Silhouettes Shadows and Sunsets (Summer Lake Silver Book 5) Page 2

  Nina’s head snapped up. “Are you saying that you want me to take the next couple of months off?”

  Janet nodded. “I think that’d be best. Don’t you?”

  It made sense, or at least it would if Nina hadn’t rented her house out. At least, she had a few days to figure out what to do. She’d go home in the morning. She wanted to be in her own home; once she was there and she felt safe, she’d figure out what to do next.

  “Do you want to call Abbie?”

  “No!” Nina didn’t plan to tell her daughter what had happened tonight—or that she wouldn’t have a job for the next couple of months. She’d only worry and want to help. Nina didn’t want to be a burden to her. She’d get herself home and figure out what she was going to do before she told Abbie anything.

  Chapter Two

  “Hi Austin, this is Manny Alvarado.”

  “Oh, hi Manny. How are you? We’re looking forward to seeing you up here. Are you ready for your trip?”

  Manny laughed. “I’m more than ready. I’m on the way. You know what Diego’s like. He’s talked me into coming up early, so that I’m there for the weekend. I know I said I didn’t want to start the rental until the first, but is there any chance I could get in there early? It’s not a problem if not. I’ll find somewhere else, take a room at the resort for the weekend, if necessary.”

  “I’m sure it’ll be fine. The owner hasn’t lived there in over six months. She told me it was available any time after the middle of July. I can’t see there being a problem with you taking it a few days early. I’ll give her a call and get back to you. Are you literally on the road now?”

  “I am. Once I decide I’m going to do something, I like to get on with it. I’ll be there this afternoon, so let me know. I’d like to take the place straight away, but obviously I’ll understand if that’s not possible.”

  “I’m sure it’ll be fine,” said Austin. “I hope it will be. I don’t like your chances of getting a room at the resort. It’s the height of the season here.”

  “Oh, of course.” Manny hadn’t thought about that. Still, it wouldn’t be a problem. He knew he’d be able to stay with Diego or even with Diego’s son Zack if it came down to it.

  “I’ll call her now and get back to you.”

  “Thanks. And you said the owner is a widow?”

  “That’s right. Her husband died a couple years ago. And then last Christmas she moved away. The house has stood empty since then. Her daughter’s still in town, though. She keeps an eye on the place.”

  “Okay. Well, let me know what they say.”

  “Will do. I’ll call you back as soon as I get hold of her.”

  Manny knew that the house wasn’t anything grand. He didn’t mind that. He didn’t need much. He only planned to use the place as a base while he found his feet. As Austin had just reminded him, he was fortunate to find anything for the month of August in a resort town like that.

  As he drove on, he wondered about the old lady who owned the place. From the pictures he’d seen of the house, he’d guess that she was something of a character. The décor wasn’t what he’d expect of an old lady. He had to wonder if she’d redecorated after her husband died. Austin had told him that she’d moved away and that only added to his impression of her as a feisty old bird. She wasn’t some feeble old thing staying safe in her home after her husband died; she’d gone off and made a new start for herself. Good for her. He’d probably never meet her, but he would take good care of her house for her.

  ~ ~ ~

  “Give me a call when you get there, won’t you?” asked Janet.

  “I will.”

  “Have you spoken to Abbie yet? Told her that you’re coming?”

  “No. And do me a favor? If she calls the store, don’t you tell her either. I don’t want her worrying. I want to get back there and figure something out, so that when I do talk to her, it’ll be all sorted.”

  “Okay. Listen, I’m really sorry, Nina.”

  They were standing beside Nina’s car which was all loaded up. She’d packed everything because after the way this had all worked out, she wasn’t sure if she’d be coming back. It seemed Janet had noticed that and understood. “It’s okay.”

  Janet wrapped her in a hug. “Is it really? Will you be back?”

  “Honestly, I don’t know. What happened with Brian shook me up. I’m not sure I’ll ever want to stay in the apartment again. And the apartment goes with the job, doesn’t it?”

