room, she noted the number of stares turning in her direction without meeting anyone's eyes. Then she saw Noel slumped in a chair. Noel jutted her chin towards the far corner of the room.
Freddie turned to see her baby sister with the sheriff, talking to what looked like group of locals and fishermen. Well, that was a good sign. Freddie smiled and nodded to Noel before returning to the small section of seats making up the waiting room.
Chris waited beside an empty chair across from Enrique and Dawn. They were idly flipping through back copies of the magazines on hand.
Sinking into the seat beside Chris, Freddie met Enrique's eyes and gave him a hard stare as she made herself as comfortable as possible against the hard plastic. He blinked at her, just once, before returning to the article on how to make a man wild in bed.
Chris turned to her and opened his mouth, but Freddie frowned at him, narrowing her eyes as he leaned close.
"Just stop," she whispered in his ear. "Whatever you have to say right now, I don't want to hear it."
The air deflated out of him like a punctured balloon and he nodded in misery. I definitely won't be seeing him again, she assured herself, more than a little disgusted with his general lack of balls.
She wanted to go back to the cabin, make a pot of coffee (real coffee and not the thick crap they served here that tasted more like flavored motor-oil), and take a long, hot shower to wash the reek of the ocean off of her skin.
Freddie wanted to get on with her vacation and help her sister learn how to move on with her life.
When Jameson came out with his arm around Ann, Freddie jumped to her feet and rushed to her sister's side.
Her soft, cool hands cupped her sibling's face and the sisters shared a moment of silent communication before melting into each other's arms.
When they parted, Freddie took note that while the moment had been pure, it also had the desired secondary effect—there wasn't a dry eye in the room.
Enrique gathered the coats and blankets, dumping them in Chris's arms before he guided Ann outside to the car. Before they could shut the car door, the local doctor appeared at Freddie's elbow and pressed a prescription bottle into her hand.
"Something to help her with the shock" the woman whispered.
Freddie scrutinized the doctor, searching the woman's face for any sign of ill intent or malice towards her sister. A thousand thoughts filled her brain, and as much as a tart retort burned on her tongue about where these sorts of kindnesses had been when they'd first arrived at the station, she forced herself to nod in return.
"Thank you," Freddie managed, her voice sounding tired.
Tucking a strand of strawberry-blonde hair behind her ear as she watched the older woman stride away, Freddie chewed her bottom lip as she considered the tan bottle in her hand. The script was surprisingly clear for a doctor, and she recognized the medication as a generic brand of an anti-anxiety pill.
Dropping it into her purse, Freddie climbed into the car. She didn't want anything to stand between her and the cabin any longer.
Leaning against the doorway and staring at the night sky awash with with stars, Freddie's thoughts were upstairs with her sleeping sister. That she was not concerned with how she looked wrapped in a silk robe was a clear indication how worried she was about Ann.
During their youth they looked so much alike they were often mistaken for twins. They would encourage the thought and delighted in tricking people.
Only those who knew the finer details of their personalities could tell the girls apart. Ann, so bubbly and outgoing, always put her friends and family before herself. Freddie, who was more concerned with boys than she was her grades, preferred to spend her time perfecting her newest pout or mimicking the latest look, and used a thick wall of sarcasm to protect herself from nearly everyone in her life.
Later, as they aged into adults, the same people who once were unable to tell them apart grew astounded at how different the sisters became; their personalities shining through their appearances and making it hard to believe that they were ever mistaken for twins.
Coming back from several years teaching English in Japan to find her baby sister an entirely new, and altogether unwelcome, person had made Freddie distraught for months.
Turning her head at a click behind her, Freddie gave Dawn a sad smile.
"Coffee?" Dawn murmured, indicating the still-warm pot.
"No." Freddie shook her head. "If I have any more, I'll be up all night."
"I think I'll be anyways," Dawn said with a sigh. She came to stand next to Freddie in the doorway.
In silence, the two friends stared at the moon. It hung low in the sky, almost as if it were resting on the lake. With the vivid reflection and the explosion of stars they weren't used to seeing in the city night, it was almost a perfect picture. Ruined only by the looming ghost of reality.
