Storm on Wildflower Island Read online

  Frankie was technically on duty and had to jump up every once in a while to help a customer. But there was only one other table at the moment and they knew Frankie. They told her they would holler if they needed anything.

  “Something fishy, that’s for sure,” Lola responded, the many piercings in her ears gleaming in the sunlight. “They disappeared before any of us were even born, but I’ve seen pictures of them from not long before they disappeared, and they definitely look the same. That’s the weirdest part.”

  “Yeah, that’s what my dad says too,” Piper jumped in. “He said he met them at the Miranda Inn on the weekend they disappeared. They never made it home that weekend. He said they haven’t changed at all. They still look like they’re 30 years old.”

  “See, I don’t get that,” Frankie said, smoothing down her red hair against the never ending breezes on the island. “How can that be? No one can be gone for 20 years and not age at all. If they have found the secret, I would like to know what it is before I get old and wrinkled.”

  “No kidding,” Piper laughed.

  “You know, we are really good at investigating stuff, why don’t we see if we can find out what happened?” Mary suggested, as she braided her long blonde hair. It was a nervous habit she had picked up as a child.

  “What are we going to be able to find out that the cops haven’t found in 20 years?” Lola had serious doubts.

  “Well, I don’t think they have been investigating it that long,” Frankie told them. “They convicted someone for their murders, pretty quickly from what I understand. After that, I’m sure the case was closed and forgotten about.”

  “That’s true,” Piper said. “But they obviously weren’t murdered. And they aren’t talking. People in town have come up with some crazy explanations as to what happened. I think we should find out what really happened. We don’t have to tell anyone what we are doing.”

  Frankie saw her customers waving her over. “Well, that’s my cue. Gotta go.” Frankie jumped up and took them their check.

  The three remaining girls chatted about boys until Frankie returned.

  “What did I miss?” she asked as she sat back down, her wild red hair dancing in the breeze off the water.

  “Nothing really. We were just talking about your boyfriend,” Piper explained.

  “Oh. Well I guess he’s not my boyfriend anymore. Him and his parents moved off the island.” Frankie sat there staring at the horizon over the ocean, drooping her shoulders just a bit.

  “Sorry, Frankie,” Piper added. “We all liked Sawyer. He was good for you.”

  The table was deadly silent for several seconds. Suddenly everyone was feeling a bit awkward and no one knew what to say.

  “So…have any of you actually seen the Jamisons since they’ve been back?” Frankie broke the silence. She couldn’t stand the sad faces in front of her any longer.

  “I have,” Mary answered. “They came here for lunch the other day and my dad introduced them to me. They look way younger than my dad does.”

  “I talked to them too, when they came in. They were looking for Hope,” Piper chimed in.

  “I would like to see what they look like for myself. We should go to their house,” Lola told them.

  “What? No way,” Frankie answered. “What in the world would we say to them? Hey, we just wanted to see if you were actually freakishly young looking for 50 years old.”

  “No, that’s not what I meant,” Lola smirked at Frankie. “I just meant that we should go over and see if we can get a glimpse of them walking to their car or something. I don’t know. I just want to see what they look like.” Lola sounded a bit defensive.

  “You want the four of us to stand in front of their house gawking? Or sit in a car across the street staring at their house?” Frankie asked her. “Yeah, that won’t look suspicious at all.”

  Frankie and Lola had never been good friends. Or friends at all for that matter. They shared a room at the Inn, but that was just about as far as their friendship went. Even so, the four girls frequently ate lunch together at the cafe, when it was a slow day. It was either that, or just stand around waiting for customers to show up.

  “What are we all talking about?” All four girls looked up to see Cecily, the Wildflower Inn bartender standing next to their table.

  “Nothing really,” Frankie replied.

  “No, it’s fine,” Piper interrupted. “We can talk to Cecily.” She smiled up at her friend. “Sit down.”

  Cecily grabbed a chair from the next table over and pulled it up to sit between the twins.

  “We were talking about the Jamisons,” Mary told her.

