Driftwood Lane

by Denise Hunter

  It was only when she saw Noelle standing by the open dishwasher that she realized the girl was still in her dress. “You should probably change out of your pretty dress.”

  Noelle looked down as if just realizing she was still wearing it.

  “On second thought, how about if you unload and I load?”

  Noelle shrugged and began removing glass cereal bowls, stacking them on the counter.

  Meridith turned on the tap and waited for the water to warm. When it did, she began scrubbing the dirtiest dishes and filling them with water to soak.

  She had to broach the topic delicately or Noelle would go ballistic. Maybe if she shared from personal experience.

  “You did very well with your one-iron yesterday. Your swing is coming along.”

  Noelle gave a barely perceptible nod as she placed the bowls in the cupboard.

  “I worked at a golf course as a caddy when I was your age. That’s where I learned a lot about golf.”

  “What’s a caddy?”

  “You know, those people who follow the golfers around, carry their bags and what-not.”

  “Sounds boring.”

  “It was interesting. There was this seventeen-year-old boy who worked in the pro-shop.” Meridith sighed. “Jeremy Peyton. Had these golden curls and a smile that lit up my world.”

  Noelle flashed her a disbelieving look.

  “What—you don’t think I think about things like boys? I am engaged, you know.”

  “It’s hard to imagine you were ever thirteen.”

  “It wasn’t that long ago.” Meridith scowled, but Noelle wasn’t looking. “He was so cute. I remember wearing my most flattering clothes to work because I wanted to impress him. Oh, I knew he was too old for me, but he was so gorgeous, and he called me Peanut.”

  Noelle gave a wry grin. “Peanut? And you liked that?”

  “I liked the attention. I didn’t get much at home.”

  “Why not?” Noelle pulled the silverware basket.

  “Oh, well, my dad wasn’t there, and my mom was kind of . . .” How to put it? “Kind of sick.” Meridith shook her head. She was getting off subject. “Anyway, I liked thinking about Jeremy, daydreaming about him. I used to pretend he was my boyfriend. Only in my head, of course—I’d have been mortified if he’d known!”

  “That’s weird.”

  “Not really. It’s normal for girls to have crushes on older guys.

  Happens all the time.”

  “If you say so.”

  Meridith rinsed a cup and placed it in the top rack, then faced Noelle, leaning against the sink ledge. “I know we haven’t gotten off on the best foot, Noelle, but I hope you know you can talk to me. About anything you want . . . even crushes.”

  Noelle’s forehead wrinkled. “I don’t have any crushes.”

  She was going to have to dig. It needed to be done, with Jake in the house and the kids off school all week. “I thought maybe you had a crush on Jake.”

  Noelle’s hand stopped midair, her fist clutching a cluster of forks. Her lips parted, her eyes widened.

  Then her whole face screwed up. “Gross! He’s my—he’s—old !”

  It wasn’t the reaction she’d expected. Was Noelle that good an actress? “He’s hardly old.”

  “Not to you.”

  Touché.

  Noelle stuffed the forks in the drawer.

  “Well, you were in his room earlier, and I thought—”

  “Well, you thought wrong. Gross! ”

  “Okay, okay, I get it.”

  “We were having a conversation.”

  “His bedroom is not an appropriate place for that.”

  “Whatever.”

  “Noelle, I need to be clear on this. You’re not to be alone with Jake or any male guests in the house. It’s for your own protection.”

  Noelle stuck a bundle of spoons in the drawer, then the knives.

  Her brows pulled together, and her lips were a tight line, pressed firmly together.

  “Is that clear?”

  Noelle slammed the drawer and tossed the basket into the dishwasher. “Crystal.” She turned and charged up the steps, her dress billowing behind her.

  Twenty-six

  The three guys at the check-in desk, young and athletic looking, didn’t resemble their usual guests. Meridith wondered why they’d chosen a quiet bed-and-breakfast instead of a happening hotel. But maybe every place was booked for spring break. Oh well, she could use the income. Three rooms were three rooms.

