Meet Me on the Midway
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Amie Denman
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HarlequinChapter One
THIS SHOULD HAVE been my big day. Evie Hamilton wore a white linen dress and high-heeled sandals as she stood on the long sunny dock in the Starlight Point Marina. The project she’d dreamed up for her family’s amusement park last summer and worked on all winter was scheduled to open today. The morning weather was perfect. Reporters lined a parallel dock, and a camera crew from the local news station waited. Starlight Point would be on the cover of the July issue of the Roller Coaster Times.
“You look like an advertisement for summer in that gorgeous dress,” Evie’s sister, June, said. “Why don’t you toss your plain navy blue skirts and dress like this all the time? It’s more dramatic.”
“The role of the dramatic sister is already taken,” Evie said. “And nothing is less practical than white linen. If it rains, I’m going to look like a naked waif.”
“You might get a good offer,” June said. She stood next to Evie and smiled and waved at the reporters.
Evie shook her head. “The only offer I want right now is the offer of a signature on our occupancy permit from the local fire inspector.”
“It’ll work out,” her sister advised her. “Cut the ribbon and pretend the whole project is on time and boaters will be eating seafood at the restaurant for dinner.”
“But they won’t,” Evie whispered. “The new fire inspector refused to sign our permit yesterday even though Jack met with him and pled our case.”
“Should have gone yourself,” June said. “You’re much prettier than our brother.”
“I couldn’t. I was meeting with our construction super to see if there was a chance of fixing the supposed violations and widening the fire lane around the restaurant overnight.”
June gave her sister a hug. The sun shone brightly on Starlight Point and happy screams from the roller coasters drifted across the newly renovated marina. Gleaming white powerboats tugged at their dock lines in the gentle breeze and the blue water of the bay sparkled.
New docks for seasonal and transient boaters stretched across the marina, but the gas lines running under the docks were currently dry. Because Starlight Point was right on Lake Huron, there was a new terminal for the ferry that made fifteen round trips a day to downtown Bayside. Just off the docks, a new restaurant and gift shop blended old-fashioned amusement park décor with modern conveniences. A shower house and comfort station for boaters completed the project.
It was all just as Evie imagined it would be. She’d convinced her brother and sister to go along with the plan based on her careful calculations of return on investment. Boaters would dock, fuel up, eat at the restaurant and stay overnight. While they were there, they would buy tickets to Starlight Point and scatter their cash over the amusement park with food and merchandise purchases. It was all part of Evie’s plan to bump up revenues by improving accommodations.
But it wasn’t going to return a dime of investment if they couldn’t open in time for the summer boating season.
“It’s wonderful,” June said.
Evie loved her sister’s optimism, but there was no doubt who was the practical member of the family. “There’s no fuel in the gas docks, the restaurant can’t open for business, and even the shower house for boaters has a red sign taped to the window.”
June shrugged. “Fake it. The reporters don’t have to know the showers are dry and the ovens are cold. Everything looks perfect.”
“I wish Inspector Gotcha would show up. I might take a swipe at him with my ribbon-cutting scissors.” She brandished the oversize ceremonial scissors just for effect.
June laughed. “He’s not going to show his face. He’s probably two hundred years old and loves telling people to get off his lawn. I’m sure his lawn has a sprinkler system and a fire lane precisely twelve feet wide all around it.”
Evie sighed. “I wish the previous fire inspector hadn’t retired halfway through this project.”
Jack Hamilton, suit coat flapping around his six-foot-four body, power walked up to them and put an arm around Evie and June. “How are my two favorite sisters?”
“We’re your only sisters,” Evie said. Although she and June were both tall, their brother cast a shadow over them in the late-morning sun.
“You’d still be my favorites if I had ten sisters.”
Evie smiled. With hard work, she and her siblings had turned around a struggling amusement park and were finally hoping to see profits this year. And they would have if she hadn’t sunk all their money into her big plans.
