Bottled Up Read online

  Sometimes, I wish Lachlan had a physical body, so I could wring his neck.

  I love my Inn.

  “That’s got it,” I tell Jasmine as I finish the last line. “Let’s get going. My stuff’s just there by the door.”

  Behind us, the stairs creaked.

  This is an old building, and the floorboards creak all the time, softly and gently. It’s comforting in a way that old buildings should be. It’s also a great way of knowing when someone’s nearby. I turned to look, and sure enough there’s one of the guests standing there at the railing, waiting for me to notice him.

  Mister Brewster is one of the more interesting men I’ve ever met in my life. I’ve heard him described as creepy, and that word fits as well as anything because it isn’t just the ghosts who are a little spooky around here. He’s dressed all in black as always, pants and a turtleneck this time, against the cold of an approaching winter that hasn’t reached Lakeshore yet. His face is expressionless under shaggy black hair. His piercing silver-gray eyes hold my gaze but not for long. It’s hard to look straight into this man’s eyes.

  Mister Brewster has been staying here at the Pine Lake Inn for years now, paying his bill every month without fail to rent the same room. Funny, how I still know almost nothing about him. Not what he does for work, not why he’s here in Lakeshore, not even the name of an emergency contact. Come to think of it, at the moment I can’t even recall his first name.

  “You’re leaving,” he says, his voice as expressionless as his face.

  “Just for the weekend,” I promise him. Yes, he gives me an eerie vibe, but he’s never been anything but decent to me and the other guests. I can’t hold it against him that he’s socially awkward. “It’s Friday now, and I’ll be back by Monday. If you need anything our night clerk will be on duty. Or, you can always call the contact numbers we have listed next to your phone. Our handyman will be around as well.”

  “That will be fine,” he says, as if that was of no concern to him anyway. “I just wanted to wish you safe travels. Remember the rules of any successful trip. Don’t take things that don’t belong to you. If it isn’t yours, then leave it be.”

  I let that process for a moment. I’m actually pretty sure the phrase is something about if you pack it in, pack it out, or some such, but I was never in the Girl Guides, so who knows? Maybe he knows what he’s talking about. “Um. Thanks.”

  He nods his head, once, and then turns without another word and heads upstairs. Soon after, I can hear the door to his room closing in the first-floor hall.

  “Wow, Dell,” Jasmine says, chuckling softly. “You’ve certainly got some oddballs staying with you.”

  “To each his own,” is what I tell her, because she’s right about that to be sure, but I don’t make a habit of criticizing the way other people live. “Ready to go?”

  “You know it!”

  On the way out, I feel a ghostly hand brush across my cheek, and I smile. I make a show of fumbling with the strap on my bag so I can stand there, and take a moment to enjoy the touch of my dead husband’s spirit. Richard hangs about the Inn sometimes to watch over me. After all, love is forever.

  Friendship is eternal, too. As we are about to drive away from the Inn I look back and see the ghost of our old friend Jess standing there in the front door, waving to us. She would’ve been so much fun on this trip with Jasmine and I. Getting the old group from Uni back together for one last trip would’ve been amazing. Poor Jess. She’s making the most of her afterlife here at the Pine Lake Inn, but sometimes I feel guilty that I still have a life to live.

  With one hand I reach up to touch the carved unicorn on the necklace at my throat. It was Jess’s final gift to me, and I never take it off. With my other hand, I wave back to her. I know what she’d say to me, if she was really here. She’d tell me to have some fun for her and bring her back a souvenir.

  So that’s just what I’m going to do.

  Of course, there’s one other bloke I need to see before I take off for the next two days.

  We’d stopped in to see Rosie already, and spent a little bit of time with her boys but they were too sick to play for long. I told Rosie to get some sleep and not worry about coming in tomorrow either. She sneezed and tried to protest that she was fine to do her job, but I pointed out making our guests sick wasn’t going to do much for the Inn’s reputation. Another day with the staff making the meals wasn’t going to make a difference one way or another.

