Turning Point Read online

  “It’s good to see you,” he said. His right hand found her left on the side of her seat. She looked over to see him focusing on the road. “Missed you.”

  “What’s been happening?”

  “Ellie broke up with Kyle, I think. I couldn’t get more than two words out of her about it, though.”

  “Just give it time,” she suggested. “She looked in good spirits. Maybe she’s adjusting.”

  “Yeah, but you can talk to them.”

  She patted his arm and laughed. “Just get in touch with your feminine side.”

  Kevin parked behind a small pub painted green and dubbed “Biscuit and Jug”. Brenna grinned widely. “I don’t think you’ve brought me here before.”

  He chuckled. “There’s a pub in Mount Clemens you haven’t been to?”

  “At least with you, farmer’s boy,” she shot back with a saucy smile.

  “Ah, really, Brenna m’dear, ye wound me.” He pantomimed an arrow shot to the heart and then tucked her against his side and entered the pub.

  She liked the smells immediately, detecting both hops and cue chalk. “A finger of the Irish,” she said to the bartender, who sported a scruffy face of whiskers. “On ice.”

  “Two,” Kevin said when the bartender’s eye turned to him settling onto the neighboring barstool.

  When they received their drinks, she clinked her liquor glass against Kevin’s. “To time off.”

  “Time off,” he echoed.

  She rotated around, scanning the room, locating the dartboard and the pool table nestled in the back corner. “Indulge me?” she asked over her shoulder.

  “You’ll whip me.”

  “Saying I haven’t already? Come on. Get out of that stuffy jacket and give me a game.”

  “Isn’t that…?”

  The sharply whispered phrase caught her attention.

  “Nah, it couldn’t be. This is Mount Clemens.”

  “I heard she’s married to some fellow here. You think that’s him?”

  “She wouldn’t go for him. Must be some bigwig giving her the city keys or something.”

  Brenna suppressed a wince on Kevin’s behalf and turned around. The speakers, a couple of college-age young men, stood before her.

  “Hey…”

  “Hello,” she offered back politely.

  “You’re Commander S11…I mean, Brenna Lanigan, aren’t you?”

  It was useless to deny it. “Yes.”

  “Oh, man. Yes! The guys will never believe this!” The dusky blond, who reminded Brenna a lot of Sean Durham, snatched a napkin off their table and dug in his pocket for a pen. “Would you sign this?”

  She signed quickly and passed it back.

  “So, is that guy your husband?”

  “Yes,” she said. “Kevin?” She looked back, and finally Kevin stepped forward, looking the younger men up and down.

  “Hello,” he said slowly, offering a hand. One took it. “Kevin Shea, running for councilman,” her husband said.

  “Ah, geez.” The young man pulled his hand away fast. “Politics? So geek, man.” Brenna watched his expression change when he looked back to her. “Well…nice to meet you,” he said, nudging his buddy past them to the door.

  When they were alone again, Kevin looked at her. “Now, did I just throw a damper on that or what?”

  “Don’t mind them,” she said, though she was disturbed by their reaction. “Come on. Table’s open. Let’s play one game, and then we’ll go.”

  “All right.”

  Chapter 5

  “Cameron! Cassidy!”

  Turning in Cameron’s embrace, Cassidy spotted a bearded male waving his sport cap from a table just beyond the edge of the busy dance floor. Hanging on the man’s arm was a giggling brunette, also waving. “It’s Angel and Lynn.” Angel and Lynnette Cortenas were a couple she and Cameron frequently paired up with for dates on the town.

  Cameron brushed his hand down her back as she stepped away from him. “We only just got here,” he said with a frown, scanning the room.

  She nodded. The blues beat of the music was pleasant, but she preferred to just sit down and have an evening of good conversation rather than dancing. “We haven’t seen them in weeks, though.”

  “He lost his job out at Viacom two weeks ago.”

  “Has he found anything new yet?” she asked, leading him in the general direcŹtion of the Cortenas. When Cameron shrugged, Cassidy said, “Then we definitely have to spend some time with them.” She spun away from him and moved quickly up the two steps to the table where Lynn was standing to greet them.

