Season Of Wonder

Yukon whined and pulled in the direction of the boathouse again, which was really just a covered concrete slab where he kept his shiny new cabin cruiser, aptly named The Wonder.

Ruben could swear he heard whispers drifting to him on the wind. Was someone there?

Suddenly Yukon’s whine turned to a bark and the whispers turned to shouts. Someone yelled, “Run,” at the same moment the dog lunged away from Ruben and the leash slipped out of his hand.

He reached for it, but Yukon moved with single-minded speed toward the boathouse, barking away.

Surprised at the unusual behavior from his normally obedient dog, Ruben raced after him. He ordered the dog in Dutch—the language he was trained in—to stay. After only a moment’s hesitation, Yukon reluctantly obeyed, too well trained to do otherwise.

“Good boy.”

Ruben could hear rustling in the bushes around the boathouse as he drew closer.

“Whoever you are,” he called out, “you’re going to want to not move. My dog is trained to attack on command. I just have to say the word.”

He heard a small sound of distress and aimed his flashlight in the direction of the dog, who had alerted onto a shape crouched close to the ground. The dog wasn’t growling. In fact, his tail might even have been wagging, though it was too dark to be sure.

“I should also tell you, I’m a deputy sheriff and I’m armed.”

He didn’t add that he was armed with only a flashlight and can of bear spray. The intruder didn’t need that much information.

“Don’t shoot me. Please don’t shoot me.” The voice was high-pitched and sounded terrified. Either it was only a kid or Ruben and Yukon had scared the cojones off somebody.

“Come on out from there. I won’t hurt you. Neither will Yukon, as long as you don’t make any sudden movements.”

“Can you take his leash? Just in case?”

The voice struck a chord. He’d heard it before, and not that long ago. He tried to place it as he stepped forward to grab Yukon’s leash, speaking in Dutch again to order the dog to stay.

“I have the leash but that probably won’t help you. I was holding it earlier but he got away from me when he caught your scent.”

He sensed the dog wasn’t being predatory, he only wanted to play, but the intruder couldn’t know that.

“Come on out.”

After a long moment, the trespasser slowly rose from the ground, appearing ready to bolt at any moment. Ruben moved into position to block any escape route, and aimed his flashlight at the figure, clothed in a dark coat with the hood up.

Shock rippled through him. “Silver? Silver Capelli? What are you doing here?”

Of all the miscreants in town who might have it out for him—and it was impossible to avoid making a few enemies here and there in his line of work—he never would have pinpointed Dani’s older daughter as someone who might trespass on his property.

“Um. Just taking a walk. That’s all. I just wanted to, uh, see the water, then your dog scared me and I freaked. I’ll, uh, just be going now.”

Did she really think he was that stupid? Her house was next to his. If she wanted to see the water, she only had to walk into her own backyard, not scale the fence to come into his.

“Hold on a second.”

His flashlight gleamed on something metallic in the grass. He nudged it with his foot and saw it was a spray can. With a sinking suspicion, he turned the flashlight onto his new boat. Across the hull in glaring red letters he saw “Fascist Pi” written in two-foot-tall letters.

Either she had a thing against math equations or she hadn’t had time to finish writing an inflammatory slur against police officers.

“Wow. Nice artwork.”

“It was like that when I got here. I didn’t see who did it.”

He shined the flashlight on her. Again, did he look that stupid? “I can see the spray paint residue on your finger. I believe that’s the very definition of red-handed.”

She hid her hand behind her back, as if she were five years old and had been caught playing in her mom’s makeup.

As he took a step closer, she stepped back, though she lifted her chin. Whether that was instinct or courage, he didn’t know. One part of him had to admire her grit, even as he acknowledged that, ridiculously, his feelings were hurt.

What had he done to earn this kind of vitriol? He had tried to be nice to Silver since she and her family moved to Haven Point. He had talked to her a few times when he was making visits to the school and had even cracked a joke or two with her and her friends.

“I have two questions,” he said as he flipped on the lights of the boathouse so he could get a better look at her handiwork. “The obvious one is why.”

“What’s the other question?”

