The Beach House

by Vicky Jones

  “Now, tell me what’s troubling you, dear.”

  “I don’t know where to start.” After a few more minutes of coaxing from Minnie, Shona finally began to find her words. “I met David’s teacher today. She’s a girl I knew when I lived in Mississippi eight years ago. It was before I met Chloe and, oh Minnie, I never in my wildest dreams thought I’d ever see her again after what happened.”

  “Is she a girl you knew well?” Minnie said, an eyebrow raised.

  “I thought I did. But not like that, Minnie. We were never… Oh, it’s all such a mess, Minnie. My head is spinning.”

  “Here, take a sip.” Minnie handed Shona her glass of tea and waited while she took a huge gulp. “Better?”

  “Yeah. Thank you.”

  “So, this girl was a friend of yours? Back in Mississippi,” Minnie asked.

  “I was working in this garage called Wreckers and Lucy would come over every day to see me. She had this boyfriend, Frank, who was treating her real bad, so I thought she just wanted a friend to talk to. And we got real tight for a while, but then Frank started to get her to dance in the bar he owned. Then he made her do more.”

  “More?” Minnie asked, sipping her drink.

  “Yeah. With some guys who’d pay him for her company.”

  “I see. And how did that make you feel, Shona?”

  “I didn’t care at first, but one night I saw her with some guy. They were in bed and he was doing things to her that made my stomach turn. It made me sick. I couldn’t control it. Back then, I hadn’t dealt with the shame of who I was. That I liked girls.” She lowered her eyes. “Back in Louisiana, my father and this doctor friend of his tried to cure me by making me sick when I saw pictures of women. When I saw Lucy that night with that guy, she looked so similar to a picture in a magazine the doctor made me look at while they put an electric shock through me and…” Shona shuddered, the shame of her treatment flooding back through her. “Anyway, afterwards Lucy tried to explain that she wasn’t going to do it anymore. She’d spoken to Frank and told him she was gonna take college more seriously and that was that. We started to get close again, and the sight of her in that bedroom started to fade. She became Lucy again, a girl I’d grown to really like. I couldn’t show it, though, in case I ruined our friendship. When I was growing up back in Louisiana, I fell in love with a girl when I was a kid and when she found out how I felt, our friendship was ruined and I had to run away. I didn’t want that happening again with Lucy. And I was happy in Mississippi living with Dorothy and working at Wreckers. But then I started to get the feeling Lucy was after more from our friendship so…”

  Minnie waited while Shona took another deep breath.

  “One night she came round to my house. I was real nervous because I was starting to have feelings for her too. But I still wasn’t sure. Until she leaned in to kiss me.”

  Far from looking shocked, Minnie leaned closer to Shona. “And? What happened, Shona?”

  Shona buried her face in her hands for a moment, then looked back at Minnie. “She’d tricked me. She called me a ‘screw-up,’ then I was grabbed by this guy called Chuck. It was all a set up, you see? Lucy just wanted me to show my true colors. She must have arranged for Chuck and his friends to follow us home, then creep in and catch us in the act. The way Lucy jumped up made Chuck think that I was doing something bad to her.”

  “What did he do to you, Shona?”

  Shona swallowed hard and blinked away the tears. “He hit me so hard I felt something in my chest crack. I couldn’t breathe. Then the other guys jumped in and that’s all I can really remember, other than Dorothy being by my side in the hospital.”

  “Oh, sweetheart,” Minnie said clasping her hand over Shona’s. “That’s why you left Mississippi?”

  “Yes. I had no choice. The rumors were already going around about what I was. They were calling me a ‘monster’ and a ‘deviant.’ Dorothy told me that Lucy had left town not long after, so the truth never got told. But it wasn’t my fault, Minnie. I never did nothing wrong.” Shona began sobbing.

  “No, you didn’t, honey. You did nothing wrong. It’s Lucy who should be ashamed of herself. She befriended you, then betrayed your trust, all for some sick little game to catch you out.”

  “And now she’s here. Living in the same town as me again. What do I do now, Minnie?” Shona asked, her red-rimmed eyes wide. “Dorothy told Chloe about Lucy years ago when Chloe visited her, but how do I tell Chloe that Lucy’s here? Not only that, but is our son’s teacher as well?” She tailed off and sank her face into her hands again. “Urgh, it’s all such a mess. I feel so much rage for Lucy, yet I gotta play nice for the sake of the boy. We can’t move again, not now. We finally got the law off our back, we got a beautiful home, Dorothy’s buried here.” She paused, a lump catching in her throat.

  Minnie clasped her hand on Shona’s knee. “Tell Chloe. Tell her everything. You have no feelings for Lucy, right?”