  “Cass!”

  “Good to see you.” Cassidy smiled, and the two women shared an embrace. Turning, she accepted a warm hug from Angel. “Angel.” She kissed his cheek with a grin.

  Cameron stepped up next to her and clasped both of Lynn’s hands in his own. “So, what brings you two out tonight?”

  “A little change of pace from the house,” Lynn said, glancing significantly toward Angel. Cassidy realized that meant that he had yet to find work. “We’ve been renovating,” the brunette said.

  “Renovating? Now?”

  Angel nodded, sitting down as he gestured for Cassidy and Cameron to join them. “A few adjustments were necessary.”

  “Tightening the belt already?” Cameron asked. “I heard Viacom’s severance packages were pretty good.”

  “Not that…well, not just that,” he corrected. “It’s…Lynn’s pregnant.”

  Cassidy watched the look of anxiety and pleasure fill the expectant father’s face. She caught Lynn’s nod and wan smile. Reassuringly, Cassidy reached across the table and grasped her friend’s hand. “That’s wonderful.” Lynn looked up, and Cassidy squeezed her friend’s hand again. When Lynn blushed, Cassidy leaned close and whispered, “It really is. If you need something, call.”

  The brunette nodded before turning back to her drink — a sparkling cider. “Angel’s got a lead at Tri-Star.”

  “Something will come up.” Cameron looked away and waved at a waiter. “Mol-son Ice,” he requested. The waiter nodded. “Thanks.” He turned back. “Movement is the nature of the business. No worries.”

  Sipping at her ice water, Cassidy thought about her own situation. She wonŹdered where she would be in a year when Time Trails was finished. Musing her way through the regular cast, she wondered where everyone else would go as well.

  “Cass?”

  She looked up to find all three of her tablcmatcs studying her. Cameron had spoken.

  “Just listening to the music,” she said, noting the tune currently filling the club.

  “Want to get back out there and dance?” Cameron asked.

  She shook her head, running a finger in the top of her water. “It’s late. I’d like…”

  While she spoke, Cameron had turned around and straightened, wrapping his fingers around the back of her chair. “Oh, hey, someone I was hoping to see. Cass, come on.” He grasped her arm and stood, pulling her up with him. “Hey, Angel, buck up, buddy. Lynn, it’s great about the baby. Call sometime.”

  “Cameron,” Cassidy said as they stepped away, “you didn’t have to be so abrupt. Who’d you see?”

  “Griffin Torend. Come on.” He waved at someone as they moved through the throng on the dance floor. “Hey, Griff!”

  “Cam!” Griffin Torend was forty-something, wearing clothes meant for a much younger and trimmer man. His gray khakis were tight around his waist, and the cotŹton blend shirt with breast pockets stretched tightly around his torso. They stopped next to him. “So this is your girl, eh? Nice. Mmm. Nice to meet you.” He offered a hand.

  She nodded. “Hello.”

  Cameron slid his arm around her waist and patted her hip. “Cassidy Hyland, my gem on Time Trails. Cass, this is Griffin Torend, casting agent for dozens of starŹtups.”

  “Right now I’m looking into the cast for the next series,” Torend said, “and a few more conventional projects for J-TV.”

  Wanting
to return to Angel and Lynn rather than spend time talking business, Cassidy tried to bow out of the meeting graciously. “Well—”

  “Got anything new lined up yet?” Griffin asked, cutting her off.

  Despite having been thinking about that very thing, Cassidy stepped back. She had a gut feeling she did not want to discuss her future with this man. “I’m too busy doing my best in my current role.”

  “Business mind, my dear.”

  Cassidy felt her molars compress together in the back of her mouth. God, I hate people treating me as though I have “dumb blonde — handle with care” stamped on my forehead. She quickly doused the anger boiling up inside her.

  “Thank you. I already have an agent.” She disengaged from Cameron’s elbow and excused herself. “I’ll be right back.” Though Cameron frowned at her, she shook her head and headed for the restroom corridor, tired and feeling a distinct itch from being around Torend.

