Page 17 of Delivery After Dark (Gansett Island #28)

M organ had spent a frustrating day in Billy’s office at the gym, sifting through the endless piles of paperwork his brother had stacked on the desk, probably with plans to deal with it in the future.

Billy had always been a master procrastinator, so the mess didn’t surprise Morgan.

But it was one more thing he had to deal with on top of sorting through the personal belongings in Billy’s apartment.

He’d been chipping away at sorting through both locations over the last couple of months, but had barely made a dent, or so it seemed to him.

Having his brother’s things all around him brought comfort and distress in equal parts. While he loved the pictures of Billy and his friends as well as the mementos from a life well lived, they were each a reminder of what’d been lost for everyone who loved him.

The whole thing was so freaking senseless.

That was the part Morgan struggled with the most. Billy shouldn’t have been on his boat in the storm, and they’d never know what he and Jim had been thinking when they got the big idea to ride out the storm on a boat.

Their parents had never cared for Jim Sturgil and had discouraged Billy’s friendship with him in high school.

“That kid is trouble,” their dad had said more than once.

But Billy had been undeterred. Even when the rest of the town turned on Sturgil after his messy breakup with his ex-wife, Tiffany, Billy hadn’t frozen out his old friend. “I feel sorry for him,” Billy had said when Morgan asked why he was still hanging out with the guy.

“You feel sorry for him. Why the hell is that?”

“I don’t know. He’s always been trying to figure himself out and never seeming to succeed.”

“He had a beautiful wife and daughter that he treated like shit, from what I’ve heard.”

“It’s true. He did, and I told him that was totally lame. But I can’t turn my back on more than twenty years of friendship because I don’t approve of how he handled his breakup. That’s none of my business.”

“Dad was right about him,” Morgan had said. “He’s trouble, and you should keep your distance.”

“I only hang out with him once in a while. Don’t worry about it.”

Morgan wished he’d pushed the point harder that Jim was bad news and Billy ought to keep his distance from the guy and all the trouble that seemed to follow him since he’d blown up his life in spectacular fashion.

Maybe if he had, Billy wouldn’t be dead. He assumed Jim had been the one to suggest they ride it out on the boat, because Morgan couldn’t see Billy coming up with that idea on his own. He’d bet his own life there’d been alcohol involved in their decision-making.

After they’d lost their dad, sister and mother in the span of five years, Billy, the fitness guy, had started to drink more than he ever had before. Morgan wouldn’t have said he had a problem with it, but in recent years, he’d been uncomfortable the few times he’d seen Billy drunk.

Who knew what went on when Morgan wasn’t around? Maybe it had become a problem. If so, Billy had done a good job of hiding it from him.

He’d probably never know what went down that night since Billy’s phone—and presumably Jim’s—had been lost in the storm.

On the desk, he found a note in Billy’s distinctive handwriting. Call Clare about going out on Saturday night , along with a phone number. Morgan studied the number for a second, debating whether he should call it to find out who she was and what she might know about his brother’s final days.

He made the call and listened to it ring until her voice mail picked up.

“This is Clare Reynolds. I can’t take your call right now, but leave me a message, and I’ll get back to you as soon as I can.

If you’re looking for an update on your child’s progress in class, you can also send an email to my school address. ”

So Billy had been dating a teacher? Interesting.

“Hi, Clare, this is Billy Weyland’s brother, Morgan.

I found your name and number on his desk at the gym and figured I’d call you to say, well…

I don’t know. If you were seeing him, you might know what he was doing on a boat in the Salt Pond that night.

Anyway, if you can, give me a call back.

” He recited his phone number, even though she’d have it in her recent calls. “Thank you.”

He went back to sorting the mess on the desk, tossing anything that wasn’t a bill that needed to be paid or something that looked important. After two hours of sorting and tossing, he had uncovered the desk and was working his way through an equally chaotic filing cabinet.

When his phone rang with a local number, he took the call. “This is Morgan.”

“Hi there, this is Clare. I got your message.”

