“Miss Gardner? This is Sally Walters. I’m Frank’s administrative assistant. This is just a courtesy call to let you know that the South Cove Mission Wall certification request is still with the state commission. They are running a little behind due to mandatory staff reduction days so it’s taking a little longer than we expected. I’ll call you in three months if the project is still pending on their docket.” The machine clicked off.
I stared out the window toward the part of the backyard where the wall stood. “I guess you hid back there for years, so a few more months isn’t going to hurt anything.” Greg wanted to put up a hammock and build an outdoor brick oven where the wall sat, if the commission found it wasn’t a historic mission. I figured he’d be disappointed when the decision finally came through. I knew it was the mission.
Emma barked at me from the open screen door. If I understood dog language at all, her bark said, Hurry up and get changed so we can run on the beach. I smell dead fish.
Or, more likely, Open the door so I can chew up those couch cushions.
I decided to believe the former and hurried upstairs to change into my running clothes. Ten minutes later, we were on the beach. The sun had broken through the morning clouds and the waves were light and playful. No one but Emma and I were there, so I unhooked her leash and let her run. I focused on the sound of my feet against the sand and the smell of the salt air.
We rounded a bend and out of the corner of my eye, I saw a couple walking hand in hand toward me. And Emma running full bore to greet them, seawater flying off her body as she flew. “Emma, come here,” I called, hoping for once my dog would listen to my plea. She didn’t.
When she reached the couple, the woman leaned down to greet her, and Emma sat, enjoying the attention. I sped up my pace to return her to the leash, hoping it wasn’t Mayor Baylor and Tina. I’d get a lecture for sure about loose animals on the beach and the city laws. As I approached, I realized it was Austin and Kacey. I clicked Emma’s leash onto her collar and stood. “Sorry about that, I thought we were alone.”
“Dogs aren’t supposed to be off their leashes on the beach,” Austin muttered.
Kacey slapped his arm. “Stop being a rule book. Who died and left you king?” She turned toward me. “I know we live in a small town, but how crazy is it to run into you again today. Jane, isn’t it?”
“Jill. And this is Emma.” I reached down to rub the top of Emma’s head, and she scooted over to lean against my leg as we stood there. “I just love this stretch of beachfront. We run a few times a week, especially when the weather’s good like today.”
“I know.” Kacey spun around in a circle. “Isn’t it grand today? When Austin mentioned we should take a break and go for a walk, I was all over that idea.”
I turned my attention to Dustin Austin. I noticed his wife called him by his last name along with everyone I’d ever met. The guy hated the name Dustin, but when I’d first met him, I had felt weird calling him Austin. That thought was pushed aside by another memory crowding into my brain. The last time I’d seen him, before his wife showed up in town, he’d been in my storeroom, kissing Sadie. I could tell by the look on his face, the memory had occurred to him, too. “So, Austin, it’s been a while. I hear you and Kacey are opening a dessert food truck.”
He frowned, then turned back to Kacey, grabbing her. “We’ve got to go.”
“Ouch, you’re hurting me!” She pulled her arm out of his grasp. “Sometimes he doesn’t think. Like the time he kissed me after eating a cookie and I had to be rushed to the hospital.”
I stared at her. “How would a cookie send you to the hospital?”
“I’ve got a mad wheat allergy. I love to bake, but I have to be really careful with the ingredients I use. That’s one of the reasons we decided to open the food truck, Austin got tired of eating all my experiments. Besides, people are going crazy on this gluten-free thing, so I thought it was time to let them eat cake, too.” Kacey shrugged. “So to speak.”
“I’m sorry if I hurt you.” Austin put his hand on the small of Kacey’s back. I couldn’t pinpoint his true age, but I knew he had to be in his late fifties. Kacey, on the other hand, couldn’t be more than thirty or thirty-five. “We need to get going. I forgot the health inspector is coming by today.”
“No, he isn’t, you said he was coming next week.” Kacey didn’t budge from her spot. She grinned at me. “I put it on my new calendar. You should see all the planner options they have down at that office supply place in Bakerstown. I wanted all of them, but settled on a weekly planner that had a slot where I could put my own pictures on the cover. So it looks just like me.”
“That sounds nice.” I loved seeing Austin squirm. “I have a lot of friends in the area who are addicted to their planners.” Sadie being one of them. “Maybe that’s a topic for one of our Business-to-Business meetings.”