  “Yes, but by the time we’re busy again—by October—hopefully, all this will be in the past, behind us, and we can get back to the way things were. We did have a great time last Christmas season, didn’t we?”

  “We did.” Even as Nina agreed, she couldn’t help feeling that last Christmas had been the only one she would spend here in Stanton Falls.

  As Janet waved her off, the look in her eyes told Nina that she knew it too.

  ~ ~ ~

  Austin frowned and hung up. He hadn’t been able to get hold of Nina Parsons. He’d tried several times since he spoke to Manny, but her phone just rang and rang. She didn’t pick up and it didn’t go to voicemail. He had a feeling that there wouldn’t be a problem if he let Manny have the keys early and let him have the place for the weekend. But he didn’t operate on feelings. He did everything by the book—at the very minimum. Wherever possible, he liked to go the extra mile to make sure that everyone he dealt with came away happy.

  Since he couldn’t get hold of Nina, he decided to try her daughter, Abbie. Abbie was the one who’d come to him originally about renting the place out. Even if she couldn’t give him a definite yes or no on letting Manny move in early, she might be able to tell him how to get in touch with her mom.

  He dialed her number and waited.

  “Hey, Austin. How are you doing? Are you guys coming out this weekend?”

  “Hi, Abbs. I think so. Amber said she wants to go. Will you and Ivan be out?”

  “We will. But wait. You weren’t calling me about that, were you? You would have called Ivan.”

  Austin laughed. “Yeah. I guess I would. It’s actually about your mom’s place.”

  “Oh. What about it?”

  “Well, Manny’s coming to town a couple of days early and wants to know if he can move straight in. Your mom said it was available any time after the middle of July. But I don’t want to just assume that that’s still the case.”

  “I’m sure it’ll be fine. She said she’d taken what she needed last time she was here, and she’s not planning on coming back for a while. Why don’t you call her?”

  “I’ve tried, but she’s not answering. And there’s no option to leave her a message.”

  “Oh, her phone does that sometimes when she’s out of range. It’s weird. I’ll tell you what, I’ll try the store where she works and tell her to give you a call.”

  “Thanks.”

  “And you should probably tell Manny that he’s fine to move straight in. The worst that could happen is that she might think of something she needs from the house. If she does, I could always call him and arrange to go over and get it. I don’t see the point in making him wait—or making her miss out on an extra few days rent. Do you?”

  “No. That sounds like a plan to me. But hopefully, I’ll be able to get a hold of her before he arrives.”

  “Yeah. I’ll call the store now. You should hear from her soon.”

  ~ ~ ~

  It was afternoon by the time Nina made it to Summer Lake. She’d spent most of the drive back reliving what Brian had done in the alleyway last night. She shuddered as she waited at the stoplight. She’d enjoyed her time in Stanton Falls, but it felt as though it was over now. She didn’t know what she was going to do back at the lake, but figuring something out here felt a lot less daunting than the thought of returning to Stanton. Between what had happened with Brian and the way Janet had been so eager for her to leave, she wasn’t sure she’d ever want to go back.

  When she’d moved to Stant
on, it’d felt like she was making a fresh start, but as she drove through Summer Lake, she wasn’t sure that she wanted a new life somewhere else. She just hadn’t known how to make a new life here—a life without Paul in it.

  As she thought about Paul, her eyes filled with tears. She sniffed and turned off the road into the parking lot of the grocery store. She needed a minute to pull herself together, and while she was here, she may as well pick up some cleaning supplies. The house had stood empty for a while now. She’d keep herself busy over the weekend and get it sparkling and fresh for the old guy who’d be staying there. He might be retiring, but this would still be a new start of sorts for him. She liked the idea of doing what she could to make it a good one for him, and a clean house was all that she could contribute to that.

  She jumped when her phone rang, and she fished it out of her purse. There was a voicemail from Janet.

  “Hi, Nina. You might still be on the road, but you were supposed to call me and let me know when you got there safely. Abbie called the store looking for you. She wants you to give her a call. Don’t worry, I didn’t say anything. But you should call her soon, or she’ll worry. And don’t forget to call me. Okay. Take care.”

