Page 72 of The Summer that Changed Everything
“No, I’m fine.”
“Do you need me to drive you home?”
Chet would’ve accepted if he thought having that extra time with Ford would help him in some way. But he wasn’t going to be able to change Ford’s mind. Lucy had too strong a hold on him. “That’s okay. It was a momentary thing.” After whistling for Eddie, who’d been sniffing around the deck, he started down the stairs as if it was nothing, but his head was still swimming, and he felt bile rising up his throat.
Chet heard Ford call out a goodbye before going back into the house. Then he leaned into the shrubs, and Eddie cocked his head, watching curiously, as he threw up.
“What’s wrong with you?”
Anna was startled by the sound of her husband’s voice. “What?” She’d heard him; she was just buying time to engage her brain. She was sitting on the couch with a book while he watched baseball, worrying about the private investigator Ford Wagner had hired to delve into Aurora Clark’s murder and how that might affect Reggie, which would in turn affect her and their mother.
“I said, ‘what’s wrong with you?’” he repeated.
She lowered Nora Roberts’s latest novel. “I don’t know what you mean.”
“You’ve been holding that book for almost half an hour, and I haven’t seen you turn a single page.”
She wished she could say she’d been distracted by the game, but he knew she didn’t care about baseball.
“Is something going on?” he asked.
“I’m just... thinking.”
He used the remote to pause the game. “About the kids?”
“No, the kids are doing great.” She could see them through the slider, playing with the neighbor boy on the tree swing Joel had built in the backyard.
“Then what has you so preoccupied?”
She noticed a new cut on his thumb. As a carpenter, he used his hands a lot, so they took a beating, but they were still the most attractive hands she’d ever seen. “Lucy McBride, I guess,” she said. “The murders. The trial. It’s all anyone can talk about.”
“I haven’t paid any attention, so I don’t know. What’s she saying?”
He hadn’t been living in North Hampton Beach that summer, wasn’t raised here, like she was. They’d met at the hamburger stand where she worked while he was vacationing with his brother, three years after McBride went to prison, and they’d stayed in contact throughout college. When they got married, she moved to upstate New York to be with him, but they didn’t like the harsh winters. So they came to North Hampton Beach—also to be much closer to her mother, who was alone and needed more support at the time, especially with Reggie always causing problems.
“She’s claiming her father didn’t kill Aurora Clark. She’s even hired an investigator to reopen the case—or verify everything or whatever a PI does.”
“Nothing’s going to change. I’m not even sure why she’dwaste her time and money. Regardless, why areyouworried about that?”
She opened her mouth to say she wasn’t, not really, but couldn’t bring the words to her lips. Ford was helping Lucy now, which meant she stood a much better chance of uncovering something that would prove Reggie had lied.
“Anna.” Her husband scooted closer to her. “Are you going to tell me what’s going on?”
“It’s Reggie,” she admitted.
His scowl deepened. “What’s he got to do with this Lucy situation?”
She closed her eyes, couldn’t believe she was about to reveal a secret she’d held close for so long, especially because she was frightened of how Joel would react. She didn’t want to get into a fight with him. Didn’t want to lose his respect, either. But she could no longer keep her mouth shut. She kept thinking about how she’d feel if she was in Lucy’s place. Or Patti’s. Reggie might claim that Patti and Nelson wanted him to stick by his story, but did theyreallywant that? When it could mean that her daughter’s killer was running around free?
“Anna?” her husband prompted, more sternly.
She opened her eyes but stared at her feet while kneading her forehead. “You’re going to be mad at me,” she said. “And my mother and brother will probably never speak to me again. But at the end of the day, I have to live with myself, and I just can’t carry this secret any longer.”
21
Lucy couldn’t remember the last time she’d enjoyed herself quite so much. After Chet left and they were alone again, she and Ford spent a lazy morning together before Ford suggested they go out to a late lunch. She tried to decline, said they shouldn’t be seen in public since word could get back to his family or the Clarks and upset them. But he shrugged that off, saying they’d be in the wrong for letting something like that upset them, and she didn’t have much to say against that argument. After all, she also believed that what they said or did wasn’t anyone else’s business.
They showered together. Then she dried her hair and left it down, which meant it was also curly—the humidity on this side of the country made it even more so—and donned a white sundress and sandals with a straw bucket hat. Ford chose a pair of chinos and a short-sleeved, button-down shirt with a blue and white shark pattern that made her laugh when she saw him.
