40. Happy Place
40
HAPPY PLACE
Jake
“I’ve got to hand it to the guy, Andrew,” I said on the phone. While Ruby made calls of her own in the room, I updated my client while walking the stone path that edged the hotel property. “Eli knows how to hide things.”
Andrew heaved a sigh, but said on the bright side, “But now we know that he turned the stolen money into diamonds, and it’s on Flamingo Key.”
I slowed my pace and rubbed the back of my neck. “It’s not quite that simple. He’s moving things around a lot. We’re closing in on them, but there’s luck and timing involved.”
“Who is ‘we’?” Andrew asked.
I winced. I didn’t intend to hide Ruby’s participation from Andrew, but I gave myself a mental slap for revealing it by accident. “You remember I asked about Ruby, his stepdaughter? Turns out she’s after the same thing we are—following the money and making things right. So we’ve teamed up. Pooled our resources.” I left out mention of anything else we were sharing. That was our business alone.
Andrew made a thoughtful sound. “She’s a lovely lady. Takes after her mother that way.”
Okay, that was an interesting tidbit he’d volunteered. But I left the non-sequitur alone and turned back to the case. “You should also know we’re not the only ones looking for the gems.”
Andrew grumbled an unintelligible string of curse words, and I let him vent, but not too long.
“What would you like me to do?” I asked. “I’m willing to go the distance, but I need to know if that’s what you want.”
“Do what you can do. My shareholders are breathing down my neck. I need this resolved, the sooner and quieter the better. But please don’t get yourself arrested.”
“I’ll do my best to stay above the law,” I deadpanned. Andrew likely wouldn’t appreciate the irony.
Instead of hanging up, Andrew cleared his throat. “Listen, there’s a bonus in it for you if you can pull this off.”
He rattled off a healthy number that stopped me in my tracks. That would cover summer school and a big chunk of law school tuition, making life for my family a hell of a lot easier. All I had to do was beat the competition and wrap things up before Ruby left for her tour in three days.
“You’re on,” I agreed. I hung up with Andrew and returned to my room and my date. The next few hours were a reprieve from the jewel hunt, and I intended to enjoy them.
* * *
Later that evening, I glided across the seafloor at Turquoise Rock with Ruby. The underwater grottos made a perfect dive at dusk. A school of silvery grassy sweepers darted past us, stirring the cool waters forty feet below the surface.
My hometown of Key Largo was one of the top scuba destinations in the world, and I’d gone on a lot of dives there, but Ruby knew this place. Her ease in the water was evident as she slipped through the rocky tunnels. She’d bounced with delight when we’d arrived and I’d let her in on the surprise date—a thirty-minute sunset dive that was coming to a close. With air running low, it was time to say goodbye to the ocean.
We broke the glassy surface under streaks of vibrant pink and bright orange across the sky. We treaded water and watched the sun disappear below the horizon in a burst of radiant color, then a glorious fade to dusk. I shifted my gaze to Ruby, keeping silent because nature’s beauty said everything I could have voiced. Rapture was in her eyes—they sparkled as she stared into the distance. This was her happy place and I felt beyond lucky to share it with her.
Fifteen minutes later, we’d come ashore and returned to the dive shop with our rented equipment, then walked in the humid evening air toward my car. The air-conditioning in her Jeep had been on the fritz, so we’d taken my rental.
As I opened the passenger door for her, she met my gaze and said, “Thank you for taking me on a dive. It was perfection.”
“You’re welcome, but I’m pretty sure you were the one taking me. You’re the pro,” I corrected. “I will, however, finally take you to dinner. Seemed like you were making googly eyes at the panini shop earlier today.”
She swatted my leg. “Was not. At least, no more than you were,” she said, lowering her voice to a tease. “Which means—I was absolutely, positively lusting over a sandwich.”
A laugh shuddered through me. “That’s what I thought.”
“Sounds like a perfect dinner spot.”