  Nina ended the call and blew out a sigh. She’d have to call Abbie. It was strange that she’d called the store and not her cell, but sometimes she had no signal on the drive back here. Perhaps that was it. She’d have to call her, but she could probably leave it until tomorrow. She didn’t want to ruin her Friday night. And maybe by tomorrow she’d have pulled herself together enough that she’d be able to come up with a convincing story about why she was back here. She hardly wanted to tell Abbie—and especially not Ivan—about Brian.

  She got out of the car and made her way into the grocery store. She’d pick up something for dinner and everything that she’d need to spend her weekend in a cleaning frenzy that would hopefully help her work her way out of this funk.

  As she was coming out of the store, a big smile spread across her face when she spotted her old friend Teresa coming in.

  “Nina! What are you doing here?” Teresa looked at the cart. “You got a cleaning job?”

  Nina laughed. “Not quite. I’m going to blitz my place this weekend.”

  Teresa narrowed her eyes. “What are you hiding?”

  “What do you mean?”

  “I mean, you’ve been crying, I can tell. You’re here when you’re supposed to be at your job in Stanton Falls, and you’re a compulsive cleaner when you’re upset. So, what’s going on?”

  Nina’s eyes filled with tears again. Teresa was a real friend; she couldn’t help but compare her to Janet.

  “Oh, sweetheart.” Teresa wrapped her in a hug. “Come on. You’re coming to my place, and you can tell me all about it.”

  Nina sniffed. “You’re about to go shopping.”

  “Pft. I have priorities, and right now, you’re my number one. Come on, I’ll see you at my place in ten minutes.”

  Nina smiled gratefully. “Call it fifteen? I’ll drop all this stuff at the house first.”

  “Okay, but any more than fifteen minutes, and I’ll be coming around to get you.”

  “I’ll be as quick as I can. I promise.”

  “Okay. I’ll open us a bottle of wine.”

  ~ ~ ~

  Manny pulled the car over into the pullout by the side of the road and let out a low whistle. He’d fallen in love with Summer Lake when he came up here to help out Diego’s son, Zack. It was a beautiful place with the mountains huddling around the lake. He’d never stopped to take in the view from up here, though. It was spectacular.

  He got out to stretch his legs and pulled his phone out. He’d hoped to have heard back from Austin before now. It was almost five. He decided to give him a quick call to see if he could catch him while he was still at the office. He knew Austin would answer him at any time, but he didn’t want to disturb the guy’s weekend if he could help it.

  “Hi, Manny.” Austin answered. “I’m sorry I haven’t gotten back to you yet. I was really hoping to hear from Nina this afternoon.”

  “It’s no problem. I’ll call Diego and ask if I can stay with him.”

  “No. You don’t need to do that. I did speak to her daughter and she said it would be fine. I’m just being extra cautious.” Austin chuckled. “That’s the way I roll. I wanted confirmation from Nina herself, but there’s really no need. Abbie said it would be fine, so it will be fine. What time will you be here?”

  “I can be at your office in ten minutes if you want to give me the keys.”

  Austin laughed. “Okay, great. I’ll see you when you get here. I’ll take you over there.”

  “That’s okay. It’s Friday afternoon. Just give me the keys, and I can take it from there.”

  When he got to the office, Manny could tell that Austin wasn’t comfortable leaving him to find the house and let himself in. He was a good kid.

  “You can follow me over. I don’t need to hang around for long but …” Austin’s phone rang, and Manny smiled.

  “Go ahead. Take it.”

  Austin gave him an apologetic smile. “Hey, Amber. Are you okay? … Oh, okay. No … I’m just …” He glanced at Manny.

  Manny smiled. “Just give me the keys. I’m fine. I promise I’ll call you if I have any issues. Okay?”

