Necessary Detour Read Online Free Page A

slung her duffle bag into the trunk of the car and slammed it shut, Nikki had watched through tears. “It’s a five-hour drive to the coast,” Quinn said. “I know. I’ll be busy writing the movie soundtrack.” Her daughter had always taken a back seat to Goldy’s career and that thought brought a new wave of tears to Nikki’s eyes. “I love you, my sweet Quinny.” Her lips lingered on her daughter’s forehead as she took in the familiar scent. “You are my golden child.”
    It wasn’t only Quinn she missed. Walking around the house after her daughter’s departure, memories of Burn ghosted her. She missed his jokes, his good-heartedness. Everybody loved Burn. Especially women. It had taken Nikki years to turn her love for him into something manageable, eventually finding a place in their lives for his behavior. She hoped the next few months wouldn’t be filled with loneliness, especially over Burn, who probably hadn’t thought twice about her since she’d announced her retirement.
    With thoughts aimed at the deck hammock, Nikki took a novel outside. But before she could deposit herself in the swinging bed, something moved over at the Dickersons’ house and she scooted behind the branches of a leafy rhododendron at the deck’s edge. A man stood perfectly still at the side door of the log cabin, staring into the forest.
    She grabbed the binoculars from the patio table and crept across the grass, to the cover of a dense clump of trees. The fix-it man now stood where the dock met the beach, his arms folded across his chest, staring across the bay. He looked younger than she’d imagined. Maybe in his late thirties, but from this distance it was hard to tell.
    He moved to the shadows of the large cedars along the beach. She couldn’t see his face, wearing what looked like a Mariner baseball cap with sunglasses. An arm lifted to adjust his cap then he turned and, staring directly at her hiding spot, tipped his hat to her.
    She buckled back into the bushes. “Oh, God.” Maybe he was only adjusting his hat. Dropping to the grass, Nikki lay in a ball wondering if it was too late to go undetected. Had he seen her peering through the trees? She covered her head with her arms and backed farther into the dense brush.
    “Oh God, oh god, oh god. Don’t see me!” Nikki whispered. Elvis barked behind her. “Shhh! Elvis! No barkies,” she hissed.
    Jumping circles around her, Elvis begged to play, now that she was on his level.
    “No, Elvis. Mommy is sleeping.” Nikki lifted her head from her arms and tried to steal another look across the water.
    He was gone.
    Was he gone?
    Yes.
    Did he see her? Maybe not.
    Did he?
    If so, would he have seen the binoculars from that distance?
    Probably not. He didn’t have binoculars. Where was the sun? In his eyes?
    No.
    In her eyes! And illuminating her side of the bay.
    Shit. Damn. Shit damn.
    Running toward the house, Nikki gasped when she caught her reflection in the glass door. Oh no. She was wearing a red sundress! Red was the worst color for standing out in the forest. She yanked it off, stripping down to her blue bikini. If he looked again, he’d wonder if his eyesight was playing tricks on him. Maybe he’d think he saw a red bird. She winced at the likelihood of a hundred and fifteen pound red bird.
    Her instincts told her to get to the kitchen. She ducked behind the counter and plopped on the floor to think. “Who was that guy?” she asked Elvis, who hunkered with her. The dog threw his little nose in the air and raced out the open patio door, barking his way across the deck and around the side of the house.
    “Elvis!” she hissed.
    “Hey, little guy,” a strange voice said, overtop of Elvis’s barks. “Where’s your Mom?”
    Oh God! He was at the side of the house. Nikki looked out the kitchen window where she separated two blind panels and tried to look around the corner, without success.
    Where was her pepper spray? She had to exercise caution. The whispery