The Chesapeake Bride Page 11

  Owen shrugged. “She has the sight.”

  “What does that mean?”

  “It just means she knows stuff sometimes.”

  “She always knows everything that’s going to happen?”

  “No, not always. It depends.”

  “On what?”

  Owen answered honestly, “I have no idea how it works. Why some things are clear to her and others aren’t even on her radar.”

  Ruby’d explained it to him once by saying it was no different from the way some in the family had blue eyes and some had green. It was just the way the genetic cookie had crumbled. But Owen was reluctant to get into it even with a longtime friend.

  “You ever think about having her pick lottery numbers? Ever take her to the track?” Jared opened the cooler and took out a bottle of water.

  “Not on her radar. And, no, I don’t know why.”

  “Aren’t you curious about how it works? Ever ask yourself why some things and not others?”

  “Every day.”

  Such as why he was always on the money when judging the character of new acquaintances, but couldn’t usually foresee future events the way Ruby sometimes could. Why he could get an instant read on some people but not others. But the truth was, he’d tried so hard for so long to silence the voice, to not know, that most of the time he wasn’t sure if it was instinct or his third eye that hinted at things.

  “But back to the dive. I think you’re going to need at least three more divers plus yourself, the best lighting we can set up down there, and we need to map it out. I did see some of the ship’s frame, but not the amount of structure I’d expected. This is freshwater here, so the disintegration of the wood isn’t what it would be if it were in salt water. Ruby thought the ship might have been set on fire, which would explain why there isn’t more to the frame. We’ll be able to tell more once we get the silt and sediment out of the way and see if there’s any charred wood.”

  “We have a new dredge engine and pump, new hose—everything’s brand-new. We can map the site with side-scan sonar, then use the dredge engine and pump to clear away the sand, and we’ll see what it all looks like with the naked eye, see what we can recover. I love all the new technology, but there’s nothing like seeing a wreck with your own eyes.” Jared tapped his fingers on the water bottle. “I’ll be going down myself. If it’s a merchant ship from the 1700s, I definitely want to take my time with her. Plus, the state is going to insist on it.” He nodded. “So let’s get started mapping the site, then we’ll see what we can do about securing enough lighting for us to explore the wreck.”

  “You think about mapping using the grid system?”

  “Takes longer.”

  “True, but there’s nothing like going over a site square by square, especially when you have no idea what you might find. You miss less that way.” Owen took another swig of beer. “Up to you. It’s your job.”

  “Yeah, but you have almost as much experience as I have. You ever think about doing this full-time? I’d hire you full-time myself if I could talk you into it.”

  “But then I’d be pretty much tied down, and I’m still not ready to spend all my time doing the same thing.”

  “You’ve worked for me in the past.”

  “I’ve worked as a consultant for others, too.”

  “If—when—you think you’re ready, you’ll call me first, right? I get the first shot at hiring you?”

  Owen nodded. “Of course. Just don’t hold your breath.”

  He glanced skyward as clouds began to gather. A low rumble of thunder could be heard in the distance. “Doesn’t look like we’ll be diving much more this morning.”

  “We can wait if we have to. No need for you to hang around. If it clears up enough, maybe I’ll start getting the area mapped and we’ll see what we can see.”

  “Want a hand with that?”

  “Nah, I’m good. Mario’s here, and Tony. We can cover it.”

  “You know where to find me when you need me.”

  “OOOH! CRABS!” LIS poked her head into the kitchen at Ruby’s store.

  Owen had just finished steaming the crabs he and Cass had caught the previous day and placed them on a platter. All but one had survived in a bucket filled with seaweed and bay water. Earlier he’d tossed the deceased crustacean onto the beach, where it was immediately attacked by several hungry gulls that had a tug-of-war for feeding rights.

  Lis reached for a crab, and her brother smacked her hand.

  “What? You can’t share?” Lis frowned.

  “I’m sharing, but not with you.”

  “You think you and Gigi are going to eat all those?” Lis peered over his shoulder. “There’s some pretty hefty claws on that plate, Bro.”

