Sugar Plum Serenade (Seawolf Beach #2)

Chapter 9

CHAPTER 9

Tuck needed a distraction, with everything that was going on in his life. Olive was a great, unexpected, pleasant distraction. Blood on The Magnolia floor and his daytime bartender in tears didn’t help matters at all. Whenever he came to work and found the Seawolf Beach Police Chief waiting for him, it was sure to be a bad day.

Ginny, who’d been called in just as he had, was doing her best to calm a hysterical Jodie, who sat on the floor a few feet beyond her usual station. Tuck glanced at the cut on her arm, made a quick judgment, and sent Ginny to his office for the first-aid kit. There was plenty of blood, but as far as he could tell the injury wasn’t terrible. He sat on the floor next to Jodie to closely inspect the cut, then asked, in a calm voice, “What happened?”

Mac stood over them, arms crossed, scowl on his face. “Apparently a couple of guys got into a fight…”

Tuck held up one silencing finger. “I want Jodie to tell me what happened.”

Mac grumbled, “No one gives me the finger, Tucker.”

Tuck shook his finger one more time, because he could. “Do me a favor and start up the jukebox. B-17.” A nice, slow, soothing song would help Jodie relax.

Mac obeyed, but he didn’t like it.

Who didn’t like “Unchained Melody”?

As soon as the music started, Jodie relaxed. “Unchained Melody” for the win, every time. Ginny returned with the huge first-aid kit Tuck kept in his office, always fully stocked.

“We can call…” Tuck began.

“No,” Jodie snapped before he finished. “No ambulance, no trip to the hospital.”

“You could use a couple of stitches,” he said, keeping his voice calm.

“Butterfly bandages will do just as well,” Jodie argued.

She wasn’t wrong. “Whatever you want.” He opened the kit and went to work. The wound, which didn’t look nearly so bad when it was cleaned, was easy enough to bandage. With the blood cleaned off her arm, Jodie closed her eyes and took a deep breath. She listened to the music, got lost in it, let it ease her. After a couple of minutes she almost seemed herself again.

“It wasn’t any of the regulars. I didn’t recognize these guys at all,” she said. “When they started in on each other, I figured it was just another minor dustup. The guys usually listen to me when I tell them to cut it out, to calm down. I stepped into the middle of it just as the little one pulled a knife.”

“She was lucky,” Mac said from his recently claimed seat a couple of tables away. “It didn’t take long to find out these are bad dudes. They’re locked up, for now. I expect they’ll stay where they are for a while.”

With the cut bandaged and his daytime bartender considerably calmer, Tuck stood and helped her gently to her feet. “Ginny, why don’t you take Jodie home.”

The expression on Jodie’s face alarmed him. She was truly scared. “I can’t go home! What if they know where I live? What if they have friends hanging around? I’m a witness. It wouldn’t be hard to find me, everyone knows where I live and I live alone so…”

The offenders were locked up, and even if they weren’t it wasn’t as if Jodie had been the target. She’d simply gotten in their way. And the witness bit? Every customer who’d been here when it happened could be called a witness. The truth was, Jodie was upset and not thinking clearly. It wouldn’t be a good idea for her to be alone tonight.

Tuck looked at Ginny. Did his face fall as much as he thought it did? Didn’t matter. He didn’t have a choice. “Take the night off. Get your kid, if you want, order a meal for the three of you, on me. Keep an eye on her,” he added in a lowered voice.

“What about the bar? You said you were taking the night off?”

He felt his promising evening with Olive melting away. He’d never find a decent fill-in bartender that he trusted, not on a Saturday night. “My plans changed. I’ll handle everything.” Starting with cleaning the blood off the floor.

When things here settled down a bit he’d call Olive and make his excuses. Maybe she’d forgive him. Maybe not.

When the women were gone, Mac took a stool at the bar. Since he was in uniform he wouldn’t drink, but Tuck knew what kind of soda he liked. He grabbed a bottle from the fridge and set it in front of the police chief.

“What was with the jukebox?” Mac asked.

“Music sometimes helps when a person’s hurt or stressed. Or both.”

“Soothes the savage beast kind of thing?”

“Close enough.”

“I hope you didn’t have a hot date tonight,” Mac said. Was he a freakin’ mind reader? Tuck was almost always here on weekend nights. “Looks like you’re stuck. ”

“It’s my place,” he answered simply.

“I hear you,” Mac mumbled as he opened his soda.

Tuck didn’t think he needed to be concerned about the safety of his employees, but he was responsible for them all so he had to ask, “Are these guys Jodie’s worried about going to be a problem?”

“Nope. They’re wanted in half a dozen jurisdictions. I expect they’ll be out of town and in another department’s hands by Monday. Until then, they’re not going anywhere.”