  “That whole thing is pretty crazy. Don’t you think?” Cecily looked at each girl as she spoke.

  Everyone nodded in agreement.

  The girls told Cecily about their plans to spy on the Jamisons and try to find out what really happened to them. They didn’t think anyone official really cared. As far as they knew, the sheriff didn’t see the point, as Sam was already out of prison. There was nothing he could do about that now.

  “I don’t know if that’s such a good idea,” Cecily told the teenagers. Though she was only a few years older than they were, she enjoyed hanging out with the girls. She found them to be a lot of fun.

  “We promise to be careful,” Mary explained. “We won’t get caught.”

  “Yes, please be careful,” Cecily replied. “And please keep me posted on your comings and goings. Someone needs to know where you are at all times.”

  The girls agreed. It really was a good idea for someone to know where they were, though they really didn’t think they would be in any real danger. Just the danger of getting caught eavesdropping.

  “Well, duty calls.” Cecily left the girls to their lunch.

  Chapter 21

  “Holy crap! Frankie,” Lola burst into their bedroom at the Inn early the next morning. “You are not going to believe what I heard about the Jamisons!”

  Frankie rolled over to her side in the semi-dark room and turned toward the digital clock on her nightstand. With one eye open, she looked at the time.

  “Ugh, Lola, it’s only 6:03 a.m. And it’s Saturday. Go away.” Frankie had never been the early morning type. She rolled back over to face the wall.

  “Seriously, Frankie, you need to get up and hear this.”

  Frankie let out an audible groan. “All right, all right, fine. Just let me go to the bathroom first.”

  “Okay, hurry,” Lola urged.

  As Frankie slowly padded toward the bathroom, eyes barely open, Lola paced their bedroom floor. Three minutes later, Frankie emerged with her hair pulled back into a loose ponytail. Lola smiled at Frankie’s failed attempt to tame her crazy hair.

  “Finally.”

  “Okay, what is so damn important that it had to be said at six in the morning?” Frankie rubbed the sleep out of her eyes as she sat down on the edge of her bed. She picked at the peeling purple nail polish on her thumbnail as she waited for the earth shattering news that Lola was about to share.

  “You are not going to believe this.” Lola was still pacing the floor.

  “Yeah, you said that already. What am I not going to believe?”

  “Okay, so I was talking to Cecily. She knows everything about everything. You know?”

  “Yes, I know. She’s got a big mouth. Don’t tell her any of your secrets unless you want the whole island to know about it,” Frankie explained.

  “Yeah, that’s true. I found that out the hard way. Anyway,” Lola began, “Cecily told me that the Jamisons told someone that they went to the Miranda Inn 20 years ago, and then came straight home. They said they missed 20 years of their lives somehow. Like maybe they time traveled to now.”

  Frankie listened intently to what Lola was saying without interrupting.

  “Isn’t that the craziest story you’ve ever heard?” Lola asked her, as she tried to gauge Frankie’s reaction.

  “Yeah, that’s ridiculous.” Frank
ie got up and walked to her closet. She began rummaging around, looking for something to wear. “I might as well get dressed and get some breakfast, now that you woke me up for that stupid story.”

  “It’s not stupid. That’s what I heard. Do you think there could be some truth to it?” Lola asked her. “I mean, they do look the same as they did before they left. I saw a picture of them. And, they are about 50 years old now. How do you explain that they look 30?”

  Frankie began getting dressed as they talked.

  “You don’t actually believe that they time traveled, do you?” Frankie gave her a disbelieving look, as she pulled her sandals out of the closet.

  “I don’t know. Maybe.” Lola was a bit hurt that Frankie didn’t believe a word she said. “I think we should investigate it, like we were all talking about at lunch.”

  Frankie sat back down on the bed and slipped on her sandals without noticing Lola’s reaction.

  “We’ll see,” Frankie said over her right shoulder as she got up and walked out of the bedroom.

  Lola stalked Frankie down the stairs, right on her heels.