  Now, Jasmine and I were making a stop at Cathy Morris’s Milkbar, the convenience store and little corner deli on Main Street. It’s the only other place in town to get a decent meal outside of your own home. Other than my Inn, that is. I think the food is better at my place, of course, but it’s not a competition. With more and more tourists coming to town each month I wouldn’t be a bit surprised if someone opened up an actual restaurant here sometime soon. Like a Bucking Bull Grill, or the Pigeon Hole over in Hobart.

  The person waiting for me is at one of the small round tables at the front of the Milkbar, eating a ham and cheese sandwich, and typing away on his laptop. James Callahan is my amazing and beautiful boyfriend. We’ve had some very rough times, but we’ve worked them out, and we’re stronger than ever now. We’re so in love with each other it’s like the heaviest high school crush I ever had. He’s my other half, and I’m his. That’s how it is when it’s right.

  With Richard, my husband, it was perfect. I never thought I’d find that again… but I did, with James.

  He’s a reporter by profession, a rising star in the world of journalism thanks to being right at the center of a lot of the happenings here in Lakeshore. His articles all have a first-person viewpoint that make them well read across the country, and around the world. He even freelances for some of the bigger papers like the Sydney Morning Herald.

  Not sure what he’s working on now, but he was so busy with it that he couldn’t leave his laptop to come and say goodbye before I left. He asked me to stop and see him on the way out of town instead.

  He’s my boyfriend after all. Love of my life, and all that, just as I’ve said. He’s worth a little side trip.

  Tall and handsome. Windswept blonde hair that I always thought looked so cute on a man our age. Liquid blue eyes that I’ve spent several nights gazing into for hours on end. Oh, yes. Definitely worth coming to see him. His windbreaker is open to show off his very nice button-up shirt. I wouldn’t mind taking that off of him, one button at a time. I made a mental note to follow that idea up later, when I get back from our trip.

  “Hey, you,” he says to me, in that strong, masculine Aussie voice of his. “Been waiting for ya. All packed and ready to go?”

  “In a few minutes,” I tell him with a smile I just can’t hide. Leaning over his shoulder, I kiss his cheek. His fingers never pause as his article takes shape on the screen in front of him. “Jasmine’s parking the car so we can get a few supplies first. Whatchya writing?”

  “Been a bit of a todo over this woman running for Senator.” He tapped the screen to show me, and I immediately recognize the name. Everyone in Australia knows that name. “The next Federal election isn’t for a while yet but she’s got her campaign in full swing. Ruffling quite a few feathers. I’ve got me a source that says people have reason to be worried about her.”

  “Oh, yeah?” That’s got me curious, to be sure. “What is it?”

  “Uh, uh. Have to read the article when it comes out, if ya want to know that. Same as everyone else.”

  “Aw, c’mon. Not even a little peek for your girlfriend?”

  “Not the way it works. Besides, it’s not done yet.”

  His expression is very smug as he stops typing at the end of a paragraph long enough to pull me closer and give me a proper kiss. “Mmm,” he says. “Not sure I can last without that for a whole weekend.”

  “Who’re you trying to kid? You’ll have your work to keep your mind off me.”

  “Never, I say. Man does not live by the sweat of
his brow, but by the love of the woman in his heart.”

  “Oh, that is good, that is. You should write that one down.”

  He taps the side of his head with a finger, still with that smug expression. “It’s all up here, dearheart. Hey, this must be your friend.”

  The shopkeeper’s bell over the door jingled as Jasmine came in. She takes a minute to look around the store, and I had to wonder if she’d never seen a milkbar before. Jasmine lives in a city now, where quaint corner stores aren’t exactly in style, and maybe that’s why she’s so interested in the shelves of canned goods and the refrigerators stocked with bottled water and cans of cordial and, yes, milk. The deli counter even got her to raise an eyebrow.

  I happen to know Jasmine grew up in a small town just like I did. I guess some people just forget their roots.

