Sometime Yesterday Page 9

  The phone on the wall rang. “It’s your father.” Her mother got up to answer it.

  How does she do that? She knew it would be her father. Her mother was never wrong. Natalie took the opportunity at having them both on the phone to run upstairs and at least brush her hair. Maybe she could touch up her face and put some clothes on. Natalie looked at the unmade bed. Or, she thought, get Van naked. She shook her head. Not with her mother in the house.

  The smell of burning sage was stronger in her room. Natalie truly hoped it would work and chase the dark man away. She didn’t want another nightmare like she had last night. At the same time, she hoped the cleansing didn’t chase Beth and Sarah away. She felt attached to them.

  When she came back down, Van was standing by the front door. “I’m sorry, I have to go.”

  Natalie was disappointed. “Something for work?”

  Van nodded. “Irate client that wants to talk to the boss. For once, I’m sorry to say that would be me.”

  Natalie slipped her arms around Van’s waist then tilted her head back to see her face. “Well, a girl’s gotta do what a girl’s gotta do. And I have to do this.” Natalie drew her arms around Van’s neck and pulled her down to kiss her softly. Once, twice, three times until Van wrapped her hands in Natalie’s hair to pull her closer.

  Natalie sighed. “Oh, yes. More please.” Van’s tongue flicked across her lips and Natalie felt the heat race straight to her core. She wanted to climb up Van’s body to wrap her legs around her waist then fall to the floor. She wanted to lick, taste, and bite her neck. Every nerve ending in her body snapped to attention and her pulse raced. Natalie felt gloriously alive.

  The fiery kiss had taken on a life of its own, becoming a vortex—spinning with passion and desire. Van staggered and let go of Natalie’s hair so she could brace herself from falling.

  “Fuck it,” Van said when her phone rang again.

  The remark surprised a weak laugh from Natalie. She panted in an effort to breathe. She felt drunk and her heart was racing faster than she could ever remember. Was this normal? She realized she didn’t care; she only wanted to do it again. A lot. “You need to go,” she said. “Boss.”

  “You can be the boss of me later.”

  Natalie almost purred. “’Kay.”

  Van brushed a hand down Natalie’s cheek. “I’m not going to kiss you again because then I’ll never leave. Dinner tonight?”

  “What time?”

  “Around six thirty? Oh, and I almost forgot. Your mother and I were talking about the house when you were upstairs and she mentioned that you were going to the library today?”

  Natalie nodded.

  “Hold off on that. I called my dad and he said he knows some of the history. He invited you both to dinner tomorrow night.”

  “We’d love to come.”

  Van smiled at her. “Bye, Natalie. I’ll see you later.”

  *

  Van called her father to let him know that Natalie and her mother accepted his invitation for dinner. She could still smell Natalie’s perfume. It was as heady and intoxicating as Natalie was herself.

  When she arrived at the job site, she saw the crew loading equipment and her foreman standing by his truck. He was yelling into his phone then closed it when he saw Van.

  “Great,” Van said under her breath when she recognized the anger on Rick’s face. He was pissed.

  “That woman.” He hissed then pointed to the house.

  Van searched her mental file. “Miss Alora,” she corrected him.

  “Whatever. She was a sweetheart when we arrived. We started work and the woman came out screaming like she was demon-possessed.”

  Van got out of her truck and sighed. “What happened?”

  “Every plant, every tree, every single goddamn flower was not what she ordered.”

  Van interrupted. “You have a signed estimate and contract.”

  “And I tried to show it to her. She insisted on seeing you.”

  “Okay. Where’s the paperwork?”

  “Not necessary. She fired us ‘cheatin’ sumbitches’ and ordered us off her property. Then she called—”

  “The cops.” Van finished for him when she saw her cousin Rory pull up in his Bayside City Police Department cruiser.

  “Are you ripping off little old ladies again, Vanessa?”

  “Bite me, Rory.”

  “Look,” he said. “I’m going to get out of my car and look like I’m reading you the riot act. Then you can look properly chastised and leave, okay?”

