Chapter 24
TWENTY-FOUR
Dutch
The next two weeks were a lesson in patience versus relationship. The book finally had a chokehold on me. I’d never been great at the work and life balance, but I tried to make the effort for Phoebe. For us and the tenuous new layer building between us.
Both of us were deep in a project. Phoebe had been spending her afternoon and evenings at Heavenly Bite. Not only had Romeo hired her for the inside, but he had decided to make a big splashy update to the outside of the brick building, which kept her busy.
I’d finally hit my first wall on the book since the day the floodgates of words had been opened thanks to Phoebe.
I’d been sticking close to the cottage lately and the walls were closing in.
I grabbed my keys off the hook and shrugged into my jacket before opening the door.
Mouse scrabbled up off the porch, his tail wagging.
“Want to go see Phoebe?”
His tail went into helicopter mode as I ruffled his ears.
On my way down the stairs I heard the truck before it bounded down the rutted lane.
March was sprinting by and had been nothing but rain.
I craned my neck and noticed a slim, white boat was strapped to the flatbed.
I hustled down the driveway to meet the driver, surprised to see Dylan behind the wheel.
“Hey, Mr. Dutch!”
“Just Dutch,” I corrected.
“Right. Sorry.” He hung halfway out the window. “Hope you don’t mind an early delivery.”
“Not at all.”
“Where would you like me to put this?”
My palm slid across my chest, trying to rub away the tightness. “Uh, the garage.”
“Got it.” Dylan carefully eased his way up the driveway, the engine rumbling.
Unimpressed, Mouse headed down to the beach to sniff around since we weren’t going anywhere yet.
Dylan hopped out, twisting his baseball cap backward against the brisk wind coming in off the water. “I’ve never seen a rowboat like this before.”
“It’s a scull. I did a lot of rowing when I lived in San Francisco. I was on a team in high school and college,” I said absently as I skimmed my hand over the smooth lines.
“Oh, man. I’ve never been to the West Coast. Is it beautiful?”
“More than I can describe.”
Dylan uncranked one of the tie-downs. “And you came here?”
I tucked my fingers into the pockets of my jacket. “I had to for work.”
“Oh, right. Molly was freaking out when she found out you were in town. I’ve never met an author before.”
I resisted the urge to fidget and back out of the conversation. It used to be easy for me to talk to anyone, but everything was too big and complicated in my head with the deadline looming and facing what was next. Especially since I was the only one aware just how utterly fucked my career was.
And Phoebe.
I did have her in my corner. The quick wash of panicky sweat down my back eased.
I had Phoebe.
“Yeah, I’m using the lake for some inspiration in my new book.”
“Really?” His face lit up before he ran around the other side of the truck to unlock the strap at the opposite end of the scull.
My stomach threatened to heave. Don’t talk about it. Don’t let anyone know. I slowly blew out a breath. “Do you know anything about the car stuck in the lake?”
“Oh, yeah. Me and my brother actually tried to dive down and take a look at it. There’s so much muck at the bottom of the lake that keeps getting moved around because of the change in currents.
Especially in the winter. It actually never stops churning enough to freeze over so the car keeps getting covered and uncovered. ”
“Is that right? I didn’t have that in my notes.”
“Probably because no one believes us.” He laughed. “When I was a kid, me and Micah used to go down looking with our metal detectors. A storm always seemed to happen right before we were going to go down, or one would come up while we were in the water.”
My fingers itched for my keyboard. “Is that right?”
He nodded. “The visibility is always shit down there because there’s so much clay in this area. It makes a thick, murky cast when you get down toward the deepest parts of the lake. Up along the top, it stays nice and clear for boats and the lazy river’s edge on the opposite end from your place.”
I hurried to the end of the boat and we both lifted it off the truck bed.
The scull wasn’t heavy, but the outriggers had been wrapped up to protect it on the shipping.
My brain coming back online, I couldn’t stop the grin.
“My email from the company said this wasn’t coming for another week at least.”
“Tate had a shipment of fair displays for Memorial Day. Halloween did so well last year that we decided to do a street fair where the parade ends at Wonderland Village. It will have a ton of local artists selling their wares and rides for the kids. Same company does the shipping for this area. Tate always checks for big orders in the area to save people on shipping charges.”
“Just like that?”
“Sure. It’s what we do for people. Especially since you and Miss Phoebe are so tight. She helped a ton when Tate was setting up the village.”
