The Promise of Paradise

Chapter Six


The following week, Ash dragged herself back to Lycian Street after a hectic lunch shift. A toddler had managed to spill iced tea down her legs, and her right sock had turned a strange yellow color. Her arms ached. Her legs ached. And it was only four o’clock in the afternoon. Thank God she had tomorrow off.

The sun beat down on a mid-June day that felt more like the heaviness of August. She checked her cell phone. Her mother had called once in the last week, leaving a teary message that pleaded with Ash to return to Boston.

“We need the whole family together,” Mamie Kirk wept on the voicemail. “Please, Ashton. Your father needs to know we all support him.”

But did they? Ash didn’t know what to believe. She didn’t know who was telling the truth and who was making up tales. She slowed as she passed Lou’s and breathed in the aroma of fresh bread and garlic. Two cars drove by. A mother with her baby in a stroller jogged down the sidewalk. The church clock chimed the hour.

The muscles in her neck unclenched, and her fatigue eased. It’s so different from Boston, she thought for the umpteenth time. True, Paradise had only one grocery store, no movie theater, and no Wal-Mart. It had a single stoplight that turned to blinking yellow after midnight. It did have a train station, but it seemed as though more people left the town than returned to it. It sat shrouded by low mountains, a stone’s throw from one of the largest cities in the country, and yet sometimes Ash felt as though she couldn’t have been more protected, more isolated, than if she’d moved to the moon.

“It’s nice,” she said aloud. And I don’t want to go back to Boston. Not now. Not yet. She just had to figure out how to explain that to her mother.

Reaching her street, Ash turned the corner and dug into her pocket for her keys. After a hot shower, maybe she’d see if Eddie was in the mood for some Chinese food. Though they hadn’t seen too much of each other in the last few days, she’d heard him down there, blasting his rock music and rearranging furniture. Since moving in three weeks ago, they’d shared a couple of early dinners and a beer or two on the porch. Other than that, their paths didn’t cross too often. Still, she liked knowing he was there. It made the house a little more full, the nights a little less lonely, when she curled into bed and tried not to dream of Colin.

A breath of air moved around the corner, blowing strands of hair that had fallen from her ponytail. The weekend stretched out ahead of her without so much as a single lunch shift to keep her busy. Anxiety bubbled inside her chest. She needed something to keep her mind off her mother’s calls. Off her father’s predicament. Off the heartache that wouldn’t go away.

Man, she hoped Eddie was home. She hoped he didn’t have plans for dinner.

“Hey, stranger.”

He sat on the front porch, a six-pack between his feet and a lazy grin on his face.

“Hey, yourself.” She smiled and dropped to sit on the top step. “You’re home early.”

“Yeah. Frank’s going outta town for the weekend, closed at two.” He flipped the top off a bottle and handed it over.

“Thanks. How’d you know that’s exactly what I need?”

Eddie took a long pull on his own bottle. “Figured you’d be pretty beat. Fridays always get a big lunch crowd down at the restaurant.”

Ash cocked one eyebrow. “Thanks for giving me a heads-up. You could have let me know.” She leaned against the porch railing. Nothing moved. No cars turned down their block. No joggers ran by; no kids played in the park across the street. She closed her eyes and welcomed the silence.

“So how was work this week?” she asked after a while.

“Same as always. Crazy customers want to know why we can’t fix their cars in an hour, when they’ve been driving around for two weeks with the problem.”

Ash smiled. “Yeah, people are funny that way.”

“So what’s for dinner?”

She turned. “Whatever you’re making.”

He laughed, and she noticed that his goatee had grown a little more in the last few days. Thick and dark, it caught the light and turned a reddish-brown in places. Not like Colin or anyone else I ever dated. All her past boyfriends had smooth faces and baby-soft cheeks. For the first time, she realized she liked the look of stubble on a man. Hot. Rugged. Rough in all the right ways.

She dropped her chin, hoping Eddie couldn’t read her thoughts. “I was thinking about ordering Chinese.”

“Sounds good to me.”

“You don’t have plans for tonight? It’s Friday. ”

“Nope.”

“No hot dates?”

“Not until tomorrow.”

“Oh.” Ash studied the stain on her sock. With one hand, she reached up and loosened her ponytail, damp with perspiration. “Who’s the lucky girl?”

Eddie cleared his throat. “Cheri Ryerson.” Long pause. “Don’t think you know her.”

Ash got up, sticking her empty bottle back inside the cardboard carrier. “Don’t think I do. She live in Paradise?”

“Next town over.”

“Well, lover boy, I’m sure you’ll have a good time.”

He stood too, following her to the door. “I’m sure I will.”

They were halfway inside when Helen called to them from across the street. Ash had one hand on the doorknob, and Eddie was picking up the empties, when the woman hobbled over.

“Ashley!” Helen’s voice scratched on the syllables, and her breathing came in great gasps. “Edward!”

In slow motion, Ash turned. She didn’t like the tone in the woman’s voice: eager, gossipy, dangerous. She took a step back, meaning to create some sort of excuse and head upstairs. But Eddie had already loped down the steps, a playboy grin on his face.

Helen stopped in the middle of the sidewalk, hands on her hips. “I was downtown today, getting my hair done.” She stopped, drawing in a deep, rattling breath. “And a newspaper reporter came into Hair Heaven. From Boston.”

Oh, God. Ash took two steps across the porch and tumbled down the stairs, straight into Eddie’s back. Into Eddie’s strong, tall, incredibly muscular back. He turned and grabbed her with both hands before she knocked the two of them over.

“You okay?”

She blew out a long breath, conscious of his hands on her even as she looked at her feet and willed Helen away. “I’m fine. Just tired. Sorry.”

The white-haired woman looked as though she hadn’t even noticed. “He was asking about someone named Ashton Kirk.” Her beady eyes stared at Ash. “I told him I’d never heard of anyone by that name.”

Eddie shrugged. “Guess it sounds a little like Ash’s name, but – ”

“But it’s not,” Ash finished.

“Of course it’s not.” He let his arm drop around Ash’s neck, looping it across her shoulders. “Why was he all the way up here, anyway?”

Helen pulled a crumpled tissue from her pocket and blew her nose. “I don’t know. Said he was looking for Senator’s Kirk’s daughter.”

“In Paradise?” Eddie began to laugh. “Why? Don’t those types stay close to home?”

Something like a stone sank inside Ash. Those types…

“That’s what I told him,” Helen said. “Said there wasn’t any reason for a stuck-up politician’s daughter to get her hands dirty way up here in New Hampshire. I guess he had some kind of lead. Thought maybe she skipped town to get away from the family mess.”

“Can't say I'd blame her.” Eddie turned to Ash. “You don’t know who she’s talking about, do you? You ever meet the senator’s daughter?”

The stone got larger and threatened to lodge itself in Ash’s throat. She managed to shake her head.

“Guess he’s out of luck,” Eddie said.

Helen reached into the pocket of her dress and pulled out a business card. “Here. He passed them around to everyone who was in the salon, said to call if we had any information. I figure you have more chance of meeting someone like that than I do.” She handed the card to Eddie, who stuck it in the back pocket of his shorts. Ash caught herself looking at the smooth, tanned strip of skin along his lower back as his shirt pulled up and ordered herself to stop it, once and for all.

“Thanks, Helen,” Eddie said. “I’ll let you know if I hear anything.”

“Well, I hope so,” the woman went on. “Sadie said she wouldn’t believe it, if a daughter of…”

Ash barely heard the words. It’s only a matter of time before someone finds out. She backed away and let Eddie’s arm drop, missing its heaviness when she did. What am I doing? How the hell did I think I could get away with this?