Page 30 of Strangers She Knows

“I had heard rumors.” He walked over and ran his palm over the bumper as lovingly as he had run his hand over Kellen’s bottom. “It’s in pretty good shape.”

“For a truck that’s been in a marine environment for…its whole life?” Kellen guessed. “Yes, it is.”

“The Di Lucas bought it new and used it for island transportation until a few years ago. Then we replaced it with the electric golf cart. Our first caretaker was reputedly dedicated to the truck and kept it waxed and running.” As he spoke, Max opened doors, rolled down windows, rolled up windows, kicked the tires, and generally acted like a man in the act of buying a car.

“How many caretakers have there been?” Kellen glanced out the back window and saw the waving grasses trampled by the remnants of a path. To the house, she guessed.

“Olof Humphreys was the first one. He came here as a young man and remained for umpteen years until he had a stroke and had to be transported to the mainland. He lingered for too long, poor guy, hating every minute of being there. Then we hired the Conkles. I wonder if the key’s in the ignition.” He leaned in the driver’s side, and sagged in disappointment. “Nope.” He looked around. “I wonder where the key is.”

Rae sighed in drama and despair.

“Probably somewhere in here.” Kellen skirted the truck, the workbench, and ran into a spiderweb. Automatically, she ducked, brushed frantically at her face and hair, and glared when Rae said, “Mommy just did the spider dance.” And laughed.

“Smart kid.” Kellen spotted the keys on the workbench, made her decision, and took his arm. “But the battery has to be dead and once we get the battery charged, before we can try to start it, we’ll have to prime the carburetor.”

“Right. Because there’s no fuel in the line.” Max’s eyes shone with excitement.

Kellen guided him toward the open door. “So I’ll help you look for the keys later. Right now, we really do need to go to the beach.”

He made a whimpering sound much like Rae’s.

Kellen waved Rae ahead and said to Max, “You know, I’m quite a good mechanic. I could help you get that truck running.”

He flinched away from her. “No!”

She covered her grin with her palm, and when she thought she had control, she asked, “Did I threaten your manhood?”

She must not have completely hid her amusement, because he said, “You dented it.”

“You want to repair the truck yourself?”

“Yes.”

“Okay, but you have to include Rae.”

“Of course!”

He had always intended to include his little girl in his project. That was only one of the reasons she loved him.

“Daddy! Mommy! C’mon. Let’s go to thebeach!” Rae dragged out the last word as if that would bring them along.

“Okay! We’ll go to thebeach!”Max imitated Rae’s tone and volume. In a softer tone, he said to Kellen, “Dibs on putting sunscreen on your…shoulders.”

Kellen got goose bumps that lasted until she got into bed that night…and beyond.

11

“Mommy.”

The whisper at midnight, right above Kellen’s face, brought her out of a dead sleep and into wide-eyed terror. She jumped so hard she snapped her mouth closed and made her teeth ring. When she processed the voice and her role, she calmed herself and whispered, “Rae, what’s wrong?”

“Mommy, I had a nightmare.”

Kellen had been afraid of this; too much change and excitement, and a sudden separation from her beloved grandmother, and Rae’s subconscious was rolling out the nightmares. “I know, sweetheart. Hang on.” She rolled over and pushed gently at the inert form beside her. “Max, move over.”

Some deep-voiced mumbling occurred while Max crawled to his edge of the mattress.

Kellen had worn him out. Poor guy. Thank God she’d managed to put on a nightgown, bully him into some night shorts, and unlock the door before she fell into a beach-exhausted, sex-saturated sleep.

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