  “I’m doing crab cakes for dinner tonight and there are just enough.” He frowned, looking over the crabs, red from having been steamed and still piping hot, stacked on the platter. “I hope I have enough.”

  “You’ll have plenty for two people.” Lis took a bottle of water from her bag and removed the top.

  “Three people.”

  “Who’s the third?” Lis took a long drink from the bottle.

  “Cass,” he said casually, in his best no-big-deal voice.

  “Cass Logan?”

  “You know another Cass?” Owen opened a cupboard and sorted through Ruby’s spices looking for the Old Bay.

  “Huh.” Lis leaned back against the counter, a satisfied smile on her face. “I knew it.”

  “Knew what?” he asked without turning around.

  “Knew you had the hots for her.” Lis drank the remaining water in the bottle.

  “I don’t have the hots . . .” He glanced over her shoulder, ready to protest, but instead, he paused. “I don’t know what it is I have for her.”

  “Cryptic.” Lis boosted herself onto the counter.

  “I admit I’m attracted to her—I mean, come on, what guy wouldn’t be?—but there’s something else. I like her. I admire her work ethic and her wanting to do right by the island. To keep its history from being destroyed. She sees things here that the rest of us either have forgotten or never saw at all. And besides being pretty, she’s really smart.”

  “Wow. That might even qualify as deep, coming from you.”

  “Yeah, well, no one’s more surprised than I am.”

  “So you went out and caught some crabs and you’re going to woo her with your crab cakes. That borders on diabolical.”

  “We caught some crabs. I took her crabbing out on the point yesterday.”

  “Really? You took the city girl crabbing? I wouldn’t have guessed you were that clever.” Lis nodded slowly. “This is more serious than I thought. Did you dazzle her with your net-handling skills? Lure her with a pile of chicken necks?”

  “How do you know there were chicken necks?”

  “You never use anything else. So how’d she do? Did you make her tie off her own bait? Was she grossed out?”

  Owen laughed. “I tied the bait, and while she did appear to cringe a little when she first saw the bait bucket, to her credit she was a good sport about it.” He found the container he was looking for and set it on the counter. “And actually, she caught more crabs than I did.”

  “And how did your manly ego react to being bested by an amateur?”

  “Beginner’s luck,” he scoffed as he began to clean the crabs, removing the claws first.

  “Want some help?”

  “No, because you’ll eat more than you pick.”

  “I’m a world-class crab picker. Gigi taught me when I was knee-high, and I’m still damned good. I was always better than you.”

  “You wish.”

  For a moment, the only sound in the kitchen was the cracking of a crab’s shell.

  “I saw Jenn Castro a couple of days ago,” Lis said to break the silence. “Alec and I went to Ballard to look at some tables a guy makes out of reclaimed wood.”

  “Who’s Jenn Castro?” He tossed the crab meat int
o one bowl, the pieces of shell into another.

  “You remember her. She’s married to Cyndi’s cousin Andrew.”

  “So what about her?”

  “So she said she heard Cyndi was going to be visiting her parents sometime soon, she wasn’t exactly sure when.”

  “So?”

  “So I just thought I’d mention it, that’s all.”

  “Well, if it’s a warning you’re giving me, I appreciate it, but I have no interest in what Cyndi does or doesn’t do or where she goes. That ship sailed a couple of years ago, Sis.”

  “I know, I know, but there was something in the way Jenn said it. . . .” Lis shook her head. “Maybe it was my imagination, but it almost sounded as if it was more than a simple heads-up.”

  “What more could there be? Cyndi’s parents moved to Ballard a couple of years ago, so we probably won’t even run into each other.” Another empty shell into the bowl, another crab to clean and pick.

  “I don’t know. She just gave me a weird feeling, that’s all.”

  “I have about as much interest in my ex-wife as she has in me. I haven’t heard a word from her in years, and that’s just skippy as far as I’m concerned. We were a bad idea that never should have happened. Fortunately, we were both able to walk away before things became too complicated.”

  “Shortest marriage ever. Never even made it into the family Bible. Gigi was appalled.”

  “No, she wasn’t. Gigi thought I shouldn’t have married Cyndi in the first place. She tried to talk me out of it more than once.”