"I just can't believe today wasn't a dream," Dawn whispered as she rubbed her hands against her arms, an emotional crack in her voice. "I don't know how she'll—"
"She'll be fine." Freddie's response was firm, not sure if she was reassuring Dawn or herself. "Ann will get through this and find herself again."
There was no reply. After a moment Freddie looked at Dawn, taken aback by the tears rolling down her friend's face and the expression of grief, shock, and fear.
"Dawn?" Freddie asked with genuine concern. "You should get some sleep."
Noel came into the room as Freddie gathered the now sobbing Dawn into her arms. She passed Dawn to Noel's ready embrace. Freddie couldn't help but feel a rush of relief at having the responsibility of caring for Dawn taken up by someone else.
Noel murmured and cooed to Dawn as she ushered her out of the kitchen to where Enrique was waiting upstairs. Freddie sighed, shaking her head at seeing so much grief over such a horrible person. Charles wasn't worth it.
Feeling an overwhelming need to escape the crushing depression seeping from everywhere in the house, Freddie wrapped her arms around herself and stepped out onto the deep porch wrapping around the house. It offered a spectacular view of the islands below and had been the major selling point of the cliff-side vacation house.
Though they were almost a half mile's drive from the beach itself, the smell of salt in the air was still strong. The winds brought the evening temperature to a comfortable level. Freddie was able to see more stars here than she'd ever been able to count before. Really, with the exception of Charles, on the whole it had been the perfect vacation.
She heard the screen door shut behind her and turned to see Noel standing in the darkness, studying her. "It wasn't an accident, was it?" Noel's quiet voice was nearly carried away on the wind.
Freddie lifted her eyes to the darkened windows on the second floor, contemplating her options. She hadn't even admitted to herself, until that moment. What had happened on the boat had been anything but an accident. Noel wouldn't turn her in if she were to confess the truth.
"No." She finally said, breaking the long silence extending between them.
The scene of the afternoon replayed in Freddie's mind.
Chris had been at the wheel with Noel beside him, laughing as he pushed the boat to its limits of speed in an effort to impress her with his driving skills. Ann and Dawn were below deck napping while Enrique cleaned up the after effects of their large lunch in the galley kitchen. Freddie had been cleaning the picnic supplies while Charles organized the rented fishing equipment.
In a moment which had seemed to slow down, Freddie stood up and looked ahead of them, sensed a turn coming. She turned back to Charles at the bow, standing beside a coiled rope. Before the boat began the turn, it took no effort to rush forward and shove her brother-in-law; her hands pressed into the muscles of his back and the rope took him off his feet in an instant. Freddie knew she imagined the sickening crunch of his body hitting the water, but it was a pleasant thought nonetheless.
She'd picked up the packed supplies and returned them to the gall
ey, holding tight to the stair rail as she descended.
It wasn't until Chris shouted that she ran with Enrique up onto the deck again, standing mute beside the others as the boat circled back and finally stopped beside Charles' hat floating in the water. It had been her duty to wake her sister and give her the news. To comfort her until they reached the dock and to request that someone call the authorities with all due solemnity when they returned the rented boat.
Everything would have worked perfectly had Chris not opened his fool mouth and sparked the suspicion of the backwoods sheriff. Thus making them spend hours in that horrible, converted office and answering the most asinine questions ever picked out of the 'How to Be a Cop' handbook.
"Dawn's upset because she was sleeping with Charles on the side." The words were said in Noel's voice, but lacked the usual carefree tone.
"Are you serious?" Freddie's hands shook as she faced Noel. "How could you know this and not tell Ann?"
"Ann knew, Freddie. She knew and didn't care or didn't have it in her to tell Charles to stop. Either way, she didn't want you to know about it." Noel's voice sounded tired.
"No, she wouldn't do that," whispered Freddie, but even as she said the words she knew they were a lie. Ann would rather hide the truth from her sister than admit her husband was a cheat and their friend was stabbing her in the back. Ann would know that Freddie would try to swoop in and save her. Ann hated nothing more than
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