“Did you taste the puffs Commander made?” Dinah said, holding a paper plate with a selection of the sweet and savory. When I nodded, she handed me one of the savory ones anyway.
“Wow, that man is a prize,” I said, checking for her reaction. Dinah’s perception of Commander Blaine had changed when she thought he might be a murderer. As soon as she thought she couldn’t have him, she seemed to say less about how finicky he was and more about his enthusiasm and ability to make everything into an occasion. I was afraid that now that he was out of the running to be a murderer, Dinah’s interest might wane. It seems to be human nature to want something when it’s unavailable and lose interest once it is. Dinah glanced over toward the table. Commander was putting out more food and encouraging everyone to help themselves. He beamed as compliments came from all directions. “Commander is a nickname he gave himself as a kid, and it stuck,” Dinah said. “He told me about it this afternoon. His real name is Sylvester. I’m going to keep calling him Commander, though. Sylvester sounds like some kind of weird synthetic yarn.”
I was going to comment that it seemed like they might have a future, but Commander got everyone’s attention and said the evening was going to end with a sing-along and marshmallow roast at the fire circle.
I held on to the rhinestone clipboard and followed at the edge of the group. Leave it to Commander. He had tambourines, castanets, maracas and bongo drums available. He took out a guitar and began playing camp songs. Some of the people helped themselves to instruments and played along, and others just took wire forks and marshmallows. I noticed Dinah was sitting at Commander’s side.
Mason found me and offered me a perfectly roasted marshmallow. “It’ll be nice driving back. We can make a trip out of it. We can stop for a late lunch at the Madonna Inn and maybe at a winery in Paso Robles. There’s always Solvang and Santa Barbara, too.”
I laughed. “And we won’t get back for a week.” Mason grinned. “What’s so bad about that?”
CHAPTER 27
THE MORNING WAS CHILLY AND OVERCAST, BUT the inside of the dining hall was bright with the buzz of conversation as the groups hung together for the last time. There was lots of hugging and promises to get something going back in Tarzana. Nobody seemed very interested in food. Commander Blaine had an envelope for each person that contained a coupon for his mailing center, the recipe for the puffs, and an e-mail list for the group.
I arrived late because I’d met Zak Landers in Izabelle’s room. Originally, I was going to pack up her things and arrange to get them to her ex, but there were other things to deal with and he’d driven up and was staying at a motel in Monterey. I had told him about Nora, and he’d gotten in touch with her. She was in the room, too, when I arrived. I barely recognized the woman who’d made the fuss at the airport. Her face was drawn and her expression troubled as she looked over her sister’s things.
She picked up a copy of her sister’s book and thumbed through it. She stared at the photo on the back as if it was still hard for her to believe that Izabelle was her twin. “I don’t want anything,” she said finally and walked out.
It was a little more comfortable when she’d gone. All I could think to say to her was that I was sorry, which hardly covered both her losses.
Zak had begun to pack up Izabelle’s things. He gestured toward the box I’d brought back from Adele’s workshop when she suddenly got concerned about clutter. “Let’s see what’s in there,” he said. I was going to tell him it was just samples of crocheted pieces, probably yarn, maybe some patterns and probably some hooks, but decided to go with the flow and just empty the box and show him the contents.
I dumped it on the bed, and sure enough some flowers fell out that had a double layer of petals, some more pouch bags with a slightly different design, some handouts with patterns for the bags. As I was separating the balls of yarn, I saw it. Izabelle must have thrown it in the box when she stopped in her room before she met Bennett. I held the white fuzzy choker. I could see Adele’s point: the white puffs did look like marshmallows. And when I turned it over, just as Adele said, there was a small spot of pink nail polish.
Zak said I could have everything in that box and the ones we’d brought back late last night. He had no use for crochet supplies. He did want to keep the manuscript and anything related to her fusion craft. I suppose he thought it might bring in some money. I mentioned he might be hearing from Spenser Futterman and left it at that.
He thanked me for my assistance and helped me take the boxes to my room.
Back at breakfast, Adele was hugging all of her people. I stopped next to her and put the choker on the table. She stared at it for a moment before turning it over. When she saw the pink mark, her lips spread in a relieved smile. She held it up and waved it around before going off to find Marni.
Mason was all smiles and waved me over. He already had a cup of coffee poured for me. I saw him look toward the door, and his mouth twisted in displeasure. I turned to see what had inspired his change of mood. Barry Greenberg had just walked in and was looking around. I didn’t care if I was working-I ran over and threw my arms around his tall frame.
“What are you doing here?” I said.
He seemed at a loss and just mumbled something about he’d decided to pick me up.
“You drove six hours to pick me up?”
“I missed you, what can I say?” He tried to shrug off his comment as if the long drive was no big deal, but his eyes gave him away. I told him I still had some things to do, and we arranged to meet later.
Breakfast ended and our people all went outside and hung around. Dinah’s group had gone for a last walk to the beach. Everyone else seemed to be prolonging the last moments of being together in this picturesque spot.
I checked the administration building and made sure everyone was getting checked out okay. CeeCee was at the desk, making arrangements to extend her stay. She was glad to be away from the paparazzi and said she’d finish putting the blanket together and make sure it got delivered. She said it was the least she could do.
When I was sure everything was under control, I met Barry on the deck and he followed me up to my room. When he saw the narrow beds and Spartan surroundings, he laughed. “Maybe we couldn’t have worked things out after all.” I packed up my things and we loaded them, along with the boxes of crochet supplies, into his Tahoe. I stopped to pick up the registration stuff from the administration building and put it in the SUV, too.
Adele had all the supplies and things she’d brought up gathered together by the main driveway. Commander brought over some of the things he’d had shipped up, too. Dinah was with him. She winked at me when she saw Barry before getting into a cab for the airport with Adele, Sheila and Commander.
We still didn’t know what the prognosis would be for Adele’s car. I’d called Mrs. Shedd to fill her in on the end of the weekend. Though I knew she was back from the cruise, I’d just gotten her voice mail. My message had been so long, it beeped off before I finished. With everything going on, I’d missed her call back. Her message was short and made my stomach churn.
“Molly, I’ve thought long and hard all during the weekend about the future of the bookstore. My decision isn’t the kind of thing to be left as a message. We’ll talk in person when you get back.”
What did that mean?
Great, my list of things to deal with when I got home had just gotten longer. On top of my son moving back home, and the two cats, there was now uncertainty about my job.
Mason came out pulling his duffle bag and saw the pile of stuff. “I guess you won’t be needing a ride after all. What about all of this?”