by Sarah Turtle
She caught a few people turning their heads, trying to get a glimpse of the woman who looked out of place, wearing designer clothing instead of what was available at the department store on the mainland, where the majority of the Cove residents shopped. The only other option was from a tiny consignment shop in which the same outfits got recycled from one generation to the next, until just about every family in the Cove had passed them around to the point of tearing at the seams.
It wasn’t out of the ordinary for the occasional tourist to veer away from the beach or the gift shop, which were the common places to visit on the island, but only locals knew the back entrance to the pub. Willa managed to sneak in unrecognized because of how fast she passed through the deck area. Instead of stopping to take in the sights of the ocean water flowing just below the boards beneath her feet, or the rows of boats tied up along the docks, she averted her eyes down and kept moving. She knew her father’s boat would be in view from the deck and that was something she had not mentally prepared herself for yet.
Thankfully, there was only one other person sitting at the bar and he looked too old and drunk to pay attention to Willa, but just to be sure, she took a seat as far away from him as possible. The bartender, a tall lanky woman with red hair, was setting a full glass of beer in front of him, so she was sure the drink would occupy him more than checking her out.
Willa didn’t even have time to register in her mind who the bartender was, when a shrill voice cut across the bar. “Willa Barton, now there’s a face I thought I’d never see again.”
Willa sunk down in her barstool and did a quick sweep of the area behind her to find that no one was there to overhear the announcement of her name. If she had been in Los Angeles, cameras would have been thrust in her face and fans would be swooping in to get an autograph. Realizing how ridiculous she must look, Willa sat up in her seat and composed herself. It was then that she recognized the woman staring at her with her hands on her hips. “Oh, Meg, we all have to go back to where we started at some point in our lives, don’t we?”
Megan leaned over the bar, spreading the upper half of her body across it to give a single armed hug and a kiss on the cheek to Willa. “Not if you become as successful as you have and can afford to stay away from the Cove.”
“Success is just a matter of opinion.”
Megan flashed Willa a doubtful look and waved her finger back and forth in an incriminating way. “Our busiest nights here are when we offer half price drinks every time your books hit the best seller list and two for one shots when your latest movie releases.”
“Damn, you throw better parties than my publisher does for me.”
Megan tossed the dishtowel she was using to dry off a glass over her shoulder and rubbed her hands together. “Your drinks are on the house tonight for all the times you missed out. What’ll it be, the usual?”
A laugh unintentionally escaped from Willa. “The usual? The last time we drank together, it was a random mixture of stolen liquor from our parents’ cabinets.”
“Do you think just because it’s been twenty years that I can’t remember the ingredients of the concoctions I came up with back then? How do you think I got my bartending skills?”
Willa smiled, happy with the playful banter between herself and someone who knew her before the rest of the world did. “My tastes have changed after years of attending cocktail parties and events. I’ll take a glass of Cabernet Sauvignon please.”
Megan set a wine glass down on the counter and poured it full for Willa. “Speaking of the big twenty, you’re going to the reunion this Saturday, right?”
Willa twirled the red liquid around in her glass with a somber feeling building within her. “I’m only in town briefly to take care of my father’s estate.”
“Oh, I’m sorry, sweetie. I got so caught up in reminiscing that I forgot about your dad passing.” Megan reached across the bar to place her hand on top of Willa’s.
Willa nodded in appreciation for the comforting touch, but she thought quickly of something to say that wouldn’t bring on the tears that so desperately wanted to fall. “I’m just glad his heart took him instead of the sea like so many other lobstermen have gone.”
“He’ll get his name up on the wall dedicated to those who made their living on their boats.” Megan motioned to the wall at the far end of the bar. The names of men and even a couple of women were inscribed on tiny golden plates. Each one had a photo of them proudly next to their respective boat.
“I have the perfect picture for you.” Willa took a long sip of her drink. “Dad loved the water so much that he refused anything I offered to him in hopes that he would retire early.”