  Shona didn’t answer, but Minnie continued anyway.

  “You can’t pretend this isn’t happening. Chloe knows about Lucy. The only surprise for her will be that Lucy’s here and you should both deal with that together, as one.” Minnie paused, her gaze travelling up to a framed photograph of her and her husband on the marble stone mantelpiece. “When you love each other, you share your troubles. You shouldn’t deal with them yourself. Go home and tell Chloe everything. She’ll only find out later, then it might be worse.”

  Shona knew Minnie was right. She took in a huge breath. “I can’t believe this is happening again, Minnie. Will my past ever stop haunting me?”

  Shona walked into the hallway and turned left to go into the kitchen, but a voice from the living room opposite halted her.

  “What are you not telling me?” Chloe whispered. The thread from the armrest she’d been pulling at came loose. “I always know when there’s something bothering you.”

  Shona perched on the end of the chair nearest the living room doorway. “Today. At the school. When I met David’s teacher. It was Lucy.” Her words were stilted, like tiny rumbles of thunder from an oncoming storm. She waited for a glimmer of recognition from Chloe, but it didn’t come. Shona took a deep breath and repeated “The Lucy. From Mississippi. She’s here.”

  Chloe’s open face became frozen in disbelief. “What?” she breathed. “I don’t understand. Why is she here?”

  “I don’t know. I knew her family lived in California somewhere, so I guess it makes sense.” Shona’s voice caught in her throat. She swallowed, then looked at Chloe through glassy eyes. “I didn’t know how to tell you. I swear I didn’t know she was from this town. I never would have brought us here if I’d known that. I hate her. I was almost killed because of her lies.” Her words were falling out of her with abandon now. Chloe, realizing Shona’s body was slipping from the arm of the chair, rushed over to grab her.

  “It’s OK. Baby, I know you would never have done that. I know. We’ll be fine. We don’t have to see her. David won’t be in her class forever. Please, Shona, calm down.”

  Shona’s whole body was shaking.

  Chapter 33

  Lucy had spent the weekend in a similar state of shock. She sat in deep thought at her desk in her classroom the following Monday morning trying to make sense of it all. How could Shona be here? Of all the places she could have gone to after she left Mississippi, she had ended up in Sunnybrook, only ten miles from Monterey, where Lucy had moved back after that terrible night at Dorothy’s house.

  Lucy had always wanted to teach, but when she’d enrolled in college back in Mississippi eight years ago it just didn’t feel like the right time. On her arrival back in Monterey, she’d been escorted down to the local college by her mother and enrolled at the next intake. Now that she was doing the job, she’d realized it was all she’d ever wanted in her life.

  “Excuse me, ma’am, do you mind if I finish cleaning in here?” Bennett said after popping his head around the door.

  Lucy snapp
ed out of her thoughts. “Um... Yeah, of course, Henry. Go right ahead.”

  Bennett swept his brush across the wooden floor, then ran his polishing cloth over all the tiny chairs. He poked the edge of his cloth into the corners of each window after wiping them until they sparkled.

  “All done, Miss Adamson. Sorry again to disturb you,” Bennett announced, tipping his cap.

  “Well now, Henry, what a brilliant job you’ve done there. Those windows are shining like a new penny. Thank you so much,” Lucy replied, a genuine smile on her tired face.

  “You’re welcome. You have a great day now.” Bennett collected his things, then closed the door again behind him. Seconds later, another knock came at the door and in stepped Principal Miller, a pensive look on her face.

  “Good morning, Margaret. How was your weekend?” Lucy asked. Her smile eased off when she saw Miller’s hard stare.

  “Fine. How’s that boy David getting on? Is he causing you any trouble?” Miller walked over to Lucy’s desk.

  Lucy’s skin prickled. “He’s doing great. Really great, actually. Why do you ask?” Her eyes focused on Miller a little too keenly, causing Miller to raise an eyebrow.

  “Just the way that Shona woman was eyeballing you like she hated you. Almost as if she knew you or something, but they’ve just moved here from Alabama, haven’t they?”

  Lucy felt the corners of her mouth twitch. “I don’t know… Don’t worry, Margaret. I’ll be sure to let you know if I get any trouble.”

  “See that you do. This is a respectable school. I don’t want any fuss, OK?”

  “David, can you come over here a second?” Lucy called out as her class was running off to morning break. Holding the paw of a brown bear he’d found in the homeroom box, he trotted over to her desk and stood wide-eyed, looking up at her. She pressed her hands together and placed her fingertips on her lips. “How’s things at home now? I heard your momma was sick.”