“Thanks for calling me back.”

“I’ve been meaning to get in touch with you. I… I’m so very sorry for your loss. Billy… He talked about you a lot. He loved you very much.”

“That’s nice of you to say. Did you know him well?”

“We were getting there. We’d been out five or six times and… I was devastated by his death.”

“I’m so sorry.”

“Thank you. I am, too. He was a special person. I’m very sad to have lost him.”

“Do you know why he was on the boat during the storm?”

“He didn’t say anything to me about going to the boat. I couldn’t believe it when I heard he was out there in the storm.”

“Likewise.”

“I’m sorry I don’t have more information for you.”

“No worries. I appreciate you getting back to me. Take care of yourself.”

“You do the same.”

After he ended the call, he sat staring at the wall for a long time, thinking about the many people impacted by Billy’s death.

“How’s it going in here?” asked Terry, one of the guys who worked at the gym.

Terry’s question roused Morgan from his contemplative state. “It’s going. Our boy Billy was a disaster at organization.”

“Yeah, he was, but he was amazing with the clientele. They loved him.”

“They sure did. That’s all I’ve heard for months. I suppose that was what mattered in the grand scheme of things.”

“It’s what made the place so successful. We all looked forward to seeing him every time we walked in the door.”

That was the magic Morgan wasn’t sure he could replicate. He was personable enough, but Billy had always been the gregarious, outgoing one. “That’s nice to hear.”

“Can I help?”

“You’re already helping by covering the front desk while I clean up in here. Appreciate that.”

“Sure thing. Give a holler if you need anything.”

“I will. Thanks.”

The guys who worked for Billy had been a source of tremendous friendship and support since tragedy struck. He was convinced he could leave them in charge of the place, and it would continue on largely as it had in the past, albeit without their buddy there to make it special.

Morgan had been amazed by how much money the gym brought in each month, with a tidy profit left over after payroll and other expenses.

If he were to stick around, he could live comfortably off the proceeds and had a ready-made home at Billy’s place.

But did he want to assume his late brother’s life on the remote island he’d worked his ass off to escape once upon a time?

That was the burning question that kept him awake at night lately.

Duke Sullivan poked his head in. “Heard you’re digging out the office today.”

“You heard right. It’s a job and a half.”

“Billy told me a few weeks before the storm that his New Year’s resolution for next year was going to be getting organized here and at home.”

“I wish that had been his resolution for this year.”

Duke chuckled. “That would’ve helped. Speak of help, my fiancée, McKenzie Martin, had begun doing some bookkeeping for Billy a month or so before he passed.”

“Is that right?”

“Yep. Since the payroll and most of the bills were handled automatically, she didn’t want to bother you with that while you had so many other things to deal with, but she asked me to give you her card. Give her a call when you’re ready.”

“I’ll do that. Tell her thanks for me.”

“I will. If there’s anything else we can do, you can find me at the tattoo studio.”

“That’s good to know. Appreciate it.”

“You got it.”

This island… It looked different to him as an adult.

He’d spent the first eighteen years of his life working as hard as he could to escape the place he’d considered a prison.

His parents and brother had loved it. Morgan and his sister had hated it.

With hindsight, he wished he could get back those years he’d spent miserable while still living with the family he’d lost one by one.

He’d wasted time he hadn’t known would be so precious to him later.

In the months he’d been on the island since the hurricane, he hadn’t yet been able to bring himself to drive by the house where they’d lived growing up.

Back then, his dad had worked as a captain on the ferries and his mom as a nurse at the island clinic.

They’d had a really nice life on the island, surrounded by good friends who were like family.

Morgan hadn’t appreciated what he’d had then.

He’d hurt his parents with his disdain for the island home they’d loved.

He’d felt guilty about that for a long time, even more so after they died.

That he was even thinking about moving back to take over the business his brother had worked so hard to establish probably had them rolling in their graves.

He thought of Mac McCarthy, who’d shared his contempt for island living back in the day, but was now married to a local woman and raising a family with her while helping to run the family’s marina and a construction business, too.

