Piper squirmed in the stiff, slippery lobby chair. Something was wrong; she knew it. Dean was supposed to have met her an hour before, but he still wasn’t there. She checked her watch again. Two fifteen. Choosing to give Dean fifteen more minutes, she stood up and sauntered over to the shelf full of brochures. Randomly, she plucked one from the display and looked it over. While it seemed interesting, it did nothing to calm her nerves.
Biting her bottom lip, she ambled over to the check-in desk. She waited patiently until she caught the clerk’s eye.
“May I help you, ma’am?” he asked with a smile.
“Yes, please. My name is Piper Gallimore, and I’m staying in room 318. Could you tell me if there are any messages waiting for me?”
The desk clerk, whose nametag read “William,” took the phone off its cradle. “One moment, please, ma’am,” he said. He punched in a few numbers and waited. After a few seconds, he replaced the phone. He regretfully met her eyes. “I’m sorry, ma’am, but you have no messages.”
Piper sadly returned his smile. “Thank you, anyway.” With her shoulders slumped, she returned to her chair and peered at her watch again. Two-thirty. Sighing, she pulled her mobile from her purse and dialed Dean’s number. The perky message on his machine answered.
“Hey! You’ve reached Dean’s Haven o’Fun. As you can see, I’m not here, but you know what to do. Catch ya later!” Beep.
“Dean, it’s Piper. Pick up the phone, please.” She waited a beat. “All right, so you really aren’t there. It’s two-thirty, and you’re an hour and a half late. If you get this message before I can reach you, phone me at this number.” She then left her mobile number and pressed end.
Next, she dialed Blue Juice Surfboards. On the third ring, a young female voice answered.
“Blue Juice Surfboards,” she chirped. Piper was taken aback by the female voice; she hadn’t realized that Dean had other employees.
“Hello, may I speak to Dean Raymond, please?”
“He’s not here right now. Can I take a message?” She winced when she heard the loud pop of the girl’s gum.
“He said he was supposed to be there today. Did he happen to say where he was going?”
“I haven’t seen him all day. I wasn’t supposed to be here until 12:30, but Crab asked me if I could come in early.”
A knot formed in the pit of Piper’s stomach. “Did he say why?”
“No, he only said I had to be here.”
Piper looked heavenward and sighed. “All right, thank you very much. If you do happen to see Dean, tell him Piper phoned.”
“I will, ma’am.” With that, the gum-smacking teenager disconnected. Sighing again, Piper snapped her mobile shut and placed it back in her purse. Where on Earth was Dean?
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Dean groaned as he opened his eyes. At first, he was a little disoriented, but then Chloe’s face swam into view. He tried to sit up and his stomach did a flip-flop. Realizing that wasn’t going to work, he fell back onto the pillows underneath his head.
“Don’t move,” she warned.
“What happened?” he mumbled.
“You and I took quite a hit, mate,” JC explained. Dean turned his head in the direction of the voice and saw that his best friend sat in a chair across the room holding an ice pack on the back of his head. “I suppose this means Ripper won’t be shopping at your establishment any time soon.”
Ripper. Dean closed his eyes and tried to remember everything that had happened in his shop. He remembered Ripper coming in, demanding a board. He also remembered the fight that ensued, but couldn’t remember anything past that.
“Where are we?” Dean groaned.
“Chloe and JC’s house,” another voice answered from the right corner of the room. Dean cautiously turned to see Crab standing there, a worried look on his face. He stepped toward the fluffy couch. “I left my board in the back yesterday. When I came in to get it this morning, I found you on the floor and JC trying to wake you up. You looked like a mess, mate. Blood all over the counter and all over you. Who did that anyway?”
“Ripper,” Dean moaned. He then explained everything he remembered. When he stopped, JC filled in the rest.
“Once Dean was out, I grabbed one of the sticks hanging up,” he explained. He glanced at Dean apologetically. “I suppose this makes us even for hitting Terry with my stick, huh?”
Dean chuckled, but groaned at the pain in his head.
JC continued, “It broke the stick, but it also got Ripper to stop hitting me. He was about to pummel me when we heard your car, Crab. He beat it out of there fairly quickly.”
Chloe finished cleaning the blood off Dean’s face and placed an icepack on his forehead. “You’re all idiots. I thought you’d both stopped getting into this kind of stuff four years ago.”
“So did I,” Dean chimed in.
JC smiled. “But it felt good, didn’t it?”
“Ask me that when the swelling goes down.” Dean then remembered what he was supposed to be doing that day. His eyes widened. “What time is it?”
“Almost four-thirty.” Chloe answered. “Why?”
“Oh, shit! Hand me the phone, mate!”
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Piper stormed back to her room, her fear and anger rising. Dean had done it again. He had made her promises and then promptly broke them. She should’ve known better. She should have seen it coming. Earlier, she had tried calling both Dean’s place and surf shop again, but no one knew where he was. For all she knew, he could be dead on the side of the road somewhere.
Shoving her keycard into the slot, the light glowed green and she pushed open the door. Furiously, she grabbed her bags and tossed clothes and toiletries into them. How could she be so stupid? This is where following her heart got her.
She sank onto the bed as tears began to well in her eyes. She loved Dean so much, and yet, she couldn’t even rely on him to let her know he was going to be late. She had momentarily though about calling the local hospital to see if they had a Dean Raymond, but she had quickly dismissed the thought. Surely, someone would have let her know if something had happened.
Pulling herself together, she stood up and finished packing. This was a sign, she assured herself. A sign that she needed to go back to Emerson and the life she had in London. The dalliance with Dean had only been a test; that was all. She didn’t think she could tell Emerson about the night before so she chose to keep it a secret. No one would ever have to know. She glanced down at her naked left hand. If he asked about the ring, she’d lie and say it fell down the drain.
Zipping her bags closed, she swept an eye over the room. No, she hadn’t left anything. Then why did she feel like she had forgotten something? Shaking it off, she turned and left.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
“What do you need the phone for?” Crab asked as he handed it to Dean.
“Piper. I have to let her know what happened. She’ll think I did this on purpose.” Clutching the cordless phone, Dean punched in the numbers to the hotel.
“Seascape Hotel, this is William speaking. How may I help you?” the desk clerk’s tenor answered.
“Hello, can you connect me with Room 318, please?”
“One moment, please.” Within seconds, the bad elevator music began playing. Dean creased his brow as he tried to decide if it was a horrible rendition of a Beatles’ song or a Rolling Stones’ song. Before he could figure it out, William had returned. “I’m sorry, sir, but the person in room 318 had just checked out.”
Dean’s heart dropped. No! “Are you sure? Did she leave a message? My name is Dean Raymond.”
“Yes, sir, she left ten minutes ago. I’m sorry, but she didn’t leave a message for you. Is there anything else I can help you with today?”
“No, thank you.” Crushed, Dean hung up the phone. She was gone. Piper was gone, and he didn’t know if she was going back to Emerson or not. Shit! He was going to kill Ripper. His one and only chance to completely win Piper back, and Ripper had killed it. The big lug should have killed him, too.
“Dean?” He turned his blue eyes to JC.
“She’s gone, man.” Deflated, he turned away and stared at the back of the couch.