“Answer the first one, then I’ll ask the second.”

She didn’t meet his gaze. She still looked scared but he thought some of her abject terror seemed to be fading. She even reached down to pet Yukon, then faced him with an expression of defiance mingled with a shadow of guilt.

“I don’t know,” she finally said. “I guess it seemed like a good idea at the time.”

It wasn’t an uncommon excuse from kids who didn’t always think through the consequences of their actions, who considered themselves invincible and were only interested in the thrill of the moment.

He had never personally been able to figure out the thrill of defiling someone else’s property. Vandalism as a way to pass the time always annoyed the hell out of him.

“It wasn’t. Obviously. It was a very, very bad idea. You see that now, right?”

She shrugged and looked down again without answering. When it became clear she wasn’t going to respond, Ruben frowned.

“Second question. Who else did this with you?”

“Nobody,” she said quickly. Too quickly.

He had heard other voices, had definitely heard that “run” command ring out across the backyard.

“You’re in enough trouble, Silver. Don’t compound it by lying to me. We both know that’s not true. Who was here with you?”

She lifted her chin again and in the pale light, he saw defiance in her eyes. “Nobody. Only me.”

“Why are you standing up for them? They were only too quick to leave you here to face the consequences—and Yukon—by yourself.”

“You don’t know anything,” she snapped.

“I know that was a pretty rotten thing to do, letting you take the rap when you weren’t the only one involved. Was this whole vandalism thing even your idea?”

She didn’t respond, which he had a feeling was answer enough.

“What’s going to happen to me?” she finally asked. “Are you going to arrest me?”

“That depends. Is my boat the only thing you’ve tagged tonight?”

She looked down at Yukon, as if hoping the dog could help her figure out how to answer.

“Silver?” he pressed.

“No,” she finally said, her voice low. “You’re going to find out anyway. I might as well tell you. We... I did two other things. A shed down the street where the mean old guy who always yells at kids lives, and Mrs. Grimes’s garage door.”

Gertrude Grimes taught English at the middle school and had been a cranky old crone back in the day when he went there. The intervening years hadn’t improved her demeanor much.

“Are you going to arrest me?” she asked again. Her voice sounded scared and upset and, again, he caught that trace of guilt on her features.

He had the feeling Silver was having a hard time adjusting to life in Haven Point. Was this simply an outward sign of that, or was there more to it?

Technically they were within the town limits, which made this a case for Cade Emmett, the police chief of Haven Point. He could call for an officer and they would take Silver to the police station. She could be charged with criminal mischief and channeled into the juvenile justice system.

Sometimes that was absolutely the best course of action for a wayward teen, a firm and unmistakable wake-up call, but he wasn’t sure Silver’s actions justified that.

“First you’re going to show me everywhere you hit tonight. With luck, we can talk to the owners and persuade them not to press charges as long as you promise to clean up after yourself. Then we need to go talk to your mother.”

She opened her mouth as if to argue then closed it again, as if finally realizing just how much trouble she had created for herself.

“I’d rather you just arrest me than take me home,” she said glumly. “My mom’s going to freak.”

“Either way, she’s going to find out, Silver. Trust me, you’re going to want to pick door number two, the one that doesn’t include a trip to juvie.”

3

As Dani might have predicted, Mia fell asleep about halfway through the movie. Her youngest rarely made it all the way through a show. She would settle in, fully intending to persevere through the whole thing, but every time she curled up and drifted off.

Silver, on the other hand, couldn’t bear not seeing things through to the end. If she started a movie, she would do whatever necessary to stay awake until the closing credits rolled past.

The girls had plenty of other differences. Mia loved dressing up, trying on Dani’s few nice cocktail dresses and high heels, playing with dolls, drawing her own paper dolls and cutting them out. Silver had never done any of those things. When she was Mia’s age, she loved soccer and hockey and watching the Red Sox, though at heart she was a die-hard Mets fan, even at six.

Despite their different personalities, Dani worried about her girls exactly the same.

As she sat in the darkened family room with her sleeping daughter on one side and their aging mutt on the other, Dani’s thoughts circled back to her worries that she had made a grave mistake in moving to Haven Point.