I was delighted to hear that. I’d happily take her to a fancier joint, but I loved Ruby’s casual vibe, with her sundresses and beach hair. And, of course, the fact that she liked rugged guys. I wasn’t a swirl-wine-at-the-country-club guy. I preferred baseball, boats, and sandwiches.
At the panini shop, we placed our order—Caribbean chicken for her, a spicy grouper sandwich for me, and beers for the both of us.
Island music, full of the cheery plink of the kettledrum, drifted from the eatery and onto the patio where we enjoyed a view of the deep indigo sea in the distance. After a few relaxing minutes, Ruby spread her napkin on her lap, and said, “I’ve been thinking of something we talked about earlier on your balcony. When you asked me earlier if I knew you.”
I nodded. “Go on.”
“And I want to know more, Jake. Seems only fair. You’ve been to my happy place with me,” she said, gesturing to the ocean that hugged the island. “Tell me about yours.”
“My happy place?” I arched an eyebrow. “You mean seats along the first baseline for the Miami Aces?”
She laughed, shaking her head. “Your family. They’re your happy place, aren’t they?”
The thought of them brought a grin to my face. “Yeah. They absolutely are.”
She placed her hands on the table and leaned forward. “Tell me about them.”
Easiest conversation in the world. Even though Kylie was a handful, and Brandt had been a wild child, they were mine . And I loved that she recognized that my siblings were to me what the water was to her—my magic.
“There’s my older sister, Kate. It was her idea to start the retrieval business when I got out of the Army. She’s very nosy about my love life and gives me a hard time about everything .”
“I think that’s in the Sibling Code,” Ruby said with a smile that wrinkled her nose.
“Must be. I give her a hard time about her tabby cat, which she named Inspector Cat because he has to paw everything—mugs, flowers, pens, papers, earrings—until he knocks it to the floor.”
“My mom has a cat like that. A tuxedo. Gets into everything. Rips the toilet paper to shreds and eats the plants.”
“Kind of an asshole?” I asked dryly.
“Well, she is a cat, so…”
I chuckled at that fundamental truth. “My nephew, though, loves that cat. Mason is pretty much the only person the cat is actually sweet to.”
“What’s Mason like?”
“He’s a pistol, just like my brother, Brandt, the athlete of the bunch. Wild and playful. We used to say when Mason woke up, it was like a bomb going off. Brandt was like that too when he was younger, so it’s kind of funny to see that in Mason now.”
She took a pull of her beer, then set it down on the red-checked tablecloth. “And what about Kylie? Why is she a handful, as you say?”
I scratched my jaw. “She’s sweet but super scattered. She’s the youngest, so the parents’ passing affected her differently. Her anxiety issues make school a bit of a struggle for her. She pulls through but needs extra help, like on this science test she has on Monday.”
Ruby frowned. “That’s too bad.”
I nodded. “I wish I could make it easier for her. It’s hard to watch her struggle and get frustrated with herself. My goal is just to get her through it and be as supportive as I can.”
“And it sounds like you’re doing that,” she said, reaching across the table to put her hand over mine. I smiled my appreciation, and the moment lingered. “What about Brandt? Is he still the wild child?”
I shook my head, thinking of my kid brother and how much Brandt had changed over the years. “Nope. School settled him. He’s intense and focused. He spent a year as a paralegal to make absolutely certain he wanted to be a lawyer. And he does, so he’s applying to law school now.” I winced briefly as I pictured more tuition bills piling up.
“Law school isn’t cheap.”
“Don’t I know it,” I muttered. “That’ll be a big chunk of change.”
She spread her fingers into a frame shape. “The Jake picture is becoming clearer.”
I cocked my head, curious. “How so?”
“That’s the other reason why you’re so driven, isn’t it? Paying for their schools?”
Family was private to me, and I didn’t delve into the details with many people. Same with my job—I preferred to keep it on the down-low. But I didn’t mind sharing this with Ruby. Maybe it was that she was so different from Rosalinda. Ruby seemed to quiz me out of genuine interest, not a hidden agenda to learn my weak spots. Rosalinda had peppered me with questions to unearth my vulnerabilities, find a way to steal from me. Ruby wasn’t working for the enemy. Her motives centered on the case and with me.
