Two old has-beens, Mac thought. Broken-down homages to a past no one remembered.
“Oh, Mac,” Jess said, “I remember you bringing us here and we’d watch the sailboats from the very top.”
“The watch room,” Mac said.
“And if the weather was nice and not too windy, you let us go out to the widow’s walk, and we’d inch our way around until we could see the whole panorama, and we used to point to where we thought England and China and the North Pole would be.”
Mac smiled. “Until you turned twelve and then you spent the whole time trying to decide where Leo Denton lived.”
“Leo …” Jess smiled and sighed. “I remember him. He was such a gorgeous boy. Everybody was in love with him. He worked with his father and sometimes waved to us from his boat.”
Mac laughed. “Ah, youth. Did you ever even get close enough to him to actually see what he looked like?”
“We did. Sometimes Lillo and I would sneak down to the docks and watch the fishermen come in. Leo was always nice to me. Most boys weren’t. But one day, one of the rare days my parents came to visit—checking up on my weight-loss status really—we saw him downtown, and he came up and introduced himself to my parents.
“I thought that was the neatest thing ever. But Mother pulled me back and said—I’ll never forget what she said. ‘Good God, Jessica. Is this the kind of riffraff you consort with at camp? The boy reeks of fish.’ And she pulled me away. Leo just stood there as she dragged me away. I was so humiliated, I never went down to the docks again.”
Jess sniffed. “I’m sure he did smell like fish, but I didn’t care.”
Allie laid a hand on her back.
Mac felt a deep rush of anger. That someone blessed with a child should be so hateful …
“Whatever happened to him?” Jess asked. “Is he still around?”
“No. He and his dad hung on as long as they could, but when his father was forced to retire—his back just couldn’t take it anymore—Leo sold out and moved to the mainland somewhere. I heard he got married, but I don’t know what he does for a living … not fishing.”
“Everyone leaves, don’t they?”
“Not everyone; the ones who stay usually have to work a half hour or more away.”
“People in a lot of places commute much longer every day.”
“I know, but there isn’t much to keep young people here.”
“Can we climb up?” Jess asked tentatively, and Mac knew she was thinking Mac was too old to climb the three flights of stairs. Well, she wasn’t. Actually, she might be, but that had never stopped her before and it wouldn’t stop her now.
“We’ll all go if Allie’s game.”
Allie frowned at her. “Are you sure—”
“Oh, come on, Al,” Jess said. “It’s safe, isn’t it, Mac? And if you get tired you can rest on the landings.”
“Me tired?” said Allie. “We’ll see who’s huffing and puffing when we get to the top.”
Mac let them run ahead. She knew who would be out of breath.
“Just hold on to the rail,” Mac warned them. “The stairs are sturdy.” At least they were the last time she checked. “But no telling what those boys did the other night, there might be bottles and trash everywhere. Just watch your step.”
They started the ascent, Mac bringing up the rear. It seemed to her that for such a bright day, the lighthouse seemed dark. She had to concentrate on not missing each tread. That’s the problem with circular staircases, she thought, not big enough for your whole foot. She’d never thought about that in all her years as keeper. But she was thinking about it now.
The girls were ahead of her now. She could hear their steps ringing on the iron stairs above her. She trudged on; each time she thought she’d just give in and wait below, the light would pour down on her from the windows of the next landing and keep her moving.
When Mac finally reached the watch room, which she had arranged in some semblance of the storeroom, workroom, and observation post that it had once been, Jess and Allie were peering out the windows, as happy as a couple of children.
If grown women could enjoy themselves here … unfortunately, they weren’t the only ones who enjoyed themselves. Several candy wrappers and soda cans were strewn across the floor as well as cigarette butts.
Mac bent over to pick them up. Allie and Jess were quick to help.
“Maybe you should have a spruce-up-the-lighthouse day and get the kids to clean up after themselves,” Jess said.