  “Here are your keys.” She handed them to Sean, who’d made the reservation. “Is there a particular time you’d like breakfast, since you’re our only guests at the moment?”

  The long-haired one laughed. “I’ll be sleeping till lunchtime.”

  “Don’t worry about breakfast,” Sean said. He wore a University of Massachusetts ball cap and a polite smile.

  “Speak for yourselves,” the stocky one said. “I’m a growing boy.”

  Meridith smiled. “I’ll put out a small buffet around ten and keep it warm. That sound all right?”

  “Perfect, thanks,” Sean said.

  The guys headed up the stairs noisily with their duffel bags. She was glad the kids were on break, so she didn’t have to worry about their sleep being disturbed by rowdy and possibly drunk college guys. She was doubly glad she’d had the doors installed.

  Jake appeared at the base of the stairs in fresh clothes, his hair damp on his polo collar. “Young ones,” he said referring to the guests he’d passed.

  “I hope you’re a heavy sleeper. I think they plan on keeping late nights.”

  “I’ll manage.”

  Meridith tidied the desk. Dinner had been quiet with Noelle at Lexi’s house. Meridith had taken the children to the cemetery earlier, and it had lowered Noelle’s spirits even more. When Lexi called, it seemed like a good distraction.

  “I was thinking . . .” Jake said.

  “Uh-oh.”

  He gave a little half grin. “The electric will be done in a few days, and we agreed I’d be finished then. But some of the other projects wouldn’t cost much.” He nodded toward the fireplace. “All I need is some mortar, a few stones, and some time, and I can get that fireplace working.”

  He listed a host of other projects, but Meridith’s mind was off and wandering. With her worries over Noelle and the havoc Jake created inside her, she was anticipating his departure. Not anticipating, exactly. Just desperately needing it to happen. For her own peace of mind.

  He seemed eager to stay, and she dreaded turning him down, but extending his time was out of the question. The furnace and the electric would be done. Those were the two biggies.

  “Jake, I appreciate what you’re saying, but I think it’s time we parted ways.”

  The relaxed grin fell from his lips. The light in his eyes was extinguished as if she’d doused his hope with a fire hose. More than just disappointment, he seemed surprised.

  “I’d love to have the work completed, and you’ve done a fine job, but I really don’t have the money, and I’m eager to—to move on.” She twisted the ring on her finger, then wondered if the action was telling.

  “Oh.”

  “I hope you—”

  Max and Ben entered the front door, arguing over who got the video game first. While Meridith settled the dispute, Jake slipped quietly out the door.

  When the house was quiet again, she picked up the current issue of Yesterday’s Island and sat in the armchair, browsing through it. A photo in the events section caught her eye. It was a line of antique cars, decorated with daffodils, driving down a cobblestone street.

  She remembered the photos of Noelle and her dad in the Galaxie. Meridith took the paper to her room, where she opened her closet door and knelt on the floor. She flipped through Noelle’s album, pausing at the parade pictures. In one of them Noelle was preschool age, in the others a little older. There were seven of them, each taken a different year.

  Meridith knew the Da
ffodil Festival was approaching. She had a sudden recollection of something Ben had said about decorating the Galaxie, and it all came together. It was a family tradition, and it seemed to be particularly a tradition Noelle shared with her father.

  Was that why the girl had been depressed lately? Because the parade was coming, and it was one more thing she’d lost? Did she feel like she was losing her dad all over again?

  Noelle hadn’t needed a trip to the cemetery this afternoon. She needed a way to keep her father’s memory alive. Meridith wondered if she’d like to participate in the parade, or if that would only make her sadder. There was only one way to find out. Noelle called later and asked to spend the night with Lexi, and since Meridith had become familiar with her parents she felt safe saying yes.

  It was a restless night’s sleep. The guests stumbled in after midnight, and then Max had a nightmare at three o’clock.

  When morning arrived, Meridith forced herself from bed to prepare eggs, bacon, and biscuits, which sat in the warmers until they were inedible. At one o’clock, she scraped the food into the trash, then told the children to grab their jackets. She needed out of the house, and the day was warming to a sunny sixty-five degrees.

