Chapter 11

Wyatt didn’t think he’d be disappointed by anything that afternoon. He was with Deirdre, and she made everything into an adventure for him. They could literally sit in his Jeep, and he’d be satisfied.

But they were only in the Jeep for about twenty minutes before she directed him to turn left onto a dirt road. “This must be the private property,” he said. Sure enough, he spied a bright yellow sign declaring it as such as he passed a fence that looked like it was meant to keep cattle contained. “It’s pretty up here.”

The ocean was a smear on the horizon, and Wyatt loved the view in that moment. He’d always loved the island, and he’d never wanted to leave to live somewhere else. He’d never seen snow, and he couldn’t even imagine what true cold felt like. He had lived through tsunamis and volcanic eruptions and hurricanes. But he’d never wanted to leave Getaway Bay.

“So you can go past the house,” Deirdre said. “That’s where Charlotte and Dawson live.”

Wyatt looked at the stunning house that someone obviously spent a lot of time on. “Charlotte is great,” he said. “She did Jen’s wedding.”

“Oh, oh course.” Deirdre scoffed and shook her head. “And here I am talking about her as if you don’t know who she is. Sorry.”

“It’s fine.” Wyatt continued down the road, his thoughts wandering to his daughter. “She hasn’t called in a while.”

“Who?”

“My daughter.”

“Park right here,” Deirdre said, and Wyatt eased the Jeep to a stop. After getting out, he shouldered a backpack he’d put water and snacks in and took Deirdre’s hand.

“How long is a while?” she asked as she led him down a narrow trail and through the rocks. Some of them were definitely the remains of a volcano, and they were beautiful. Plants and shrubs grew anywhere they could, as well as a wildflower Wyatt didn’t know the name of.

“A couple of weeks,” he said.

“Where is she?”

“Her husband’s going to school in California,” Wyatt said, and the ocean between him and Jen hadn’t bothered him until that moment.

“You have a phone too, Wyatt.”

Surprise punched him in the lungs, and he took a breath to try to get the stinging to stop. “You’re right,” he said. “I do.”

“If you want to talk to her, give her a call.” Deirdre glanced over at him, and Wyatt felt like a fool. She couldn’t call her daughter to talk to her, and he wondered what that could possibly feel like.

Probably a lot like losing his wife, like a piece of herself had died.

He paused, and Deirdre did too. She turned toward him, peering up at him through her sunglasses. “What?”

“Deirdre,” he said, his mind misfiring as his mouth turned dry. “I sure do like you.”

A smile bloomed on her face, and Wyatt didn’t waste another second. He took her into his arms, glad when she came easily. Thrilled that she fit so well. He’d never kissed this woman, and he honestly thought he was about to crash and burn.

Big time.

“I haven’t kissed anyone in a long time,” he whispered.

“Are you scared?” she asked.

“Terrified,” he admitted.

“I’ll help you,” she said, closing the distance between them, which wasn’t much. Wyatt touched his mouth to hers, not quite sure what to expect.

He hadn’t known fireworks could explode down his throat, or that his heart could beat that fast and not burst.

He suddenly remembered what to do, and he growled in the back of his throat when Deirdre pulled away. She didn’t go far though, and Wyatt kissed her again easily, everything male in him firing with color and sound and light.

Kissing Deirdre brought new life to his soul, and Wyatt thought that maybe that piece of him that had died was coming back. Growing bigger. Brighter.

He finally pulled away, his head swimming and his chest tight. He pulled in a deep breath as Deirdre tucked herself into his arms. “See?” she murmured. “That was beautiful.”

“Beautiful,” Wyatt repeated, swaying with her in his arms. Yes, he could get used to afternoons like this, and he hoped he and Deirdre would have many more of them.

***

“There’s two tickets to the luau on your desk,” Norma said a few days later when Wyatt stopped at her desk for his morning messages. “And I did book that hot air balloon ride over Lobster Bay for you and Deirdre for next weekend.” She made a check mark next to something on the notebook in front of her. “And your mother called.”

Wyatt finally moved a muscle in his face, and that was to lift his eyebrows. “Must not have been an emergency status call.”

“She’s heard.” Normal adjusted her glasses and set her pencil down.

“Heard what?” Wyatt needed to be in a meeting with his detectives about the shooting-slash-car accident at the business building from last week in five minutes. But his mother calling definitely came first.

“About you and Deirdre,” Norma said matter-of-factly. “I calmed her down, which is why this wasn’t an emergency.” She handed him a piece of paper. “There are the high points. I said you’d call before she went to bed tonight.”