“Yep. My family is one hundred percent my reason. They are all my reasons.” I rubbed my hand across my tattoo, tropical leaves, trees, and flowers. It was time to share this with her. “My parents loved the Caribbean. Went there all the time. Took us on vacations there, when it was just Kate and me, before Kylie and Brandt were born. They said it was their happy place,” I said, with both fondness and sadness all at once.
“You got that for them,” she said, understanding immediately.
“I did. Reminds me of them. Of us. As a family.”
She reached for my arm, ran her soft fingers across my ink. “It’s beautiful,” she said, reverently.
“Thank you. I love it too.”
A boisterous family entered the restaurant, pulling my attention away from Ruby for a moment. As I turned my head, I caught a glimpse of someone hanging by the edge of the crowd. The sharp nose, the cut of the jawline—the profile snagged a memory and I studied him, trying to place him in my mental contact list.
Then Ruby spoke, softly, and with a smile in her voice. “Thanks for sharing.”
“You’re a good listener,” I said.
And like smoke in a breeze, everything vanished but her, and I returned my attention to the woman across from me.
She rested her chin in her hand, her soft blue gaze intent on me. “You really are like their father.”
When she said that, my heart pounded against my chest like it was connected to her. Because she not only got me, but we were on the same wavelength.
The waitress arrived with our dinners and set down the plates. After she left, Ruby picked up her sandwich and returned to the conversation. “What kind of lawyer does Brandt want to be?”
“Prosecutor. He wants to save the world.”
“Is that because of your parents and what happened to them?” she asked and took a bite of her panini.
“He doesn’t want to see that happen again. He wants to fight back. Find justice.” I bit into my sandwich too. Delicious.
“It’s kind of amazing how you both have the same intense focus and drive. But then it’s not that surprising, either, I suppose. Is he like you in other ways?”
“Meaning is he charming, witty, and good-looking?”
She laughed. “Is he?”
“He is. I can say that about my little brother, right? He’s a handsome guy.” I grabbed my phone and scrolled to my photos. As we ate, I showed Ruby pics of the whole crew—my favorite people in the universe.
While we scrolled, a note flashed on the screen from my little sister.
Kylie: Almost ready for the test. I just have one problem that’s driving me crazy. It’s on frictional forces and I want to CRY.
I showed it to Ruby. “See? This is what I mean about Kylie. Nervous wreck. Poor kid.”
Ruby furrowed her brow. “Is that for her physics test?”
When I nodded, she finished chewing, then set down the sandwich, took a drink, and said, “I won’t pretend I’m a rocket scientist, but I know how to work my way through frictional forces. I could help her.”
I stared at her like she’d dropped a birthday present in my lap. “You could?”
She nodded enthusiastically. “I could and I would. Want to call her and I can walk her through how to solve that type of problem?”
“You’re an angel,” I said, and she beamed.
My heart raced with giddy excitement, a surge of joy I hadn’t felt in ages. I blinked, as if I could chase away this foreign feeling, but it had no plans for departure. Happiness had lodged inside me, and that was terrifying and wonderful at the same damn time.
As she talked to Kylie, I told myself this feeling was relief at my little sister getting the help she badly needed. I tried to convince my brain that my heart wasn’t hammering against my rib cage over the caring way she spoke to my sister, or how she’d talked about my siblings over dinner, or the genuine joy she’d shown while spending time in the ocean with me an hour ago.
Nope. No way my heart was fluttering for the woman. And I was too smart to fall for someone I worked with. To prove it, I turned to work. I wouldn’t talk personal lives. I’d talk partnership. So, as Ruby wrapped up the conversation with Kylie and then stepped away to the ladies’ room, I looked something up on my phone.
See? I was doing this for someone I valued as a one-time-only partner, not for the woman inspiring all sorts of crazy feelings about her and for her.
Though as I wrote a few quick lines, I knew—I absolutely knew—that I was lying to myself.