  Van turned to Rick. “Did you dig anything up yet?”

  “No, we were done marking out boundaries and loaded in all the stock. It’s all back in the trucks now.”

  Van checked her watch. “Okay, tell the crew to go back to the nursery. I have another job you can go to after lunch.” She wrote down Natalie’s address. “You can start in on the brush clean up. I’ll be up later with the plans and we can go over them then.” Rick nodded at her and left.

  She turned back to her cousin. “Give it to me, officer.”

  Rory made a big show of his lecture, gesturing and pointing toward Miss Alora who was looking out her window. “Miss Alora is a paranoid schizophrenic and must be off her meds again.” Rory paced in front of Van. “She calls us at least three times a week to report her neighbors and the government spies in her bushes.”

  Van hung her head and got back in her truck, biting her lip to keep from laughing.

  “One more thing,” Rory yelled at her.

  “Yes?”

  He winked at her. “I heard about the girl.” Rory slapped the side of her truck. “Now, you can leave.”

  “Yes, sir!” Van said.

  *

  Natalie sat across from her mother at the table.

  “I’m going to love Van simply because she put that look on my baby’s face.”

  “I can’t seem to stop smiling.”

  “When are you going to see her again?”

  “Tonight,” Natalie said. “What do you want to do now that we’re not going to the library?”

  “You could rest, Nat. You had a rough night.”

  Natalie had forgotten the nightmare until her mother brought it up. Of course, she thought, Van was an awesome distraction. She shook her head. “We did the house cleansing. That should work, right?”

  “The energy seems lighter in here. I don’t feel any negativity around. Do you want to unpack some boxes?”

  “No, I really don’t. Let’s go shopping instead.”

  Natalie’s mother grabbed her purse and beat her to the front door. Her mother loved to shop. It was something you never had to ask her twice. Natalie gave her phone to her mother when they were in the car. “Here. Call Mary and have her meet us.”

  Natalie and her mother browsed a gift shop while they waited. When Mary arrived they walked to her favorite boutique.

  “How come you didn’t call me this morning to give me deets?”

  “I’m sorry, Mary. I had a horrible nightmare last night, and when I got up Mom suggested we do the house cleansing immediately.”

  “We can get back to that. I want to hear about your date.”

  Natalie smiled. “It was wonderful. I had an amazing time.”

  “Yeah, yeah. And?”

  “And what?”

  Mary looked exasperated. “You’re killing me here, Nat. And where did she take you? And what did you talk about. And did you sleep with her?”

  “That’s a lot of ands,” Natalie’s mother said.

  “Please give me some crumbs.” Mary ticked a list off on her fingers. “One, I’ve been married for twenty years. Two, my twin sons are going through puberty. Three, all the men in the house play sports. Do I really need to tell you about laundry day? Because—”

  “Okay, okay.” Natalie laughed. “We went to that restaurant.” She pointed.

  “Which-fish?”

  “Van’s uncle and aunt own it.”

  “Nice. They have grea
t food.” Mary held the door for her. “Now answer the big one.”

  “No, I did not.” Natalie paused. “Yet.”

  Mary’s face fell. “That’s just sad. I was hoping to get some vicarious thrills.”

  “I’m seeing her again tonight.”

  “There is hope after all,” Mary said. “Oooh, shoes!” She beelined for the wall display.

  “She’s easily distracted, isn’t she?” asked Natalie’s mother.

  “It’s part of her charm,” Natalie said to the empty space beside her. She turned and saw her mother racing to the purses on the opposite wall. She laughed and shook her head. “As it is yours.”

  Natalie slipped the soft blue dress over her head and smoothed it down. She turned in the four-way mirror, noticing that the dress hugged every curve. She had never owned one so short in the past, but since this appeared to be a time of trying new things, she figured what the hell. She opened the dressing room door so she could model for her mother and Mary. Two young women squeezing into the room next to her nearly knocked her over.

  “Oh, Nat. It’s beautiful on you.”

  “Do you think? Is it too short?” She spun in a slow circle.