  “Teach you to ignore Ruby’s advice.”

  “No fooling.”

  “How come you didn’t see it yourself?”

  “Maybe I did. Maybe I ignored it.”

  “That was dumb. If I had the sight, I wouldn’t ignore it.”

  “No, you’d buy a bunch of lottery tickets every week and end up with your own reality show.”

  Lis laughed. “I asked Ruby once why she didn’t use it to pick the Kentucky Derby winner, and she all but took my head off. ‘No good come of abusing a gift, any gift. Sure way to be losing it.’ You could probably do it, right? Pick lottery winners? Call the outcome of horse races? Clean up in Vegas?”

  “Gambling’s not my thing. Besides, if I don’t use it, I don’t have to deal with it.”

  “Why don’t you want to deal with it?”

  Owen shrugged. “There’re things I just don’t want to know. I don’t want to know what happens in the future—what if I don’t like what I see? I don’t want to know what other people are thinking. I just . . . I don’t want to know.”

  “You’d read Cass if you could.”

  “Maybe make an exception in her case,” he conceded with a slow smile. He wasn’t about to let Lis know he’d tried and failed. Again. He held up the bowl of crab meat. “Think I’m going to need more?”

  “How many crab cakes were you planning on making?” She looked into the bowl and raised an eyebrow.

  “At least two each.”

  “That would be six total.”

  “Who says girls can’t do math.”

  “You don’t have enough crab meat.” She hopped down off the counter. “Now, if I were a good sister, I’d offer to bring over the crabs we caught this morning so you could add to your mix.” She smiled sweetly. “But then, of course, we’d expect to be invited to dinner.”

  “How many crabs did you catch?” he asked cautiously.

  “About three times as many as you did.”

  “No way.”

  “Way. We took out a rowboat Alec rebuilt and just drifted along. Early morning, the sun just rising, the gentle lap of those little low-tide waves against the side of the boat, a thermos of coffee, and the love of my life manning the net.” She sighed. “It was so romantic.”

  “You’ve got it bad, girl.”

  “No kidding. Which is why I’m marrying him.” She flashed her engagement ring. “Thanks again for agreeing to walk me down the aisle and give me away.”

  “Can’t give you away fast enough.” His eyes twinkled when he looked at his sister. “Besides, who else is there? Gigi’s too old, and—”

  “Too old for what, boy?” Ruby came through the door from the front of the store, her hands on her hips.

  “Too old to walk Lis down the aisle.”

  For a moment, Ruby looked as if she was about to protest or scold, but instead she said, “Depends on how long the aisle be.”

  “It can be as long as we want it to be.” Lis put an arm around Ruby. “If you wanted to walk down the aisle with Owen and me, the walk will be whatever you say.”

  “That be something to think about, Lis. Might be I’d want to. Course, I don’t know what your mama would think. She might be wanting that duty for herself.”

  Lis snorted. “She hasn’t even said if she’s coming back for the wedding. She’s very much involved with her new family. One of her stepchildren is about to make her a step-grandmother again, and that’s all she talks about on the phone. She sends me texts every week with pictures of the grandkids.”

  “Don’t be holding that against her, Lisbeth,” Ruby admonished. “Other than you and Owen, nothing good came out of your mama’s marrying your daddy. Second husband weren’t much better. This time, looks like she found someone that makes her happy. Leave her to it. She’ll do as she needs, by and by.”

  “I guess,” Lis said. “Still, I wish—”

  “She’ll do as she needs, Lisbeth,” Ruby repeated. “No need to fuss.”

  “All right. So you give some thought to walking with Owen and me, and we’ll scale the distance accordingly.” Lis smiled and kissed Ruby’s cheek.

  “You’re still set on doing all at the point?” Ruby asked.

  “Of course. Why wouldn’t we? We want the ceremony right there on the pier overlooking the bay.”

  “Best be just the two of you, then,” Ruby said. “That pier be going into the bay afore long.”

  “Alec is fixing it, shoring it up and replacing the broken boards.”