“Before the ceremony starts and we’re swamped with adoring fans,” June said, “I want to tell you both something.”
“You’re not flaking out and heading back to Broadway are you?” Jack asked.
“My Broadway days are over. You need me here to run all the live entertainment. Besides, what I want to tell you both is—”
“You’re pregnant,” Evie guessed.
“Yes!” June said, hugging her sister.
Jack shook his head and stretched long arms around his sisters. “I have no idea how you already knew that,” he said in Evie’s ear.
She shrugged. “I’m observant. When are you due?”
“January. It’s early yet, but I had to tell you.”
Emotion rushed through Evie like a roller coaster cresting a hill. Jack’s wife, Augusta, was due to deliver a daughter later this summer, and now June and Mel would soon have a baby to add to their family.
What did Evie have? Dozens of guests who’d shown up to witness the grand opening of the Starlight Point Marina.
She took a deep breath. “Showtime,” she said. It’s going to be all show and no substance today.
Evie walked to the end of the floating dock where a red ribbon stretched across three piers. Guests lined up on a parallel dock so they could have a good view, and her speech would easily carry across the thirty feet of water between them.
“Welcome to the grand opening of the Starlight Point Marina,” she said. Quiet murmurs turned to applause and she smiled, flanked by her brother and sister.
“I’m Evie Hamilton, and it’s my pleasure to share ownership of Starlight Point with my brother, Jack, and my sister, June Preston. The past several years have been amazing for our family-owned park, and we couldn’t have done it without the support of the local community. Today we cut the ribbon on phase one of our planned capital improvement projects. When the marina project is totally complete, we will begin a massive renovation of the Lake Breeze Hotel. I won’t tease you with details about that today, but I hope you’ll come back this summer to a press conference where I’ll be glad to share our plans.”
If they are approved by Inspector Gotcha.
A cloud passed over the sun and temporarily shadowed the crowded docks. Evie glanced up. A line of rain clouds on the lake’s horizon were far enough away. She and her siblings would have at least an hour to share refreshments and tours with the local media and invited guests before the rain hit.
Evie smiled brightly and brandished the pair of silver scissors for the waiting cameras. “The Starlight Point Marina is officially open!”
Except it wasn’t...not until the fire inspector synchronized all his smoke detectors. She pictured an old man with a clipboard, a frown and a fire extinguisher hooked to his belt. Whatever his problem was, she could not let him stand in the way of the first project she’d taken on at Starlight Point.
If she wanted to play it safe, she’d hide in her office and tally the numbers in the accounting books. But she was more than a CPA. And she was ready to show her family she had more to offer than just accounting skills.
She cut the ribbon and watched the ends flutter to the water before seasonal employees on the docks reeled them in. This marina project would open. Soon. For today, she was taking June’s advice and making nice with the press as long as the sun shone.
* * *
CAPTAIN SCOTT BENNETT idled the fire truck in the Starlight Point parking lot as he waited for the line of cars to pull out of the marina. Despite his refusal to issue an occupancy report for the marina buildings until a few fire-safety measures were taken, he’d seen no reason to prevent the grand opening ceremony from taking place. The Hamiltons had worked hard on the project and it was a nice addition to the resort.
Except for the fact that someone had treated the fire codes as if they were an afterthought. The realization made him feel ill.
He opened his eyes. Traffic had thinned, cars escaping for drier territory as the skies opened up in a drenching afternoon shower. He pulled onto the outer loop road to drive around the Starlight Point peninsula to the fire station located on the opposite side of the amusement park. In the off season, he might have driven straight across the peninsula, but it was the first day of June and the park was in full swing. No way would he open a gate and drive past the carousel and the hotdog stands. Unless it was a life-or-death situation.
Scott was new to the fire department at Starlight Point and he wondered how many life-and-death situations a mile-long peninsula filled with rides and food stands could have.
