by Sarah Turtle
“Probably, but I’d rather take my chances with the ditch, than have to deal with Griffin.”
“If you stop by after three o’clock he’ll be gone. That is, if you don’t mind having to deal with me?”
“Maybe I’ll stop by if I have time tomorrow…” Willa drifted off, not wanting to commit to something that she would regret later.
Brynn’s fingers wrapped around Willa’s hand. “Your dad had a membership to the gym, he had a locker there, and you should be the one to come empty out his possessions from it.”
While she was grateful that Brynn hadn’t brought up anything regarding the accident twenty years ago, to talk about her father with the one other person who cared about him as much as she did was just as difficult of a conversation to have. She was well aware that her father had maintained a close relationship with Brynn over the years, but he kept any information about it to himself, because she had asked him not to interfere with trying to mend any fences between the two of them. Willa had been absolutely sure that Brynn never wanted to see her again, so she assumed that it was pointless to put her father in between them. A huge reason why Griffin, Brynn, and Willa had become such great friends as children was because Willa didn’t have a mother and the twins didn’t have a father. When they all came together, there weren’t as many missing parts to their families.
Willa closed her eyes, not wanting to fall apart on the side of the road without the option of being able to walk away if she wanted to. Brynn respected her silence and held her hand until Shannon pulled up in her vehicle and lent her support to get Willa on her feet.
The instant Willa’s hand separated from Brynn’s, she missed the touch of Brynn’s fingers covering hers. It caused her to flash back to the moment when she last saw Brynn laying on the concrete, soaking wet, and reaching for Willa’s hand. She had tried, even with a bloody head injury, to inch her way to Brynn’s side, but Griffin had blocked her from getting any closer.
The same feeling resurfaced now as Shannon whisked her away to the SUV and buckled her into the seat. As they pulled away from the side of the road, Willa pressed her forehead against the window and mouthed the words, “thank you,” to Brynn.
Chapter Ten
That was quite possibly the most embarrassing thing that could ever happen to me,” Willa groaned from the Adirondack chair as she looked toward the ocean from Shannon’s patio. “I mean, seriously, I rammed right into her.”
Megan swatted at the smoke billowing up from the grill and then poked a temperature gage into the center of one of the thick steaks that she had flipped. “I think some people would call that fate, my dear.”
“If that’s fate, then whoever is running my life has a very twisted sense of humor. It’s fortunate that she didn’t get hurt in this accident. I’m pretty sure that if she did, Laurel Cove would kick me out and condemn me as an official endangerment to the town.”
Megan tried to suppress a grin. “It did bring you two together again, even if the chance meeting wasn’t a graceful one by any means.”
Willa folded her arms across her chest in protest. “There are a million other ways that I would have preferred to that particular instance, though.”
“The real question is, would you have had the nerve enough to approach her on your own before your time on the island was up?”
“Ugh, you’re right. I wouldn’t have, but allow me to sulk about it for a little while, will you?” Willa stuck out her bottom lip and glared at the beautiful view.
“I grant you permission to be as grumpy as you want now, but as soon as we finish off this bottle of wine, there had better be a smile on that face of yours.” Megan refilled Willa’s glass and gave her a wink before taking her place next to the grill again. “You wanted your steak well done, right?”
“Yes, please, I’ve seen enough blood for one day.”
The screen door slid open and Shannon emerged from inside the house. “Speaking of blood, you need to start following the doctor’s orders and get that leg raised.” Shannon lifted Willa’s leg up and pushed a hassock with a pillow under it, before setting it back down.
Willa opened her mouth to spit out a witty comment about how there should be lines drawn between doctor time and friend time, but before she could, an ice pack was planted firmly on her knee over the thick layer of gauze covering the stitches. “Thanks for coming to my rescue, again.”
“You’re welcome, but you should be thanking Brynn for the last one. Without her, I highly doubt you would have called me to help you.”
Willa turned her face to hide a sheepish look.
“So, you’ve caught on to her stubborn streak already, huh?” Megan chimed in from across the patio.
Shannon passed by Megan and patted her shoulder in agreement, carrying an armful of plates and silverware. “She’s just used to being independent, but eventually she’ll catch on to the idea of relying on her friends when she needs us,” she said, purposefully loud enough for Willa to hear.
“I can hear you talking about me, but you’re both right, and I’m willing to toast to that.” Willa raised her glass above her head. Shannon and Megan followed her lead and they all finished off the wine in their glasses.
“It’s time to pop open a new bottle, because dinner is served, ladies,” Shannon announced.
Willa rose from her seat, holding her leg as still as possible. She was lucky that the cut was just below her knee so that she wouldn’t tear the stitches every time she bent it. Shannon had threatened her with the prospect of crutches if that had been the case, and that was enough to scare her into taking it easy for a while, until it had time to heal properly.
The conversation started light during dinner, but the three women took the opportunity to get to know one another better. “Do you think you’ll have any more children there, mamma bear?” Willa asked Megan.
Megan finished chewing a bite of salad. “One was plenty. I’m definitely done, but I wouldn’t trade her for anything. She’s the one accomplishment that I’m most proud of in my life.”