I almost bobbled the boat.
Dylan gripped the edge. “You got it?”
“Yeah. Sorry.”
He grinned. “Am I wrong?”
I cleared my throat. “No, you’re not.”
“Good. If Phoebe thinks you’re good people, we do too.”
Just like that.
We got to the garage door and I maneuvered myself to the center of the scull and pinned it to my hip with one arm. “Can you open the door?”
“Yeah. If you need a boat launch attachment to the pier, Phoebe’s brother has a hook up.” The hinges squeaked as he swung the garage doors open. “I can ask Micah to add it to the property. The pier doesn’t get much action these days. Probably needs some updating.”
“Yeah. Why don’t we set that up? I’ll be here for a while.” The idea of San Francisco seemed so far away. As much as I loved it, this felt more like home somehow.
“You sticking around more than your six months?” When I didn’t answer Dylan grinned wider. “Miss Phoebe has a way about her. I don’t blame you.”
He grabbed the end of the boat to redistribute the weight and we hooked it up to the brackets I’d installed in the wall of the garage. I didn’t bother to use it for my truck since it was such a small space.
“Thanks.”
“No problem. It’s a gorgeous craft. So light. There’s a separate box for the oars. I’ll go grab it.”
I smoothed my hand over the white hull, pulling the protective plastic cling back. I’d definitely be putting her in the water tomorrow if the weather cooperated. I turned at the crunch of Dylan’s boots behind me.
He set the box under the boat. “Is everything else all right with the cottage? I haven’t been over to check since the last snowfall.”
“It’s great. Do you have another renter for it?”
“Not at the moment. Micah wanted to give you first dibs on renewal. If not, we’ll put feelers out.”
“Good.” I backed out of the garage and closed the door. “Can I ask you another question?”
“About the house?”
“No, the lake.”
“Oh. Sure. Going to brave the depths?”
I huffed out a laugh. “I’m not really a dive guy.” I hooked my thumb toward the garage. “I prefer to stay dry and not let the monsters get me.”
Dylan laughed. “Right. Horror writer. I can’t imagine what goes on in your brain. I love a good horror movie, though.”
“Should try a book.”
His grin widened. “Maybe I will.”
“Since you have been down there to look for the car, have you gotten any photos?”
He shook his head. “We even had a guy come with high-end equipment hoping to score the first good photo, and it’s just sludgy green.
As I said, the currents are pretty wild over this way.
Providence Lake opens up around the bend past Phoebe’s house.
The basin is wide and clear, but it’s deep as hell.
Most of the sail boats stick to that end of the lake. ”
“And where is the car exactly?” We walked down the drive to the half wall that looked out on the water.
Dylan pointed to the narrow ridge across from Phoebe’s house. “There’s a crevice there where the rocks make that sharp point. It’s lodged under there.”
“And what do you know about the lost kids lore?”
Dylan propped his elbows on the shale and stared out over the water. It was an overcast day and the water matched the rock formations creating an endless dark gray. “My grandfather was a cop when the last girl went missing.”
“Rachel Forrester?”
He nodded and glanced over at me. “You did your research.”
“Kinda what I do.”
“I thought you wrote fiction?”
“I still like to know all I can about a topic then...” I trailed off. It sounded cold and calculating when you broke it down.
“Use the parts that are interesting?” He straightened.
“It’s okay. You should have seen it when the podcast team came to town.
Our little town got quite the wide awakening with the true crime listeners started showing up.
My brother was so pissed when they searched out our grandfather.
He’s retired and doesn’t really like to talk about it. ”
“Why not?”
“According to him they made a lot of mistakes. Before Rachel, the last kid to go missing was twenty years before that.”
I pulled out my phone, double checking my notes. “Rachel was eighteen years ago.”
“Yeah, spooky isn’t it? They never found her or a body. She was in Micah’s class so it really hit close to home for him.” He suddenly patted his pockets, then pulled out his phone. “Shoot. Duty calls. I’ll talk to my brother about the pier.”
“Thanks, Dylan. And for the details.”
“Molly is going to freak out when I tell her I talked to you about your book.”
I didn’t know who Molly was, but I’d kept myself pretty separate from the town. I was focused on getting the book done, but I also didn’t really have a reason to talk to people other than Phoebe. “Don’t give away too much. The book is still under wraps.”
“Should I keep my mouth shut?”
Yes!
The little voice in the back of my head demanded it.
“No. It’s fine.”