Dark Beach - By Lauren Ash Page 0,16
in shock—never seen this before, wasn’t expecting it. You have every right to be mad at me.”
Jenny reached up to him. “I’m not mad; short tempered, maybe.”
“I know. I feel bad. They’ve been paging me, calling me, emailing me. I slept in. My flight is in six hours. I have to pack.”
“We barely unpacked anyway. What about our trip?”
“They said I could pick up my vacation hours when everything is done.”
“How long will that take?” She sighed.
“It’s too early to tell at this point. I have to look at it first.”
“Oh. I feel terrible now.”
Ron kneeled and hugged her. “Don’t. Don’t feel bad, please. I feel bad enough leaving you.”
“And you won’t be in danger? I mean … I just don’t know, Ron. What’s going on here?”
“There may be some danger.”
Her brow furrowed.
“I’ll be fine,” he said quickly. “They’ve got crews on call, and I’ll have plenty of help. Just you worry about you. Stay here and relax; you need it. Order in, go to the beach. The window guy will be by tomorrow morning. He’ll fix the door, too.”
I can do this, Jenny reassured herself.
She was accustomed to being alone, what with all the travel Ron did. She had managed for years just fine; sometimes she didn’t even mind it. There was an emergency—you’ll just have to deal with it, she told herself as she helped Ron zip up his case.
Half an hour later, her husband, now wearing his casual beige business suit, was standing by the door and gazing at his wife and daughter with an expression simultaneously sad and nervous.
“You look good,” said Jenny.
Ron surveyed her, standing before him in comfy sweats and with tangled hair. She was on vacation, he supposed, or was something else wrong? He noticed that she looked slightly weary, as if she had aged in days. A vision of her lying helpless in his arms on the side of the road flashed before him. Suddenly, he didn’t want to leave her.
“Come here and hug me,” he said.
“Bye-bye, Dada,” said Kip, as she hugged his leg.
“I don’t want to go. I can’t leave you two here like this.”
“We’ll be fine,” said Jenny. “I’ll be fine. You don’t need to worry.”
“Well, you’re not alone, I guess. Maybe you should look up Nana’s friend?”
“Maybe not,” she said, snuggling into him one last time. “Really, just go, before I start to cry or something. I don’t want you to miss your flight. If you lost your job, then what? I like this house.”
“It’s nice, isn’t it?” He gave her a quick peck.
She snuck her hand around his neck, making the kiss last a few more seconds.
With a final wave, Ron closed the door to the little house on the beach.
***
“What happened here?”
“Um...” Jenny moved her arms behind her back.
“Did you have a break-in?”
“No.” She shook her head. “We did it to get in. My husband did, I guess. You see, we lost the keys.”
“Oh, you could have called me. I’m a locksmith—on call for this sort of thing. Or I believe Molly Coggington has a set of keys for this place.” The man was old, ancient, with a slight tremor in his liver-spotted hands.
“John, we would have, but we just didn’t think of it, I guess. Or we just didn’t know really.”
“Did you find your keys, then?”
Jenny shook her head. Visiting Mrs. Coggington had not been on her to-do list.
“I can replace all of the locks and get you new keys. How many doors does this place have?”
“It’s my first time here. I don’t know. I can check.”
“Sure. I’ll start fixing her up. It will all have to be replaced.” He rummaged around in a toolbox. Kip watched with fascination.
“Whatever you need to do, please. I’ll be back. Come on, Kip.”
Jenny didn’t care. She just wanted everything fixed and a way to lock up. Her first night spent alone, lying awake, terrified by every little noise, had been sleepless. She had given up and gone downstairs to watch television instead. The news revealed nothing about the accident, but then she didn’t know what to look for; Ron had given few details.
Avoiding the paint chips scattered around the house on all sides, she checked the patio door. It didn’t require a key. There was the garage and the front door, but the only other entry she found was a back basement door with a big padlock on it. She reported her findings to John, and they tracked around the back.
“I can open this up for you.” He