  “Come on. Will you help?” Lola said just as they reached the bottom of the stairs.

  “Help with what?” Piper was sitting at the front desk and heard part of their conversation.

  “It’s nothing,” Frankie replied as she rolled her eyes. “Lola heard some stupid rumor about the Jamisons. Now she wants me to help her find out if it’s true.”

  “I want all of us to investigate it,” Lola told both girls, as Mary walked up.

  “Okay, fine. Now that we are all here,” Frankie turned to Lola, “why don’t you tell them the ridiculous story you just told me?”

  Frankie looked at the twins, Piper and Mary, and shook her head in disbelief. “You are gonna love this.”

  “What story?” Mary asked.

  Lola told the girls what she had heard from the rumor mill, aka Cecily Blackwood.

  “Oh wow,” Mary responded, when Lola had finished her story. “We need to check this out.”

  “Mary,” Frankie looked at her with wide eyes, “you don’t actually believe that, do you?”

  “I don’t know. It’s worth checking out. We don’t know how everything in the world works. I’ve heard crazier stories. Come on, it won’t hurt to look into it. Will it?”

  For a change, Mary was on Lola’s side. With the way Lola acted and dressed, Mary usually kept her distance, but she never knew Lola to be a liar. Why not check it out?

  “Look, if you two don’t want to be involved, then that’s fine. Mary and I can do it ourselves,” Lola told the girls, as she walked over and stood next to Mary, putting her arm around the girl’s shoulder.

  Mary looked at her sister, Piper, with wide eyes. She was a bit scared to be left alone wandering the island with Lola. The look on Mary's face did not escape Piper.

  “You know, sure, I’m in,” Piper told the girls, to the great relief of her sister. “Come on Frankie, what do you have to lose? It might be fun working together.”

  All three girls looked at Frankie.

  “Okay, okay, fine. I’ll help. But I’m going on record that I think this is really dumb and we are just going to be wasting our time.” Frankie stood with her arms folded to make sure the other three knew she didn’t like the idea at all.

  “Yes!” Lola exclaimed, as she reached over and hugged Frankie.

  Frankie pushed Lola away. “Ooh, stop.”

  “You know you love me,” Lola chided her.

  Frankie smirked back at her, in a joking way. “I’m starving. Anyone want to get breakfast?” Frankie did not wait for an answer as she made a beeline for the cafe.

  All three girls followed her.

  Chapter 22

  Just as the four teens sat down to make plans and have breakfast, Lola looked toward the entrance to the cafe deck and her jaw went slack. She didn’t have to say a word. Piper, Mary, and Frankie all turned to see what she was gawking at.

  They all quickly turned back toward Lola after realizing who it was.

  “Holy, moly, is that who I think it is?” Frankie asked the others.

  “Yeah, that’s them,” Mary replied.

  “And your dad is with them,” Lola announced.

  “We’ve got eyes. We can see him,” Piper smirked.

  Lola narrowed her eyes in Piper’s direction, but didn’t respond. She didn’t need to start a fight with the daughter of the home she was staying in. She liked it there and didn’t want to be moved by the people in charge of her probation.

  “What do you think they are all doing together?” Frankie asked, as the girls all openly watched Steve, Claire, and Tim settle in at the corner table on the cafe deck.

  “It has to be about that weekend at the Miranda Inn,” Mary explained. “All three of them were there, because my dad was a valet at the Inn. I know that the Jamisons wanted to talk to him about it. I just don’t know why. Maybe my dad knows more about it than he has told us.”

  Mary looked at the girls for validation.

  “Yeah, maybe,” Lola replied, as she squinted against the bright sunlight. “Can we adjust this umbrella? I’m getting fried over here in the sun.”

  All four girls stood up and made the adjustment so that the umbrella was throwing shade over all of them. As they worked at their task, they couldn’t help but watch the trio in the corner.

  “We can’t hear anything,” Lola announced, as they all sat back down. “We need to get closer.”

  “How do you expect us to do that? Just casually walk over and sit at the table next to them? Sure, no one will notice that,” Frankie laughed.