Right now, he focused on the road. The ancient windshield wipers on the fire truck smeared the raindrops and a missing piece of rubber left a streak. Scott made a mental note to change the blades before someone got in an accident due to poor visibility. Maybe he should also check the two ambulances, small pumper and pickup that made up the Starlight Point Fire Department fleet.
He squinted through the rain. A woman in a soaked white dress was walking along the outer loop despite the numerous signs prohibiting pedestrians. He activated the flashing lights on the fire truck and pulled as far to the side of the narrow road as possible. He reached across and opened the passenger door.
“Get in,” he said.
The woman was tall and slender. Her hair was probably blond when it was dry, but right now it hung down in dark streaks against her white dress. She held a pair of high-heeled shoes in one hand as she stepped onto the running board of the fire truck.
She leaned into his truck and looked over at him. Her huge smile was like a streak of sunshine and he temporarily forgot she was violating an important safety code. Not something he took lightly.
“I don’t usually accept rides from strangers,” she said.
He reached under the seat and pulled out a roll of shop towels. He tore off three and handed them to her.
“I don’t usually pick up hitchhikers in the fire truck,” he said. “But I can’t allow you to walk along this road. It’s dangerous.”
Her focus dropped to the name tag on his uniform shirt.
A Starlight Point Fire Department patch was sewn on one shirtsleeve and the Maltese cross typical of fire departments across the country was sewn on the other. His navy blue button-down shirt tucked into navy blue pants was the uniform for the safety forces here. It wasn’t much different from the one he wore on shift at the Bayside Fire Department. With two jobs, he lived in a uniform.
“Scott,” she said. “You must be new this summer.”
He watched her towel off her face and bare arms. It was a warm day, but goose bumps covered her skin.
“Seat belt,” he said.
He reached over her, pulled the door shut, and then watched her click her safety belt. Switching off the emergency lights, he scrutinized the side mirrors for traffic as he pulled the truck onto the road.
“This is my first summer at the Point,” he said. “Do you work here?”
She laughed.
He didn’t think it was a silly question considering he’d found her walking along the outer road where pedestrians were forbidden for good reason. The road was barely wide enough for two cars. There was no shoulder on one side where it edged right up to the tall fence surrounding the amusement park. The other side had only stacked boulders between it and Lake Huron. There was no room for walkers or bikers.
“I’ve worked here for years,” she said.
He glanced at her. “You don’t look old enough for that to be true.” He knew he sounded surly, but the rainy windshield was driving him nuts. There had better not be any more hitchhikers on this road. The thought of causing an accident made his gut feel hollow.
“I started very young. My name is Evie, by the way.”
He looked at her again before turning back to the smeared windshield. Evie was an unusual name. He had just heard it somewhere else recently. Where have I run across that name?
“Why were you walking around the point?” he asked. “If you’ve worked here for years, you know that’s prohibited.”
She raised her hands over her head and fluffed her hair, running the long length of it through the remaining shop towel.
“Shortcut gone bad. I was going from the marina to the corporate office and thought I’d just dash across the road and through the gate behind the train yard. But it was locked. So I was walking up the road to the next gate.”
“Why didn’t you go through the guest entrance by the marina?”
“I didn’t have a ticket,” she said. She laughed again.
He had no idea why that was funny.
He tightened his grip on the wheel. “I can take you as far as the gate behind the Scrambler. That will get you close to the corporate office.”
“Thank you.”
Despite the wisdom of it, Scott rued the ten-mile-per-hour speed limit. He turned on the defroster, hoping to clear the windshield, which was now steaming on the inside from their breath. It was going to take at least another ten minutes on the slow crawl around the Point.
“How old is this truck?” Evie asked.
“Older than both of us.”
“Maybe we should get a new one.”
We? She said she’d worked here a long time. Maybe it was the royal we. Or maybe she was crazy. After all, he did pick her up walking in the rain in a see-through white dress.
He was trying not to look at the dress.
“New trucks are expensive,” he said.
“How much?”
Okay, so we’re going to discuss the price of fire trucks. Fine. He could talk about that all night. Or at least for the next nine minutes until he could unload his beautiful but strange passenger.
