“Where the devil are you?” Tessa asked. “I just got brave enough to go in your bedroom after you refused to answer me, thinking you might be dead or something!” She yelled the end of the sentence, her frustration and panic plain through the line.
“Sorry,” Janey said, regret filling her. “I just needed a breath of fresh air.”
Sloshing steps sounded behind her, and she forced out a laugh. “Just walking along the beach.”
“You should’ve said something to me,” Tessa said. “We’re not fourteen years old anymore.” That was a semi-nice way to tell Janey to grow up and stop being petty.
Her defenses flew into place, and her stomach tightened, especially when she caught movement in her peripheral vision. She turned toward Riggs and did her best to act surprised. “I know,” she said. “Yes, I’ll still meet you for lunch.”
Hopefully, that would prevent him from grabbing her and dragging her under the water right here at the dock. Just the fact that Janey thought he might do something sinister made her flesh crawl.
“Now we’re meeting for lunch?” Tessa demanded. “When is Sean going to be back?”
“Yes, Sean’s coming,” she said, smiling at Riggs now as he did as well. “He should be here any minute.”
“Any minute?” Tessa repeated. “What is going on?”
“Listen, I just ran into Riggs. Can I call you back?”
“Riggs?” Tessa barked out. “Janey, where are you?”
“Yes, down by the dock.” She kept her smile in place and trilled out a little giggle. “Okay, Tess, see you in a minute.” She hung up while Tessa said she’d be there as fast as she could, and she gripped her phone as she faced Riggs. “Is this where the good fishing is? I see all the other poles up top.”
“They don’t know what they’re missing down here,” he said, lifting one hand to his lips in the universal sign to keep quiet. As he lowered his hand, he grinned and laughed.
Janey did her best to join in. “Catch anything?”
“Not today,” he said, keeping his easy smile on his face. He must think her so stupid to not even know that pole didn’t even have a line. For some reason, that made her really angry.
“Yeah, I bet it’s hard to catch fish without a reel,” she said. “Or any fishing line.” She looked around as if the tackle box or a bucket of worms would manifest itself.
“Or even a hook.”
Their eyes met, and Janey held very still, kept her shoulders boxy and strong, thankful for her Clarke barrel torso for maybe the first time in her life.
The smile vanished from Riggs’s face, and his normally bright green eyes took on a shadow that sent a shiver through Janey’s chest. She thought of the training she did in the Crossfit gym, and she’d run at a dummy before, ramming her shoulder into it and pushing it back.
Riggs was at least seventy-five years old, and Janey prayed she could tackle him if necessary.
Then, just as quickly as his smile had fallen off his face, it reappeared. “Yes,” he said with an obviously false chuckle. “You’re more observant than my wife, but I suppose I better do a better job of fooling her.”
Janey stared at him, refusing to just laugh this off. “You come out here to get away from Bobbie?” Was that really what he expected her to believe?
“A man needs freedom to be himself,” Riggs said, shrugging one shoulder, lifting his blue T-shirt. “I’d appreciate it if you didn’t say anything to her.”
Janey would say what she dang well pleased, but she gave Riggs a single nod. His smile brightened for some odd reason, and he started to walk away. “Have fun at lunch.”
She watched him go until she saw Tessa hurrying down the beach toward them. She had a brief interaction with the man, and then she jogged toward Janey, who still stood in the water under the dock.
This next conversation wasn’t going to go well either, and Janey sighed as she turned away from her sister, needing a few more seconds before she had to start explaining.
Chapter Thirty-Four
“Thank you,” Janey said, looking up at the waiter set her glass of Pinot noir in front of her. She glanced at Sean, who’d ordered a Diet Coke, and then Tessa, who’d opted for lemon water. Both of them were waiting for her, and Janey felt the tension inside her stretching and stretching.
“You tell him,” she said to Tessa, who rolled her eyes.
“She ran into Riggs on the beach. He had his fishing pole, but no reel or hook, and she called him out on it.”
