First Frost Read online

  “I’ll call Vic in a minute to arrange it. He was supposed to be here yesterday, but he was sick.”

  Were his ears red? Keep it professional, Paxson. The last thing you have time for is some landlubber in Ohio. No matter how cute and concerned he seems. “When do you think he will be here?”

  “He should be here on Tuesday.”

  “I don’t know if I can get back here until Thursday. My mom is having surgery Wednesday.”

  “Surgery?” He turned back with a flier in his hand. Not a trace of unusual color on his face. “Nothing serious I hope.”

  “Knee replacement. That’s why I took a month’s leave, so I could take care of her.”

  “Oh. That was nice of you.” He set his hand, still clutching the flier, on the counter.

  “According to the surgeon, nine times out of ten it’s a piece of cake.”

  “I hope everything goes well.”

  “Me too. Is that the website for the auto pay place?”

  “Website? Yeah.” He held out the now wrinkled paper. “Everything is on here.”

  * * * *

  “He acted like he’d forgotten all about it,” Dina said.

  Shelly stirred her drink with her straw. “You know what that means don’t you?”

  “That he’s mental from sitting alone in that office all day.”

  “He’s interested in you.”

  “Because I’m an old news story?”

  “No, because you’re cute and you’re eligible again.”

  Eligible. Such a nice term.

  Shelly leaned forward, tucking her dark hair behind her ear. “It’s been two years now. You can move on.”

  “The divorce was only final nine months ago.”

  “I know. I was there. You really separated two years ago, no matter what the divorce decree says.”

  The waitress arrived with salads, giving Dina a minute to sit back without the full frontal attack from her friend.

  “I heard from Jeff.”

  “Why?”

  Dina shrugged. “He’s under the impression we’re still best friends. He found another woman.”

  Shelly dropped her fork. It bounced off the salad bowl, skittered across the table and fell on the floor. “There’s another woman who will have him? Does she know who he is?”

  “He’s been going by his middle name.”

  “Nice. What a jerk.”

  “He shouldn’t have to pay forever for a little lapse in judgment.” Dina stared at her salad.

  “That little lapse in judgment caused a lot of grief. Besides, you’re still walking around as Dina Paxson, the Angel of the Riva Amore.”

  “That’s hardly an albatross.”

  “Really? Because people don’t still look at your name and say ‘Oh, you’re that lady!’”

  “What lady?” the waitress asked, setting a fresh fork on the table for Shelly.

  “Nobody in particular.” Dina tried to talk quickly enough to stop her friend, but as usual failed.

  “She’s Dina Paxson,” Shelly said. “She was on the Riva Amore.”

  “Oh! I thought you looked familiar.” The waitress grinned. “It’s really an honor to meet you. I don’t know how you did it. I can barely keep my tables happy some days. How did you keep all those passengers from panicking when you were stranded for so long?”

  “It was nothing. Just doing my job.” Dina glared at Shelly. “Panic wouldn’t have helped anyone so I just tried to keep everyone busy.”

  “It was way more than nothing.” The waitress walked away.

  “See,” Shelly said.

  “I wish you wouldn’t do that.”

  “I was proving a point. Besides, you’re famous for being great, not for crippling a cruise ship in pirate infested waters.”

  “Attention monger” was the phrase Jeff had used. Shelly would never understand. No one would. “Anyway, it’s not really the same thing for Jeff.”

  “I’m sure it’s not, and besides, if he’s moved on why can’t you?”

  “Maybe I want to and I just haven’t found the right person yet.”

  “You’ll be here for three more weeks. You can test the waters with your storage guy.”

  “Paul.”

  “Exactly.”

  “What if I don’t like him?”

  “He was the first thing out of your mouth when I met you in the parking lot. You like him.”

  “I didn’t tell you the weirdest part.”

  “It gets weirder?”

  Dina picked the croutons from her salad. “I asked him if I needed to pay him ahead of time to get the lock done and he just waved his hand.”

  “He waved his hand?”

  Dina imitated the pushing away gesture Paul had used. “I think I’m getting this done for free.”

  “He likes you and he doesn’t even know who you are.”

  “That doesn’t mean he likes me. More likely he feels sorry for me. Poor pitiful Dina, her husband done her wrong and she’s taking care of her sick mama. The last thing I want to do with him is pull on my Super Cruise Director costume and leap tall exhaust stacks in a single bound.” Dina checked her watch. Mom was having lunch with a friend today and shouldn’t be back for a while yet. Dina needed be there when she got home to keep her from cleaning the entire house or mowing the lawn, or something else she shouldn’t be doing on the gimpy knee.

  “Poor pitiful Dina. You’re deranged. He likes you.”

  The manager stopped at their table. “Hello, I understand you’re Dina Paxson.”

  “I am.” Dina shot Shelly a dirty look.

  “It is a pleasure to meet you. I wanted to tell you that your meals will be on the house today.” The man bobbed his head. “And if there is anything we can do for you, just ask.”

  “I like eating lunch with you,” Shelly said. “We get free stuff.”