Willa plopped another skewer onto Shannon’s plate to replace the empty stick that she had just tossed into the trash. “What about you, any plans for a family?”
“I’m too busy taking care of everyone else to have kids of my own, but I wouldn’t mind settling down with someone if the right man came along.”
“Those are impossible to find.” Megan shook her head in disgust. “Any babies on the horizon for Ms. Barton?”
Willa crinkled up her nose. “Babies and writing are never a good combination. My fellow authors who tried it don’t recommend it.”
“What if you’re with someone who does the child rearing while you focus on your career?” Shannon inquired.
“As progressive as our society claims to be, most men don’t want to play housewife while their spouse is off earning a living.”
“True, but as far as I can tell, you tend to only date women,” Megan commented with a sly grin.
The statement that Megan posed was not something that Willa was prepared to discuss. She had always known heading into press interviews what might come up and how to respond to the more personal questions. Mostly she could get away with a vague reply, or better yet, to divert the question in a different direction, but these were her new friends and they deserved a more honest answer. “It’s true; all of my relationships after Griffin have been with females. To be honest, I should have been with Brynn back then and not Griff, but I can’t change the past. All of my current relationships have thus far been short lived, to say the least. I’ve definitely not found Ms. Right yet.”
“So, it wasn’t a rumor; you did date that director from your latest movie?” Megan asked.
“Yes, she and I were together for a little while, but her work kept her mostly on the west coast and with me being based in New York, the distance separated us too often.”
“But you’re not openly out to the public, are you? I mean, the media played it out to be a big Hollywoo
d secret.”
“No, and it’s really just because of what happened here that’s keeping me in the closet. I either look like a straight woman who was angry at her lesbian friend and caused her to become a paraplegic, or I’m the closeted lesbian who cheated on her boyfriend with his sister, or I am a bisexual who went after her twin best friends and ruined both of their lives. No matter how you look at it, I come off to the people who know my history as a horrible person.” Willa pushed around a tomato in her salad bowl. “I long for the day when I can come out to my fans as a proud lesbian, though.”
Shannon worked at cutting a slice of steak with the precision of a doctor. “Hopefully you can work towards resolving some of those misconceptions while you’re in Laurel Cove so that things will be easier for you when you go back home.”
“It would be a miracle if I could accomplish all that, but what really matters is if I can find a way to apologize to Brynn.”
“How did she react to seeing you this afternoon? Did she give you any indication that she didn’t want to see you again?” Megan asked.
“No, just the opposite, actually. She invited me to the gym to get some of my father’s possessions from his locker.”
“Well, that’s a good thing, right?”
“I suppose, but she was almost too nice. Our conversation fell into place, like when we were teenagers.”
“Brynn has had twenty years to come to terms with her injuries. Often times guilt is more difficult to let go of than blame,” Shannon added with an empathetic tone.
“Thank you for your kind advice. You’ve filled in nicely in the absence of the psychologist that I should be seeing.”
Shannon gave Willa a look of a child that has done something wrong, but then promptly softened into the expression of a compassionate friend. “I’ve had to take my fair share of psych classes in college.”
After dinner, Megan insisted on taking over the job of cleaning up on her own, because Shannon had offered up her house for their gathering and she treated Willa as if she had just undergone major surgery. Willa gave in after Shannon tossed another fresh ice pack at her, along with a very stern look.
While Megan disappeared into the house to wash dishes, Shannon sat on one side of a long wooden porch swing and Willa took a spot on the other side. She extended her injured leg out over the armrest to keep it elevated and avoid potential nagging from her doctor friend. They glided back and forth and Willa reached down to her waist to loosen the string on her linen pants. She wished that she had packed more pairs of the free-flowing pants in her luggage, as she now pulled the fabric gingerly away from the site of her wound. She didn’t have many other clothing options to choose from during her healing process.
They both appreciated the peaceful atmosphere of the summer sounds of the coast for a considerable amount of time. Willa had almost forgotten that she wasn’t alone as her eyes wandered deep in solace up at the clouds, until Shannon voiced her concern. “Are you worrying about how tomorrow will go with Brynn?”
Willa blinked out of her daze and tilted her head so that she could give her attention to Shannon. “Some, but if I were to accidentally run into Griffin, I was also trying to figure out how to apologize for holding him back from college.”
Shannon sucked in a deep breath and puffed out her cheeks as she slowly released it. “You’re referring to the rumor that you, along with everyone else in this town, believe that Griffin stayed behind to help take care of his sister.”
Willa narrowed her eyes and turned so that she was close enough to whisper in Shannon’s ear. “What do you mean by rumor?”
Shannon’s brow furrowed and her head ever so slightly shifted from side to side. “He’s technically a patient at the clinic, Willa; I can’t divulge confidential information. The important thing is that you know that you are not to blame for him not going to college.” With that, she left the swing and Willa swaying in it at an awkward angle with legs splayed in two different directions.
