Saving Shadows Read online

  Ellery just nodded. “You poor thing! But I’m glad you’re able to stay longer. I have a spare outfit in my locker. I’ll be right back.”

  “Sorry,” Gavin said as soon as Sadie was out of the room. “I should have known better than to think Sadie wouldn’t ask a ton of questions. Unfortunately, we’re a very friendly small town here so everyone will be asking you these questions. I can pick up dinner for you if you’d like.”

  Ellery thought about it for a moment, but the panic she’d initially felt lessened. Shadows Landing wasn’t a hotbed of the who’s who from Charleston. “No, I would like to go out. I think we can handle it like we have and all will be good.”

  “Here you go!” Sadie called out as she rushed back into the living room. “I have a jean skirt, a T-shirt, and flip-flops.”

  “Thank you,” Ellery said with a grin. Sadie had a heart of gold, as her mother used to say. And just like that, Ellery smiled even larger. Gavin had been right, she was remembering more and more. Soon she’d remember why she was hit on the head and how she ended up in the water.

  “Have fun you two. Call me and let me know if you need me to get the surgery room ready.” Sadie gave a little finger wave and practically bounded back out.

  “Let me show you to the guest room, and you can get changed there.” Gavin reached out for her, and Ellery put her hand in his. His fingers were long, his palm wide, and his hand seemed to engulf hers. It radiated heat and something more. There was something that caused her heart to beat a little faster as he led her upstairs and into a room decorated in pale blue with white trim and furniture. The bed had a mountain of pillows and a coral comforter that looked perfect for curling up in. “I hate to rush you, but we need to be there in ten minutes.”

  “No problem,” Ellery said, turning her back to him as he left the room. She changed quickly, happy to see the clothes fit better than expected. The top was maybe a size too small, but it wasn’t bad.

  Ellery flung open the door, and when she stepped out she saw Gavin standing in the middle of the room at the end of the hall. The white trimmed doorframe outlined him. He had on jeans, boots, and was stripped from the waist up. He didn’t see her standing there as she took in the rippled muscles along his side and down to where his jeans sat low on his hips. He raised his arms into a T-shirt and turned slightly toward her as he pulled it over his head. Her eyes traveled down a well-sculpted chest and over the flat plain of his abdomen carved with muscle. He reminded her of a work of art. David, Doryphoros, and Discobolus. All sculptures that captured the male body’s beauty.

  “Ellery?”

  Ellery didn’t realize her eyes had dropped, and she’d zoned out. Something was on the tip of her memory, trying to push through. At least this time her head no longer hurt.

  “I feel as if I’m trying to remember something.”

  Gavin rushed forward, taking her hand in his once again as he began to walk down the stairs. “That’s great. Don’t force it. What were you doing when it came to you?”

  Ellery flushed red. There was no way she was going to tell him she was staring at the sexiest body she’d seen in real life. “I remembered seeing some ancient statues in person. I must have traveled to Europe at some point.”

  Gavin opened the garage door and tossed his medical bag into the small backseat of his convertible. He hurried around and opened the door for her. “I bet you’ll remember more and more as time goes on.”

  5

  Ellery hoped more memories would come back. She was tired of having these blank spots in her head. Maybe taking her mind off it would help. “Tell me about Shadows Landing,” she said as Gavin backed out of the garage and onto a residential street. His was the first house on his side of the street. She took in the palmettos, the grass slightly mixed with sand, the smell of the river and pluff mud at low tide. Some may wrinkle their nose at the strong odor of the slippery, vacuum-like mud exposed in and around the spartina grasses as the tide went out, but Ellery always thought it smelled like home.

  “This is Palmetto Drive. On my side of the street, the houses are either older or historic homes that back up to the Shadows River, which is an offshoot of Cooper River. Next to me is Shadows Park and the marina.” Ellery looked behind her at the old large houses with verandas running the length of the houses and probably more in the back overlooking the river.

  “Across from me are the newer houses. My cousin Ridge lives in a big new house he built on the opposite end of the street. And then our cousin Ryker, who lives in Charleston during the week, has a historical house across the street from Ridge and next to the Bell Landing Plantation on the end of Palmetto Drive. My sister, Harper, lives in that house,” he said, pointing to a new small cottage-style house. “And see, the next block is Main Street. That’s why Harper bought that house. The side of her lot backs up to the back lots of the businesses on Main Street, including her bar.”

