Adrift

Daniel telling her that he was thinking of her. She smiled and texted back, “Thank you. Hugs & kisses.”

  As soon as she hit send, her phone vibrated again. She looked at the text curiously and saw that this one was from Sarah telling her to hang in there. Smiling to herself, she texted back, “Thank you.” She was hitting send when the damn thing vibrated again. Laughing gently to herself, she saw that this text was from Maggie and told her to give ‘em hell. She texted back. “You bet your ass!” and hit send, waiting to see if it would vibrate again. After about thirty seconds, she smiled and put the phone back in her pocket.

  She was smiling to herself when the receptionist told her that Mr. Latham would see her now.

  Heather left Mr. Latham’s office an hour later and walked to the elevator with her head spinning from everything Mr. Latham had told her.

  He had turned her future upside down. Mr. Latham had informed her that he was her father’s attorney and that her father had set up a family trust years before his death. The family trust included the house, a large life insurance policy, and she was the beneficiary of the trust.

  When she asked, why her father hadn’t told her about this Mr. Latham looked embarrassed and handed her an envelope. Her name was scrawled across the front of the envelope in her father’s hand.

  “Your father asked me to contact you upon his death and give you this envelope. First we tried calling the number we had on file, but it was never answered. Next, we attempted to contact you via certified mail, but all our letters were returned due to failure to receive your signature. Finally, we decided to send you letters via regular mail, which is why our letter was so cryptic. Since we couldn’t guarantee that you would be the one receiving it we had to strip out any personal information.”

  Even though she had heard very little of Mr. Latham’s explanation, Heather nodded her head. Her focus was on the envelope she held in her hands. As she looked at the envelope her eyes welled with tears.

  Mr. Latham reached across the table and gave her a tissue. “You’ll probably want to read that when you’re back home.”

  Nodding, she stood up, thanked Mr. Latham and left his office.

  Now she stood in the elevator wondering what secrets the envelope held. She raised the envelope to her nose and smelled her father’s cologne. “Papa, what did you do?” she wondered aloud.

  Her drive home was a blur, and she decided that the best thing to do was to sit down in her father’s easy chair and see what the envelope contained.

  Inside the envelope was a single folded piece of paper written in her father’s shaky hand.

  Dearest Heather,

  Since you are reading this, I can assume that I have crossed over and I am back in your Mother’s arms.

  Please don’t grieve for me, my life was wonderful and you were a large part of it.

  You know how I love surprises, and I have one last surprise especially for you. A Mr. Latham will be contacting you about a family trust that I set up years ago in your name. It’s not a lot, but I hope it will help you launch into the next phase of your life.

  Now is the time for you to fly. Honey, please don’t stay trapped in this house when the world is waiting for you. Go forth and find your next adventure.

  I’ll check up on you now and then, when they let me. And when I do I’d better find you enjoying life!

  I love you honey. Now, go forth and conquer the world.

  Remember we’ll be watching.

  Love,

  Dad & Mom

  Heather sat in her father’s chair and let tears run down her face unchecked.

  “Papa, thank you. I should have known that you’d have one last trick up your sleeve. I never expected anything from you, but this trust is a real blessing, thank you. I promise to use it wisely,” she hesitated, and then smiling up into the air she added, “and for fun.”

  She wanted to wait and tell Daniel about her good fortune in person, so that night she told Daniel that she was going to stay a couple more days to do some paperwork.

  “See I told you not to worry about the lawyer,” Daniel admonished her.

  “You were right; my mind just went to a dark place for no reason.”

  “Well it’s pretty dark here without you by my side.”

  Heather laughed, “It’s only for a couple more days.”

  “I’ll try to last that long, but I really miss you.”

  “I miss you too. How was your trip?”

  “Good. I got a lot of crap taken care of; I’ll tell you all about it when you get back home. The big news around here is that the work trailer was installed today and is ready for Michael and I to move in. And I have to tell you it is none too soon.”

  “Really, why is that?”

  “Heather, I swear that if I have to sit across the breakfast table and watch Michael and Sarah make googly eyes at each other for much longer I’ll puke. Plus, you should see the mountains of food she makes for him!”