  With a sigh, she sank onto the small couch in the outer lounge of the ladies’ restroom. Come on, Cass. Cam obviously thought you’d appreciate a contact. She had never expected to encounter someone who actually made her jaw hurt from restraint. She rubbed the sore muscles in her cheeks and dropped her head into her palms. “I haven’t hidden out in a restroom since I started on Time Trails” she lamented softly.

  Right after her introduction in the series, she abhorred going out because of the mob scenes her appearance generated. However, she had done it, knowing the consequences if she did not. Suddenly lonely, all Cassidy wanted to do was curl up under a blanket with Ryan and a good book. She stood up, turning directly into a pair of young women who were leaving the restroom. “Excuse me.”

  “Oh my God!” one of the two women squealed, and Cassidy swallowed, freez-

  ing in place. On CASSIDY’S left, hands wrapped around her upper arm in a vise-like grip; a blonde whose hair was liberally streaked purple went wide-eyed. Reflexively, Cassidy grabbed for her slender shoulders as her brown eyes rolled back in a faint.

  The girl’s friend hovered as Cassidy carefully moved the limp woman to the couch. “You’re so cool. So normal,” she gushed.

  Cassidy didn’t make any acknowledgment, concentrating instead on assuring herself that the fainter had regained her senses. Deciding to forestall another attack, she apologized. “I should have been looking where I was going. Are you all right?” The woman — whom Cassidy judged to be in senior high or college — nodded.

  “Yeah. Hey, look, I’m sorry. Karen and I just moved into the neighborhood to go to school. I didn’t expect…You! You’re probably my favorite person on TV, y’know?”

  Cassidy pulled her wrists from the woman’s urgent grip and swallowed again. “Really?” She forced her tone to sound interested.

  “Oh yeah. I just loved the poignancy of the ending scene between you and Commander Jakes in Conspiracy of One!”

  Cassidy blinked. That episode must have aired just recently, she realized, probŹably in reruns. It had been her first episode, a two-parter, when she had not yet known that the Time Trails assignment was going to pan into a full-time part. Her character, Chris Hanssen, had lost everyone in her air squadron in a massive dogŹfight. Headquarters had ordered her reassigned to Jakes’ unit. She had been a fighter and now was out of her depth, cast among what was supposedly a group of desk jockŹeys. But when she discovered they were really a group of Time Marshals, she had wanted to go back in time to stop the deaths of her squadron mates. Jakes had firmly stood in the way. Their first moments on screen together were nothing but fighting.

  Ultimately, at the memorial service at the end of the two-parter, Jakes had looked as devastated as Hanssen. Hanssen, the character, had not yet learned the reason for that, though Cassidy knew it had to do with Jakes having been a peer of the air squad’s commander. The toe-to-toe between Jakes and Hanssen, both hurting and angry, had bristled. They hissed and circled like a snake tangling with a monŹgoose. The process had both energized and unnerved Cassidy for hours on end.

  The women in the restroom grinned at her, bringing her back to the present. “You are so cool.”

  “So, you ever kissed her? Bet she’s hot.”

  “Kissed?”

  “Yeah. You mean that isn’t where all that tension is going?”

  Cassidy blinked. “No.”

  “Damn waste then. Lots of rumors have Sue and Chris in liplocks after hours.”

  Taken by surprise, Cassidy sat down on the couch. “Well, it’s not in the script, as far as I know.”

  “Oh, okay. Even if it were, you probably couldn’t tell us. Gotcha.” Karen fished around in her small handbag for a moment, coming up with a pen and a scrap of paper. “Would you sign this?”

  Frowning at the pad, Cassidy hesitated. Her policy was to not sign autographs during her off-time. However, she needed to let the women go, realizing she could not ask any questions about their assumptions or she’d seem to be fishing. Which she would be, but she wouldn’t want to seem to be naive about her own character. She took the paper and qualified her actions even as she signed, “I don’t usually do this.”

  “Gotcha.” Karen took back the pen and paper and studied it. “‘Thanks for the chat. Cassidy Hyland. Damn, this is so cool!” The two women, deep in hushed con-

  versation, quickly left the restroom.