  “So she can just walk to and from work?” Ellery asked as they turned right onto Main Street and parked in front of the crowded Gil’s Grub ‘n’ Gas.

  “Yes, and with her hours it makes me feel good she doesn’t have far to go alone.”

  “She’s not married?” Ellery asked.

  Gavin reached behind him and grabbed his bag. “No. None of us are. My cousins in Keeneston have started to get married as you saw this morning, but the trend hasn’t hit us here yet.”

  Ellery opened her door and got out, holding onto the door for support, but was pleasantly surprised to find herself feeling pretty steady. “I don’t think I have a boyfriend. But at this point, I’m not sure of much.”

  “That’s good to know,” a slow voice drawled.

  Ellery turned to find a man in a dark brown button-up sheriff’s uniform tucked into a pair of hip hugging jeans and a tan cowboy hat on his head. His eyes were hidden behind mirrored aviator glasses, but there was no mistaking the sharp intellect hidden behind his slow words. His chiseled face was a work of art that caused more statues to run through her mind. That had to mean something.

  “Granger,” Gavin said, holding out his hand to the sheriff. When Ellery had thought of the sheriff she’d imagined someone with white hair, a potbelly, and a big mustache, not someone in his thirties and built like a star football player. “This is my friend, Ellery. Ellery, our sheriff, Granger Fox.”

  Ellery held out her hand and shook Granger’s. His handshake was firm and controlled. Everything about him was controlled, as if he had a side trying to break free from his calm demeanor. “Nice to met you.”

  “Have we met before? You look really familiar.”

  Ellery shook her head and absently reached for Gavin. His hand slid around hers for support. “I don’t think so.”

  “I see Gator hasn’t gotten here yet. Want to show me the situation?” Gavin asked, eagerly changing the subject.

  Granger looked at Ellery one last time and touched the tip of his hat with his finger. “Ma’am,” he said before turning toward Gavin. “Lydia is dangling over the roof, talking to her kid. It’s her sixth kid who found the gator. Can’t remember all their names. Lydia was getting gas when the kids apparently couldn’t keep their hands to themselves in the minivan. Door opened and kids went scattering. Lydia heard a scream and came running to the entrance of the alleyway only to meet face to face with the gator. The kid had managed to not see the ten-foot gator in his run from his siblings, but as soon as he heard the hiss, he screamed and jumped onto the dumpster.”

  Ellery followed behind them as they went into the alley. There was a large piece of plywood forming a gate across the alley, trapping the gator inside. Ellery looked back and saw a kid no more than five or six sitting on top of the dumpster playing a video game. He looked completely unconcerned about the large alligator waiting at the bottom of the dumpster. A woman, who couldn’t be more than twenty-eight years old, lay on the roof of the gas station, leaning over talking to her son who was ignoring her.

  “How many times have I told you not to run from the car? Lyle, listen to me or I will take away video games for a month.”

  “Mom,” the kid whined as he rolled his eyes and went back to playing his game.

  “Your father is going to hear about this,” she said, and a second later the video game was turned off. “You’ll be grounded for a week if you don’t get eaten by this alligator.”

  “But Lindsey punched me in the arm, and Leah threw slime at me,” Lyle complained. Ellery looked around and found a herd of children in the gas station picking on each other.

  “She has seven kids?” Ellery whispered as she counted them all up.

  “Her husband is in the military. Every time he comes home on leave she gets pregnant. Had her first one at twenty-one. That would be Landry Jr. He’s ten now. Then there’s one a year after that. Landry Jr., Lacy, Levi, Leah, Lindsey, Lyle, and Leo. I’ve delivered the last five.”

  “That’s amazing. I want to look like that now, and she’s a couple years older than me with seven kids.” Ellery looked at the tall and trim woman in a camisole top and short jean shorts, dangling off the roof lecturing five-year-old Lyle.

