Laurel Cove

by Sarah Turtle

  She knew now how it had been so instinctual for her to use her own body as a human shield between the two Reed twins in the midst of a verbal argument that had turned to blows, because it wasn’t the first time that she had done it.

  The pool was supposed to be the safe option. She could send Brynn to the one place that she would have a wet, but otherwise unharmed landing, away from the projectile rapidly approaching her head. All she had to do was push her hard enough to make sure that she lost her balance and fell in.

  What she didn’t account for was that Brynn had enough alcohol in her system for her normally skillful reaction time to be reduced to next to nothing. She also didn’t know that because of that, her body would fall backwards and hit the concrete edge of the pool before falling in and hitting her neck against the wall of it under the water.

  Anything was better in Willa’s mind compared to a baseball to the back of the skull. Despite the horrified look on Brynn’s face as she pushed her, Willa was confident that she had made the right decision. She didn’t even regret her choice as the ball missed its intended target and collided with the side of her head.

  Just as it had done so only moments ago when she was awake, darkness once more consumed Willa.

  Opening her eyes took all the energy that she had, but Willa could tell by the sounds in the room that things were not resolved yet, and Brynn could still be in danger. She raised herself up onto her hands and knees, trying to focus on where everyone had moved to, because she was no longer wedged between the wall and a wheel.

  Griffin had pushed Brynn back with his forearm to her neck, so that she had rolled up against the bureau in the corner of the room. By the time Willa had used the bedpost to hoist herself up from the floor, their upper limbs were entwined in a battle of swinging and blocking punches, but Brynn was taking the brunt of them because she was unable to dodge out of the way like Griffin could.

  Willa wavered unsteadily, still dizzy from being knocked unconscious, and unable to shake the ringing noise from her ears from the impact of the windowsill. She pressed the palm of her hand to the spot on her head that hurt more than the other areas, and a wave of nausea swept through her. The mattress that she was leaning against looked inviting, but the sickening sounds of two people pummeling each other across the room snapped her out of the daze that she was falling into.

  After a particularly powerful punch that Brynn took in the ribs, she leaned forward and clutched at her stomach. Willa watched in horror as Griffin retracted his fist in preparation for the next big hit that looked to be aimed at her face. Willa flung herself at Griffin’s back and clutched her hands up around his arm, pulling it to her chest. Griffin could have easily tugged it from her weak grasp, but something about the way she was holding him made him pause in mid attack.

  Instead of struggling with Griffin or fighting him off long enough for Brynn to recover and join in, she clutched onto him in an awkward embrace with her forehead pressed into his shoulder. He glared down at her, and Willa readied herself to become the next target of his fury, but something changed in him as she stared up at him through her tangled mess of hair and let herself crumple up against his arm.

  “I’m so sorry that I hurt you, Griff,” Willa mumbled into his arm, through trembling lips.

  Brynn raised her head up from her hunched over position and squinted her eyes at Willa, looking bewildered. “That’s a pretty bad concussion you got, huh?”

  Willa shook her head in protest. “You hurt him too, Brynn. That’s why he’s so angry at both of us.” She looked up into Griff’s eyes, the same shade of blue as Brynn’s. “I remember everything from that night now.”

  Griffin tried to back away from her, like a frightened animal, but she clung to him anyway. “How?” he asked.

  “Must have been the knock to my head that jogged my memory back into me. Kind of like the hit I took to the head from the baseball you threw that night.” Willa looked over at Brynn to make sure that she was paying close attention. “The one intended to hit you.”

  Brynn’s nostrils flared and she gritted her teeth. She looked prepared to take him on for another round, regardless of the condition she was currently in. “If he tried to hurt or possibly kill me that night, then why are you apologizing to him?”

  “Because I genuinely believe that he was hurt when he saw you kiss me. You betrayed your own brother and it must have broken his heart to see us making out in front of him and his friends, especially on a night when he probably already knew that he wasn’t going to be heading off to college like the rest of us.” Willa looked back up at Griffin. “You were already addicted to using the steroids at that point, weren’t you?”

  Griffin nodded, his face scrunched up like a child caught doing something wrong.

  “It’s not an excuse for what he did, though,” Brynn said, her voice still raised with mixed emotions.

  “No, it’s not, but all three of us did things that night and afterwards that led up to this.” Willa waved her hands around, motioning towards her head, Brynn’s split lip, and Griffin’s swollen eye.

  Both Brynn and Griffin averted their eyes down to the floor. She knew that they must both be embarrassed to have her reprimanding them.

  “Sorry, bro. If I’d known you had a problem, you know I would have had your back.”

  “It’s okay, sis. I just wish you weren’t in that chair because of me.”

  “Nah, it’s my fault for kissing your girl.”

  “We both know that she always liked you better, anyway,” Griffin admitted.

  Griffin and Brynn shared a sly look between themselves. Willa was glad that something as simple as their shared feelings towards her, and the way they could still joke about it, showed the true camaraderie linking the siblings together.

