Page 8 of The Summer that Changed Everything
Before returning to Coastal Comfort, he drove past Shady Lane Trailer Park. The community had purchased the mobile home where the Matteos had lived, yanked it out and burned it to ashes. Then they’d put a statue in its place honoring the three people who’d been murdered in North Hampton Beach. Lucy’s old trailer was gone, too—replaced by a tiny park with a single bench. His parents had contributed to make these changes. So had the Clarks, of course, and many others.
He remembered his folks talking about the project, but they’d been back in Bethesda, Maryland, by the time it was finished.
He turned off his engine and got out so he could read the plaque on the bronze angel.
Did Lucy know about the memorial? How would she feel when she saw it? And what about the park bench that’d replaced the home she’d once shared with her father?
Nothing that summer could’ve been easy on her. That was what he kept coming back to—that and the fact that he hadn’t made it any easier.
When he returned home, he had a slew of work emails waiting for him. That would probably be the case most days. He’d have to wade through them and check to see if Renee needed him before he tackled any construction work.
But after he’d finished with his regular job, he wasn’t in a hurry to start on the house. Although the place was a little the worse for wear—it could use new flooring, window coverings and paint—he enjoyed being surrounded by the familiar. Fortunately, the service that’d managed the property had kept up with some of the bigger items. The roof and HVAC system had been replaced over the last few years. So had the deck.
He figured he’d have time to update the hot water heater and deal with the cosmetic stuff. He’d come here mostly to have a chance to heal from his coming divorce. He hoped he’d be able to do that. But he couldn’t stop thinking about Lucy...
Would she wait until the first of the month to move in? Or would she come in the next few days?
Maybe she was already in town, had shown up this morning, and the community just didn’t know it yet.
As soon as he got off the computer, he went out for a walk and veered around to the Smoot cottage on the way back. It looked quiet and dark, like it had yesterday. He assumed Dahlia had finished with the inside, but she’d done nothing to tamethe weeds or make the outside presentable. He didn’t get the impression she was even planning on doing that...
He told himself the outside didn’t matter. But coming back here had to be so daunting for Lucy that he wanted to dosomethingto make it easier—something that wouldn’t be attributed to him but just might make it feel a bit more welcoming. And if she didn’t move in until she was technically supposed to, which was still several days away, he’d have time.
After circling the house and assessing the flower beds, the broken gate and the overgrown hedges, he made a list of tools and plants he’d need. Then he jogged back to his own house and got his car to head to the closest nursery.
June 1
Las Vegas
Dahlia had said she could move in early, but Lucy had needed time to make all the arrangements. Even if she could’ve come earlier, she probably wouldn’t have. She’d spent fifteen years trying to distance herself from that terrible summer when her life fell apart. She still couldn’t believe she was reversing that decision and going back.
But ifhedidn’t kill Aurora, then someone else did, and that person should be held accountable. It wasn’t like she could just call the police and tell them they needed to reopen the investigation into Aurora’s murder. If she did, they’d probably laugh at her.
The death of the Matteos had broken her heart. Lucinda used to bake the best chocolate chip cookies, and Tony always had a smile and a kind word for her. That her father could harm them was unthinkable. But it was Aurora’s murder that’d affected her the most, because she’d been blamed, in an indirect way. Somaybe she wanted to redeem herself, too—to prove she hadn’t been involvedat all.
She had to sit on the lid of her suitcase so she could zip it shut—she’d definitely overpacked—but if she was going to be gone the whole summer, she’d need all the stuff she was bringing.
Once she had it closed, she checked her watch. Her Uber would be arriving any moment. Then she’d be off.
With a sigh, she wandered around the condo she’d purchased with cash from her poker winnings. It was a decent place, one in which she felt secure and far from the girl she used to be in North Hampton Beach. That would all change by the end of the day, but at least this haven would be here waiting for her.
If things got too bad, she could always return early.
Ford had worked at the Smoot cottage for four days. What’d started out as a simple cleanup job had turned into an all-out effort to make the cottage as appealing as it could be. Other than purchasing some basic supplies and plants, he hadn’t spent a lot of money. It didn’t make sense to spend too much on someone else’s property. But he’d invested plenty of sweat equity and was so pleased with the results that he kept going back to do just a little more and a little more after that until he was damn proud of how it had turned out.
He didn’t know anything about landscaping when he’d started and yet the place was now as appealing as the ones he’d found on Instagram and used as inspiration. As a matter of fact, he wished he could be present when Lucy arrived so he could witness her reaction. He thought she was going to love it. Who wouldn’t?
There were a few things he wished he could go over with her, to make sure that what he’d planted would survive if he couldn’t manage the watering and such. He didn’t want to freak her out by coming onto the property again and again, especiallywhen he knew she’d probably rather not see him, not after how it had gone the last time he’d seen her.
He’d never forget stopping by the trailer after the trial was over. He’d felt bad that with her father in prison for life, she was suddenly on her own, cast adrift at seventeen with no family to help support her—and he felt guilty for walking away from her as soon as the police arrested her father—so he’d gone over to see how he could help.
He’d found her selling all the furniture they owned, wrestling what she could outside and taping a piece of paper on each item with the price, but she’d acted as if he was absolutely invisible, as if he wasn’t standing right in front of her. If he blocked her, she’d simply move on to something else. She wouldn’t respond to him even when he’d said he wanted to give her some money to help with the move. So then he’d tried to buy something, but she wouldn’t even look at him let alone take his money.
In the end, he’d left five hundred dollars on the counter—which she returned the next day by leaving it on the seat of his Jeep.
He winced as he recalled how he’d felt when he found the money. He’d known how badly she needed it, so he’d gone back over to try to get her to take it. But the trailer held only the remnants of her life in North Hampton Beach—what she hadn’t been able to sell. She was gone, and he hadn’t heard from her since.
As far as he knew, no one had.