The concentrated area of pain below her knee began to dissipate as the new information about her past left her feeling as if she had walked face first into a cement pillar. So many thoughts and questions rushed through her mind that it didn’t even register to her that someone was calling out her name. She nearly jumped out of her own skin when Megan’s face appeared in her line of vision.
“Oh, sweetie, we need to hurry through dessert so that you can go get some much-needed rest.” Megan held out her arm to help Willa to her feet. “Maybe Doctor Martin can hook you up with something to help knock you out, if you know what I mean.” Megan winked after, and looked to make sure that Shannon hadn’t overheard her comment.
Shannon placed a pie with perfectly golden crust and little wisps of steam escaping from the holes in the top of it in the center of the table. Megan rubbed her palms together and licked her lips.
“The Anchor makes some of the best pies in town. What are you so excited about?” Shannon asked.
“It’s true what they say, food always tastes better when somebody else cooks it.”
Shannon lifted a slice out and placed it in front of Megan first, because she was already picking off the edges of crust that curved over the sides of the dish. Megan’s eyes widened at the sight of the plump berries and thick red juice that flowed out of the perfectly cut triangle. “No way! Are these strawberries from Mr. Carter’s garden?” She was bouncing on the edge of her seat like a child ready for recess.
Shannon let out a mischievous grin but didn’t answer Megan.
“Is old man Carter still alive? That guy was ancient back when we were kids,” Willa wondered, not having seen him yet since she had returned to the Cove. “All I remember is that he yelled when anyone went near his garden but he was too slow to chase us off because of the bunions on his feet.”
“I may have made a trade for free medical care in exchange for some berries.”
The fork on its way to Megan’s mouth stopped in mid motion and hovered just below her lips. Her face swept over in a yellowish green tint and the corners of her mouth turned down. Shannon and Willa looked at one another with bites of pie in their mouths. They both knew that it tasted as delicious as it looked so they couldn’t figure out what her problem was.
“Please tell me you washed your hands before picking the berries, after touching his nasty feet.”
The three women erupted into a round of laughter that continued long until the sun dipped down, so low that the chill of the air had them rubbing their arms for warmth.
Chapter Eleven
Typically, the first priority in Willa’s life was to focus on her current writing project, whether it was a novel or movie script. Very few other aspects of her life came first over the fictional lives of her characters. Ever since her arrival in Laurel Cove, though, her creativity was taking a backseat to everything else happening on the island.
Willa stood in the center of her father’s living room and, as she spun in a circle, trying to decide on what she should do next, she concluded that she hadn’t really accomplished anything at all as far as preparing the house to be sold. The cardboard box that she had placed on the coffee table was still empty after debating what to pack in it for over an hour. For some reason, the objects only seemed at place here in this home. In any other environment, she feared that they would lose the sense of purpose that her father had given them. In a box, they would become nothing more than a distant memory.
After another unsuccessful thirty minutes, she threw her hands up in the air and drove to the mainland to shop for some new outfits that accommodated her stitches. A little boutique offered some summer dresses that she purchased, but not so much in the way of pants. She figured that a sporting goods store was a good place to get some loose fitting sweat pants, which she wouldn’t dare be caught wearing while in the city, but she knew that no one would give a second look at her on the island.
When the ship’s wheel clock that she had taken down and then promptly placed back on the wall showed
that it was almost three o’clock, Willa decided that it was time to drive to Mussels by The Sea. She hadn’t officially agreed to meet Brynn, but she couldn’t bear the thought of Brynn waiting for her and the disappointment that she might have when she didn’t show up. Besides, emptying out her father’s locker would be one tiny step in the direction of being able to complete bigger tasks ahead of her.
The gym had been newly renovated inside and had been completely modernized compared to what it was like when Willa had last been there. The floors were composed of a hard rubber substance, which dipped in slightly with every step she took. The main section that she entered into was comprised of a large room packed with various exercise equipment. A few random people were scattered around the room, going through the motions of their workout routines, but Brynn was nowhere to be seen, so Willa wandered around, trying to look like she belonged there.
She stood below one of the elaborate machines and pulled down on a handle that was attached by a cable to a stack of weights. When they didn’t budge at all, she used her other hand to pull on the second handle. Her face scrunched up and she grunted while putting most of her body weight into moving the metal blocks that they were attached to. A strained smile broke out on her lips as two blocks separated from the rest, leaving a thin space just wide enough for a little light to shine between them.
“Easy there, tiger, you don’t want to hurt yourself.”
With a loud clang of metal on metal, the cables that the handles were attached to flung wildly in the air when they slid out of her grip. Willa held her hands up to block any potential whacks to the head that she might get from the handles, until they settled back into place.
A hearty chuckle bellowed out as Brynn watched from a few feet away, her arms crossed under her chest and a grin spread across her face. Willa glared back at her with a scowl, as Brynn scanned the length of her body up and down, not attempting to disguise the fact that she was doing so. “I can tell that you probably have a membership to some elite fitness center in New York.” Brynn paused and placed a finger to her lips while she analyzed the situation. “I would put money down that you go religiously every single day, but that you’ve never tried any equipment other than the treadmill and possibly the elliptical, if there aren’t too many other people around to make you embarrassed to use it.”