by Sarah Turtle
The woman didn’t appear to be paying attention to her as she eyed the activity near the front door. “The hors d’oeuvres have arrived. I do hope there’s something sweet in there.” She took off fast despite her feeble legs, which looked barely strong enough to hold her up, in the direction of someone carrying a stack of trays.
A few locks of red hair bounced out from behind the containers and Willa rushed over to help take a couple of layers off the pile in Megan’s arms. She tried her best to ignore the fact that the old woman was lifting the corner up on one of the trays to sneak a cookie out from under it, before she could find a place to set them down. Megan motioned towards the dining room with her nose and Willa hurried to the table when she noticed that people from all over were now flocking towards them to help themselves to a snack.
“Where did you get all of this?” Willa asked as she removed the covers off trays filled with deli meats, slices of cheese, vegetable assortments, and tiny desserts.
“I had them made up at The Anchor when Shannon mentioned that she was having a gathering at her house. People expect snacks at these things.”
“There is so much food here. Make sure that you put the cost of these on my tab at the restaurant.”
Megan waved off Willa’s request as if it were not important. “Don’t be silly.”
Willa furrowed her brow and spoke in a stern voice, “I’m not kidding, Meg; I’d better see the full amount on my bill.”
“I promise,” she said with a defiant glare.
“Something tells me you’re just trying to appease me, but either way, I’m reimbursing you for all of this.” Willa reached for a brownie, but before she could pick it up, Megan slapped her hand away. Willa looked at her with wide eyes and an open mouth.
Megan pulled out a square package, neatly wrapped in brown paper and secured with a piece of twine wound around it, and handed it to Willa. “I made you a sandwich because I figured that you probably haven’t eaten anything all day.”
“How do you seem to know me so well?”
“Oh hon, this would be a difficult day for anyone in your situation.”
“That’s true, but your friendship has been a blessing throughout all of this.”
Chapter Seventeen
With all of the people still lingering at Shannon’s house, Willa found that she was spending most of her time in the presence of Megan, which was not part of her plan to get to know people who her father associated with. When she noticed a man around her father’s age sitting alone at the patio table, she brought out a couple of glasses of ice water and joined him. The man tipped the rim of his ball cap in thanks and pushed a plate of cookies in her direction.
“I think I have room for one more of these before I burst,” she said, reaching for a cookie.
The man took one for himself and then a sly grin crossed over his lips. “Don’t tell my wife about this if you see her around, or she might not let me have a piece of her apple pie when we get home.”
“Your secret is safe with me, especially because I have no idea who your wife is.”
The man pointed to a woman bent over a rose bush across the yard with her nose pressed into a flower bloom. “That’s my Martha, and I’m John.”
“As in the Bennetts? You own the Sea Turtle Inn.”
“That’s us. Do you remember delivering lobsters to our inn with your dad when you were just a wee one?”
“Sort of, but mostly I recall playing the grand piano in the entryway of the inn.”
“Yup, and when it was time to leave, but you wanted to play Twinkle Twinkle Little Star over and over again, Henry sat on the bench and waited until it was your choice to go.”
“He was the best parent I could ever ask for, but I wish that I had the opportunity to acknowledge it to him, one more time.”
“Henry was a good man to everyone. Without him, our business might not have survived all these years.”
“How so?”
“There were seasons over the years when the price of lobster was too high for us to purchase it. Our customers count on their lobster dinner included with their night’s stay. It’s what sets us apart from all the other bed and breakfasts in the area. Henry sold to us at reduced prices, even when it wasn’t profitable for him, just so that we could stay in business.”
“I was told earlier today that Laurel Cove was like a big family.” Willa left out the dysfunctional term that Brynn had used. “That must have been what my father believed too, and that’s why he did what he could to help.”
“Well, whatever his reason was, he will surely be missed by many.”
John reached for another cookie but his hand was slapped away before it got to the plate. Martha shook her finger at him. “Don’t you dare touch those treats. Are the insulin shots not enough of a punishment for your overeating?”
John’s face turned red and he slunk down in his seat.
Willa pulled the plate closer to herself. “It’s my fault; I’ve been eating these nonstop since I got here and I asked John to take them away from me. He was just taking one to be polite.”
Martha looked at him from the corner of her eye and then patted down his wind-blown hair on the back of his head. “My husband can be quite the gentleman when he wants to be,” she glared at him playfully, “especially if it involves breaking his diet.”
“He’s very excited about the apple pie you baked for him tonight; please don’t let my mistake cost him his dessert.”
“I suppose a little slice won’t do him too much harm.” Martha leaned in close to Willa’s ear and whispered, “Just between you and me, I’ve cut the sugar in the recipe in half over the years, but he hasn’t caught on yet.”
Willa winked at her. “My lips are sealed.”
Martha took off over the embankment, spreading her fingertips out to her sides, and letting them touch the tops of the purple and white lupins covering the ground.
“You seem to have inherited the honor that your father had in him.”