Sean looked back to Janey, surprise in his eyes. He’d arrived for lunch several minutes ago, and Janey had suggested The Glass Dolphin, because she didn’t want to carry her food in a cardboard container and eat it from her hand.
The Glass Dolphin was far too expensive, but neither Sean nor Tessa had argued with her.
“She shouldn’t have done that,” Tessa said. “Not when we don’t know what he’s capable of.”
“What did he say?” Sean asked, lifting his cola to his mouth. Janey watched him, thinking of the kiss they’d shared earlier that morning.
She didn’t regret it, but she didn’t know what the next step for them was either.
“He made some excuse about needing to get away from his wife,” Janey said, waving her hand, though she had been scared. “It was fine.”
Tessa bristled across the table, but she kept quiet.
“Did you get some rest?” she asked Sean as if they had nothing better to talk about.
“A little.” He picked up his napkin and put it on his lap. “How was the meeting?”
A smile sprang to Janey’s face. “Great. It went…great.” Why couldn’t she share her promotion with them?
She cut a look to Tessa, who’d taken the glaring down a notch, and then Sean.
She knew why.
She didn’t know who she was anymore. Did she belong to Tessa? Why should she share intimate things with someone who wasn’t really her sister?
And Janey enjoyed Sean’s company, but their relationship was still new. Perhaps she’d leave Nantucket Point next week and never come back. He didn’t need all the intimate details of her life if she was never going to see him again.
“I saw the photos scattered all over your bedroom,” Tessa said, actually lowering her voice.
Janey’s eyes flew to hers, a pinch tight in her throat. She cleared it away, and said, “Uh, yeah, I looked through some of those after my meeting.”
“Why?” Tessa pressed
Janey lifted her glass of wine to her lips to buy herself a few moments. She felt like someone had stuffed her with bees, her whole chest beginning to buzz. “I need to figure out who my father was. I thought he might be in the photos.”
“It’s got to be Dale,” Tessa said.
“We don’t actually know that,” Sean said, and Janey waved to him as if to say, There you go.
“So you’re thinking you simply don’t know who it is.” Tessa leaned back and folded her arms.
“The line was blank,” Janey said. “So no, I don’t know who it is. Just because Dale Harton shows up with a car title and says he’s my father doesn’t make it true.”
Tessa glanced at Sean. “Why would he lie?”
“Mom died, and she has properties all over the Eastern Seaboard, for one.” Janey folded her arms. “Maybe he thinks he should have all of that.”
“But those came from Dennis,” Tessa said, her dark hair swaying as she shook her head. “It doesn’t matter. That doesn’t matter.” She leaned forward again. “Janey, you’re my sister.” She reached across the table and took Janey’s hand in both of hers.
Janey appreciated the sentiment, but she didn’t want Tessa to touch her. She wanted to fold her arms and enjoy an expensive lunch. Then she needed to get back to the rudimentary home office she’d set up in the cottage and get some work done.
Tomorrow, she’d tackle the bulk of figuring out her true origins.
She didn’t pull her hand away, and she even gave Tessa a smile. “Th
anks, Tessa.”
“I’ll help you figure all of this out,” she said, swallowing and darting a glance in Sean’s direction. “But Janey, you didn’t sign the papers for the lawyer.”
She did pull her hand back then, leaning even further from the table. She wondered how long it would take for Tessa to notice.
“Why?” she asked. “I thought we’d agreed to keep the cottage. You bought new flooring and appliances.” She flapped one hand in the general direction of the cottage. “Why spend that money if you just wanted to sell?”
“I’m back and forth,” Janey admitted. “When I did the renovations, I wanted to keep the cottage.”
“But you hadn’t signed.” Tessa studied her, confusion and intensity in her dark eyes that Janey fully understood.
She was so confused herself. The honest truth was she was a huge mess. She made decisions based on single moments of time. When Tessa hadn’t returned to Nantucket last week, Janey had been in a window of time where she wanted the cottage. So she’d called a handyman, and a flooring company, and Sean, and they’d ripped out the old and replaced it with new.