  A few minutes later, Cassidy returned to the dance floor. She found Cameron and tapped his shoulder. “Time to go,” she said firmly, loud enough to bring his head around. “It’s late.”

  Cameron nodded. “I’m done here.” He had apparently sat down for a deeper conversation with Torend. Reaching across the table, he shook the man’s beefy hand and stood. “I’ll call you next week, Griff.”

  “Right. Nice to meet you, kid.”

  She nodded politely but turned away quickly and followed Cameron to the exit. Stepping into the brisk night air, she rubbed her arms to warm up. Out at the car, he unlocked her door, pulling it open for her. His hand brushed her arm, but she did not move. “Something wrong?” he asked, when she brushed the hand away.

  “I want to go home, Cam.”

  “Sure. Some music on the couch…”

  Feeling disquieted and restless for no reason she could pinpoint, she shook her head. “No. Take me home. My home.”

  “I thought you didn’t like to do anything in the house with Ryan?”

  She swallowed. “I don’t.”

  He dropped his gaze away from her, but when he looked up she could see he had come to a decision. “Fine. Go on. Get in.”

  He ducked into the driver’s seat, and she breathed out slowly. She had never before felt the need to cut a date short. She sighed. Maybe she was PMSing or someŹthing.

  “…welcome to Mister Kevin Shea!”

  Applause filled the gymnasium of the brand new Milburn County Boys and Girls Club. For the dedication celebration, the sports space had been set up as a dinŹing hall. Brenna looked up as Kevin’s hand slipped over her bare shoulder as he passed behind her to the podium. While he adjusted the microphone, his brown eyes searched hers out, and she offered an encouraging smile. He turned back to the crowd and waved at a few people in the front tables, as he waited for quiet. Finally the last few handclaps died away.

  He grinned at the gathering. “Ladies and gentlemen, eighteen months ago a group of students from Tillek College came to my office and told me stories of colŹlecting children after school and trying to find them a safe place to play and study. They had a proposal, and my business agreed to sponsor the project. But, eh…I just got the building permits; they got the place built.” He pointed to a packed table near the front and gestured for them to stand.

  The applause resumed as the young adults rose slowly to their feet, the Greek letters proclaiming their sororities and fraternities on the front of shirts emblazoned with the words “Tillek College Greek Council”. Some looked unsure, and Brenna’s heart went out to them. She too liked public service work, but moments in the spotŹlight unnerved h
er, as it was doing to them right now. The thought made her smile wistfully as she thought how she had deliberately stepped on stage time and time again. Despite the butterflies. Her reverie was interrupted by the call of her name.

  “…Brenna Lanigan.” Kevin had continued his remarks and somehow worked his way around to introducing her. She started to rise to acknowledge him when he turned to the audience and added, “You might know her better as Susan Jakes, the commander in Time Trails*.”

  The college students stood and howled, clapping and stomping loudly. Only by the grace of God, she thought, was she able to keep the mortification from her face. She painted on a thin-lipped smile before quickly sitting again. She grasped her napŹkin and pinched it between her hands and then held it over her mouth. When Kevin moved behind her, she remained seated, despite his hand on her back, the signal to rise again. She dropped her head and barely shook it.

  “Bren?” he whispered, leaning over and pressing a hand to each shoulder, before kissing her left cheek.

  She carefully held her hands together on the tabletop, wishing she could defuse her temper but knowing she did not have that luxury while in public. Finally the applause died away and the emcee stepped back up as Kevin returned to his seat.

  “Thank you, everyone, for joining us for this dinner. Now, if you’ve stuffed yourselves enough,” a low trickle of laughter started at the college students’ table, “it’s time to pick up the cards for the auction. We’ve got it built, but now we’ve got a mortgage to pay,” he added.

  As the auction items were dragged out, Brenna stood up from the table. StepŹping backward, she turned into her husband directly behind her. Looking up at Kevin’s sport-jacketed frame, she realized she was glaring only when he ducked his head to the side.

  “What’s that for?” he asked.

  “When can we go?” she said by way of answer, catching a curious look from a young man walking toward them and schooling her features carefully.

  “It’s a chance for us to socialize. Forget about the week. Spend a little time with friends.”