“In my opinion, Starlight Point should get a ladder truck. Something close to a hundred feet tall just in case of an accident on a coaster. It would also be good in case of a hotel fire. The center structure of the Lake Breeze is ten stories, so you’d need a hundred-foot ladder.”
Evie nodded. “And how much does a ladder truck like that cost?”
“Easily half a million if you buy a new one.”
His passenger laughed.
Doesn’t she realize new trucks come with insurance savings and, more importantly, the potential to save lives?
“There’s nothing funny about fire safety,” he said.
Evie sighed. “So I’ve heard. Sadly, I don’t have half a million bucks buried on the beach or hidden under the Silver Streak.” She swiveled in her seat and faced him. “Can you believe some picky new fire inspector from Bayside is giving us all kinds of grief on the marina project?”
Scott’s insides felt like an ice-cube tray someone was shuffling to break up the cubes. And why was she saying us like she owned the place?
“Grief?” he asked.
“Fussy stuff. Signs, some valve, something about an electrical panel, and a fire lane that’s too narrow.”
“Those sound like serious problems,” he said.
Evie cranked her window down a few inches. Apparently she didn’t care about the stray raindrops coming in since she was already soaked. Maybe it would help the steam problem they were having.
Anything would help right now.
“The previous fire inspector approved the whole plan,” she continued. “Everything. I thought we were fine until the new guy crumpled up my dream project like last week’s newspaper.”
She rolled the window all the way down. Waved at people inside the fence. Waved at more people and called them by name.
Does my hitchhiking passenger know everyone at Starlight Point?
Scott slowed as he approached the hotel gate and came to a full stop when the police officer held up his hand.
The old man stepped onto the running board and leaned in the window. “Thought I saw you in there, Evie. Big day for you with your new marina opening.” The officer patted Scott on the shoulder. “Take good care of my girl.”
Scott pulled away and headed for the gate outside the Scrambler.
“How long did you say you’d worked here?” he asked.
“All my life. My parents owned Starlight Point until a few years ago when my father died. My brother and sister and I run it now.”
Evie Hamilton. That was the name on the paperwork for the marina project. A project he’d stalled after uncovering fire code violations the previous inspector hadn’t noticed or didn’t care about.
“I’m Evie Hamilton,” she said.
“I figured that out—now.” He reached across and shook hands with her without taking his eyes off the road. “Scott Bennett.”
“Nice to meet you. And thanks for the ride. I hope you like working here for the summer.”
“Me, too.”
“Are you full-time somewhere else?”
He wasn’t ready to tell her all about his full-time job. Not while he was trapped in a truck with her. Only a quarter of a mile to go.
Evie leaned toward him and cocked her head, obviously waiting for an answer.
“What I mean is that most of our summer firefighters have other full-time jobs. I was just curious.”
“I’m full-time for the City of Bayside.”
Evie nodded. “I live in downtown Bayside. I just moved into my own place. Maybe I’ll see you there. But I’m more likely to see you around here.”
Scott nosed the truck up to the gate and put on the parking brake.
“Close as I can get.”
“I know. I don’t mind a short walk in the rain. I’m wet anyway.” She picked up her shoes from the floor of the truck.
“You should put those on. You could step on something sharp.”
She laughed. “Thanks for the safety tip. But putting wet feet in wet shoes is almost as lousy as feuding with the local fire inspector”
Evie opened her door and slid out. Gave him a little wave. And slammed the door of the fire truck.
At least she left the window down so he could see in the side mirror as he backed slowly away from the corporate office where he knew he’d be about as welcome as a mosquito bite right now. As soon as Evie connected the dots and realized the fire inspector from Bayside who’d rained on her parade also worked part-time for her own company, he’d better be ready to hand in his employee badge.
Scott thought of his baby sister, twenty years old and working at Starlight Point for the summer. He had to keep this job if he wanted to keep watch over the only sister he had left.