Janey loved nothing more than pulling out dirty and dingy and putting in bright, new, and clean.
It was a representation of what she wished she could do with her life. Rip out her dark mind and simply get a new one that operated the right way. A mind that didn’t run to men to make herself feel good—or feel nothing at all. A mind that didn’t spend money as if that could buy happiness.
A mind that functioned and thought through things, made smart decisions, and enjoyed downtime.
She shook her head. “I know. I don’t know.”
Thankfully, the waiter appeared, wanting to know if they were ready to order. Janey had barely glanced at the menu, but she ordered the seaside salad. “But no gorgonzola, please,” she said, imagining herself to be one of the rich and famous who simply couldn’t abide hard, crumbly cheeses.
Sean ordered surf and turf, and Tessa chose a pan-seared chicken with local vegetables.
“That sounds good,” Janey said. “I want to try those.”
“You’re not getting out of this conversation,” Tessa said. “If we don’t execute that will by the end of the month, Janey, we lose the cottage. If you don’t want it, just say so, and I’ll buy you out.”
Janey couldn’t say it though. She hadn’t been able to sign on the dotted line either. “What happens to the cottage?” she asked, reaching for her wine glass and swirling the red liquid.
“I don’t know,” Tessa said. “It goes to Mom’s next relative or something.”
“Who would that be?” Sean asked.
“I don’t know,” Tessa said, shooting him a glare. “You knew Lydia Clarke. Where would the cottage go?”
“I’d imagine perhaps one of her sisters, brothers, cousins…” He let the sentence hang there, but Tessa shook her head.
“Mom was an only child of an only child.”
“Maybe someone on your father’s side,” Sean said, and Janey watched Tessa perk up.
“Daddy did have a brother,” she said thoughtfully. “We didn’t talk to him much.”
“He lived in California,” Janey said. “No way he’d want a cottage all the way across the world from him.” She shook her head and sipped her wine. “He was older than Daddy besides. He could be dead.”
“He could have children,” Sean said.
“We need to find out, I suppose,” Janey said. “Maybe she left it to the Historical Society.”
“I don’t want them to have it,” Tessa said with a scoff. “What would they do with a beach cottage?” She shook her head and looked at Janey as if she were being difficult on purpose. Maybe she was. “Please, Janey. Either sign it or let me buy you out. I can get Marcus on the paperwork today if that’s what you want.”
“I don’t know what I want,” she said.
“Or Sean,” Tessa said as if Janey hadn’t spoken. “He’s a lawyer too, and he can get the paperwork done for the buy-out to satisfy the will.”
“I’d start it,” Sean said. “Tessa, I’d get that paperwork going. Then all Janey has to do is sign one or the other by the deadline.”
“Okay,” she said, standing up. “I’m going to call Marcus right now.” She walked away from the table, her back straight and strong.
Janey couldn’t quite look at Sean, and he let her have her silence for a minute or two. Then he said, “I don’t think I should really be involved past this point, Janey. I—”
“Why not?”
“Why not?” His normally smooth tone took on a bite, which caused her to look at him. His dark eyes sparked with something akin to lightning. Dangerous but also exciting. “Janey, I’m you mother’s lawyer. I was to execute her final instructions and that’s it. The dinners, the staying over on my couch, and me on your couch, that’s what friends do. Boyfriends.” He cleared his throat. “I know you said you had one of those, but then you kissed me this morning, and I’ll admit I’m confused.”
His normal boisterous personality had been subdued lately. Janey had needed him. She hadn’t wanted to sleep alone in the cottage when Tessa didn’t return, and he had a comfortable couch.
“I don’t need to be involved in any of this,” he said. “Tessa’s talking to the New York City lawyer, and I have no skin in this game.”
She knew what he was saying. If she wasn’t going to keep the cottage or ever come back to Nantucket, he could exit stage left, a single kiss between them.