  The kids had wanted to show Meridith the other side of the island, so they decided to ride their bikes over.

  “I wish we could take Piper,” Max said as they wheeled their bikes from the garage.

  “Why can’t we?” Meridith kicked up the stand and straddled the bike.

  “She’s too well-trained on the electric fence,” Noelle said.

  “Ever since Mom trained her, she’s afraid to leave the yard,” Max said.

  “What happens when you take her out?”

  Ben shrugged. “She just freezes. Won’t walk or nothing.”

  “Anything,” Noelle said.

  So they left Piper and took the Surfside bike path, riding in single file. The sun on her skin and wind in her hair felt good. The boys had worn their trunks, though Meridith wasn’t sure about letting them in the frigid water. She’d brought a couple beach towels she’d found in the upstairs closet.

  By the time the bike path opened to the beach, Meridith’s muscles ached. They parked their bikes and kicked off their sandals. The boys ran toward the waves, Ben’s eagerness making up for his shorter legs.

  Meridith handed Noelle a towel, spread her own, then retrieved the sunscreen and slathered it on. “Want some?”

  “We put it on before we left.”

  “We probably sweated it off.”

  Noelle shrugged, then stretched out on the towel, closing her eyes.

  Meridith planted her palms behind her and watched Max and Ben frolic in the water. So far they hadn’t gone more than ankle deep. The fresh, salty air blended with the scent of her coconut lotion in a soothing combination.

  Above them, three seagulls drifted on the wind, their cries punctuating the shush of waves crashing the shoreline.

  “Did you have fun at Lexi’s?”

  “Guess so.”

  The bike ride in the sun had made a few freckles pop out on Noelle’s nose. She looked young and small lying on the oversized beach towel.

  “The Goldmans are coming next weekend. Do you remember them? They said they come every year for the Daffodil Festival.”

  “Yeah.”

  “Ben said Mrs. Goldman helps decorate the old car in the garage for the parade?” She hoped phrasing it as a question would spark a conversation.

  “Classic.”

  “What?”

  “It’s not an old car, it’s a classic. A 1959 Ford Galaxie convertible with a V8 and a dual exhaust.”

  Meridith smiled, encouraged at the response in spite of Noelle’s irritable tone. “I have no idea what all that means.”

  When Noelle said nothing else, Meridith tried again. “It was your dad’s car?”

  “Mm-hmm.”

  “Why does Mrs. Goldman decorate it?”

  Noelle sighed hard, as if responding to a pestering preschooler. “There’s a parade every year at festival time and the Goldmans come for it, and Mrs. Goldman arranges flowers and stuff for her work so she helps decorate the car.”

  Meridith tried to ignore the girl’s Are you happy now? tone. “Oh, I see.”

  She watched Max wade into the water to his thighs. When a wave hit his belly, he squealed and ran for shore. Ben, who hadn’t dared to venture in past his ankles, laughed.

  Meridith considered how to continue the subject of the parade. “Would you and your brothers want to participate in the parade?”

  The wind blew a strand of Noelle’s hair across her cheek, and she smoothed it back without opening her eyes. “It wouldn’t be the same.” Her voice all but disappeared under the shush of a wave.

  “That’s true. But it’s kind of sad to let traditions die.”

  They’d already lost so much, and this was their last chance to participate, though Noelle didn’t know that. It might be cathartic to carry on this one last time.

  Noelle blinked at Meridith, shading the sun with her hand. “I guess we could. The boys might like it.”

  It was good to hear a splash of hope in her voice. Meridith smiled. “All right then, let’s do it.”

  “Oh, I forgot. I think something’s wrong with the Galaxie. Last time Dad tried to start it, he couldn’t. I don’t think he got it fixed.”

  So much for that idea. Unless she could get it repaired before the parade. Her bank account back home was dwindling quickly. Meridith knew nothing about cars, but she had a feeling repairing a classic wasn’t going to be cheap. But Noelle had sounded so hopeful, and now her face had fallen again.