  “Apparently I get free stuff even when people don’t know who I am.”

  “Imagine what you’d get from your storage guy if he knew who you were.” Shelly speared the last leaf of lettuce on her plate.

  “I don’t want Paul to know about that. I don’t need somebody cozying up to me because of dubious fame.”

  * * * *

  Paul fiddled with the lock on his desk. She said she’d be in today. He’d been looking forward to seeing her even if it was to deliver bad news. What if something had gone wrong with her mother’s surgery and that’s why she wasn’t there? The number she’d left wasn’t being answered or he could have told her Vic hadn’t been around to drill out the lock.

  Then he’d have probably called to ask her out to dinner, which might actually be against the rules of the storage unit business, but he couldn’t exactly ask his mother about that, could he?

  All the articles on the internet about the Riva Amore ended up having at least one comment about how she had kept everyone’s spirits up. The cruise line’s website had a formal thanks to her on the page for that ship, so she actually was as nice as she seemed. She had a cute face and the picture on the web showed a matching body, though that gigantic black raincoat she kept wearing hid every indication.

  But where was she? Wind rattled the window and it looked like it might become a downpour any second. That might be keeping her away. The record check his buddy had run said she had a Florida address. This weather couldn’t be making her too happy. The ex-husband situation probably wasn’t doing much for her either. What man in his right mind would leave her?

  Well, the internet built a strong case for Jeff Paxson being an idiot. One tour in the Navy. No telling what his performance had been there, but he had left at the same level he went in at so he hadn’t earned a promotion. The trouble with the ship had been traced to him unquestionably.

  And Dina appeared to still be carrying a torch for him. The bizarre conversation about her ex’s new woman. The way she held herself like she had a mortal wound. It wouldn’t be fair to make a move on her now. Fair or wise.

  A car pulled up outside.r />
  Paul stood up. She was back. He wiped the smile off his face before she walked in and decided he was some kind of defective for being so excited to see an unattainable woman.

  The wind pushed her though the door, billowing the coat out like a kite.

  “How is your mother?”

  Dina stopped inside the door, frowning. “Fine.”

  Was he supposed to have forgotten about that? She seemed surprised he’d remember. “I wondered, since she had surgery yesterday.”

  “She’s fine. Everything went well. She’ll be in the hospital for another couple of days though.”

  Paul nodded. “I’m glad, but I have bad news.”

  “It’s not done yet.”

  “No. Vic had the flu. It took a couple of days before he recovered and now he’s catching up. I asked him to stop here before he goes home, but that won’t be until about six.”

  “Great.” Dina studied the clock. “I guess I’ll come back later.”

  “Well, let me give you the key so you don’t have to stop in here again. The skies look threatening. I don’t want you to have to run around in the rain any more than you need to.” He held up a padlock. “This is the lock I’m going to have Vic put on your unit to replace the one he takes off. It has two keys. Do you want to take both of them or leave one here with me? If you leave it with me I won’t give it to anybody unless you give me permission.”

  “Because legally you can’t.” She smiled.

  “Exactly.” He held out one key. As he’d hoped, her fingers brushed his when she took it. She also didn’t let the touch linger. According to the county, she’d been divorced almost a year, but how far away from it was she really? “So do you want to leave the other key here with me?”

  “Sure. Then you’ll have it if something happens.” She stuffed the key in her jeans pocket. Paul resisted the desire to lean over the counter to see what she looked like under that coat. “I guess I’ll be seeing you.”

  “See you.”

  If you love something set it free, and all that happy horseshit.

  * * * *

  “You are nuts.” Dina fiddled with the paper cuff on her coffee cup. “He had every opportunity to ask me out and he didn’t.”

  “Really? I’m so disappointed in him. Did you ask him?”

  “I’m not asking him. He was working.”

  “You still haven’t told him who you are, have you? No man is going to pass up the chance to go out with a saint.”

  “I’m not a saint.”

  “Not yet, but there is a new Pope. You could be the patron saint of cruise ships.” Wet circles appeared on the sidewalk outside the window. Two people who had been walking toward the door started to run.

  “There already is one, St. Anthony. The point is, I told him I had hours to kill and he didn’t offer to get a cup of coffee with me or grab a bite to eat.”

  “Maybe he’s not allowed to leave the office during business hours. You don’t know what his bosses are like. I have about twelve seconds before mine starts giving me the evil eye for being on a personal call.”

  “There’s a coffee pot in the office. He could have offered me one of those. I’d have taken it.” Rain streamed down the window of the coffee shop turning the world into an impressionistic painting all shades of gray.

  “So you are interested.”

  Dina studied her ring finger. There was still a dent from where her wedding ring sat for so long. “I guess. It was flattering to think someone was interested in me.” Someone not looking for a cruise fling.

  “Think of it this way. He’s the keeper of your stuff. You’ll see him again and next time you won’t be wearing that Goodyear Blimp of a raincoat. Oops, incoming. Gotta go.” Shelly hung up.

