Maybe.
Into the phone, I said, "Do you want to come out and see for yourself?" I'd said it absently. But now, I couldn't wait for another pair of eyes to confirm I wasn't going crazy. Softly, Iadded, "Please? I mean…I could really use a second opinion here."
She didn't hesitate. "Hang on. I'll be there in five minutes."
Relief surged through me. It would take Tessa longer than five, but I wasn't about to quibble. "Thanks…I'll be waiting."
On my own ride over here, I'd kept stopping to practice what I might say. Most of it had seemed pathetic, filled with all kinds of excuses that a city-dweller might never understand.
But now, I didn't need to worry.
Whatever I might've said, there was no one here to listen.
A seagull squawked from somewhere overhead, but otherwise, everything was quiet – peaceful, even, like nothing had ever happened here, like a whole chapter of my life had been erased overnight.
Behind me, hooves clopped and wheels crunched on gravel.
I turned to look and spotted a flatbed wagon loaded with scraps of lumber. On the bench seat behind the two horses sat two men wearing jeans and yellow construction vests. One of them was holding the reins while the other clutched a battered clipboard.
When the wagon reached my side, the guy with the clipboard asked, "You didn't spot a thermos, did you?"
With my heart in my throat, I looked around. "Actually, I don't see much of anything."
The guy holding the reins turned to the guy with the clipboard and said, "Told ya."
Mister Clipboard looked annoyed. "It doesn't hurt to check."
"So check," the other guy said. "But if we miss the barge, it'll be your ass, not mine."
The guy with the clipboard hopped off the wagon and quickly scanned the site before heading toward the remains of the dock.
I followed after him. "Hey, can you tell me what happened?"
He stopped and turned to face me. Squinting against the setting sun, he replied, "Hard to say. Teddy might've grabbed it by mistake."
I shook my head. "Teddy?"
"Yeah, his is orange, too." He frowned. "Excepthisis a cheap knock-off." He puffed out his chest. "Not the real deal like mine."
Oh, for God's sake."I didn't mean with the thermos. I meant with the apartment."
He glanced around. "What apartment?"
"I mean…this was a house, right? A boathouse, with an apartment upstairs? I was here just yesterday."
And yet, it felt like a lifetime ago.
He lifted a hand to shield his eyes from the sun. "Oh,that," he said. "Demo crew finished maybe an hour ago."
I was almost too stunned to speak. "Seriously?"
He nodded. "Brought in a big team on the first ferry, did most of it by hand. Old structure came down nice and easy. Horses hauled out the big stuff, and we called it good."
I looked past him toward the empty slab. "But…isn't that kind of sudden?"
He shrugged. "Notthatsudden. The job's been on the books for weeks."
I gulped. "Weeks?"