Megan eyed the twenty-dollar bill Willa had placed on the bar when she wasn’t paying attention. “Or maybe he was too stubborn to accept something given to him.” She picked up the money, placed it in Willa’s hand, and forced her to fold her fingers closed around it. “Stubborn like his daughter.”
Willa smirked, appreciating that Megan could make the heaviness of the conversation lift into a more playful mood. During high school, Megan was always the optimistic one of the group, keeping them laughing even through finals week. It was no wonder why she ended up working at the local bar; socializing was her specialty.
The thick wooden door to the bar slammed shut, diverting Megan’s attention to the most recent customer’s needs. Willa took the opportunity to slip the twenty dollars into the glass tip jar on the counter.
Willa could hear the sound of rubber boots clomping on the hardwood floor behind her, causing the tiny hairs on the back of her neck to prickle out. When the man pulled out the stool two seats away from her, she shimmied to the far edge of her own stool and crossed her legs away from him. It wasn’t as if he was right beside her, but he was still close enough to possibly initiate a conversation she didn’t feel like starting, so she turned slightly in the opposite direction to avoid eye contact.
Megan popped the cap off a bottle of beer and set it down in front of the guy at the bar. Willa wondered if Meg ever even needed to ask anyone what they wanted. She then pictured herself stopping back in every night this week for another glass of wine until she was done with all the business she needed to complete in Laurel Cove.
Megan’s voice broke through Willa’s thoughts. “I know you’ll be busy, but it would be fun to have someone to talk to at the reunion and I know a lot of people would love to see you there.”
At the mention of the reunion, the man that Willa worked so diligently at evading turned his head and examined her through narrowed eyes. Willa could tell immediately upon a sideways glance who he was. Even with a face hidden behind a scruffy beard, and muscular stature obscured beneath a protruding beer gut, it was still easy to place him as her ex boyfriend’s best friend. Willa thought she would chance it and offer up a friendly smile, although she was quite certain that Craig wouldn’t fall for her false charm.
“Willa, huh? I’m pretty sure Griff won’t be too happy about you showing up and ruining the party.”
Willa opened her mouth to defend herself, but the words came at a loss to her. How could she possibly reply, when deep down, she believed he was right? She didn’t want to attend anyway, and she had told Megan she wasn’t going, so there was no point in bothering to convince him that she should.
Craig dug at the label of his beer bottle with a dirt-encrusted fingernail and peeled it off with a single tug. The sound of the paper tearing away from the glass made Willa’s stomach turn. At the lack of a response, he leaned in closer towards Willa and she could feel the intimidation in his hot breath. Willa gulped down the last of her drink, her insides shaking with a nervous twitch. Thankfully, Megan stepped in and extended her arm across the bar to create a barrier between them.
“Griffin doesn’t have a say as to who attends.” She worked at diffusing the issue. “I’d like to think after all these years, we’d matured enough to drop old grudges,” Megan reasoned as she removed Craig’s empty bottle from the counter and slyly
replaced it with a fresh one.
Willa had hoped he would back off and occupy himself with the drink, but instead, Craig pointed a dirty finger at her and gritted his teeth. “What she did to Brynn is unforgivable.” Although he spat his words out in rage, a glimmer of sorrow passed over his face.
“Then that’s for Brynn to decide, now isn’t it?” Megan backed her guard up slightly, but maintained a close proximity. Even though he was double her size, she looked like she was prepared to pounce on the brute if need be.
“If Brynn was my sister, I’d feel the same way,” he mumbled under his breath before downing half of the new bottle.
Megan shot Craig a warning glare, fit for an unruly child, before taking the time to uncork the wine bottle. “Well, there will be plenty of other people at the reunion to socialize with and the twins will just have to deal with it.” Megan went to refill Willa’s glass but Willa gently tapped on her hand and shook her head to refuse.
