing…and nice to look at…and…generous. Who else would bring me all these flowers? No one’s ever done that before.”

“You’ve led a sheltered life, haven’t you?”

“I guess I have. What can you tell me about the work on my house? Do you have any idea how far along they got on the kitchen? I thought for sure Colt might send me a picture or two of the progress, but so far, not a thing, not a word about what’s going on over there. Nothing.”

Drea decided this is where she needed to end the briefing. “No idea. I haven’t been out there lately. Too busy. Look, I have to run. I’m starting my Christmas shopping this afternoon.”

“Now? Right this second?”

Drea got to her feet. “Yep. There’s no better time to make sure what you want is still in stock than right before Thanksgiving. Gotta go. I’ll come back tomorrow, though. I promise.”

“Wait. If they release me on Saturday, will you come pick me up?”

“I might have plans.”

“Really? What plans?”

Drea grabbed her purse off the floor. “I think you should ask Colt to pick you up.”

“Oh, okay.”

There was no further discussion about it as Naomi watched Drea all but sprint out the door.

 

 

“I got out of there before I blurted out all the good surprises,” Drea admitted to Colt and Zach after bringing them coffee that afternoon. “I’m not a good liar.”

“Translation,” Zach began. “She can’t keep a secret to save her life. You know that old saying, ‘loose lips, sink ships’? Well, Drea would sink the entire Navy.”

“That’s just not true,” Drea argued.

Zach shook his head. “It is. Never tell her anything you don’t want everyone in town to know.”

“If I’m such a blabbermouth, then why do so many people tell me everything, like I’m sitting in a confessional waiting for them to confess their sins? I’m selling flowers for God’s sake, not a priest.”

“Good question. But my guess is you have such a sweet, trusting face, they’ll simply open up and come clean about anything. They let their guard down for a couple of seconds and then wham…you charm them right out of their deepest, darkest secrets.”

“That’s ridiculous,” Drea contended. “I’m friendly…and outgoing…and sociable…and…”

“And beguiling,” Zach added, grabbing her around the waist. 

Drea giggled and wrapped her arms around Zach’s neck.

Colt cleared his throat. “You two want to be alone, go make out in Zach’s truck. I’m trying to work here.”

“You should offer to pick up Naomi from the hospital,” Drea suggested.

“I’m pretty sure I already did that.”

“Naomi probably forgot.”

“I’ve noticed she’s been doing that a lot lately,” Colt stated.

“A good way to fix that is to remind her again when you see her tonight. I need to get back to the shop. If I’m gone too long, old Mrs. Tuttle can’t remember how to work the register, then she gives up and lets people walk out of there without paying.” She patted Zach’s cheeks. “I’ll see you tonight. Did you take care of that little…other problem we talked about?”

“I did. I’ll see you tonight.”

After Drea sashayed out, Colt glared at Zach.

“What did I do?”

“What was the little problem you needed to take care of?”

“Oh, that. I broke up with Freida.”

“How did she take it?”

“I don’t think she cared much. She didn’t yell or scream or throw anything at me.”

“Civilized breakup? Impossible. Why is that?”

“Who knows?”

“You’re okay with it?”

“Drea and I want to try it again.”

Colt shook his head and muttered, “Scott, I hope to hell you know what you’re doing. Ghost or not, if this doesn’t end well for Zach, I’m coming for you.”