Willa’s cheeks flushed. “I wouldn’t call that honor.”
“You haven’t witnessed my wife huffing at me from behind her newspaper all night.” John stood up to follow Martha. “There are times when doing something small can make a big difference in someone’s life.” Willa watched as John approached Martha and wrapped an arm around her waist. He plucked a bloom from one of the flowers and tucked it behind her ear before planting a kiss on her cheek. Willa let out a contented sigh and rested her chin between the palms of her hands as she continued to watch the elderly couple frolic in the flowers like young lovers. Even the sound of the chair pulling out next to her didn’t fully pull her attention away from them.
Beth smiled at Willa, who looked to be in a peaceful state. “I see you’ve been talking to some of your father’s friends.”
Willa nodded. “They spoke very highly of him,” she said while keeping her focus on the loving couple.
Beth caught sight of what Willa was enthralled with. “They are quite fortunate to still have each other after all these years.”
“When I was young, I only wanted Dad all to myself, but after I left home, I wished that he would find a woman that he could settle down with.”
“I asked Henry about that once. He said that the love he shared with your mother was enough for an entire lifetime for him and that there wasn’t room in his heart for another.”
Willa closed her eyes and tried to bring up the image in her mind of her parents together, from photographs that she had seen. “That’s the kind of love that I hope I’ll have someday.”
“You and me both, dear.”
A slight grin spread across Willa’s lips. “I noticed that your librarian friend showed up to support you today.”
Beth crossed her fingers together as if they were holding a secret within them. “Indeed, he did.”
“So, my next visit to Maine might involve a happier event, perhaps a wedding?”
“There will be no such thing.” Beth stood and
made a show of starting to walk away, but as she passed by Willa, she leaned in to add, “One must have a proper engagement prior to making wedding plans.”
Willa spun on her chair to face Beth, her eyes lit up with excitement. “It’s about time our family grows a little bigger.”
“Then maybe you’ll add to it too by starting to work on a family of your own.”
“I doubt there’s anyone out there that would be willing to put up with my crazy lifestyle.”
“Oh hush, if I was able to find a soulmate at my ripe old age, then a successful, beautiful woman such as yourself will have no problem at all. Heck, I’ve already seen someone pining after you in the short time you’ve been here. Now, give me a hug so I get back before it’s too dark to see the road.”
Willa stood and was pulled into one of her aunt’s tight embraces. “Pining? Who are you talking about?”
“It’s not for me to tell; open your eyes and you’ll figure it out soon enough.”
Beth pinched her cheek as if she was five years old again and took off with a bounce in her step. Willa watched her disappear around the corner of the house, sifting through her mind as to who could possibly be interested in her to the point that her aunt was able to pick up on it, at a funeral of all places. It was then that she remembered both Shannon and Megan had come to sit on either side of her during the service. It must have looked to her aunt that either one of them might have feelings for her beyond friendship, especially with Shannon offering up her home for the gathering. Willa smiled warmly to herself, knowing that she would never find better friends than the two of them.
The night wore on and as the food started to vanish, so did the guests, until only Shannon and Willa remained. “Will you please just put those in the dishwasher and stop doing them all by hand?” Shannon insisted, reaching for the spoon in Willa’s hand.
Willa pulled the spoon out of Shannon’s reach. “I can have these all washed, dried, and put away before that thing can finish a wash cycle,” she said, scooping up a frothy bundle of soap suds from the sink and dabbing them on the tip of Shannon’s nose.
Shannon wiped away the bubbles with a dishcloth. “Fine, but at least let me help you dry them.” She pulled up a stool to the counter and started in on the pile of dishes that Willa had stacked next to the sink.
“Did you get some opportunities to connect with anyone in the midst of being a hostess?” Willa asked.
“I did here and there, although just about every conversation began with a health update.”
“Ugh, seriously?”
“I literally had to stop Mr. Stockton from pulling his pants down in the middle of the dining room to show me the hives on his thighs.”
“People have no shame, or dignity for that matter, do they?”
“Either that or they just want to save money by not having to pay the office fee for the diagnosis.”
“I completely understand what it’s like to question the intentions of everyone around you, but at least you can count on the genuine friendship from Meg and me.”
“And if you hadn’t returned to Laurel Cove, who knows if the three of us would have found each other.”
Willa acknowledged that she owed her newfound friends to her father’s passing. She set aside the dish she was rinsing, picked up the two filled wine glasses from the counter, and handed one to Shannon. She raised her own into the air. “To Dad, for bringing us together.”
Shannon raised her glass to Willa’s. “To Henry.”
Chapter Eighteen
Willa groaned as she started to wake and flopped an arm over her eyes to block out the bright rays of sunlight pouring through the windows. She turned towards the back of the couch to hide even more of her face, but when she did, she found that something was very off about her sleeping situation. She had become accustomed to waking up on her father’s couch lately, after dealing with restless nights, but unlike the soft old leather she was used to feeling surrounding her, she was now on a fluffy cushion covered in a layer of velvet material.