She stepped down from her barstool. “It’s okay, Meg. Craig is right. It’s best for everyone if I stay away.” Her voice cracked with defeat.
“You know where to find me if you change your mind.” Megan made a sweeping motion, encompassing the entire bar area.
Willa raised her hand to wave goodbye to Megan before rushing out of the bar.
The entire walk home, Willa continuously looked over her shoulder in anticipation of Craig following and catching up to her. She assured herself that if anything, he would only dish out a verbal attack on her. Even though she believed her ex, Griffin, and his sister, Brynn, were the only ones that had a valid reason for the vendetta against her, she held onto the irrational idea that he still had a score to settle with her. Griffin and Craig had been teammates for nearly every sport in school and she assumed they were still just as close now as they had been then.
It wasn’t until she locked herself into her father’s house that she felt safe again.
Chapter Three
Willa settled back into her childhood bedroom like an old pair of jeans. Her father had done a meticulous job of keeping it dusted and clean while somehow not disturbing any of the objects from where she had last left them. She had never really considered what had become of her old room, but she figured that when she never returned after college, he would have turned it into something functional for himself, such as a den.
It was odd and yet strangely soothing for a time capsule of her youth to surround her. Sleep overcame her swiftly after a long and emotional day, but the same horrific nightmare that plagued her repeatedly throughout the last twenty years came again now.
An eighteen-year old Willa stood facing the edge of a swimming pool, mesmerized by the water sparkling on the surface from the lights lining the inside walls of the pool. Colorful strips of lights had been strung up above, giving a whimsical atmosphere to the backyard.
Brynn came bounding in from out of nowhere with her exuberant energy and stepped in front of Willa. Willa’s face lit up with a giant smile as Brynn handed her a red plastic cup with who knew what sort of mixture of alcohol in it, but she took a giant gulp anyway and handed it back.
Despite Willa’s attempt at letting loose and partying, Brynn had always been able to see beyond her outer layer and pinpoint her true feelings. “You’ve been quiet tonight.”
Even Willa couldn’t figure out what was off about that night. “I just can’t believe it’s really over.”
“Over? Our lives are just starting now.” Brynn raised her cup above her head in triumph as if she just won another big game from the list of sports she played.
Willa grinned at the enthusiasm of her best friend’s attitude and playfully punched her arm. She had put what she thought was a good amount of power behind it, but Brynn barely noticed the tap to her well defined arm that was already quite tan despite summer just beginning. If it had been the other way around, Willa would be nursing a bruise to her arm by morning.
“You know what I mean. We’ve all been accepted to different colleges. This is the last time all of us will be together.” Willa looked around the backyard of Brynn and Griffin’s house, where mostly everyone from their graduating class was scattered about.
“Our schools are only one state apart from each other. We can still meet up on weekends, right?” Brynn was the one that looked concerned now, and Willa wondered if the same sense of loss was setting in with her too.
Willa grabbed at the base of Brynn’s shirt and twisted it in her hand with a tight grip, as if trying to hold onto what mattered most in her world. “Of course we will, and no matter where life takes us, you and Griffin will always be family to me.”
“Griff will be on the other side of the country. Have you two talked about whether you’ll stay together?”
Willa looked across to the opposite side of the pool where Griffin sat on top of a picnic table, laughing at something one of his friends had said. Being born only a few minutes apart from his twin, Griffin and Brynn couldn’t possibly look any more alike than they did with their piercing blue eyes and shiny dark hair. When he noticed Willa was staring at him, he flashed a cocky grin, tossed the baseball in his hand up in the air, and made a show of catching it behind his back. “We haven’t discussed it, but I think it goes unsaid that neither one of us wants to deal with a long-distance relationship. To be honest with you, I think he only asked me to be his girlfriend because he was afraid one of his obnoxious friends might try to date me.”