“I hope so.” Since the place was empty at the moment and Tuck was stranded here… “You’re good friends with Colt, aren’t you?”

Mac shrugged a little but answered, “Sure.”

“This whole thing with him talking to himself all the time, is he okay? Is there something weird going on?”

“Yeah, yeah, the ghosts. I can’t talk about it.”

“You just did,” Tuck grumbled.

“I suppose so.” He didn’t look at all concerned about his slip of the tongue. “Funny, you’d think finding out something like that, the thing I can’t talk about, would be more earth-shattering. But it’s really not.”

Not for you, maybe . “I just wondered…”

Mac guzzled the last of his soda, stood, and headed for the door. “If you have questions, ask Colt.”

And he was gone.

Tuck pulled his cell out of his pocket and dialed. He did not call Colt.

It was a little early, but Olive laid out her red dress and high-heeled shoes and jumped in the shower. She wanted her hair to be freshly washed and styled. Makeup was arranged on the counter. She didn’t use a lot of cosmetics, but tonight she was going all out. She might even get into the eye shadow, which she almost never used.

As she stepped out of the shower, she heard her cell ringing. Wrapped in a towel, she stepped into the bedroom and snagged the phone. She didn’t recognize the number.

“Hello?”

Tuck’s voice was unmistakable. She didn’t simply hear Tuck, she felt him. “Hi. I got your number from Mike.”

“Did you tell him we were going out tonight?” She wasn’t sure she wanted her sister to know. At least, not yet.

“No. He was in a rush and didn’t question why I needed my neighbor’s number.”

Typical Mike… “Just as well, I suppose.”

“Look, I’m sorry but…”

Olive’s heart plummeted. A drop of cool water from her wet hair dribbled down onto her shoulder. I’m sorry but was never a good start to a conversation.

“I have to work tonight, and I’ll be here super late. Can we reschedule?”

“Sure,” she said as casually as possible. The single word tried to stick in her throat.

“Maybe tomorrow night?”

She shook her head, sending more cold droplets onto her shoulder. “Can’t. I’m supposed to spend the day with Dawn. We made plans last night, and I really can’t…” Can’t. Shouldn’t. “My Sunday is booked, I’m afraid.”

“The whole day?” Tuck sounded horrified.

His tone of voice made her smile. “We’re making cookies with the girls, then Mike’s mom is cooking a big supper. I’ve begged off family time twice this week. I don’t think I can get away with it again.”

He grumbled a bit, then said, “How about Monday night? ”

“Monday would be great.”

“Six?”

“Make it seven,” she said. The boutique didn’t close until five, and sometimes customers hung around after closing. She wanted time to get ready. As if she wasn’t ready now .

Would Tuck find a way to change his plans for tonight if she told him she was naked? Maybe, but if he didn’t how humiliated would she be?

“Seven it is,” he said. “I’m really sorry.”

“Don’t be. It’s okay.” It was not okay, but she wouldn’t tell him so. “Monday will be perfect.” Actually right now would be perfect, but…

She heard music in the background. It was too early for a live band, she assumed, and what she heard sounded like a recording. The jukebox, maybe. “Baby It’s Cold Outside.” She could get dressed, not in her red dress, and head to The Magnolia as she had last night. Another burger and one can of wine, this time. Maybe Tuck would have time to talk to her in between customers. With luck, there wouldn’t be any brawls that sprawled in her direction.

But he didn’t invite her, and she didn’t want to appear overly eager.

“What will you do tonight?” he asked.

“I don’t know. The TV has an antenna that picks up a couple of local stations. I’ll find a movie to watch, and I might finish off the cookies.”

“I like Elf, ” he said.

She hadn’t watched a Christmas movie in years, had actively avoided them. But she remembered the thrill of those movies that were only on TV during December. She and Dawn had spent many a winter break in front of the TV, huddled under their softest blankets. “I prefer Miracle on 34th Street. The original, of course. ”

He grunted a little. “ It’s a Wonderful Life. ”

“No.” She laughed. “That one always makes me cry.”

“We can’t have that.”

There was a pause, a moment of silence. Neither of them said they had to go, or even a simple goodbye or see you later.

It was Olive who broke the silence. “Maybe I’m over my intense dislike of Christmas. This year is shaping up to be…” Special. Exciting. Merry . “…Nice.”

“Look, maybe I can…” Before he could finish that sentence, someone in the background shouted his name. That “Tuck!” sounded urgent, though how could she know? He finished with, “Shit, I gotta go.”

And the call was over.

Olive tossed her phone onto the bed and dropped the towel. She remembered her pirate ghost, or the possibility of her ghost, and snatched the towel up to cover herself again. Was he watching? “Get lost, Giles,” she whispered.

As she walked toward the dresser to grab pajamas, she found herself humming.

Baby it’s cold outside…