  Now that I’ve interrupted his writing mojo, James stands up and holds his hand out to Jasmine. “Good to meet ya. I’m Dell’s one and only. James Callahan.”

  “Ooh, handsome,” Jasmine beams as she takes James’ hand. “Dell, you didn’t tell me he was this good looking. Where on Earth did you find this one?”

  “I was actually the one who found her,” James says. “One of the greatest things I’ve ever done.”

  You wouldn’t think that a woman my age could be made to blush so easily, but I am. I can feel it. He makes me feel that way all the time. Not sure how I lucked out.

  “It’s good to know you,” Jasmine tells him before looking around the store again. “I’m going to get the supplies for our trip and then we can get going. I want to get to our hotel before it gets dark. I don’t like to drive after sunset. Too many critters out.”

  “Don’t want to run into an echidna?” I tease her.

  “Kangaroos, is what I was thinking, but there’s always the chance of a stray water buffalo, too, I suppose. Any requests for snacks?”

  “Cheezles,” I tell her, because who doesn’t like those? “Oh. Some salt and vinegar chips too, please. And something chocolate.”

  “Tim Tams it is! Back in a flash.” She winks at me as she says it. “Won’t be too fast, though. Plenty of time to say your proper goodbyes, you two. Loan me your card?”

  “My card?”

  “Yeah. I left mine in the car. No worries, I’ll catch the next place.”

  Fair enough, I guess. I take my card from my wallet and hand it to her. Didn’t expect to get out of this trip without spending some money. Might just as well start now.

  “She’s a riot,” James says to me, watching as Jasmine grabs a handcart to start her shopping. “I can see why ya like her. Two peas in a pod.”

  “I like to think so. Been friends forever, me and her. So. You’re really going to miss me this weekend?”

  His hand cups my face, and I can feel his kiss on my lips all the way down to my toes. The right guy can have that effect on a girl.

  “I’ll be waiting for you when you come back,” he tells me. “Just don’t meet some guy out there on the beach and forget to come home.”

  A soft laughter bubbles up from within my chest. “I don’t think you have anything to worry about as long as you keep kissing me like that.”

  “I’d be more worried if it was the middle of summer. Then you’d be out there in a two piece with men all over ya. Nobody could resist that.”

  I cuddle myself into his chest, soaking up the memory of his warmth, and his scent, before I leave him. “I love you, James.”

  “Love ya too, Dell Powers.”

  As I was going in for another kiss, the shopkeeper’s bell rings again and distracts me. Wondering which of my neighbors it might be, I glance over at the door. It’s nobody I know. Seems I would’ve remembered a man with a scar travelling down in a straight line over his left eye. He was short, and maybe he’s not as bulky as that puffy blue sweater makes him look. Then again, maybe he is, because those hands are just huge.

  Besides that, it’s not often that you see men wearing the permed look anymore. At least he can carry it off.

  “Who’s that?” I whisper to James.

  “Never seen him before.” He leans past me for a better look, and then shrugs as the guy walks down the counter to the deli section, waiting patiently for Cathy Morris to notice him so he could place a sandwich order. “Tourist, probably.”

  Sure. Maybe. “I suppose…”

  When I continue staring at the man with his curly hair, James laughs and hugs me close again. His voice lowers to a whisper in my ear. “You need to learn to relax, Dell. Not every new bloke who walks into our town is going to mean trouble.”

  “Says you. When has that ever been true for us?”

  I can feel his words humming in his chest. “You need this vacation more so than I realized. Relax, babe. The town won’t blow up while you’re gone, or slide into a pit, or any other nightmare scenario ya got cooking in that brain of yours.”

  “You know me so well.”

  “I do. Know this town, too. Lakeshore’s seen more’n its fair share of trouble, to be sure, but it’s still standing. It’ll be here when ya get back. So will I, waiting and ready to welcome ya home with another kiss.”

  Gotta say, I do like that idea.