  “I have. It’s amazing Michael can eat that much and still be as fit as he is.”

  “Well I’ve been keeping him hopping at the job site. Moving him out of Sarah’s and into the trailer should help get Sarah’s business back into the black, unless she starts bringing food to Michael at the worksite.”

  “Daniel, Sarah insists that Michael is just flirting and isn’t serious about being attracted to her. She thinks he just appreciates her cooking and that’s all.”

  “Really? Then she is delusional. You know how they say the fastest way to a man’s heart is through his stomach? Well that may be doubly true for Michael, but I think his interest in Sarah goes beyond her culinary skills.”

  “Is there anything about them on the Scuttlebutt?”

  “Oddly no. Do you think I should start a rumor?”

  “God no! Sarah told me that if she heard even a whisper about her and Michael on the Scuttlebutt that she would kick my butt!”

  “Well if anyone sees Michael and Sarah together in public it will be all over for your cute little butt because when you see the two of them together it is really obvious that something is going on.”

  “Maybe I can get you to protect my cute little butt?”

  “Darlin’ nothing would make me happier, bring it home soon okay?”

  “Okay.”

  Early the next morning Daniel dragged Michael out of Gnome’s Rest with their luggage in tow. Sarah followed them out to the front porch and promised to bake them some cookies to celebrate their new digs. Daniel just smiled and shook his head as Michael turned back to Sarah and thanked her profusely.

  On the drive to the lighthouse, Michael slouched down in his seat and grumbled under his breath until Daniel couldn’t ignore him any longer.

  “Michael, come on, suck it up?”

  “Easy for you to say, man. You’ve got your Goddess snuggled down in your bed, but you’re taking me away from mine.”

  Daniel rolled his eyes, “I’m not taking you away to another state, we’re moving across town. Look at it this way you’re going to be living in a place that is very special to your ‘Goddess.’”

  Michael brightened considerably, “You’re right! Cool! I can work with that!”

  Pulling up to the trailer Daniel turned to Michael and clapped him on his shoulder grinning. “Glad to help, man. Let’s get settled in so we can get to work on your Goddess’ temple.”

  “Huzzah!” Michael yelled as he vaulted out of Daniel’s rental car and headed for the trailer.

  25

  It was late the next afternoon by the time Heather finished getting her affairs in order, and she couldn’t wait to share her terrific news with everyone.

  Mr. Latham was working out the details for her, and she was going to be the proud new owner of Java Junction.

  Heather was a little scared about taking on the responsibility of owning her own business, but she couldn’t imagine leaving Crescent Bay and all her good friends behind.

  Last night Daniel kept telling her to come home, and she reali
zed that he’d been right; Crescent Bay had become her home.

  Heather carefully packed a few personal items into her car preparing to head back home to Crescent Bay. She smiled to herself when she thought about how hodgepodge her packing had been for her first trip to Crescent Bay. Of course, she hadn’t known that was where she was headed, but she was very thankful that that was where she had landed.

  She was going to have to decide what she wanted to do with the house, but that decision could wait for another day. Today she was going to enjoy the scenic drive and think about her future with Daniel.

  She had decided that she was going to be honest with Daniel and tell him that she had fallen in love with him.

  Daniel acted like he had strong feelings for her as well; in fact, he might even love her too. If she didn’t scare him away by professing her love for him, she was going to do her best to make their relationship work. Even if their relationship was bi-coastal. After all, they’d managed to do pretty well during the short time they’d been apart, and she felt that they could make this work.

  Heather pulled into Crescent Bay much later than she had planned, the fog on the highway was so thick that it had made driving a slow and dangerous affair.

  Much like when she had first arrived in Crescent Bay, the Foghorn Tavern was the only thing open, but she didn’t stop to see Maggie. Her thoughts were all about Daniel.

  She’d done her best to keep her arrival a secret because she wanted to surprise him. She’d even gone as far as pulling over to answer his nightly call. While they’d spoken, he’d had no idea that she was only a couple of hours