Until Then (Cape Harbor #2) - Heidi McLaughlin Page 0,41

from you.”

“Name ’em.”

“I don’t want people saying anything else about Grady, so if they ask or you hear something, just say he’s sick and in the hospital, okay?”

Peggy leaned closer to Graham and asked, “What’s really going on?”

He did the same. “He’s sick, Peggy. He’s in a medically induced coma in Port A. My mom is up there with him. She won’t come home, which is part of my second request for you.”

A customer walked in, and Peggy stood upright. She greeted them and said she’d be over to help them in a minute. When they sat, she leaned back down onto the counter. “He in trouble?”

“You could say that.” Graham didn’t want to offer up any more than he needed. “When you’re off, do you think you could go over to my parents’ and help me pack some things for my mom? She’s staying with Grady, and I can’t get her to come home.”

“Where’s your dad?”

“In denial,” he told her, wishing it were a real-life place so he didn’t have to deal with him.

Peggy nodded. “Tell me what time, and I’ll be there.”

Graham told Peggy he had to rearrange the schedule at the bar but was hoping to be out of there by dinnertime. He planned to go back to Port A tomorrow after work and would continue to do so as often as he could until Grady woke up. Graham also had to find a way to get through his father’s thick skull but was at a loss on how to do such a thing.

He ordered his breakfast, and while he waited, he pulled his phone out of his pocket. He had missed a call from Rennie, and his heart sank. What could’ve happened from the time he dropped her off at the inn last night until now? He chose to text her back. He didn’t want to interrupt her day, and he also didn’t know if he could hear her tell him any more bad news. Graham sent Rennie a quick What’s up? and then closed the app. Talking to her sometimes made him feel like they were back in high school. He thought about the days when he would flirt heavily with her. He missed those days. Life had been so easy.

Peggy brought Graham’s breakfast sandwich out on a plate. She took his mug and refilled it but never asked any more questions about Grady. Graham ate quickly, left a ten on the counter, which more than covered his food and coffee, and left her a generous tip. When he got outside, he went back to his car and drove it around the back, freeing up space in front for a patron.

Graham parked in the alley, parallel along the edge of the pavement. Most of the merchants parked back there, giving them easy access to their back doors. He unlocked the rear door to the Whale Spout and stepped into the cold dark space. He fumbled for the light switch, moved it to the on position, and closed his eyes as the overhead fluorescent lights flickered until they illuminated the room. He referred to this space as dry storage and the recycling area, where he kept the bar’s stock of paper products, trash bags, and cleaning supplies. The room was barely over a year old, and he’d had Bowie build it after a series of break-ins, which he believed to be carried out by his brother. Ideally, Graham would’ve preferred to install a reinforced door facing the back alley. However, the building where the Whale Spout lived was old and not in the best shape. Bowie’s suggestion was to build a room blocking immediate access to the bar, which he could reinforce with newer construction. Graham agreed, knowing even though the multiple-door system was a pain in the ass, there was no doubt they needed security. He pushed his six-digit code into the keypad, waited for the mechanical lock to slide away from the doorjamb, and stepped into the original yet smaller back room of the bar.

Stacks of boxes, crates, and kegs gave him pause when he entered the room. He had forgotten to do inventory on Wednesday and had planned to do it Friday after the holiday. Graham fully expected to find a list of items Krista took from the back room to cover what she needed up front. He would worry about it later.

Graham went around turning on the lights, the fryers, and the grill, along with the dartboards and jukebox. He flipped the