  Jasmine and I picked up the bags with our supplies and then we were off. I waved goodbye with my fingertips to James. He was already busily typing on his laptop again, getting his story ready for publication, but he found the time to give me a wink.

  My gaze went over to the stranger at the counter one more time, but he didn’t do anything but wait patiently for Cathy to make him a sandwich.

  Maybe James was right. Not everything new in Lakeshore has to mean bad things are coming.

  Chapter 2

  Blue Laguna is part of the shoreline in the greater Hobart area. Not as well known as Seven Mile Beach, which is just a half hour further up the road, but there’s more here to do. It’s a real nice place to visit. I know, I know, you’re wondering why I’d pick another touristy town for a vacation when I already live in Lakeshore. The truth of it is that in big touristy areas like this one you can get lost and never get found again. A person can melt right into the background and no one even notices you’re there.

  For this weekend, I’m going to be able to forget everything and just relax. For a few days I won’t be Dell Powers at all. I’ll just be the woman booked into room 308 of the Moonlight Resort.

  The hotel is smack in the middle of the business district, such as it is. Set between a car wash and a petrol station, it’s a nice-looking place. Five stories high, with lots of parking and a spacious lobby. There’s fresh mangos in a bowl just as you come in, next to some lemon water in a dispenser, and a coffee maker as well. Lots of bright tile. Murals of dolphins splashing in the surf on the walls. A chandelier overhead with dangling glass beads that sparkle in the light. Soft music in the background.

  So it’s nice, but it’s a bit much if you ask me. I much prefer the quiet and homey feel of the Pine Lake Inn. I don’t need fruit or flavored water or soft music right now. All I really want is to get up to the room and order some take away from anywhere nearby that delivers, and then take a nice long shower before bed.

  Of course, Jasmine had other ideas right from the get go. We’re no sooner in the room than she wants to go out again.

  “So, there’s a club just up the street,” she points out, reading through the hotel guide. “Let’s scope it out before dinner. What d’ya think of that?”

  “Oh my lord, Jasmine, we just got here!” But I find myself laughing and suddenly there’s an old familiar excitement effervescing in my chest. This is just like it used to be back in Uni, whenever Jasmine got it in her head to party. My desire for a quiet night is evaporating like so much smoke. “Know what? Let’s do it. We’re still young, aren’t we?”

  “Speak for yourself!” my friend exclaims with a smile. “I know I’m not young anymore, but that doesn’t mean I’m too old to have fun! C’mon, let’s get changed and go check this place out.”
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  “Right. Let me just find that dress I packed.”

  “Er. You’ve got the cash on hand for the cover charge, yeah? I don’t have anything but my card on me. I promise I’ll buy the first round of drinks.”

  “No worries. I’ll get us in, you get us smashed!”

  Yup, just like back in Uni. If there was a party somewhere, Jasmine Faraday could find it. I’m not saying that I was a wall flower back then, because I wasn’t, but I was more focused on my academics than my personal life. I owe the fact that I had any kind of social life at all to the brash recklessness of friends like Jasmine, and Jess Riley too. The two of them were the party girls. I was the one who tagged along wherever they went. It’s good to have friends who care enough about you to drag you into the unknown and make you have fun against your will.

  The sidewalks of Blue Laguna weren’t crowded at this hour. Just like I knew she would, Jasmine had driven us here at speeds that kept us just below the attention of any cops on patrol. As a result, it wasn’t late now, but it was right around dinner time, and there were only a few people out and about, enjoying the early evening sunset. Nobody smiled at me. Nobody even looked our way. We were, for all intents and purposes, invisible.

  And I found that it didn’t bother me a bit.

  Very different than Lakeshore, to be sure, where everyone would know me and at least say a decent g’day. It was just me and Jasmine, laughing at silly nonsense, talking about old times and old friends. Jasmine filled me in on what she’d been up to the past few years, working for an accounting office and still trying to find Mister Right. She lost her brother just recently, she told me, that part of her story bringing her down with a sad sigh. I vaguely remember her little brother, but we had always moved in different circles.