  “Maybe we can get it fixed. Let me look into it, okay?”

  “Really?”

  “We have a week and a half. Maybe it’s something simple, just a twist of a wrench or something.” Who said she wasn’t Pollyanna?

  “Okay.” Noelle sprang upright, then scrambled to her feet. “I’m going in.”

  She watched the girl go, sand spraying behind her feet, and a satisfied smile tugged Meridith’s lips.

  “Noelle said you wanted to get the Galaxie running.”

  Meridith jumped at Jake’s voice. She hadn’t heard the screen door.

  “You walk like an Indian.”

  “You were lost in thought. The Galaxie’s not running?”

  She tucked her feet under the Adirondack chair and looked out over the harbor where evening had turned the sky pink and purple. She’d tried to start the car when they’d returned from their ride.

  “Something’s wrong with it. You wouldn’t know a good mechanic, would you? Someone that wouldn’t break the bank?”

  “I could look at it.” He perched on the edge of the chair next to her. Too close.

  She raised her brows at him. “You fix cars too?”

  He shrugged. “I’m good with my hands.” The arrogance was back. The cocky half grin, the bold stare.

  She was sure he’d meant nothing by the comment. Still, heat climbed her neck and settled in her cheeks. She was glad for the dim lighting.

  “Give me the keys, and I’ll try and start it.”

  Maybe it was another ploy to stay. It would save money, maybe a lot, but was it worth it? “Already did that. It just clicks.”

  “Probably a dead battery.”

  “That would be cheap, right?”

  “Depends. Old cars can be tricky, and if you take it to a repair shop, sometimes they don’t know what they’re doing. Unless it’s a specialty shop, and then they’ll charge you an arm and a—”

  “Okay, I get it. How long would it take?”

  “If it’s just the battery, have it done tomorrow.”

  “What about the fuse box?”

  “All set to go in.”

  One day on the car, one on the electric, then he’d be out of her hair. “Two more days?”

  “Eager to see me go?” That knowing grin.

  He did things to her insides, and he knew it. Meridith
pressed her lips together and watched the sea grass bow against a breeze.

  “Two days and you’ll be rid of me,” Jake agreed. “So long as it’s just the battery.”

  Twenty-seven

  Meridith woke to a fumbling noise. She opened her eyes and glanced at the clock. Twelve fifteen. The college guys were back. A loud laugh—Sean’s, she thought—echoed through the hall. There was no way Jake was sleeping through that.

  Meridith turned over and pushed down the covers. It was unseasonably warm, good weather for spring break. She and the kids had gone for another bike ride, this time to Sconset. They’d brought a picnic for lunch on the beach, then enjoyed ice cream cones from Siasconset Market before their ride back.

  Stephen had called when they were on the bike path, but she’d let it roll over to voice mail and then forgot to call until it was too late.

  Good news was, the Galaxie was fixed. When they returned from Sconset, Jake was closing the hood and the car was purring.

  “You fixed it,” she said.

  “Needed a charge and some fluids, was all. She’s good as new.”

  Jake had backed the car from the garage, then they’d scrounged up a water hose and some buckets and scrubbed until the aqua paint sparkled. Noelle had been all smiles, especially when Meridith asked if they wanted to take a spin around the block. They piled in the car, Jake put the convertible top down, and Meridith took the wheel.

  Now, as she turned over again, the image of Jake, elbow on the open window, hair blowing in the breeze, taunted her. Tomorrow was his last day. He said he expected to finish the fuse box by evening, and there was no reason he couldn’t move out then. No reason at all.

  She wondered why, when she lay in bed at night, her thoughts turned to Jake. The realization that she didn’t daydream about Stephen pricked her with guilt. It was only because Jake was a thorn in her side.

  But soon he’d be gone, and everything would return to normal.

  Normal. She didn’t know what that was anymore. Upheaval had become a way of life. She hadn’t liked it as a child, and she didn’t like it now. But when Jake left, it would be better. Then when she returned to St. Louis, everything would be okay. The kids would settle in and make friends, and she and Stephen could plan their wedding.