Willa reached for Brynn’s cup and took a long sip of the drink. When she went to hand it back to her, she swayed slightly and almost fell to the side. Brynn put a hand on Willa’s waist to help steady her.
Brynn let out a deep throaty laugh. “Easy there. You do want to remember some of this night, don’t you?”
“Ha, yeah.” Willa grinned and ran a hand through her blond curls. She watched as Brynn’s lips curled up into a slight smile at the simple motion she just made, but she caught a glimmer of sadness in her eyes as she looked down into her cup. “Hey, what’s wrong?”
“There’s something I’ve been wanting to tell you for a long time now, but I didn’t want to hurt Griff. But, now that I know you two aren’t planning on a future together, maybe I can finally stop hiding how I feel.”
Willa’s shoulders dropped in unease. She had never seen her friend open up about anything on an emotional level. Willa had been the one to express every thought in her mind out loud, but Brynn was the rock who seemed to float through adolescence so easily. “Please, Brynn, don’t hold anything back.”
Brynn took a step forward, closing what little space there already was between them, and placed one strong arm around Willa’s waist to pull their bodies together. Willa wasn’t sure what was happening until she felt Brynn’s lips press firmly against hers with a surge of unsureness and need.
Willa’s mind swirled with confusion and when she opened her eyes, the view over Brynn’s shoulder was that of her boyfriend with an expression of pure rage.
Willa’s arms extended straight out in front of her with a power she never knew she had in her and pushed directly into Brynn’s chest. Willa had perceived them to be closer to the pool than they were. The gut-wrenching crack as Brynn’s back hit the concrete edge of the pool, followed by the sound of Brynn splashing into the water, was always what woke Willa from the dream.
Willa sat upright in the small bed, grasping onto the comforter with white knuckles. She couldn’t tell if the scream she heard was from someone in the dream or a sound that she herself had just made. Her sweat soaked T-shirt clung to her chest, so she tugged at the collar in hopes that it would make it easier for her to take a breath.
She reached out and spun the tiny knob a few times to turn on the lamp on the nightstand. The light from it cast a soft glow that illuminated a picture frame sitting next to the lamp. She picked up the photograph and stared down at it through tear-filled eyes. The image that stared back at her was of Brynn and Griffin both in their respective softball and baseball uniforms. She s
at between them, an arm around each of their necks and a thick novel in her lap. It made a smile skirt around her mouth amidst the sadness, to be reminded of how a bookworm could find a companionship with a couple of athletes. The bonds she shared with them since elementary school had never been duplicated with anyone in adulthood and it pained her to know she was the cause of severing their friendship.
Willa yearned for the night to come when she could stay in the dream just a little bit longer. The actual events that occurred after the deafening splash, all the way up until the next morning, were absent from her memory. There were flashes of images from the unaccounted for gap of time that came to her randomly, such as falling to her knees and feeling blood dripping down her face. She could also clearly recall Griffin jumping in and pulling Brynn’s limp body out of the pool. The one thing that hurt the most and remained distinctly vivid in her mind, though, was Griffin’s blood curdling yell towards her, to stay away from Brynn.
Willa dropped the photograph face down on the nightstand and rushed across the hall to the bathroom. She stood at the sink, with bare feet cold against the tile floor, and splashed water over her face, trying to wash away the visions. Her trembling hand turned the faucet off and after wiping the droplets of water away with a towel, she stared at the reflection of herself in the mirror. The last time she stood in here in this very same position, she had made a decision.
The two people that had mattered the most to her refused to see her, or so Griffin had made that clear every time she tried to visit the hospital. The others in her life didn’t know what to think of Willa. Her father felt bad for her, but at the time was more worried about the potential legal ramifications of the incident, which Brynn thankfully declined bringing about. The rest of the small town spread rumors, which made Willa out to be a horrible drunk who cheated on her high school sweetheart and then tried to kill his twin sister. After a week of enduring the agony of being an outcast in her own town, Willa chose to run away from it all.