All through those long, difficult years working on her undergraduate degree, then the even harder work to her doctorate, she had dreamed of raising the girls in a place just like this, somewhere rural and peaceful, a place of beauty and calm that might offer a tiny chance of protecting her girls from the ugliness of the world.

She wanted better. Better than the hardscrabble, uncertain life she had known growing up, better than the rough-edged world Tommy’s family lived in.

With only one goal in mind, she had taken every scholarship that came her way, had worked double shifts, had taken out student loans. All so that she could provide a better life for her daughters doing something she loved.

Nothing was turning out the way she’d planned.

She sighed and nibbled her popcorn. Silver had become a distant stranger and Mia’s sudden-onset shyness had become a crutch to her in every social situation. Her teacher said Dani’s once bubbly, joy-filled daughter became withdrawn and silent the moment she walked into the school.

Dani wasn’t exactly fitting in, either. Not only that, but the natural confidence and sharp intuition she had always felt around animals seemed to abandon her when she was the one making all the hard calls. Frank was so very kind and patient with her, but she still felt as if she was fumbling through everything.

Oh, she hoped this whole move wasn’t a huge mistake. But really, what was one more? She’d been making mistake after mistake since she got pregnant with Silver at seventeen.

No. Her girls were her joy. Neither of them was a mistake, though Dani’s choice of a man to be their father certainly was.

Mia stirred. “Is the movie over?” she asked sleepily.

“Yes. Come on. Let’s get you to bed.”

She scooped up her daughter, loving the poignancy of having her small, sweet-smelling shape nestled against her. Sooner than Dani wanted to think about, her baby would be too big for Dani to lift. She was growing so fast.

She carried Mia into her bedroom, decorated in her favorite colors, pink and lavender. After helping the girl under the covers, Dani pulled them up to Mia’s chin.

“What about the movie? We didn’t finish it,” Mia said in a plaintive, sleepy tone, eyes mostly closed.

“Maybe you can watch the rest tomorrow with Silver while the babysitter is here or after I get home from work tomorrow night.”

“Okay...” Mia’s voice trailed off before she finished the word.

Dani stood beside the bed, Winky at her feet, watching her daughter sleep and feeling the weight of responsibility that had rested completely on her shoulders alone all of Mia’s life.

“Come on, Wink,” she whispered after a moment. The little dog led the way outside. In the hallway, the dog suddenly tensed, a small growl in her chest as she hurried to the door.

A moment later, someone gave a firm knock.

Dani glanced at her watch. It was after nine. Who would be coming at this hour? Silver had a key and would have let herself in.

Dani went to the door and peered through the peephole. At first, all she saw was a broad chest clad in a T-shirt and unzipped navy blue down jacket. Her gaze traveled up and she recognized the hard, masculine features of her next-door neighbor.

In the dim glow from her porch light, Ruben appeared dark and dangerous and as gorgeous as ever.

A slight movement caught her attention and Dani shifted her gaze, suddenly realizing he wasn’t alone.

Silver stood next to him, eyes wide and nervous and her chin trembling as if it was taking all her energy not to cry.

Dani swore sharply and was glad Mia was in bed and didn’t hear it. She had worked for years to clean up her street language but sometimes swear words slipped out in moments of high tension.

Her stomach dropped. Oh, Sil. What have you done?

Dani could think of a dozen reasons an officer of the law would be bringing back her child. None of them good.

She wanted to sneak away, to hide in her bedroom and pretend she didn’t hear the doorbell, but she was a grown-up. She couldn’t pull the covers over her head and ignore her law enforcement officer of a neighbor and whatever dire news he had to impart.

Trouble, like bloodhounds, will always track you down.

With a sigh and a prayer for patience, she opened the door. “Deputy Morales. This is a surprise. What are you doing here? And with my darling daughter, who was supposed to be spending the evening with a friend watching a movie.”

“Apparently she found something else to do. May I come in?”

She wanted to say no. She wanted to bar the door against him and her baffling, frustrating child, but, again, adulting carried certain unavoidable responsibilities.