  Mary shook her head. “No. I’d love to see the look on Van’s face when she sees nothing but leg.”

  The giggling stopped behind them and the door latch clicked. A young blond woman, maybe in her mid-twenties, peeked out. “Did you say Van? Van Easton?”

  Natalie turned. “Yes.”

  The woman snickered. “She won’t care about the dress. You’ll be lucky if she remembers your name the day after.” Her friend poked her head out as well and giggled.

  She appraised Natalie. “Besides, aren’t you a little old for her?”

  Mary shifted so she was closer to the pair. Natalie knew it was because Mary felt she was protecting her, but she was going to fight her own battles now. “What are you, twelve?” she asked. “What business is it of yours?”

  The woman’s face turned ugly. “Oh, I’ve been all up in Van’s business.”

  “Have you?” Natalie put ice into her voice. “Perhaps it’s just your name she’s forgotten.” She went back into her dressing room to take off the dress. She had no clue how to handle this situation, and at the moment couldn’t think of another snappy comeback.

  “Here kitty, kitty, kitty.” The voices sang next door.

  Natalie heard the saleswoman tell them to leave, but she could still hear them laughing on their way to the exit. Then she heard her mother’s parting shot. “Those jeans you were trying on didn’t do a thing to hide your baby fat.”

  The door slammed when the women left and Natalie came out. She looked at the clerk. “I’ll take it,” she said. “Mom, Mary, let’s go to lunch.”

  Her mother waited until they were seated in the little café. “Do you want to talk about it?”

  “Yeah, let’s trash the bitches,” Mary said.

  “I know, right?” Natalie thought about it. “As tasteless and rude as they may be, I’m not going to let them ruin my day.”

  “Good girl,” said her mother. “We won’t talk about the little bitches.”

  “Mother!”

  “Well?” she said. “They were.”

  “I hate that they planted a seed like that,” said Mary.

  “What part of I don’t want to…Look, we both have pasts. Van’s might be a little more colorful than mine, but nonetheless.”

  The waitress came by for their order then left. “Now,” Natalie said. “Let me see what you bought.” She laughed when her mother and Mary squealed in unison and reached for their bags.

  *

  Van leaned on her shovel and wiped the sweat from the back of her neck. She turned when she heard the sound of a car. Natalie was home. Her stomach did a funny little flip when she saw genuine delight light her eyes. It made this morning’s fiasco totally worth the trouble. Van wondered what else she could do for her to keep that look on her face. The sound of chainsaws and trimmers behind her was too loud for conversation, so she pointed to the house. Van followed Natalie and her mother into the foyer where they set their bags down. Natalie gave her a shy kiss. “I thought my yard wasn’t slated for a couple of weeks. I’m so excited.” Natalie did a little happy dance.

  Van thought it was sweet. “We’re going to have to test those dance moves tonight.”

  The smile left Natalie’s face. “I’m sorry. I have to cancel our plans. My father called a few minutes ago. He fractured his ankle and my mother is leaving tomorrow.”

  Van fought her disappointment. “Is he okay?”

  “He will be. It’s Mom’s last night here.” Natalie wrapped her arms around Van’s waist.

  “It’s okay, I understand.” Van rested her chin on the top of her head. “I’m all sweaty.”

  “S’okay.” The reply was muffled.

  Natalie’s mother returned from the kitchen. “Tell your father I’m sorry about the dinner. I was looking forward to meeting him.”

  “We can reschedule for tonight,” said Van.

  “We don’t want to put anyone out on such short notice,” Natalie’s mother said.

  Van flipped her phone from her belt. “Oh, it’s not a problem. He’s already gone shopping. He’s a bit of a show-off in the kitchen and he loves to cook.” Van excused herself to make the call.

  “Dad says no biggie,” she said when she found them in the kitchen.

  “That’s wonderful,” said Natalie right before her mother nodded her assent.

  Van smiled. “Great. You can follow me over when we’re done here for the day.” She could clean up there because she kept clothes in her old room at her father’s house. “Would you like to see where we started out here?”

