CODE: TSUNAMI: A Port Stirling Mystery by Kay Jennings

Author:Kay Jennings [Jennings, Kay]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Paris Communications
Published: 2021-07-01T22:00:00+00:00

Chapter 20

Sunday morning, two weeks and two days after the earthquake, the blazing blue sky and dry conditions that had aided the cleanup skedaddled. The day dawned with stormy, dark clouds out to the southwest, and a brisk wind that presaged a distinct change in Port Stirling’s weather.

By the time Matt and Fern enjoyed a lively cold shower together, the rain lashed against the windows. He braved the patio to make coffee and start breakfast on the propane gas grill while he waited for her to finish dressing. Back inside, he set the kitchen table with her white modern china and some yellow linen napkins that he found in a drawer next to the currently useless oven. The napkins picked up one of the muted colors in the area rug that warmed up the wide-plank floors. Fern’s kitchen had quickly become a place of companionship for the two of them, a place to plan their days together, and to come back together at the end of the day to relax.

Matt loved waking up with Fern, and they were both grateful for her patio grill that had helped keep them eating and alive, but he really missed mornings in his cottage. He found himself thinking more and more about Roger, his ‘pet’ seal, and wondered about his fate during the tsunami. He’d been down to the beach below his former home twice since the night he left running from it, mainly to look for any remnants of his life that may have been brought back in by the tides. Nothing so far, and no sign of Roger.

But it was always early morning when he used to see him bobbing in the water from his window, and he thought he might go by there this early morning on his way to meet Del Kouse.

“Good morning, handsome,” Fern said, coming into the kitchen.

“Good morning, gorgeous,” Matt replied, their standard greeting. “I’m cooking bacon on your patio. Sick of cold cereal.”

“That sounds so good. Is there coffee?”

“On the grill.”

She grabbed her favorite mug from the cupboard, the one that read ‘All you need is love and, of course, coffee’, and went to the patio. “I’ll make some eggs, too,” she said.

Over breakfast, their talk was mostly about the day’s logistics. “I need to get rolling,” Matt said, smearing one last bite of butter on a baguette he’d found thawed in her freezer. “I want to stop by my old place before I meet Del.”

“You miss your cottage, don’t you?” she said, and there was heartache in her eyes.

“Yes,” he answered truthfully. “I loved waking up and looking at the ocean.” He placed his hand over hers. “But I also love waking up and looking at you,” he smiled. “Doing both would be my perfect world.”

“Well, maybe someday we can make that happen,” she said, trying to not sound too serious. “But not today. You need to get your fine ass in gear if you don’t want to be late.”

“Yes, ma’am,” he said, rising from the chair.

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