Born To Be Wild

FIFTEEN

The ocean breeze was fresh and sharp on Mary Lisa’s face as she ran along the dirt path above the beach beside Cape Peeley Highway. The smell of surf and seaweed was strong in the air, and a light blanket of fog stretched over the water like a gray veil.

What she should do, Mary Lisa had thought grimly before she fell asleep last night, was fly back to L.A. this very afternoon and move in with Detective Vasquez until he found the loon who had clipped her with his LeSabre.

But that was last night, when everything seemed dark and more unpleasant than a dentist visit. But now she was smiling. It was a beautiful day, full of fresh possibilities.

She kept her breathing steady and deep. A light sheen of sweat covered her. She felt good. Running always made her feel good, and she knew she didn’t have to worry about a big car coming out of the mist to run her down.

She’d fixed her father’s Porsche. The plugs, it was always the plugs with her father, not the temperamental electrical system, as if he didn’t know that.

Time to punch it up. She engaged her rockets and very nearly ran right into the man. It was the sudden pounding of his running shoes that made her swerve sharply at the last instant; she stopped and swung around to look at him.

The man had swerved as well. She bent over, her hands on her thighs, breathing hard.

“Hi,” he said, not much out of breath.

She raised her head, smiled. “Hi, yourself. Sorry I nearly ran you down. My endorphins were screaming to be free. The thing is, though, you give them a mile and they want two.”

“No problem. I wasn’t paying any attention either. I was off in never-never land. Thing about endorphins, sometimes they don’t kick in and you collapse in your tracks.”

She cocked her head at him. He looked familiar, but she couldn’t place him. She said, “That was pretty good. Odd that neither of us saw the other. My endorphins and I have been known to flatten people who get in our way.”

He laughed. “Not this morning. Hey, we’re the only two people up and virtuous. I’m usually running with a friend, but he had too much on his plate this morning. It’s nice to have company.” He stuck out his hand. “I’m John Goddard.”

She stared at him, nonplussed. The controlling jerk? The founder’s great-great whatever? She shook his hand, studied his face. “I remember you now. I was thirteen years old when you went back east to school.”

He looked at the bright red hair pulled back in a ponytail, the face clean of makeup, and recognized the smile that lit up the daytime TV screen as much as it did a foggy beach. “You’re Mary Lisa Beverly, George and Kathleen’s daughter. You hadn’t left for L.A. yet when I came back here, but we never ran into each other.”

“No, a pity. Where’d you go to college?”

“Princeton.” He grinned. “You?”

“I went down to UCLA. Even when I was eighteen, I wanted to act. What’d you do then?”

“You have seventeen questions left.”

“Sorry, but I do have my reasons for being so nosy.”

“Okay. I went to law school. And yes, you’re right. I’m the John Goddard who was seeing your sister Kelly until very recently. Kelly told me about your other sister Monica’s husband leaving you at the altar and you moving permanently to L.A. You were really quite lucky, you know? You want to run with me?”

“Whoa, that’s quite a lot you said there, Mr. Goddard.”

“John.”

“Regardless, Mark didn’t exactly leave me at the altar.”

“Does it still sting? Kelly said it was close enough to altar-time that they could have penciled through your name on the wedding invitations and written in Monica’s.” He grinned down at her, but not all that far. He was maybe six-two, but with heels she’d be nearly nose to nose with him. To go with that nice height, he had a good strong body, muscular torso and legs.

She burst into laughter. “Now that makes for a visual.”

“Oh yeah.”

“Why do you think I’m lucky?”

“Run with me and I’ll tell you.”

She gave him a whimsical look and turned with him to run south, back along the highway toward the hamlet of Stoddart. Mary Lisa was soon running smoothly beside him.

“Kelly said you worked out and ran to de-stress.”

“That, and I enjoy being outside, especially here by the ocean. You?”

“Actually, this is my first run in a week, since I-”

“Since you what?”

“Well, there was an incident of sorts where I live and I was out of exercise commission until today.”

A dark eyebrow shot up as he glanced at her. “What kind of incident?”

“Just a minor injury. Why do you think I’m lucky Mark dumped me?”

He ran silently for a moment, his eyes fastened on the out-jutting promontory a quarter of a mile ahead. He said finally, “I don’t think Mark Bridges is the type of guy to stick.”

“Ah,” she said.

“Ah, what?”

“And you think you’re the type of guy who sticks?”

He kept running, and she saw he was thinking about that, seriously. “I guess your sister wouldn’t think so, but-”

“But what?”

“If I found the right person, I’d stick.”

“Hmm. Maybe the same is true with Mark. I have to say you’re not particularly acting like a controlling jerk so far.”

“What was that? Oh-I guess I should have known Kelly wouldn’t sing my praises to her sister. I’m trying to think of a single person I control-you can’t count people who work for you, that’s a job. I wish I could think of one, but I can’t.”

“Earth to Mr. Goddard. Listen up. Kelly told me she kind of left you at the altar because you’re a controlling jerk. It gives us something in common. Both of us kissed off, I mean.”

He opened his mouth, shut it, and kicked up his stride. It took her a moment to catch up to him.

“I’m sorry. That was insensitive of me. Since this just happened you might still be hurting.”

“I might,” he said, not turning.

“Okay, it’s none of my business. Why did you come back to Goddard Bay?”

“I told you, I’m a lawyer.”

“Accept my condolences.”

“Actually, I came back to run for district attorney.”

“Yes, I know about that. You got it on your first try?”

He nodded. “I’ve got a good name around here, the right name.” He gave her a lopsided grin. “At least right enough to be elected the Goddard Bay County district attorney. I like putting bad guys away and I like living here.”

“Aren’t you awfully young to be a D.A.? Do you have any experience?”

“Sure. I was an assistant D.A. in Manhattan for four years, and before that I clerked with an appellate court judge, Judge David Reed, in the Ninth Circuit.”

“Well, then, it sounds like you’re qualified for the job to me.”

He inclined his head. “Thank you.”

“Are you having fun?”

“Fun? I never thought of it that way-well, okay, yeah, I really enjoy it, particularly most of the time I spend in the courtroom.”

“Sounds like you’re as much an actor as I am.”

“Could be,” he said after a moment.” He stopped. “You want to take a rest before we turn around and run back?”

“Where?”

“Over here. See that twisted pine? I like that the sea’s nearly bowled it over onto itself.”

As she followed him to the bent pine, he said over his shoulder, “I’m not a controlling jerk.”

“Maybe not.” Mary Lisa leaned her back against the tree and he hunched down beside her. “I thought it was either that or maybe a dud in bed. That would be a sure deal breaker for Kelly.”

He looked appalled. “Hmm,” was all he said.

Mary Lisa thought of Mark Bridges, her ex-fiancé, and a couple of wannabe movie stars she’d dated pretty seriously over the past three years. “I’ve come to the conclusion that most good-looking men are so self-absorbed no one really exists for them outside themselves. Their pleasure’s what’s important, no one else’s.”

“I’d say the same about some good-looking women. Take you, for instance, Ms. Beverly. Are you a dud in bed because you’re beautiful and self-absorbed?”

She laughed. “Yep, that’s me, so beautiful, I’m self-absorbed. I’m going back now. Good-bye, Mr. Goddard.”

She was off and running before he got to his feet. He didn’t try to catch her, just stood for a while by that gnarly old tree and watched her until she disappeared in the distance.

Just his damned luck. The beauty queen was Kelly’s sister.