“I’d like to see it,” Mac said.
They shoved all the garbage and the soda cans into the plastic bag Mac always kept in her pocket for just this purpose.
Jess brushed her hands off on her new consignment-store shorts. “Is the old lamp in the … let me think … the lantern room?”
She remembered, Mac thought, gratified. “It is.”
“Can we go up?”
“Ayuh.”
The last climb was the easiest since Mac knew what was waiting for them. They came out into brilliant sunshine. So dazzling that Mac had to close her eyes for a few seconds then carefully open them again.
“You can see forever,” Allie said. She sighed. “I sometimes feel that way standing on a hill in the vineyard. Rows of grapevines as far as you can see.”
Her statement didn’t seem to require an answer, so the three of them stood looking out the window, tacitly moving in a circle to take in the whole view. Until Jess stopped.
“Look at that sailboat out there. See?”
They all looked.
“And out there. What is that?”
Mac had no idea.
“Maybe a cruise ship or a barge?” Allie guessed. “I guess GPS or whatever they have keeps them on a steady course. It’s kind of sad. To think of all those sailors, all those ships, and the fishing boats that depended on this lighthouse to lead them home …” She sighed. “And now here it sits, unlit and forgotten. It just doesn’t seem right.”
“No, it don’t,” Mac agreed.
“Oh, I don’t know about that. I think maybe—” Jess’s voice cracked. “Maybe it’s led me home.”
Chapter 15
Lillo was just going into the cottage when she saw Diana striding down the road. She looked tired, and dirty, and about as disheveled as Lillo had ever seen her. Make that the most disheveled she’d ever seen her.
“Don’t ask,” Diana said as she walked past her and down the path to the door.
It obviously wasn’t a good time to discuss her intentions toward Ian. Lillo bit back a smile. The whole idea sounded ridiculous.
Lillo caught up to her at the door. Diana looked even dirtier up close.
“Really. Don’t ask.”
They went inside.
“I’m out here,” Jess called from the deck. “I’ve started happy hour early. Bring a glass and come out. It’s glorious!”
Diana and Lillo exchanged looks.
“That was the quickest rebound in history,” Lillo said.
“Or else she’s at the happy stage of drunk.”
“Might as well join her,” Lillo said, and took two glasses from the dish drainer.
“I think I’ll shower first.”
“Oh no you don’t. I’ll bet you money that Jess has never seen you like this.”
Diana shook with rueful laughter. “No one has.” She rubbed her hand across her face.
“No, don’t get rid of the smudge. That makes the whole look.”
“What smudge? Do I have a smudge?” Diana followed her out to the deck.
Jess was stretched out on a chaise, an open notebook in her lap, a glass of wine on a table next to her chair.
She waved a pencil at them. “Wine is in the ice bucket. Didn’t think you had an ice bucket, so I used a real bucket I found under the sink. I washed it out.”
“Good move.” Actually, Lillo did have an ice bucket. She’d never used it. Had never taken it out of the box. She never would. Though …
“OMG
, Di,” cried Jess. “What happened to you?”
Diana took a glass from Lillo and poured herself wine. “I just spent an hour tethered to a horse named Pete and riding kids around in a circle. It was so weird. Not to mention dirty. And sticky. And …” She shuddered.
“No way. You don’t even like kids.”
“I know. He trapped me. I told him that I didn’t know shit about children, and he just acted like I had said, ‘Oh, goody,’ and handed me one end of the rope.” She plopped down in a chair. “It was exhausting and—did I mention?—dirty.
“Then he sticks me with these kids all wanting a ride, until they found out I was going to be overseeing them, then they all balked and wouldn’t get on the horse unless he was there.” She took a sip of wine, then another.
“So he squats down to their level and talks to them. For a long time, and they keep looking over at me, then finally when I’m thinking I’ll just wander on down the road now, he stands up and says, ‘It’s okay,’ and takes two of them away.
