Page 7 of The Beachside Cafe
The words were barely out of his mouth when Cheyenne herself burst into the room. She gave Cameron a strange look and then moved her eyes to her mother. “The cops just called. There was a break-in at the café. We need to go there. Now.”
Jaymee’s heart seized and she shot to her feet. “What?” Her eyes swiveled to Cameron, panicked.
He was also on his feet. He grabbed her arm. “I’ll drive you.”
FIVE
Jaymee could feel her daughter’s eyes boring into the back of her head. She had practically shoved Cheyenne into the back seat of Cameron’s dark green Honda Civic, not even questioning the man’s offer.
They were just then pulling out of the driveway and heading to the café, so she turned and looked at her daughter.
“Cheyenne, this is Cameron Smith. He’s one of the Dad’s investors in the café. Cameron, this is my daughter, Cheyenne.”
She saw immediate relief on Cheyenne’s face. Cheyenne leaned forward, saying, “It’s good to meet you, Mr. Smith.”
“Cameron, please. Mr. Smith makes me feel really old. Like Jimmy Stewart old.”
Jaymee grinned wide at the reference to the iconic actor and the movie he played the main part in,Mr. Smith Goes to Washington.
“Cameron, then. Thank you for the ride. I don’t think Mom or I are in any shape to be navigating the streets right now.”
“It’s my pleasure to help. I’m going to help you two find your father, also. Jaymee told me what’s happened and I think I might be able to help.”
“You do? Did you know Dad well?”
Cameron looked at her in the rearview mirror. “I didn’t, actually. I’ve only known him for a few months. I heard of the café and that he was looking for investors. I came on board then.”
“So, you don’t know where he is then?” She sounded disappointed. Jaymee glanced back at her, sympathy on her face.
“No, I’m afraid not. But I might be able to find out. Just give me a day or two and we’ll see what I can dig up.”
Jaymee blinked at the man, who was looking straight in front of him at the road ahead. He glanced at her twice, the second time with a comforting smile on his lips. Shewasstrangely comforted by it and couldn’t help wondering who this man was. He showed up on their doorstep less than two hours ago and was now driving them to the café. She had to have lost most of her marbles to trust him so easily.
But she couldn’t help it. He hadn’t posed a threat to her in any way at all and he’d had plenty of time for all that if it was his intention. He hadn’t asked for any money to help and the way he’d offered didn’t even bring the subject of payment to her mind. He’d seemed eager to take it on.
They got to the café and pulled into the small ten space parking lot in front of the store. Overflow parking was on the side between the café and the building next to it. The front parking lot where they went in had two cop cars parked in it, their lights flashing. Four more police cars were in the side parking lot.
Normally, Jaymee would enjoy the sound and smell of the water that overwhelmed the atmosphere around her café. She didn’t even notice it now. She saw vandalism and disrespect written on the walls. Her heart fell into her stomach.
She turned as Cheyenne was getting out of the car, her eyes on the graffiti, a look of devastation on her face. “Oh Mom,” she breathed, tears in her voice. “Who would do this? Why? Why?”
She moved into her mother’s arms and Jaymee hugged her tight. Keeping her arms around her daughter, she walked toward the building. Cameron was right behind them. She could feel his presence and it comforted her to know he was there if Doug couldn’t be.
She heard Cheyenne groan and kissed her daughter on the side of her head. “It’s going to be all right,” she murmured. “I promise.”
“Look at this, Mom. I don’t understand this! And today of all days? Why? I don’t know what’s going on around here. It’s like everything is crazy all of a sudden. What are we going to do? Without Dad, without this café? What are we going to do?”
Her daughter was panicking. Jaymee hurried the girl into the café and was grateful to see the lobby seemed to be untouched. There was a lot of movement, talking and footsteps in the back, though.
She took Cheyenne to one of the booths and sat her down. “You stay right here, Chey. I’m going to get you a glass of water.”
“Liquor is what I need right now,” Cheyenne said, mournfully. She propped her elbow up on the table and held her head in her hand. “I can’t believe this. I can’t believe it.”
“It’s going to be all right.” She looked over her shoulder, about to ask Cameron if he would get Cheyenne the water so she could stay with her daughter but he wasn’t there. At a momentary loss, she blinked in confusion and stood up, looking around. The door to the back where all the noise was coming from was standing open. Through it, she could see his back.
That was where she needed to go to get the water, so she turned back to Cheyenne, saying, “I’ll be right back” and spun around to go to the kitchen doors.
As she got closer, she could see Cameron was talking to a man and a woman. They were obviously deep in conversation. Cameron turned to gesture toward another part of the room Jaymee couldn’t see and she was astounded to see a look of authority on his face. He wasn’t in the least intimidated by the police talking to him. It looked, in fact, like he was telling them what to do.
