Somewhere For A Hero To Hide

By Verna Clay

Is there somewhere to hide from the past?

Dutch Mulvaney, a hero who will spend the rest of his life in a wheelchair, now carves sea creatures from driftwood and signs them as "Beach Bum." His relocation from the East Coast to the small coastal town of Somewhere in Oregon was a desperate attempt to salvage his sanity and dignity. Now, after a year of solitude, he finally feels ready to venture back into society.

Taylor Jones enjoys her job as a waitress at Mama Pink's Diner, the most popular eatery in Somewhere. Daily, she thanks the universe for Edna Pink, the owner. Without Edna's help she could very well be six feet under, with her two precious sons being raised by a crime lord. When a disabled man enters the diner she gets a premonition that her life is about to change. Should she remain in the town she loves, or run yet again?

• Language: English
• Publisher: Verna Clay
• Release date: Aug 25, 2017
• ISBN: 9781370450510

Verna Clay

"2020 Finalist - Readers' Favorite International Contest (Paranormal Romance) for SOMEWHERE by the Sea." "2014 Gold Medal Winner - Readers' Favorite International Contest (Historical Romance) for Abby: Mail Order Bride." My perfect day: coffee shop; laptop; latte; characters demanding their stories be told; a plot that comes together; and hours to live in an alternate reality. Seriously, I have always loved reading, and now I love writing. As a preteen, I devoured Nancy Drew and Hardy Boys Mysteries. When I reached my teen years, the romance genre became my favorite and that has never changed. After years of procrastinating, I tried my hand at writing and I've been doing so with a passion ever since. I have written over thirty romance novels and novellas in the genres of contemporary, contemporary western, historical western, fantasy, and paranormal. Because I hate saying goodbye to characters who have lived with me for months, I usually create a series so they can be revisited from book to book. I have also written a Young Adult novella titled "Fragile Hearts" using the pen name of Colleen Clay.

Book preview

Preface

I absolutely loved writing SOMEWHERE for a Hero to Hide, which is book three of this saga. From the beginning, the characters were very vocal about their lives and all I had to do was sit back and listen. Of course, Gabby and Leo kept up a discourse about their ongoing drama, but I demanded resolution in this story. Also, many of the main characters from books one and two wanted to give updates, too.

For myself, I was curious about a new hero, Dutch Mulvaney, as well as minor characters introduced in books one and two; namely, Taylor Jones, Rose Ayers, and Brody Calhoun. However, a teenage girl named Ricci kept intruding into my thoughts and finally I said, Okay. Okay. Tell me your story. And, dear readers, I have to admit she's quite the character—belligerent, vocal, and sweet, all at the same time.

Because this series has an element of the paranormal, another ghost joined the mix who turned out to be Gabby's deceased husband, Marcus Hope, and, believe it or not, he's playing matchmaker for Gabby and Leo. Will he succeed?

I certainly hope so.

Verna Clay

Sequence of Books in the Finding SOMEWHERE Series

SOMEWHERE by the Sea

SOMEWHERE to Spend Christmas

SOMEWHERE for a Hero to Hide

SOMEWHERE to Begin Again (coming soon)

Table of Contents

Preface

Prologue

1: Freddie

2: Beach Bum

3: Gabby

4: Rose

5: Leo

6: Taylor

7: Arrival

8: Pier

9: Box

10: Fishing

11: Beaufort Price

12: BBQ

13: Brody

14: Panic

15: Adoration

16: Unofficially

17: Ricci

18: Plumber

19: Another One?

20: Big Britches

21: Ogre

22: Gumption

23: Guilt Trip

24: Manipulated

25: Poof

26: Request

27: Festival

28: Web

29: Truth

30: Pact

31: Double-Cross

32: Kind Eyes

33: Shock

34: Reflections

35: Alaska

Epilogue

Author's Note

Stranded in Oasis (excerpt)

Oasis Trilogy (#1)

Novels and Novellas by Verna Clay

Prologue

Only a few feet away, Marcus Hope watched the woman who had been his wife during his lifetime on earth, and smiled. And although she couldn't hear him, he said, I know you miss me, my darling, but it's time for you to forgive yourself for loving someone else and spend the remainder of your days with him. It's time for you to let go of me and run to him.