“I swear, a man who hasn’t said twenty words to me in three days is suddenly Chatty Cathy with a bunch of munchkins.
“So while he’s spending the hour with two brothers, I’m walking in a circle while one kid rides Pete and the other four stare at me from the fence.” She leaned back and closed her eyes. “I may never be the same.”
“I wonder if they were the kids we saw this morning,” Jess said.
“Beats me,” Diana said, her eyes still closed. “All I know is that while I was hauling kids on and off Pete’s back while giving them a few pointers about riding, he spent the whole hour hugging Clara, this old gray, with Joey and Bobby, the two brothers. The little one is somewhere on the spectrum for something, I think.
“I was trying to watch to see what he was up to, but I was petrified one of the little buggers would fall off and I’d get sued for everything I’m worth.”
She settled into silence. Lillo poured herself a glass of wine. It wasn’t like she had to drive, or work, or do anything but sit and relax. She sat down.
“Then …” Diana continued, getting her second wind—she’d seemed to have forgotten about her shower. “When the kids get picked up, I start leading Pete out of the paddock. Ian comes up and says, ‘Never mind, I’ll do it.’”
“And I said, ‘I don’t mind’ and ‘Are you going to tell me who those kids were?’”
“He just looked at me, said ‘Just kids,’ moved me physically out of the way, and led Pete into the barn.
“So of course I follow him and ask him what the hell is wrong. He says, ‘Nothing.’ Before I could react, he says, ‘Just go away.’ Then he storms off and leaves me standing there. Do you think I just got fired?”
“Do you want to go back after that?” Lillo asked.
“Of course. I deal with ruder people than Ian Lachlan every day.”
Jess sat up. “Maybe you shouldn’t.”
Exactly what Ned had said, thought Lillo.
“What? You think I’ll go down without a fight? I’m just getting warmed up.”
“I don’t know. He sounds strange.”
“He is strange. I like him, I’m even attracted to him, but he has some serious quirks in his personality.”
Jess guffawed. “You’re attracted to all men.”
“I am not. Though I admit I do rather like them.” She sipped her wine. “And I have to admit, this one is different.”
“Oh Lord,” Jess said.
“No, I mean it. What’s his story, Lillo? I thought he was a vet.”
“He is.”
“And what else?”
“Please don’t say ‘psychopath,’” Jess said.
Lillo shook her head. Though she wasn’t sure, actually. Everyone kind of knew his story. No one talked about it. They trusted him with their livestock and their pets … and their children.
“He’s great with the kids,” she said. “As you saw today.”
“A man of many talents?”
“Well, yes, but … there are times when he—” When he what, Lillo? Can’t stand being around people, can’t bear to look at them, be with them? Can’t even stand to be inside his own skin? Is that what he felt? She couldn’t even begin to imagine.
“When he what? What were you going to say, Lillo?”
“I don’t know. He’s great with kids, not always so great with adults. Something you might want to remember.”
“Are you warning me off? You and he don’t … aren’t …”
“Aren’t what?”
“Lovers?”
“What? Good God, no.” The two most screwed-up people in town? It was laughable.
“That’s not much of an endorsement.”
“Nothing to do with him. We’re friends. He’s a nice guy. He just, like you said, has a few quirks.”
“But he’s not dangerous or anything?” Jess asked.
“Only for my peace of mind,” Diana said.
And Lillo let it go at that.
“And speaking of quirks, what was he doing with those kids, Joey and Bobby? I think they’re brothers.”
Lillo said, “Joey and Bobby are special cases. He works with them a couple of times a week.”
Diana frowned. “Is he trained as a therapist as well as a vet?”
“I know he’s studied a lot of stuff; they have to post their credentials where they can be seen.”
“I didn’t notice.”
“Well, one of them is in EAL.”
“Which is?”