  “While I’m glad that you two are back to being civil with one another, I’d like to be the judge of my own feelings, if you don’t mind,” Willa said, folding her arms across her chest. When she realized that they were both staring in wait for her admission, she became self-conscious of her disheveled appearance. After patting down a wrinkled part of her outfit and flipping some of her hair back over her ear, she coolly added, “I find you both equally charming, but yes, I prefer the companionship of a woman.”

  Brynn smirked and shot a wink in her brother’s direction.

  Willa sighed, knowing there were still so many more steps that needed to be taken for the healing process between the three of them, but she was thankful that things didn’t end as badly as it could have.

  Her shoes had flown off her feet during the commotion and Willa bent down to retrieve them, but the woozy rush of dizziness flooded her on the way down. Griffin noticed her uneasiness and swiftly scooped her up before she went down. He lifted her as if she weighed nothing and set her down in Brynn’s outstretched arms.

  Brynn pulled Willa into a gentle but firm embrace as she cradled her in her arms. “We should call Dr. Martin and have her come take a look at you.”

  Willa shook her head to protest, but she closed her eyes when the motion made the room spin. She pressed her palm to her head and winced. “I think you’re right.”

  Griffin gave Willa’s arm a little squeeze to show his thanks and then he sank down to the floor in front of them. He placed one hand on Willa’s knee and the other on Brynn’s arm. “I’m so sorry. I need help, but I don’t know how or what to do.”

  “I’ll help you with whatever it takes to get you better. We can get you into the best rehabilitation center in the country. I have lots of contacts in the industry that can help us out with this process.”

  “Why would you do all of this for me after what I’ve done to hurt you?”

  “Because I know the kind, caring, and compassionate man that you can be when the drugs aren’t controlling you. You took care of my father and Brynn for all those years when I abandoned them both and for that, I owe you the world.”

  A few minutes later, Willa snuggled up to Brynn in her bed where Griffin h
ad placed her before heading off to fetch them some pain medication and water. Brynn winced when Willa wrapped her arm around her. She looked at her, concerned. “Maybe we should get you looked at; there could be some broken ribs in here,” she said, gliding her fingertips over the surface of Brynn’s skin.

  “Nah, I’ve taken worse hits than this falling out of my chair playing basketball. I’ll survive after some sessions with the ice pack.”

  Willa moved her thumb up to the corner of Brynn’s lip and wiped away a drip of blood that had formed there from the split skin. “And will some ice fix this, too?”

  “That might need something else.”

  “Oh yeah, like what?”

  “A kiss, for starters.”

  “Hmm, well, I’ll give you that, but I don’t know if I have anything else to offer you right now,” Willa said wearily. She guided the side of Brynn’s face with her hand so that she could reach her lips. She left a row of delicate little kisses along the bruised skin on her cheek and the corner of her mouth where the cut was. She could taste the copper flavor of the blood on her tongue and the salt from her perspiration.

  “The kiss will do,” Brynn whispered into her mouth.

  Chapter Thirty

  After nearly two months of being shuffled from city to city around the world, promoting her latest book as well as her latest movie release, Willa finally crossed the bridge that led to Laurel Cove. A seagull swooped in low enough to almost touch the hood of her car and then glided off towards the water, landing on a wooden pillar protruding from the rocky coastline. She rolled her window down so that she could take her first breath of fresh air and inhale the scent of the pine trees lining the sides of the road.

  A large pickup truck approached her on the opposite side of the road, and she moved over on the narrow strip of pavement so that they could both pass simultaneously. The driver of the truck tipped the brim of his sun faded ball cap in gratitude as he passed and Willa nodded in return. It was the small things like that which made the tiny island community so intimate compared to most other towns, or any city for that matter.

  Rounding the bend and passing by her father’s house with the sold sign covering the top of the realtor agency sign left a pang of sadness in her heart. She hoped that the new owners might let her stop by for tea every now and then. Willa continued towards the waterfront, where she pulled into the marina parking lot and hurried down the dock to where The Elaine was waiting.

  “Miss Barton, the winds are calm for you today,” Blake greeted her as she approached the boat.

  “Thank you for letting us borrow her for a couple of hours,” she said, tossing her bag onto the deck before getting in herself.

  “Aye, she’s all yours, my dear.” Blake untied the rope that attached the boat to the dock and handed it over to Willa.

  Griffin meandered out of the cabin, standing as tall and strong as ever before, but he had a calm demeanor about him that was different. Willa took a couple of steps in his direction and he picked her up off her feet into a giant bear hug. “Did you forget to tell your wardrobe director that you were going to be on a boat today?” he joked, referring to her designer suit and heels.

  She furrowed her brow and pouted her lips. “I’ll have you know that I dress myself, but I had a meeting this morning before I left and didn’t have time to change.”

  “Ah, I’m just messing with you,” he said, running a hand through his cropped black hair.

  Willa looked up at Griffin through squinted eyes. His massive height made him difficult to see with the sun glaring right behind his head. “Are you doing as well as you look?”

  He dipped his head down and scratched at the back of his neck. “It was rough going, at first, but thanks to all the help you’ve gotten me, I’m on the right track.”