  Austin pursed his lips for a moment and then relaxed and smiled. “I’ll be home in about twenty minutes, sweetie.” He hung up and handed Manny a set of keys. “Here you go. It’s not like you need me for anything, is it?”

  Manny laughed. “I might be retired now, but I think I can handle going into an empty house alone.”

  Austin chuckled. “Yeah, I guess you can. Are you going to the Boathouse later?”

  “Yep. If I don’t get there under my own steam, I think Diego may come and drag me out.”

  “You might have a point there. He’s so excited for you to be here. Zack is, too, and Maria, for that matter. You should probably be prepared for a lot of female interest.”

  Manny laughed. “Maria’s a sweetheart. She makes me laugh, going out of her way to pretend that I’m some kind of … good-looking.”

  Austin raised an eyebrow. “Pretending? She’s not pretending, nor are any of the girls who’ve seen you around town. You have your very own fan club already.”

  Manny made a face. “I don’t know about that. But it sounds like you have a young lady who’s eager for you to get home.”

  “Yeah. I’d better go. I’ll introduce you to her later. I’m not sure you met her when you were up here before.”

  “Amber, right? I think I saw her around, but you weren’t together then.”

  “No,” Austin smiled. “It took me a while to get my act together.”

  “Well, don’t blow it now. Get on home to her. I’ll see you later.”

  Manny smiled when he pulled up in front of the house. It was a quiet street, unassuming. Most of the houses were simple ranchers with the occasional Cape Cod here and there. This one was neat and well kept, white with blue shutters. A neat, little front yard was bisected by a path leading to the front door.

  As he looked, he was surprised to see a figure moving in the window. The way the sun sat low in the sky, it shone through the windows and silhouetted a female figure—a very attractive female figure—moving around in the kitchen.

  He sat there for a few moments smiling to himself. A woman wasn’t on his wish list, but something about that one made him wonder why not. He chuckled and got out of the car. He shouldn’t be sitting here ogling the cleaner. He should at least go in and introduce himself so that she didn’t call in a stalker sitting outside the house.

  He pushed the front door expecting to find it open. But it was locked. He got out the key and called as he let himself in.

  “Hello?”

  There was only silence. He went into the kitchen and saw a bunch of cleaning supplies sitting on the counter, but no cleaning lady to go with them. He went to the back window an
d saw a car pulling away. Perhaps she planned to come and clean tomorrow and hadn’t yet heard of his early arrival. He smiled. If so, that would mean he’d get to meet her when she came back.

  He shook his head. He hadn’t thought that a woman was on his wish list, but given his eager reaction to the mere silhouette of an attractive cleaning lady, he might have to take a closer look at that list.

  Chapter Three

  Nina set down her empty wineglass and gave Teresa a rueful smile. “So, there you have it. I’m back at the lake for the foreseeable future.”

  Teresa shook her head. “I’m surprised at Janet. I expected she’d take better care of you than that.”

  “It’s hardly her fault. She thought she was taking care of me. Encouraging me to put myself back out there and go on a date with Brian. There’s no way she could have known that he’d turn out to be …” She shuddered as she remembered the look in his eyes when he’d pushed her up against the wall in the alley. What would he have done if she hadn’t managed to get away from him?

  Teresa picked up the bottle. “We may as well finish this off.”

  Nina checked her watch. It was getting late, but it wasn’t as though she had to get up for work in the morning.

  Teresa poured the last of the wine into their glasses. “I didn’t mean Janet should have taken better care of you with that guy. I’m mad at her, but you’re right, she couldn’t have known. But, by the sounds of it, she knows that she doesn’t have enough work to go around in August and September. She should have told you back in the spring. That way you could have set something up back here. They always need help at the resort over the summer, but you know what Ben’s like, he sets up the schedule way in advance.”

  “I know. I’ll go and see him tomorrow, see if he can give me any hours, even if it’s only emergency cover. I’ll take anything I can get at this point.”

  “What are you going to do about the house? When’s the renter supposed to arrive?”

  “Tuesday. He’s booked for the whole month of August, and Tuesday’s the first, so …”