  Dina rolled her eyes. The Goodyear Blimp was silver. Her coat was black. At least now she had the key and could get into the unit to find out what Jeff had left behind. Rain drummed at the roof. Perfect. Paul had said the maintenance guy would be there after six so she had two hours for this to blow over. She opened the magazine she’d bought at the drug store.

  Two hours later the rain was still coming down in silver, and no doubt shivery, sheets. The coffee shop had emptied out and new people had not come in. The baristas were all standing behind the counter staring at the weather. Classic. Crappy weather, Jeff had already replaced her and Paul wasn’t actually flirting with her. Could life get better?

  She tossed out her empty cup, pulled the raincoat collar as high as she could and dashed out to the car. Getting through the gate she got drenched. The code was still set with Jeff’s number too. A bit of salt for the wound, miss? She should have had that changed, but she was too busy hoping Paul was flirting with her. Idiot.

  Then again, it gave her a good excuse to go back into the office if she could get away again after Mom came home from the hospital.

  She parked as close to the door as she could, but had to stop long enough to use Jeff’s damned number again to get into the climate controlled building. Ice-cold rain ran down her neck. Inside the door she flapped her coat to shake off excess water before heading down the sterile concrete and metal corridor to the unit.

  The key had a round barrel that reminded her of the power button on a computer. The keyhole of the padlock on the unit took a normal flat key. It looked just like the lock Jeff had put on, and then brilliantly didn’t leave a key for. Her watch said six twenty. Paul had said the maintenance guy would be there before six. She took a step back to check the unit number. Three twenty-two. That was the right number.

  Dina leaned her head on the unit door making it rattle.

  Paul left at six.

  She still couldn’t get in the unit.

  Mom would be home from the hospital in a day or so and wasn’t supposed to be left alone.

  She wouldn’t be able to get another leave long enough to come home until next spring. Six more months of opportunities for Jeff to come back and clean her out.

  The outside door opened. Dina straightened. She didn’t want some total stranger catching her having a breakdown. Heaven forebid the Angel of the Riva Amore have a bad day.

  Paul came around the corner, perfectly dry and carrying a black golf umbrella. “I was watching for you to come in. That key won’t work on this lock.” He held up a standard looking key.

  “Is this the new lock?”

  “It is, but this building is the only one that won’t take the new padlocks.” He kept holding out the new key.

  “That one will fit.”

  “Yes, but you have to open it.”

  “Because legally you’re not allowed.” She took the key. His obsession with the law bordered on creepy, but it was going work in her favor now, so there. She handed him the other key and opened the door.

  Her stuff. The bookshelves. Her grandmother’s dresser. A box of photographs. Three boxes marked kitchen. Jeff’s grandfather’s desk. Everything jumbled around like it had been deposited by a tornado, but there. She clutched the lock in her hand. This felt so much more like freedom than the divorce decree.

  “Is everything there?”

  “It looks like it. I’ll have to take a closer look another time.”

  “Are you going to come back another day then?”

  “I don’t think I can.” Dina pulled the door down and put the lock back on. Why didn’t she want him seeing her stuff? He probably saw peoples’ private junk every day.

  “I thought you said you were going to be here for a few weeks.”

  “Mom will be out of the hospital and she’s going to need me there. That’s why I’m staying with her in the first place.”

  “Really?” He frowned. “Well, do you have to get back right away tonight?”

  “No. I told Mom I might not make it in today before the end of visiting hours. Her friends were coming to see her anyway.”

  “It’s dinner time. How about I take you out?”

  Now he wants to do dinner? Maybe Shelly had been on to something with his boss no
t letting him leave during office hours. Poor guy probably ate lunch out of a paper bag at his desk. “That would be nice.”

  “Great. You can tell me all about life on a cruise ship.”

  She had blabbed about Jeff’s new woman and her mother’s surgery, but she had never said a word about her job. How did he know what she did? The rain that had run down her collar suddenly felt cold. “Life on a cruise ship?”

  “That’s what you do, isn’t it? Or did you get a new job since the thing with the Riva Amore?”

  “How did you know that?”

  He had the grace to look abashed. “I read an article online.”

  “You Googled me?”

  “I was just a little curious.”

  “So you Googled me?”

  “Yes. I didn’t mean any harm. You interested me.”

  “Yeah.” Interested for all the wrong reasons. This was why she couldn’t move on. All the men she might like to move on with saw a saint. Dina looked at her wrist. Checking her watch would have required pushing her sleeve back, but she didn’t want to invest that much effort into the gesture. She knew what time it was.

  Time to leave.

  “You know, I just remembered. I have someplace I need to be. Maybe next time.” She walked out to the car and drove around the block of buildings. When she stopped at the exit gate to punch in the code, Paul was standing outside the door of her building, watching.

  * * * *

  “He Googled me,” Dina said into the phone.

  “You make it sound like he went through your trash,” Shelly said.

  “It feels like he went through my trash.” She picked a thread on the blanket over the back of the couch. Yesterday when she’d gotten home she’d sat down and cried. This morning before she went to the hospital she’d gotten online to figure out how to change her entire name, first, last and middle. That might free her from her past.