Crista didn’t respond, but her expression softened as they separated.
Vivien squeezed her arm one more time before standing. “Are you leaving soon?” she asked. “Or can you stay for a nice Jonah breakfast? They’re crazy good.”
She shook her head. “This whole thing has just kind of upset my stomach.” She picked up the untouched mug. “Thank you for this, but I don’t need anything to make me stressier.”
“Dump it. And all your worries. Bring them to this seafoam green Gulf along with Nolie. We could use a kid around here.”
Crista smiled. “I’m going to drive home to Atlanta right away and talk to Anthony. Assuming he agrees, and I can get her out of school, we’ll be back by the weekend.” She pushed up, and took Vivien’s hand. “I love you.”
They hugged hard and Crista went ahead just as Vivien’s phone buzzed with a text from Eli.
“I’ll catch up with you, Cris.” She tapped the phone and read his message.
Eli Lawson:Hey, guess who’s coming to Destin? No, not Kate, LOL. Peter just called and said the Pensacola PD is sending him this way for a few weeks to work on a case. They’re putting him up at an Airbnb but we’ll probably see a lot of him while he’s here. In fact, I’m grabbing a bite with him tonight. You cool if I ask him if he can get access to any files from Dad’s old case? Just curious. Okay with you?
Peter McCarthy? Now that was a coincidence. She’d just been mooning over him in her diaries. And, of course, since he was a detective over in Pensacola, he’d be a great person to ask for help.
She texted back a thumbs-up emoji, thinking about the man who’d come for dinner not too long ago. A veteran of the divorce wars, he’d encouraged her to take the high road with Ryan.Look how well that turned out.
She couldn’t quite muster the weak-in-the-knees sensation she used to feel during those teenage summers, but she was certainly looking forward to spending time with Peter.
As she walked up to the house, she hummed the melody of that old song, “Nothing Compares 2 U.”
She never did get to slow dance with him to that song, she remembered with a smile.
Huh.Never say never, Viv.
“I’ve never in my life heard anything remotely like that.” Kate’s voice sounded shaky, and not just because she was coming through the speaker on Eli’s truck dashboard.
She’d been shocked by his tale of the events with Crista, which he’d just finished telling her as he drove to pick up some materials for the day’s work.
He’d shared the whole story of what had transpired, trying to play down Crista’s theatrics. Although as soon as she spoke to Tessa, Kate would know the real truth of what happened.
“Yeah, we were all floored,” he said. “It almost makes me want to go back to see Frank and Betty Cavallari and ask if they knew about this.”
Kate and Eli had visited the much older couple, who’d been “couple friends” with both sets of parents all those years ago. They’d hoped that those old friends might be able to shed light on what caused the Big Breakup between the Wylies and the Lawsons.
But the encounter had left Kate and Eli more confused. Mrs. Cavallari told Kate that Maggie and Artie had had an affair; Mr. Cavallari told Eli that Jo Ellen and Roger had been involved. Their eighty-something memories were bad, and the affair possibility felt utterly wrong to all of them.
“Do you think you could talk to Jo Ellen, Kate?” Eli asked. “Maybe get a feel for the possibility of this being true or not?”
“I’d rather not.”
“Really? Why not?”
“Why would I? Eli, I can’t drag her through even the possibility of something like that. She’s so tender.”
His eyes shuttered as he considered the best way to answer. Kate’s mother was still deeply mourning her husband, who’d died last year. If anyone understood how long that pain lasted, it was Eli. It had taken him years to begin to heal after he lost Melissa.
To make matters harder, Jo Ellen, well into her seventies, had fallen and sprained her ankle, which was why Kate had left so suddenly.
But theyhadto ask her. She was the only person alive who might know what happened—other than Maggie, of course.
“Don’t you want to know?” he asked.
“No.” She laughed. “Sorry if I sound like a broken record, but I’m being honest. You’d want that, right?”
“Of course,” he replied, hating that she’d even asked.