  “No, that’s not what I mean. We could go down to the beach and walk around and get under the deck. It’s tall enough for us to sit under and listen from there.” Lola looked at each girl to gauge her response.

  “I like it. Let’s go.” Piper jumped up and headed toward the stairs, leading down to the beach. Everyone followed. “Let’s go around this way, though.” She indicated the opposite side of the building.

  “We have to walk all the way around the Inn if we go that way,” Frankie pointed out.

  “Yeah, I know,” Piper answered. “But we won’t be seen that way. If we go right here,” she said, pointing to the sand along the cafe deck, “they will see us for sure. Or at least someone at the cafe will. Come on.”

  Piper didn’t wait for a response and started walking toward the other end of the Inn. Mary, Frankie, and Lola followed. As they rounded the back corner, they could see the back deck of the cafe.

  “Duck under here,” Piper whispered. “And everybody be quiet,” she ordered.

  All four teens ducked under the deck and crawled on their hands and knees until they were right under the spot where Tim, Steve, and Claire were sitting. If anyone on the beach looked over, they would see the girls. But it wasn’t obvious that they were eavesdropping. They would probably just think the girls were trying to stay out of the sun.

  “I don’t think there’s really anything I can add to what you already know,” the girls heard Tim say.

  “We know. We were just hoping that maybe you remembered someone acting strangely…or some rumor going around at the time,” Steve responded.

  Tim hesitated for a brief moment before speaking. “I apologize in advance for asking this, but since you are here asking me questions, I feel that I should know. Didn’t the two of you just take off after that weekend? I mean, what does your stay at the Miranda Inn have to do with you leaving and returning home 20 years later?”

  Tim hated being so blunt about it, but it was a legitimate question, as far as he was concerned. He smiled at the couple, hoping to lighten the tense conversation.

  “No, it’s okay,” Claire responded. “It’s a fair question. Have you not heard the rumors about us?”

  “I’ve heard some rumors. Which ones are you talking about?” Tim asked. “There’s been a lot of talk around the island. I don’t know what to believe.”
r />   “It’s not a rumor, it’s the truth actually,” Claire answered. “We did not just take off for 20 years. We would never do that. The fact is that we don’t know what happened to us. We stayed at the Miranda Inn that weekend, and when we arrived home at the end of that same weekend, it was 20 years later.”

  She looked over to Steve for reassurance. He nodded and smiled at her.

  “Believe me, we know how crazy that sounds, but it is the honest truth. I swear on my children’s lives that’s how it happened.” Claire raised her right hand up in the universal ‘I swear to tell the truth’ gesture.

  Tim sat quietly, taking in every word of her account of the weekend. In his mind it was a hard story to swallow. “Hmmm,” was his only response. He certainly couldn’t just call them liars. But, really? That’s their explanation? He wondered how they thought that crazy story would work on anyone.

  “Tim,” Steve jumped in. “Look at us. I mean, really look at us. How old do we look?”

  Tim took a moment and did as he was asked. Their faces were smooth, with just tiny bits of laugh lines starting to develop around their eyes, something that happens around the time people reach roughly 30 years in age. By 50, they would certainly be showing signs of aging…softer faces, perhaps sagging jowls, deep forehead creases…Tim saw none of those things. In fact, Tim was about 10 years younger than they were, and he certainly looked older than they did.

  Steve and Claire waited patiently, if perhaps a bit uncomfortably, as Tim perused their faces.

  “Do we look like we are 50 years old?” Steve asked him.

  “Well…nooo…”

  “Right, we don’t. We look 30. No 50 year olds look this young. No one. It would be impossible. The only explanation is that we didn’t live the last 20 years. We went straight from 30 years old to 50 years old, in the course of one weekend. That’s all we know. We time traveled I guess, as ridiculous as that sounds. But that’s what happened.”

  “Besides,” Claire added, “we would never, in a million years, ever, leave our children on purpose. We adored them, and we are devastated that we missed them growing up.”