He glanced around the sitting room that he and Gabby had remodeled and remembered those happy days. Then he returned his attention to her. Honey, somehow I'll make you see that you and Leo are meant to be together. I don't know how, but I'll find a way. If Owen and Belinda could get their messages to the land of the living then so can I. Soon, hippie girl, you'll know that it's okay to love Leo as much as you loved me.

1: Freddie

Freddie Manchester, affectionately known as Ferret to his Chicago boss—well, maybe affectionate was an overstatement—perhaps favorably thought of would have been better, stood inside Art's Art Gallery in the podunk town of Somewhere, Oregon and surreptitiously glanced across the street. Although he appeared to be studying an oil painting on an easel near the display window, his gaze kept straying to the glass. The eatery with the weird name of Mama Pink's Diner was the object of his observation.

Having arrived in Somewhere three days earlier to begin a task he had honed over many years—ferreting out information; hence his nickname—he'd chosen to disguise himself as a stooped, elderly man. And the fact that he was already on the cusp of old age at sixty-four helped his transformation immensely. Using Hollywood techniques perfected over many years, he'd applied a false beard and used makeup to give the illusion of tired eyes. To further his transformation the bleaching and tinting of his grayish-brown hair to silver had changed him into another person. He was almost sure that his target wouldn't recognize him, but he was going to stay distant just in case. She was a sharp cookie.

After receiving a tip from one of his moles about a woman in the background of a photograph taken by said mole's son while on vacation, and having studied the emailed photo with a magnifying glass, he'd been convinced that a visit to Somewhere was necessary. The resemblance to the missing wife of mob boss Tony Russo was uncanny, even though her long blond hair was now close-cropped and dark brown, and her eyes no longer pale blue. His instinct, which usually proved accurate, had insisted he follow the lead. And since arriving in Somewhere he'd been scouting out local businesses where a runaway wife with no skills might get a job. Immediately, he'd been drawn to eateries. There were several that he'd scoped out, but again, instinct brought him back to this one.

As for the art gallery owner he'd met two days earlier, Art Hope was an irritating little man. Ferret figured he could visit once more before having to buy something to keep from looking suspicious. At the moment, however, the owner was trying desperately to sell him one of the many overpriced objects. And, actually, there were some pieces that appealed greatly to him. Perhaps he'd spring for a carving of a shark sculpted by someone who signed his or her creations with the handle of Beach Bum. And although the collection included other sea creatures, shells, mermaids and mermen, the shark was an animal Ferret could relate to. It was too bad the carvings weren't closer to the window so he could admire them while keeping up his vigilant watch.

He was half listening to the owner when he noticed a tall woman walking along the sidewalk from the direction of the sea. Ferret's stomach lurched and he got that feeling that always accompanied an aha moment. Had he just discovered the whereabouts of Laura Russo? If so, perhaps his boss's estimation of him would expand into affection.

The gal was now directly across the street and glanced in his direction, and although he was inside the gallery, he held his breath as he studied her face.

Definitely, Laura Russo!

2: Beach Bum

Dutch Mulvaney made a precision cut in the butternut wood of his latest carving—a mermaid begging for release from her wooden cocoon—and leaned back in his wheelchair to scrutinize her. Yes, she was going to be a beauty.

He made a few more cuts and then decided to call it a day. He'd been working for six hours on the most intricate carving he had yet to attempt—a three foot long mermaid with flowing hair and whipping tail, and although shaping the scales of the tail had been painstaking and difficult, he'd achieved the affect he wanted after practicing on a scrappy piece of wood for days. As for the driftwood base she would rest upon, he had yet to find the perfect piece from his online sources.

Placing his tools into their respective slots in the holder above his work table, he stretched, moaned at the stiffness caused from staying in one position too long, and rubbed the long, jagged scar running from his temple to the bottom of his left jaw, crisscrossing his cheek. A smaller scar, about half that size, sliced from his right nostril to his ear on his other cheek and the scars often itched. After three years, he'd given up hope that they would ever stop bothering him. He shrugged, blew a breath, and manually backed his wheelchair up so he could roll out of the room. Although the bungalow he'd rented from Leo Constanzo on the southern peninsula of Hope Cove was small, it was secluded and suitable to his needs.