  “Okay, you hoodlums, who wants a snack?” an older man with dark brown skin, a shaved head, and an apron asked as he walked across the street with a tray filled with food. The kids at the gas station stopped squabbling and immediately ran to greet the man.

  “Thank you, Mr. Darius. Kids, thank Mr. Darius,” Lydia called out as a chorus of thanks rang out from the kids as they descended on the man in his late fifties like a pack of wild animals. When they ran away with food in hand, the man’s platter was empty. “My purse is on the front seat, just get what I owe you for the dinner.”

  “Today is on me,” the man called out. “And I saved one for Lyle when he’s free.”

  “Thank you Mr. D!” the young voice yelled from the alley.

  Darius headed over toward her as Gavin began talking to Lyle and asking him to show him the cut he got. “Ma’am,” he said to her, and he nodded his shiny shaved head. Ellery took a deep breath. He smelled of barbeque and it made her mouth water.

  “Oh my gosh, you smelled so good”.

  He chuckled. “So, you here with the doc?”

  “Yes,” Ellery said, holding out her hand. “I’m his friend, Ellery.”

  “Darius Foster. Owner and main cook at the Pink Pig BBQ right there across the street.” Ellery turned around and saw the rotating giant pink pig on top of the building. Pink Pig BBQ was emblazoned on a sign in the parking lot and across the front plate-glass windows.

  “It smells so good,” she said, her stomach suddenly rumbling.

  “Well, let me get you a sandwich to welcome you to Shadows Landing.” Darius smiled.

  “Not so fast, Darius. This woman will be wanting real BBQ. The kind smoked over wood for ten hours to give you the best juicy smoky taste around. Much better than your coal cooked pig.”

  Ellery turned to see a man equal in age to Darius, but everything else was polar opposite. Where Darius was tall and muscular, this guy was short and heavy. Where Darius had dark skin, this man was rocking a farmer’s tan under his shirtless overalls. And where Darius had a shaved head, this man had a full head of white hair partially hidden under a bandana. He also had a full beard that would make him an excellent Santa Claus at Christmas.

  “Earl, you know that slop you call barbecue can’t compare with my work of gastro art. The flavor bursts in your mouth with every bite.” Darius winked at her.

  The other man held out his hand. “Earl Taylor. Owner and cook of the Lowcountry Smokehouse. And I wouldn’t feed Darius’s barbeque to a Clemson fan! Why don’t you and the doc stop by and have a free meal on me to taste real barbeque?”

  “She will not be going anywhere with you,” Darius said with a grin. “She thinks I smell good. And if she thinks that, she’s going to die on the spot when she tastes my cookin’.”

  “Because it’ll kill her! A beautiful woman like you should only have the best, and my barbeque is the best around,” Earl said smugly as Ellery’s head turned back and forth between the men bickering as if they were two of Lydia’s children.

  “We’ll have to settle this debate another time, gentlemen,” Gavin said with a smile on his face as he shook both men’s hands. “Here comes Gator. We already have plans for a quick meal at Stomping Grounds.”

  “He’s going all fancy,” Earl muttered.

  “Trying to impress her, I’m sure,” Darius agreed as Ellery watched a dented pickup truck, covered with so much mud she couldn’t tell the make, model, or even color of it, pull to a stop.

  The truck bed was covered in metal wiring, creating a big cage. Inside the cage was a big wooden coffin looking box with numerous air holes drilled on the top. A large man somewhere between twenty and forty years old hefted himself from the truck. He was over six feet, had a beard that put Earl’s to shame, and wore thigh high waders over his jeans. His shirt was like the truck, undeterminable under all the mud. Unlike Earl, he was solid muscle. He could have been a linebacker in the NFL the way he was built.

  “Thanks for coming, Gator,” Granger said, holding out his hand and shaking Gator’s.

  “What’ve you got?” Gator asked as he looked into the ally. “Bubba, that you?”

  The gator opened his mouth and hissed.

  “Yup, that’s him. You can tell, he’s missing a tooth. A tooth that I happened to have right here,” Gator said patting his necklace.

  “Is that the one I dug out of your arm last year?” Gavin asked.