  Willa smiled warmly at all the effort that he had put into his rehabilitation program to help with his steroid addiction. She had funded it, but he took a great initiative at completing it and even staying longer than required when he admitted that he wasn’t ready to leave yet. He also proudly informed her that he had signed up for classes to get a coaching certificate, which couldn’t have made Willa any happier for him. She had all the faith in the world that he had turned his life around.

  “Please don’t hesitate to ask if you need anything at all. I’m here for you, always.”

  “The same goes for me.”

  “Thanks, Griff.”

  She turned towards the cabin area where Brynn was, but a hand on her arm held her back from heading to the front of the boat. “Give her a minute or two. She’s saying her goodbyes now. You know she doesn’t like people seeing her get all emotional over anything.”

  Willa leaned against the side of the boat and watched Brynn from a distance. She was holding the silver urn in her hands and having a whispered conversation with it. Her hand came up and swiped at the tears that trickled down her cheeks. Willa wanted so badly to comfort her, but Griffin was right; Brynn would be too embarrassed share in her grief.

  Willa busied herself with watching the little waves of water splash up against the sides of the boat in a steady rhythm, which helped to settle her hectic lifestyle into the slower paced setting of life in Maine. She didn’t even notice that Brynn was beside her until she felt a hand on her lower back.

  The giant smile that spread across her face made the perfect cover up for the anguish that Willa knew overcame Brynn moments earlier. She wanted to caress Brynn’s cheek and convince her that it’s okay to shed some tears over the loss of a man that they both considered a father. She yearned to have the strong woman before her be just a little unguarded, so that she could take over the role of protector for once, but Brynn wouldn’t want that, and so Willa allowed her to hide behind the glowing smile.

  There was a hesitation between both women, not sure of how to go about a greeting after eight weeks of separation with only a random phone call between them every now and again. Griffin had to have noticed the awkwardness in the air, because he bowed out and made his way to the front of the boat. Willa assumed that he, too, would take a private period of time to mourn, while they were busy getting reacquainted, but the motor started up immediately and he busied himself with navigating out of the harbor.

  When the boat picked up a little momentum in the open water, Brynn situated herself into a corner of the deck and set her brakes. Willa figured that she probably used to go on fishing trips with her father many times over the years, based on the familiarity of the spot she settled into. There were stories of adventures between the two people that she loved so dearly that she wanted to hear about someday, but there would be plenty of time for those in the future.

  Willa approached her shyly, wanting to make a physical connection with her, but not sure how to go about doing it. When she got close enough, though, Brynn took over by practically scooping Willa into her lap. She let out a loud gasp at the unexpected loss of her footing, but the whirring of the motor drowned out the sound.

  Willa dipped her face in close to Brynn’s, thinking that they would kiss, being so close to one another, but Brynn wasn’t even making eye contact with her. Willa watched as she curiously used her fingers to push aside the outer layer of her suit jacket and explore the inner dress shirt collar that was made from a billowing white silk material.

  “Go ahead and make your wisecrack comment about my choice of attire for our boat ride. Your brother already gave his opinion about it.”

  “It doesn’t matter to me what you want to wear.”

  “Then why are you so concerned with checking out how many layers I’ve got on?”

  “I’m planning ahead to see how much work I’ll have in order to take all this off you later.”

  Brynn’s eyebrows raised with the question of whether Willa also wanted the same outcome for later in the night as she did. Willa couldn’t form the words quickly enough to give the answer she wanted to convey, so instead she offered the kiss that she so desperately wanted as her reply. When the
ir lips finally separated, Brynn flashed a captivating wink and Willa understood that she received the acknowledgement loud and clear. With the anticipation of much more to come later that night, they silently made a mutual agreement to keep the overtly affectionate displays to a minimum around Griffin, out of respect.

  It took a lot less time than Willa thought it would to get out far enough from the Cove to be in open water, where not a single parcel of land could be seen. She figured the time ticked away swiftly because of the inevitable goodbye that awaited her at the end of the journey. Griffin decreased the speed of the motor on the boat and it slowed to a gentle hum before he cut the power to it completely, leaving just the sounds of the sea to fill the quiet that no one dared to break.

  The urn weighed heavy in Willa’s hands as she held it out over the side of the boat. There were so many things that she had prepared to say prior to this day, but at the last minute the only words that managed to escape her mouth were “Goodbye, Dad.”

  They all laid a hand on the urn and helped to tip it so that his ashes would scatter on the surface of the water. She took the photo that her father had taped to his boat of the three of them, stuck it inside the urn, and tossed it overboard with his remains.

  Willa hung her head over the side of the boat and kept watch until every speck of dust that was visible on the tiny rippling waves was either pulled under or swept too far out of sight for her to see. By that time, most of the tears she had shed were dried up and the rest that fell were wiped away with Brynn’s thumb as they made their way back to shore.

  The boat approached a dock in Laurel Cove, but it wasn’t the same one they had left earlier. Willa and Griffin exchanged knowing glances, but Brynn looked thoroughly confused.

  “What’s going on?” Brynn asked.

  “You’ll see,” Willa said whimsically as she tossed her bag over onto the dock.