She fought through the pain of opening her eyes while adjusting to the brightness of the room and recognized immediately that she was still in Shannon’s house. A pillow, which was not one of the decorative ones meant just for show, was placed under her head, and a quilt was tucked around her body. Willa sat up and swallowed down the dryness in her throat. She felt slightly queasy and she clutched at the insistent pounding at the base of her head.
A note left on the side table caught her eye, which read: Drink all of the water and take both of the pills. One is for your headache and the other for nausea. Please lock up if you leave. Behind the piece of paper was a plate with a muffin and two tiny pills on it. Next to it was a tall glass of water.
Willa tried to think back to the previous night and what had led to her not leaving Shannon’s house, but her mind was too fuzzy to find the answers she was searching for. It wasn’t until she brought the water glass and plate to the kitchen when she noticed the two empty bottles of wine on the counter. There was no way that Shannon would have drank much more than a glass or two before working the following morning, which meant that she had to have consumed the rest of it on her own.
“Ugh, no wonder I can’t remember anything,” she complained out loud to herself.
Willa cleaned up any remnants left of last night’s gathering and from her unexpected stay. On her way out the door, she found her purse, keys, and glasses, which were folded neatly, on the entryway table. Her heels were placed on the floor below it. She figured that Shannon must have removed her glasses and shoes for her, because she would never have placed them in such an orderly fashion in her state last night.
The time display on her car dashboard showed that it was after two already. She rubbed her eyes and checked it again before referring to her cell phone to confirm its authenticity. She let out a sigh of relief that she wasn’t still crashed out on the couch when Shannon got back from work.
With no particular plans set for the day, other than attempting to pack up her father’s house, she took a leisurely drive around the island. When she approached the Mussels by the Sea sign, she recalled Brynn saying that Griffin would be gone by the afternoon. She slowed her car and decided to pull into the parking lot, but not before double and triple checking that his truck was nowhere to be seen.
The gym was busier than the last time she was there, with quite a few people using the cardio equipment as well as in the weight lifting section, but Brynn wasn’t in either of those areas. Willa realized that she must have looked out of place as she wandered around the outskirts of the room because a burly young man in a sweat covered T-shirt pointed to the doublewide doors in the back that led to the indoor courts.
“The owner is through there if you need her,” he grunted as he continued to use his dumbbell weights. Willa decided that she liked that the younger generation on the island either didn’t know who she was, or that they just didn’t care.
She made her way to the other section of the gym and followed the distinct sound of rubber soles and wheels squealing against the basketball court floors. When she came into view of Brynn taking a shot at the hoop on the opposite wall from her, she leaned against the row of bleachers to watch her. What she didn’t pay attention to was that Brynn’s opponent, Cassidy, saw her come in and was now taking long strides in her direction. Before Willa had time to back away, she was up in her face.
“I thought I told you to keep your distance from Brynn,” Cassidy whispered through gritted teeth. She glanced over her shoulder to make sure that Brynn wasn’t watching.
“I don’t know what your problem is with me, but I’m pretty sure Brynn wants to talk to me.”
“Regardless of what she wants, you being here for a short while and then leaving again will only hurt her more. The only way she’ll heal is if you stay away for good.”
“In case you haven’t noticed after twenty years, her injury is permanent.”
“I wasn’t referring to her phys
ical injury.”
Willa started to process what Cassidy meant, but Brynn finally noticed them and interrupted their conversation.
“Cass, you’re not being rude to my guest, are you?”
“Nope, just heading to the shower.” Cassidy stormed away with heavy footsteps and let the door slam shut behind her.
“Sorry about that. She can be a little intense sometimes.”
Cassidy was more intimidating and threatening to her than just intense, but there was no way that she would admit that to Brynn. Willa couldn’t help but wonder again if there was something more between them than friendship, which made her angry that Cassidy was making out with another woman in the bathroom at the reunion. She had to try and find out exactly what their relationship was before she accused Cassidy of cheating.
“She’s clearly very protective of you. It’s good to see that you’ve remained friends after all these years.” Willa hinted at wanting to know just how close of friends they were.
“Everyone who stays in Laurel Cove is friends with one another. The smaller the community, the tighter the bond.”
Even though Brynn’s comment wasn’t aimed at insulting Willa, she felt a pang of hurt jolt through her. She had voluntarily given up her right to years of friendship because she had chosen to run from the problems that she believed she had created. “I’m glad that you’re surrounded by a good support system of people.”
“I lost one of the best this week,” Brynn paused as she smoothed out the anguish forming on her face, “but it brought you back into my life, so something good came of it.”
The words that Cassidy had said moments earlier repeated themselves in Willa’s mind and she questioned what she was doing that was so wrong. Then another voice entered her mind and she flashed back to when Griffin yelled at her in the hospital waiting room, telling her that Brynn didn’t want to see her. “Now that the funeral is over with, if you don’t want to see me, I’ll understand.”