  “You betcha. Every time it storms, Bubba likes to go explorin’. Last hurricane he was on the back porch of the Bell plantation. Now he’s coming into town for little tropical storms. Ridge had me come get him last month when he found him in his pool. I’ll get my things, but I’ll need some help with Bubba. He’s a little over five hundred pounds and still growing.”

  Ellery knew alligators. She was from Charleston after all, and there were gators up and down the coast. However, she’d never seen one so close and had never watched as people merely shrugged their shoulders and took off any loose articles of clothing as they headed to capture Bubba. And Bubba looked like he couldn’t wait. She would have sworn the gator smiled in anticipation of the battle to come.

  Gator pulled the wooden box from the back of the truck, and Granger helped him carry it closer to the alley. Then Gator pulled out some electrical tape, rope, and two hand towels as the men all lined up behind him.

  “You’re not going in there, are you?” Ellery whispered as she grabbed Gavin’s hand.

  “Of course I am. Worried about me?” He smirked, and Ellery really hoped she didn’t have a boyfriend because right now Gavin seemed to be wiggling his way into her heart. Or at least her panties—she wished.

  “Yes. That’s a huge alligator. You could get hurt,” Ellery said fearfully.

  “Gator knows what he’s doing. Besides he’ll need five people to pick Bubba up, and I won’t clear you for that kind of activity yet.” He winked at her as he handed her his medical bag. “I’ll be right back for that. If anyone starts bleeding, you can patch them up.”

  “That’s not funny,” Ellery called out as Gavin joined Gator, Granger, Earl, Darius, and a guy coming from the gas station she guessed was Gil since it was written in blue script above a picture of a worm on a hook.

  “Landry,” Gator called out and the eldest boy disengaged from a fight with two of his siblings.

  “Yes, sir?” the lanky ten-year-old asked as he ran toward them.

  “I want you to pull that wooden gate away enough for us to get inside and then close it. We don’t want Bubba bustin’ out. As soon as we got Bubba, I want you to pull it all the way open.”

  “Yes, sir,” Landry said with excitement as he moved to grab the wood plank set up across the alleyway.

  “Okay, Landry. Open it up.”

  Ellery nervously clutched the medical bag as Bubba hissed louder and snapped while Gator led the group into the alley.

  “Don’t worry, they’ve done this a hundred times or more.”

  Ellery turned and looked down at a woman a couple years younger than herself. And even though she was petite, her curves weren’t. The rainforest green sundress matched her eyes and showed off her hourglass figure. Her long brown hair was pulled into a high ponytail and there was dry paint on her slim fingers.

  “Tinsley Faulkner, I’m Gavin’s youngest cousin.”

  “Ellery. Your cousin is . . . a friend?”

  Tinsley laughed as they watched Bubba track Gator with his eyes. “Friend, is that what you call it? I’ve already heard from Sadie you spent the night with Gavin.”

  Ellery’s mouth fell open. People were already talking about her? And with Gavin? Okay, that part wasn’t bad, but did they think she was a big city floozy? “Gavin helped me last night when I was stuck in the storm. That’s all.”

  Tinsley shrugged a smooth and tanned shoulder. “Too bad. Gavin’s a great guy.”

  “Well, I didn’t say I wasn’t interested,” Ellery defended, and Tinsley laughed again.

  Ellery watched as Gil distracted Bubba, then all of a sudden the big man leapt. Bubba tried to snap his head around as Gator lay on his back with his hands pressing down behind the alligator’s head. Ellery was pretty sure she’d gasped out loud and now realized she had also grabbed Tinsley’s hand and squeezed it tight as Gavin and the rest of the men pinned the alligator down with their bodies.

  “Towel,” Gator said calmly as Gil tossed the towel over Bubba’s face. As soon as Bubba’s eyes were covered, Gator grabbed his jaws and pulled the gator’s head up toward his face. He tucked the jaws of the massive alligator under his chin and faster than any cowboy roped Bubba’s jaws closed and used the electrical tape to keep the towel over Bubba’s eyes.

  “Okay Landry, take down the gate,” Gator called out as the men repositioned themselves to pick up Bubba.

  “Come on, let’s get the box closer. It’s easier for them to carry the box than Bubba.”

  -->