Wyatt sighed, though Norma had given him plenty of time to call his mother. “How can she possibly know? We went to dinner one time, on Friday.” True, about five days had passed since then, and it was very possible Nita Reddy had seen his mother around the island. Though she was nearing eighty, she didn’t let her age stop her from doing anything. Mom did water aerobics every morning at the aquatic center, and she played golf almost every afternoon.

Since Wyatt’s father had died a decade ago, she’d determined not to let old age stop her from doing things—and it didn’t.

“She would not divulge that information to me.” Norma sniffed, which meant his mother had been rude to his secretary.

“I’m sorry for whatever she said, Norma.” Wyatt looked at the woman, hoping she knew he meant it.

“I am no stranger to your mother, Wyatt.” Normal put a professional smile on her face. “Now get to your meeting. I don’t need to hear how you’re late to everything and that it’s my fault.”

“I am not late to everything,” he said, rolling his eyes. He did go into his office and set his lunch down on the corner of his desk. His coffee cup landed next, and he peered at the piece of paper with at least a dozen bullet points on it.

The first one said Wants to know why you’re dating another blonde.

“This isn’t happening,” Wyatt grumbled. He crumpled up the paper and tossed it toward the trash can. It didn’t go in, and that was fine with him. He picked up the blue folder Norma had put on his desk and left the office. In the conference room, he sat down at the head of the table and flipped open the folder, just as Noel stood up to start.

He read some of the things as Noel recapped them about the case, but his mind wasn’t on topic. Sandi spoke about the ballistics on the bullet casing, and Tom wanted to go over the witness testimonies again. Eli said he’d review Bella’s statement, and the one lead they had was a gun shop on the north side of the bay, in a little strip mall before all the ritzy houses started eating their way up the hill.

“Fine,” he said. “Noel, you and Sandi go work that lead. Eli, you work with Tom on the statements and testimonies. I want to see a timeline for this accident or shooting or whatever it was. Where are we with the suspect?”

“We have his statement, and we couldn’t charge him with anything.”

“He wasn’t drunk? High? Outstanding parking ticket?”

“Came back clean, boss. He said a dog ran in front of him, and he swerved to avoid hitting it.”

Dubious, for sure, as there was a courtyard between the road and the building, and no indication the driver had hit the brakes at all.

Wyatt sighed and looked around the table. “All right. We need to talk to him again. Let’s see if there’s something we can get him in here for.”

The meeting broke up, and Wyatt took his folder with him. Back in his office, he sat down at his desk and fiddled with the mouse on his computer to get it to wake. Anyone coming in or walking by would think him very seriously studying something crucial online. But really, he had a texting app that he could use on the computer, and he opened a thread to Deirdre.

I have the luau tickets. You still in for tonight?

Wouldn’t miss it. Her response came quickly, and Wyatt smiled. He hadn’t seen her since Sunday, and he really wanted to hold her hand. Kiss her the way he had up on the bluff. No, the way he had just inside her door after driving her home. Or maybe the way he had as they leaned toward each other over the console in the Jeep.

The bottom line was, he wanted to kiss her again.

Perfect, he sent her. I’ll pick you up at six.

Deal.

I also have a surprise reservation for next weekend.

A surprise reservation? Isn’t that an oxymoron?

He chuckled to himself. Well, the reservation isn’t a surprise. It’s what it’s for that is.

So you know, but I don’t.

That’s how a surprise works.

Deirdre didn’t answer for several moments, and Wyatt turned his attention to some real work on his desk. He signed paperwork, so that when Norma marched into his office twenty minutes later, he had everything ready for her.

“Thank you, sir,” she said, pivoting to go right back out to her desk. He smiled and shook his head at her. Norma was a real character, and Wyatt sure was lucky to have her. “Wait a second.” She paused in the doorway and turned around. Her eyes zeroed in on the wad of paper lying on Wyatt’s floor. “Is that the list of things from your mother?”

“No,” Wyatt said, practically leaping out of his desk chair. Norma’s heels clicked against the industrial tiles, but he managed to get to the paper first. “It’s not, Norma.” He hid the crumpled paper behind his back. “Go back to your desk.”

“Wyatt Gardner,” she said. “That was twenty minutes of my morning.”

“I’m going to call her,” he said. Behind him, his computer bleeped and his phone buzzed on the desktop.

Norma’s eyes stayed angry, and now her eyebrow drew down too. “Well, I’ll let you get back to your important business, Chief.”

He watched her leave this time, relief mingling with the excitement inside him. Deirdre had finally answered with, Sorry, my boss came in. You better tell me what to expect for the surprise so I wear the right thing.

A smile filled Wyatt’s whole face, and he couldn’t wait to take her up in the hot air balloon, the whole world curving before them on all sides.

But he supposed he better call his mother first.