If she did keep the cottage, perhaps he’d stay. See if he could win her over and be her boyfriend instead of Milford.
“What if I want you to have skin in the game?” she asked.
“Then you have to make a decision,” he said firmly. “And I don’t just mean about the cottage, though I would certainly start there.” His gaze never wavered from her, and Janey looked away, uncomfortable.
How did he do that? How did anyone do that? Look someone right in the eye and refuse to look away?
She shouldn’t saddle a man like him with a woman like her. He was steady and strong, put-together with a good business here on the island. She was a walking basket case, holding things together with invisible strings until everything burst and she found herself sobbing on the bathroom floor.
“Whatever you’ve learned in the past couple of weeks about your mother doesn’t change you and Tessa. You’re letting it come between you. You’re letting the fact that she might not be your full sister prevent you from sharing things with her.”
“I share things with her.”
“You don’t,” he insisted. “Anyone with two eyes can see you’re hiding things. Even about something as simple as your meeting. I can hear it in your voice.”
“I knew I shouldn’t have started anything with a lawyer,” she said.
Sean sighed, finally looking away.
“Sorry,” Janey murmured.
“It’s not me being a lawyer or not,” he said. “Tessa’s not a baby. She’s not stupid, either. She knows too. So you need to figure out what you’re doing here. From my perspective, you’re pushing both of us away, refusing to make decisions that have huge consequences for Tessa, and acting like you’re the victim in all of this.”
Janey’s gaze flew to him. “I am the victim.”
Sean just shook his head, his eyes moving down to his plate now. “There are no victims, Janey. Your mother died. I knew her and loved her. Discovering she had secrets, honestly, is just part of what happens after someone dies.” He looked up, his dark eyes bright again.
“I really like you,” he said. “I’d love to get to know you better and have a real relationship, but I’m not going to share you. I’m also not interested in being an island fling whenever you decide to come to Nantucket, if you ever come back at all.”
She nodded, because she expected as much from a man like Sean Masterson.
“Okay,” Tessa said, sliding back into her seat. “Marcus is working on the buy-out paperwork. He�
��s got a call out to a realtor so we can get the market value of the cottage. I called Ron, but he’s in a meeting.” She looked back and forth between Sean and Janey, her eyes soaking up the tension and silence between them. “I missed something.”
“No,” Janey said slowly. “You didn’t miss anything. I kept it from you.”
Tessa’s eyes widened as Janey’s whole body rioted against the words surging up her throat. “First, my meeting this morning was actually a job interview, and I got it. On September first, I’ll be the new Senior Sales Manager at AccuSchedule.”
Tessa’s mouth dropped open, and her instant grin reminded Janey of just how much her sister loved her. That same bond—that sisterly bond—moved through her too, and she smiled as well.
“That’s so great, Janey,” Tessa said. “Congratulations.”
“Yes,” Sean said with a small smile. “That’s wonderful, Janey.”
She reached over and took his hand in hers. “Second, I kissed Sean this morning. I guess we are seeing each other.”
Tessa looked back and forth between them, a bit more shock and a little less smile than before.
“Third,” Janey said, because she didn’t want to explain any more about Sean or Milford right now. She’d have to deal with that soon though. “I called Viola Martin, and I’m taking her lunch tomorrow at her mansion on the south side of the island.”
“Viola Martin?” Tessa asked.
“Dennis’s sister,” Sean said.
Janey nodded. “I’m going to find out everything she knows.”
Chapter Thirty-Five
The following day, Janey drover her mother’s car—her car now, if she’d simply sign the title and send it into the DMV—around the Point and down to the south side of Nantucket. The downtown area sat nearly directly across Viola Martin’s house, which defined the older estate homes in the Wainscott neighborhood of the island.
“This is a mansion,” Janey murmured as she pulled into the elegant driveway and past the tall trees. This place had been here for decades, but the white exterior looked as if it had been power washed only yesterday.
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