  “He better get a move on, then, since as of yesterday, it was still needing repair,” Owen said. “He doesn’t have much time left. Tell him I’ll give him a hand if he needs one.”

  “I’ll tell him. Anyway, after the ceremony, we’ll have the reception on the grassy area between the pier and the cottage. It’ll be perfect. Lucy has a big wedding at the inn, but she’s helping out with the planning and she’ll be over as soon as her event ends. She already reserved a tent and tables and chairs and a dance floor, and we lined up Sophie Enright to cater. She’s already working on the menu, and I know it will be phenomenal. Grace talked Steffie into making an ice cream flavor just for us.” Lis broke into a grin. “Is that the best? Oh, and we’re having a special beer made as well. Steffie’s husband, Wade, and Clay Madison promised to come up with something.”

  “I have to admit I’m partial to Steffie’s ice cream myself,” Ruby said. “Known Steffie since she was little Steffie Wyler helping her cousin Horace plant flowers at that house over there on Olive Street. He left her that place in his will. Always said she’d have her own ice cream shop someday. Now she has that shop . . .”

  “One Scoop or Two,” Lis supplied the name.

  Ruby nodded. “Does right well for herself.”

  “I haven’t been to Scoop since I’ve been back, but I’ve sampled my share of MadMac beer, and I have to say, it’s damned good,” Owen said. “So you’re going totally local for the wedding. I like it.”

  “Everything except my dress. Well, it’s sort of local, I guess, since Vanessa at Bling ordered it in special for me from a designer I saw online. She said she was thinking about expanding into the bridal market. The antiques place next to hers has been closed now for six months and there’s no sign of it being reopened.”

  “You don’t mean Nita’s place?” Owen stopped chopping the onion he was working on and looked up. “She’s an institution in St. Dennis.”

  “No. Nita’s a
few doors away. I don’t even know who owns the store next to Vanessa. But she said it might be available sometime soon and she’d like to move into the space. Which is a great idea. Weddings are huge right now, and St. Dennis is the perfect spot. The inn is one of the most popular wedding venues on the Eastern Shore. All the town lacks is a bridal boutique.”

  “Yeah, I noticed that.” Owen turned to Lis. “I just said to Jared this morning, ‘Know what St. Dennis needs? It needs a good wedding—’ ”

  Lis sent her empty water bottle in his direction, and he caught it in one hand. Owen tossed it back to her.

  “So if I pick and clean our crabs and bring them to you, can we come for dinner? Or are you afraid that might cramp your style?” Lis hesitated. “Not that you have any discernible style. Besides which, if you were planning on a move, you wouldn’t be making dinner for Cass and your great-grandmother.”

  Ruby stood by silently, though clearly amused.

  “Oh, come on. Don’t make me beg, Owen. We’ve already established that you rule when it comes to crab cakes.”

  “A fact I cannot deny. Okay, if you can get your crabs over here before I begin to work my magic, you guys can join us. But you have to bring a salad and dessert.”

  “No sweat there. Wait till I tell Alec.” Lis raised a fist in victory, grabbed her bag, and headed for the door.

  “You knew you were going to give in to that girl, Owen Parker. Why’d you give her such a hard time?” Ruby asked.

  “She’s my little sister. I have to remind her of that fact once in a while.”

  “Be nice to have a little group for dinner for a change. We can eat outside while the weather is still warm. Maybe use that old table that my mother favored.”

  “I don’t remember an old table except the round one in the store. Is that the one you mean?”

  “No. I mean the long one up on the third floor. Chairs be there, too.”

  “Which means I need to get them.”

  “Course you do. Not gonna be me, traipsing up those steps.”

  Owen covered the bowl of crab meat and put it in the refrigerator. He climbed the stairs that led from the store to the second floor, then to the third, where the attic held furniture and personal belongings from untold generations of family members. The lighting was poor but he had no trouble locating the table. It stood smack in the middle of the attic floor and was piled high with boxes of who knew what. It took Owen five minutes to remove and stack the boxes, then another five to dust the tabletop and the legs. Even so, it needed a good cleaning. He went back downstairs, where he found Ruby in the store at the counter.