With no choice, she held the door open. Silver didn’t meet her eye as she shuffled inside.

“I’m going to bed,” she muttered, all prepared to flee toward her room across the hall from Mia’s. She looked as if she wanted to be anywhere on earth but here in their living room.

“Guess again,” Dani snapped. “What’s going on? Why are you not watching a movie with Jenny? Why did Deputy Morales bring you home?”

She slumped into a chair, mumbling something Dani couldn’t make out.

“What was that?”

“You’re just going to yell.”

“Silvia Marie Capelli. What did you do?”

Her daughter folded her arms across her chest and didn’t answer. After a moment, Ruben answered for her.

“Instead of hanging out and watching a movie, Silver apparently decided it would be more fun to take a spray can around town and see what kind of mess she could make with it.”

Dani’s heart seemed to freeze. She stared at her daughter, shock rocketing through her. “A spray can!”

“She tagged three places in the neighborhood—a garage door at Gertrude Grimes’s, an outbuilding at Tom and Mary Miller’s, and my new boat.”

Nausea churned through her, slick and greasy, and she was unable to think straight through the steady stream of swear words ringing through her head and the effort it was taking not to let them spew out.

Those names he gave were all neighbors and patrons of the veterinary clinic. She had treated one of the Millers’ cats and Gertrude Grimes’s rather unpleasant schnauzer.

“That’s a strong accusation,” she said, holding on to a fragile hope that he might be mistaken. “How can you be certain Silver was involved?”

“Show your mom your hand, Silver.”

Her daughter gave a heavy sigh and thrust out her left arm, which earned her an amused look from Ruben.

“Nice try. The other one.”

After a long moment, her daughter held out her right hand. The forefinger and thumb were covered in unmistakable red paint and Dani’s heart sank.

“Silvia. What were you thinking?”

Her daughter remained stubbornly silent, answering only with her habitual nonchalant shrug that drove Dani absolutely crazy.

“In my experience, most of the time the kids involved aren’t thinking. They get into a herd mentality kind of thing and nobody thinks to question whether what they’re doing is a good idea or not.”

She could understand that entirely too well. That sort of thinking had landed Tommy in jail when he was an irresponsible teenager and the pattern had continued through his short adulthood.

“Was this Jenny’s idea?”

“I didn’t go to Jenny’s. That was a lie.”

“So who was with you?”

“There wasn’t anybody else. Just me,” Silver said quickly. Too quickly.

“Really? All by yourself, you got it into your head that you would spend a cold December night vandalizing the property of our neighbors? Including a deputy sheriff?”

“Yeah. I guess I did.”

“I’m not an idiot,” Dani said flatly. “I know you’re lying. I need the truth.”

Her daughter lifted her chin. “Snitches get stitches. That’s what Dad always used to say.”

At the reference to her ex-husband, Dani glanced at Ruben, who was watching this interchange impassively.

She could feel heat soak her cheeks. Why did this particular man have to be involved? It was hard enough knowing he was a firsthand witness to her daughter’s poor choices. She didn’t need him knowing about her own.

“You, of all people, should have learned never to take to heart anything your father might have said,” she said quietly.

She could never be quite sure if Silver hated her father or idolized him. The mood shifted constantly.

Since Tommy’s violent death three months earlier, Dani was afraid Silver’s memories of all those disappointments had begun to fade in the midst of a natural grief over losing her father, even after everything he had done.

“At least he never would have brought me to a stink hole in the middle of nowhere,” she snarled back.

No. He would have just broken your heart again and again, until you had nothing left but shattered pieces.

“I happen to like this stink hole,” Ruben said mildly.

“You would.” Silver’s voice dripped sarcasm and Dani stared at her, appalled at her daughter’s rudeness to an officer of the law. She had taught both of her girls that nothing good ever came out of being disrespectful to people who were only trying to do their jobs.

“That’s enough,” she snapped. “Your father has nothing to do with this discussion. This is about you and your own mistakes. I can’t believe you would do something like this. How could you?”

“It was easy. You just push the little nozzle on the spray can.”

At Silver’s flippant tone, Dani’s anger spiked.

