5. The Day After
Chapter five
The Day After
Lila woke to sunlight already filtering through the curtains.
For a moment she lay still, mildly surprised. She couldn’t remember the last time she’d slept this late. Then she remembered.
Dinner. The beach. Wade’s hand finding hers in the dark.
She rolled onto her back and stared at the ceiling, not analyzing any of it, simply letting herself enjoy the memory of it.
Eventually she got up, changed into a T-shirt and shorts, and headed for the kitchen.
Coffee was brewing a few minutes later while she stood at the sink looking out toward the Gulf. The water glittered beneath a cloudless sky, and she could already tell it was going to be a beautiful day.
Her phone buzzed on the counter.
Wade: I ran into Mike from the paint store. He said your paint came in. I can pick it up if you’d like.
Lila smiled.
Lila: That would be great. Thank you.
She hesitated, then added:
Lila: And thank you again for dinner.
The response came a minute later.
Wade: It was a good dinner. And a good night.
Lila looked at the screen longer than necessary before replying.
Lila: Yes. It was.
Three dots appeared. Disappeared. Then returned.
Wade: Next time you pick the place.
She read it twice before setting the phone down beside her coffee mug.
Next time.
The phrase settled somewhere warm inside her and a smile tugged at the corner of her mouth.
She set the phone down before she could think about it any further, then carried her coffee and laptop out to the screened porch.
She had just begun organizing her notes for Tuesday’s meeting with Frank Forsythe when she heard Wade’s truck pull into the drive.
A few minutes later he appeared on the path.
“Delivery service,” he said, holding up two cans of paint.
Lila stood. “That was fast.”
Wade shrugged. “Mike had it sitting by the register when I walked in.”
He stepped onto the porch and set the cans down beside the screen door.
“Where do you want them?”
“Garage is probably easiest.”
“Garage it is.”
They carried the paint around together. When they came back, Wade nodded toward her laptop.
“You’ve got yourself a project there.”
Lila glanced at the columns of notes open on the screen.
“Research.”
“That the official accounting term for whatever you’ve been working on the last few months?”
“Pretty much.”
He smiled.
Lila lifted her coffee mug. “The coffee’s fresh if you want some.”
“Sure.”
She pointed toward the kitchen. “Help yourself.”
Wade disappeared inside and returned a minute later carrying a mug. He settled into one of the porch chairs and stretched out his legs.
“They’ve got you working on a Saturday.”
Lila laughed softly.
“I’m pretty sure nobody’s making me do this.”
“That’s not what it looks like from here.”
She looked down at the notebook beside her laptop. Pages of notes, names, dates, and arrows connecting one document to another. Then she looked back at Wade.
“I’ve been digging into the case my dad was involved in.”
Wade nodded. “Find anything interesting?”
“A few things.”
“Such as?”
She closed the notebook.
“I found the FBI agent who worked the investigation.”
His eyebrows lifted slightly. “You did?”
“His name’s Frank Forsythe. He’s retired now.”
“And?”
“I’m driving up to Tampa to meet with him on Tuesday.”
Wade took a sip of coffee. “Do you think he’ll tell you anything?”
Lila leaned back in her chair. “I honestly don’t know.”
“You drove all the way to Pelican Cove for a conversation that lasted twenty minutes.”
“Twenty-three.”
He smiled. “Sorry. Twenty-three.”
“And technically it was productive.”
“Technically?”
“Ray gave me something.”
The words slipped out before she had fully decided to say them.
Wade’s expression didn’t change, but his attention sharpened slightly.
“What?”
Lila looked out toward the water beyond the porch screens. She had carried this secret by herself for so long, that for a moment she considered dismissing his question.
Then again, she’d carried a lot of things by herself that probably should have been shared.
“A phone number.”
Wade waited.
“Ray said it was the number he used when he needed to reach my father.”
For a moment neither of them said anything. Beyond them, the breeze stirred the palms near the deck.
“You didn’t mention that.”
“I didn’t.”
“Have you called it?”
She nodded. “Last week.”
“What happened?”
Lila wrapped both hands around her coffee mug.
“It rang three times. Then somebody answered.”
Wade waited.
“I could hear someone breathing.”
“Did they say anything?”
She looked out toward the water.
“No. But I did.”
“What’d you say?”
Her fingers tightened slightly around the mug.
“Dad.”
Wade was quiet.
“And then?”
Lila shook her head.
“Then I panicked and hung up.”
That earned the smallest lift of his eyebrows.
“You hung up?”
“Immediately.”
“I see.”
“You absolutely do not.”
A smile tugged briefly at the corner of his mouth. “No. But I suspect I would have done something similar.”
That surprised a laugh out of her.
“Thank you for that.”
“You’re welcome.”
He took another sip of coffee. “Did they call back?”
“No.”
Then Wade asked the question she had been asking herself for days.
“Are you going to call again?”
Lila looked past him toward the water. “I don’t know.”
It was the truth.
Wade nodded once. “Fair enough.”
That was it. No advice. No theories. No attempt to tell her what she should do. He simply accepted the answer and moved on.
For reasons she couldn’t quite explain, that made her feel better.
For a while they sat watching sunlight dance across the water beyond the porch screens. Eventually Wade glanced at his watch.
“I should probably let you get back to work.”
Lila looked at the open laptop beside her. “You mean my exciting Saturday plans?”
The corner of his mouth lifted. “Exactly.”
He carried his empty mug inside before heading back to his truck. A few minutes later she watched him disappear down the driveway.
Lila pulled the laptop closer and reopened her email. Two messages from Claudia sat near the top of her inbox. Staffing. Budgets. Questions that still needed answers.
And at the end of both emails was the question Claudia had been asking, but still Lila hadn’t answered.
When are you coming back?
Lila looked at the screen a minute longer before closing the laptop.