“I’m embarrassed to say I’m not really sure.” Lillo had been so consumed with her own issues she’d not paid much attention to Ian’s. Mac had told her a little, but the people of Lighthouse Beach didn’t share everything. A little gossip. A story told once and locked away. If you had something to hide, Lighthouse Beach was the safest place you could be.
“You mean he’s like a horse whisperer?” Jess asked, her pencil poised over her notebook.
“I’m not sure about that either. Not even sure what a horse whisperer does.”
“Oh, come on,” Jess said. “Don’t tell me you don’t remember the movie?”
Lillo shook her head. She didn’t even know there was a movie.
“Really?” Jess said, dropping her pencil into the crease of her notebook. “We watched it about a dozen times. What happened to all your tapes? You had shelves of them. You transfer them to DVD?”
Lillo shrugged. “When my parents sold the house, they got rid of a lot of stuff.”
“I don’t believe you’d let them throw those out. Some of those were classics.”
“Yeah, I know.” And they—along with the rest of her life—were buried beneath piles of stuff in the extra bedroom.
“Hey, where’s Allie?” Diana asked.
“Well,” Jess said, sitting all the way up and putting her feet on the floor. “We went over to Mac’s. I didn’t know, but Allie’s worried that her in-laws would be glad if she left little Gino with them for good.”
“No,” Lillo said. “Maybe we should encourage her to go back instead of staying to the end of the week.”
Jess smiled slowly and shook her head. “Guess where she is now? Talking to the sexy Nando.”
Diana opened her eyes at that.
“Mac gave us a tour of the lighthouse. Wow, I had forgotten how cool it was. It’s in bad shape now, but with a little TLC—”
“What about Nando and Allie?” Diana asked.
“Oh, well, we were coming out of the lighthouse. Nando had come over to tune up the van. We said hi, Allie and Nando kept talking, and Mac hustled me away. That Mac. I think she has a plan for those two.”
Lillo thought Mac should mind her own business. If Allie was worried about her future, she didn’t need distractions of that kind.
“Well, good for her,” Diana said.
“That’s what I say.” Jess picked up her pencil.
“Jess, what are you doing? Have you suddenly taken up sketching?”
“I wish,
but I can barely draw using a graphics program. But …” She turned the notebook for the others to see. Odd shapes and lists and arrows pointing everywhere. “I do have some ideas on how to turn the lighthouse into a profitable venture.”
They heard the front door open and close. Footsteps running through the house.
Allie catapulted through the doorway and collapsed onto the nearest deck chair. “I’m in big trouble.”
“Would this have anything to do with Nando of the luscious lips?” Diana asked.
“What do you know about his lips?” Jess asked.
“I pay attention,” Diana said, and poured Allie a glass of wine.
Allie’s eyes widened. “What happened to you?”
“Children, horses, and a stableful of hay.” Diana handed her a glass. “But enough about me. Why are you in trouble?”
Allie pulled her chair closer to the other three. They all leaned forward as if they were about to hear a deep secret.
“I don’t know. I just— Mac sent me over to ask Nando if he wanted some lemonade and we started talking and he—Nando—offered to take me for a ride on his bike tomorrow because I told him I’d never ridden on one.”
“Well, absolutely you should go,” said Diana. “Is that the trouble? You don’t have anything to wear for a cycle excursion. Now, that’s trouble, but I’m sure the consignment shop can fit you out.”
“Stop it,” Jess said. “She’s upset.”
Lillo had noticed it, too. Allie looked extremely pale except for two fiery marks across her cheeks.
“Okay, girl, spill it.”
Allie took a healthy sip of wine. Shivered.
“Uh-oh, we may need more wine.” Diana reached for the bottle.
“It’s just that while we were talking … I mean I hardly know him … but it was just …” She ran a tongue over her bottom lip. “Well, kinda hot.”
“That’s great,” Diana said. “You’re back in the land of the living.”
“I mean really hot.”
“How far did you go?” Diana asked in her deepest voice.
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