For someone who’d hated it there as much as Morgan had, Mac was now firmly entrenched.

Maybe he could shed some light on what it was like to live here as an adult versus a kid.

Morgan looked for the contact info Mac had given him weeks ago, when Billy first went missing. He’d said to reach out if there was anything at all he could do to help. Morgan sent him a text.

Hey, it’s Morgan. Was wondering if you have an opening in your crazy schedule for a quick beer one of these days.

Thinking about our shared dislike of island life as kids and how you’ve made it work since you came back.

Trying to figure out what I’m going to do about the gym and other things that would require me to relocate to a place I once couldn’t wait to escape…

Mac responded a few minutes later. Of course! I’d be glad to chat about that any time. I could probably meet you for a quick one tomorrow. I’ll hit you up after lunch to see how your day is going.

Thanks, Mac. Look forward to it.

Same!

The guy was frantically busy but had offered to make time to help him.

People were like that here, even the ones he hadn’t grown up with.

A guy could get comfortable in a place like this, which was something he never would’ve thought about Gansett until he lived through the tragic loss of his brother and saw how the community had rallied around him in his time of need.

That experience had forever changed his impression of the place where he’d been raised.

However, he’d been through enough loss to know that a tragedy often brought out the best in people, and while he’d been deeply moved by the response of the Gansett community, could he be happy on the island long term?

Should he give up his own career as a master electrician to keep Billy’s business running?

He’d worked long and hard to get his master electrician license, but he was still working for someone else’s company.

At one time, he’d planned to start his own but hadn’t yet gotten around to it.

If he ran the gym, he’d be self-employed and make as much as he had in his own job.

Did he want to give up on all that time and effort he’d put into his specialty to become a gym owner?

During one sleepless night, he’d made a mental list of the pros and cons, and the gym had come out on top financially.

If only he felt the same passion for running a gym that he did for being an electrician.

He glanced at the clock to find it inching closer to five. Time to wrap it up for the day and go get ready for his night out with Sierra. He’d made a reservation at Stephanie’s Bistro, which was known for great food, as well as entertainment by Julia Lawry.

It’d been such a gift to have her sing at the service. She’d been recommended to him by numerous people and hadn’t hesitated to accept his invitation to sing for Billy, who’d been a friend to her and her partner, Deacon Taylor.

He hoped Sierra would enjoy the evening he’d planned for them.

Back at the apartment, he showered and changed into black jeans and a black button-down shirt, rolling up the sleeves to reveal his tattooed forearms. His sister, Amanda, had teased him about his all-black uniform, a memory that made him chuckle as he checked his appearance in the mirror behind the bedroom door.

He’d teased Billy about having a full-length mirror behind his door like a teenage girl would have. Billy had put him in a headlock and said he liked to be able to see how he looked before he left the house and to shut the fuck up about it.

Tears stung his eyes at the memories of his late siblings that came out of nowhere to remind him how very alone in the world he was now that Billy was gone, too. Losing Amanda had been hard enough. But also losing Billy was just cruel.

Morgan pulled himself together, put the sadness to the side and tried to get into the right frame of mind to enjoy a nice evening with Sierra.

God knew he needed the reprieve from the difficulties he’d faced every day since his brother went missing.

He ran some gel through his dark hair that had more silver strands than it’d had before Billy died and arranged it to his liking.

Satisfied that he looked as good as he ever did, he sniffed a couple of Billy’s bottles of cologne, chose the least offensive scent and slapped on Billy’s prized TAG Heuer watch, feeling a bit guilty to be wearing something that’d been so important to his brother.

But life was for the living, and the watch was of no use to Billy anymore.

Morgan figured he might as well wear it in his honor.

If he decided to stay on the island, he’d need to get his own place as well as his own vehicle, he thought as he drove Billy’s truck the short distance to pick up Sierra.

It was one thing to take over Billy’s successful business.

It was another thing altogether to fully inhabit his late brother’s life.