Sometimes being a parent really sucked.

She dug her nails into her palms to hold on to the fraying edges of her temper, drew in a deep breath and let it out slowly before she trusted herself to speak.

“How much damage did she do?” she asked Ruben.

“Hard to say in the dark. My boat will need some serious cleanup work. It will take the right solvent that won’t damage the finish, so I’ll need to talk to the marine supply places. We checked out the other places she hit and I’m thinking it would be cheaper in those cases to repaint.”

Dani wanted to cry, to just sit right here in the middle of her living room and throw a good, old-fashioned pity party, with a healthy dose of temper tantrum thrown in.

Why couldn’t anything be easy? It was hard enough trying to fit into a new place—a new school, a new neighborhood, a new town. Why did Silver have to go and make everything worse, for absolutely no reason Dani could see?

“We’ll take care of all costs associated with the cleanup, of course.”

Ruben was quiet, watching her out of those big, thick-lashed dark eyes. “Seems to me, Silver should be the one to put in the elbow grease and make it right.”

“Me?” Her daughter’s eyes widened and she looked appalled.

“Sure. Why not? If you can make the mess, you can clean up the mess. You could always share the burden by letting us know who else was with you tonight, so they can help in the cleanup.”

Dani watched Silver’s chin jut out with the stubbornness that was as much a part of her makeup as her green eyes and dimples. “No one was with me. How many times do I have to tell you that?”

“You can tell me as many times as you want but I heard voices and saw others running. None of your partners in crime will face the necessary consequences of their actions unless you come clean.”

Silver folded her arms across her chest again. “I didn’t have any partners in anything. It was only me.”

Ruben shrugged. “That’s fine. Then you alone can clean up the mess you created. Or I suppose I can go ahead and talk to the property owners and see if they’ve changed their minds about pressing charges.”

Fear flashed across Silver’s delicate features. For all her bravado, she didn’t like being in trouble. She never had.

“Fine. I’ll clean it all up by myself. Can I go to my room now?”

Dani wanted to keep her out there to yell at her some more but she figured some distance between her and her daughter wouldn’t hurt right now while she worked a little harder to restrain her temper.

“Go shower and get your pajamas on. I’ll be in to you in a minute.”

Silver gave one last resentful look to the room in general—as if she had anything to be angry about!—and stomped to her room, leaving Dani alone with the deputy sheriff.

She never would have expected it, but she found the man far more intimidating when he was wearing jeans and a T-shirt under his down jacket, instead of his uniform.

The uncomfortable little sizzle of attraction didn’t help matters any.

“I don’t know what to say to you,” she said after Silver’s bedroom door closed. “I’m so sorry.”

“It’s not your fault—unless you were one of the people I saw take off running.”

He smiled in response to her narrowed gaze. “Yeah. I didn’t think so. In that case, you don’t have any reason to apologize. You had nothing to do with it.”

“Except I trusted her, when she told me she was going to watch a movie at her friend’s house.”

“Which friend was she supposed to go to? I can start there. You said Jenny? Which Jenny? I know a few.”

She didn’t want to answer him. Her tongue felt thick, the words tangled in her throat. Apparently her late ex-husband’s disdain for snitches had worn off on her, too.

She sighed. She didn’t know how to keep the girl out of it. “Jenny Turner.”

“Sean and Christine’s daughter.”

“That’s right. But Silver said she didn’t go to her house and it wouldn’t surprise me if she just used her name as an excuse, mainly because I know her parents. I can’t imagine Jenny would have anything to do with this. I’ve only met her a few times but she seems very nice.”

“She is. But nice doesn’t have much to do with it. Even the so-called good girls can make mistakes with their friends egging them on.”

Was Silver negatively influencing the whole neighborhood? Oh, she hoped not.

“I’m sorry,” she said again. To her dismay, she could feel tears burning behind her eyes and blinked as hard as she could to keep them back. “She’s never done anything like this before. I can’t understand what got into her head.”

Ruben’s features softened in a way that made him seem far less intimidating. “Don’t beat yourself up. She made a mistake and did something stupid. Probably won’t be the first time or the last time.”