  Natalie took Van’s outstretched hand. “I’d love to.”

  *

  Natalie and her mother waited for Van on the wide, comfortable porch when she got waylaid by a customer. “I love this place,” said Natalie. “It’s so charming.”

  “Sorry about that.” Van led them through the hall. “We’re here,” she called up the stairs.

  “Come in, come in.”

  Natalie reached the top first. “Hello, sir. I’m Natalie and this is my mother, Colleen.” She was struck by how much Van resembled her father.

  “It’s so nice to meet you.” He shook both their hands. “I’m Victor. Please, sit.”

  “Your place is wonderful,” Natalie’s mother said.

  “Thank you. Now, what can I get you to drink?”

  Van excused herself to shower then Natalie sat next to her mother on the sofa. Victor came back in with stuffed mushrooms on a silver tray.

  “I love these.” Natalie popped one into her mouth.

  Her mother took a dainty little bite. “You didn’t have to go to all this trouble.” She smiled. “But I’m glad you did.”

  He blushed. “It’s not often I have a house full of beautiful women. I heard your husband had an accident? I hope he’s okay.”

  “I appreciate you asking. He’ll be fine. I’ve been telling him to fix that old step for years.”

  Natalie felt a little rush when Van appeared in the doorway. Her hair was slicked back; she was wearing tight faded jeans and a plain white shirt. Natalie understood in the moment what the term masculine beauty meant. Van was all hard muscle and soft curves at the same time. It made her mouth water. Natalie barely caught herself from sighing out loud, but still couldn’t tear her gaze away from Van’s.

  “Smells good, Dad.”

  “It’s just about done,” he said. “We can go ahead and sit in the dining room.”

  Natalie and her mother helped bring out the food. When they were all seated, Victor began his story without any preamble.

  “This is what I know, or have been told over the years. Our family has lived in this area for oh, about five generations. Bayside was little more than a fishing village a hundred years ago. One of the locals, Robert Seeley, moved to San Francisco where he met and married th
e rich daughter of a man who made a fortune during the gold rush.”

  He pointed his fork at Natalie. “It was Robert who built your house for his wife. I tried talking to your grandpa, Vanessa. It was not one of his good days. So you might try him later for more details as it was his grandpa who worked on the estate.”

  “My grandpa has Alzheimer’s,” Van explained.

  “I’m so sorry,” said Natalie. “That must be so difficult for you.”

  “He’s turning ninety this year. He told us that he’s had a wonderful life and if he gets stuck in the past sometimes, it must be because he felt it was worth reliving.”

  “That’s a wonderfully positive way to look at it,” said Natalie’s mother.

  He smiled. “It is. And he insists on it. Now, where was I? Oh, yes, I have to fast forward here. Sometime in the nineteen twenties or so, Richard Seeley, the only son, brought home his wife, Elizabeth. Some said she was no more than a child, maybe fifteen at the most. There was whispering being done behind hands, rumors of assault and brutal violence happening in the home. These were hard times for women in those days when they were little better than property and had no rights. But the servants had their own gossip network and the story was passed down about the rich people up on the cliff.”

  Natalie was fascinated with the story. When she felt Van’s hand grip her own under the table, she had a moment of completeness. That she was in the right place at the right time doing exactly what she wanted. It was an incredible new feeling. She leaned slightly into Van’s shoulder. Van’s father poured more wine and passed the bottle.

  “Now, Richard had the reputation of being a ruthless man with no morals or feelings. According to the servants, Beth never left the house. She was, for all intents and purposes, a prisoner up there and the story is that he beat her without mercy.”

  “Asshole,” Van hissed.

  “I’ll second that,” said Natalie.

  Her mother lifted her glass. “Third.”

  “Goes without saying,” he said. “Seems the only friend that poor young Beth had was Sarah, Richard’s sister. As an interesting side note and validation for Richard’s cruelty, Sarah herself had fled the house the same day she turned eighteen. But she returned for Richard’s wedding and stayed for a time. Then Sarah returned to France, where she’d been living.”