A year earlier when Dutch had called the phone number on Craig's List advertising the house, he'd wanted to rent it just from the posted pictures, but the landlord had been leery of renting his property to someone sight, unseen. However, when Dutch explained that he was on the east coast, Mr. Constanzo had emailed an application to him. Shortly after completing and emailing it back, he'd received a call from the owner accepting him as the new tenant. It was then that Dutch revealed he was in a wheelchair and expected Mr. Constanzo to back out of the agreement, but he hadn't.

As it turned out, except for a few navigational problems discovered inside the 1930s bungalow, the place was exactly what Dutch was looking for and he'd offered to pay for minor changes that would make his life easier. Mr. Constanzo, who insisted Dutch call him Leo, had refused the monetary offer and sent a local carpenter named Brody Calhoun to the property to do the work. Leo was a great landlord, and now, a year later, the men were friends.

Of course, when Dutch had moved from the home of his mother, father, and brother, they had been aghast, but their arguments had only served to make him more determined. Daily, his deepening depression and loss of dignity was made worse by his overprotective family. The IED in the Middle East that had changed his life forever and landed him in a hospital recovering for a year, with another year at his parents' home, was a nightmare that often woke him with night sweats. His parents and his younger brother, a graduate student in geodesign, had done their best to help with his recovery, but he'd come to the conclusion that if he didn't do something soon, he'd lose all sense of self and just give up, preferring death to life.

He wheeled through the front room and onto the porch, and then down the ramp onto the wooden walkway that Leo had thoughtfully constructed so he could reach the beach. The walkway ran twenty feet to the beach, another thirty feet parallel with the coastline, and brought him to a wonderful place both literally and emotionally.

On this spring day the temperature had warmed to a comfortable degree and the sky was blue and clear. Dutch inhaled the briny air, closed his eyes, and pretended he was jogging the beach. In his mind he felt every bare footfall and the breeze caressing his naked torso. He felt the sweat dripping down his chest and neck.

He opened his eyes and stared at gentle waves lapping the shore. Being inside the cove kept the raging sea at bay and became a balm for his heart. Unexpectedly, he wondered if he was ready for the next step in his independence.

By nature he'd always been a loner, but not to the extent he was now. For a month he'd been thinking about meeting some of the locals other than Art Hope who sold his carvings or Leo Constanzo who visited two or three times a month. Was he ready to take a chance on ending his solitary existence?

Maybe.

But he'd never know unless he gave it a try.

He continued watching the ebb and flow of waves for several minutes before returning to the bungalow resolved to eat at the diner on Main Street with the big pink sign: Mama Pink's Diner.

3: Gabby

Having fed her current bed and breakfast guests their morning meal, Gabby wished them a great day, handed over a sightseeing list she'd compiled over the years, and told them not to miss the nearby lighthouse. She then entered and surveyed the library of her B & B and readjusted a vase of flowers picked from her garden. Pinching one off, she tucked it behind her ear, a habit formed in childhood from her hippie parents. She had a special guest arriving that afternoon.

Her young employee, Sunny Fairbanks, who had become a dear friend since being hired the previous fall, popped into the library while Gabby was opening the drapes and said, I'm off to Brookings for supplies. Is there anything you want to add to the list?

Gabby tapped her chin. Do we need furniture polish?

No, ma'am. I checked the supply cabinet and we're good.

How about floor care products?

Good there, too.

Well, I can't think of anything else. Have you asked Jenny and James if they want to add to their grocery list?

Yes, and they only added cinnamon.

Gabby grinned. What would I do without you? You've taken such a load off my shoulders. Thank you.

Sunny grinned back. "I love working here! And I should be the one thanking you for taking a chance on me."

Oh, honey, with your recommendation from Noah it was no chance at all. And speaking of Noah, he'll soon graduate from high school and be on summer break. Are the two of you planning any special activities? You have vacation time, you know.

Sunny's happy smile warmed Gabby's heart. The girl was head over heels in love and everyone knew it. And Noah, who was related to Gabby's deceased husband, was head over heels for her, too. A near tragedy at Christmas had brought the young couple together in the only way that facing the loss of someone could.

After Noah and a local fisherman, Mathias Ahlberg, had been lost at sea, Sunny had experienced something incredible. The way she explained it, she