  “It’s OK. Mommy gets tired a lot, but Shona plays with me when she’s sleeping,” David replied, wiping his nose with his free hand.

  “Shona’s your aunt, right?” Lucy probed.

  “Um... I just call her Shona. That’s what Momma said to do.” He cuddled the bear into his chest. “Can I go now, miss? I gotta get my cookie.”

  Lucy smiled and nodded. Five minutes later, after snapping out of her racing thoughts, she looked up at the clock on the wall. “Shit.” She jumped up out of her chair and set off down the corridor and into the yard just in time to catch the last five minutes of her break duty and a stinging look from Principal Miller who’d been covering her absence.

  “You’re late, Lucy.”

  “I’m sorry, Margaret. It won’t happen again.”

  “See that it doesn’t. You seem to be distracted today.”

  Lucy felt her cheeks redden.

  “Anything I need to know about?” Miller stepped closer to her.

  “No, nothing new to report,” Lucy said.

  “Well, OK then. Your annual review is coming soon. Just to remind you,” Margaret said pointedly before walking off.

  “Are you coming later, Shona?” David asked, in between shoveling spoonfuls of cereal into his mouth.

  “What’s that, bubba?” Shona replied as she tied up her bootstraps.

  “There’s a thing on at school. Momma said I get ice cream afterwards if Miss Adamson says I done good.”

  Chloe bustled into the kitchen holding a hamper and began sorting out the whites from the colors. “I didn’t think you’d want to go, not with…” she paused as Shona ran a hand through her hair and picked up her satchel. “I’d love you to come, but I understand why if you don’t.”

  “I don’t want to cause a scene. This afternoon’s about David. We don’t need any more attention on us. But I’ll think about it. See you later.” She leaned over and planted a kiss on David’s head, then one on Chloe’s cheek.

  It was three thirty and Lucy’s eyes had been fixed on the entrance of the school hall for the last half an hour. Parents had begun to file in and were shepherded over to their respective teachers’ classrooms to discuss their children’s progress. Her heart thudded at the prospect that at any moment, around any corner, she could bump into Shona.

  As she smiled at parents and gushed over their child one by one, Lucy kept one eye on her watch. It was almost an hour into parents’ night and still no sign of Shona. Then, fifteen minutes before the end of the time slots, Chloe walked into her classroom and up to her desk.

  “Good evening, Mrs. Clark. How are you?” Lucy said. She held out her hand for Chloe to shake, then they both sat down. Lucy, feeling the weight of Chloe’s stare upon her, began straightening the paper on the desktop and lining her pencils up. She plucked up the courage to look Chloe in the eyes. “So, David is doing really well at the moment. He’s mastered his alphabet and is now writing his name in very neat handwriting. He gets along with everyone in his class and hasn’t been in any trouble whatsoever since he started here.” Normally by now the mothers she’d spoken to that evening would be gushing and holding their husband’s hand, both proud of their parenting skills, but Chloe remained motionless, as if she hadn’t heard a word Lucy had said. “This is an example of his handwriting. I asked him to write down the names of the people in his family.”

  Chloe looked down at the piece of paper Lucy had pushed towards her. Every name was present and correctly spelled. David had even drawn yellow hair around the ‘o’ on Shona’s name.

  After a few more stories about David’s progress, Chloe picked up her handbag and stood up. “Well, thank you, Miss Adamson, for the glowing report about my son.”

  “You’re welcome. Goodbye, Mrs. Clark.” Lucy stood up and held out her hand for Chloe to shake, which she did, more firmly this time. Their eyes locked for few seconds before Chloe departed, nodding to Principal Miller as she passed by.

  “Who the hell does that bitch think she is, huh?” Chloe raged as she stormed through the front door and threw her handbag onto the couch next to Shona, almost hitting her.

  “What? What happened?” Shona replied, shocked at her near miss.

  “All gussied up like she’s going on a date with Elvis himself. The gall of that woman. She’s so smug. Thinks she’s the best teacher in the whole damn world. ‘Oh, your son is doing so well here,’ she was droning on. God, she’s a piece of work.” Chloe’s breath finally ran out as she reached the end of her tirade. She stood in the living room, hands on hips, staring open-mouthed at Shona who jumped up and wrapped her arms around her.

  “I’m so sorry, baby,” Shona whispered in her ear.

  “I have half a mind to tell that principal exactly what kind of a woman she has on her payroll. After everything she did to you, she deserves it.”

  “No, you can’t do that,” Shona replied. “How would that make us look, huh? Think about it. You’d be outing us to the whole town. It wouldn’t take a lot of digging to uncover our secrets. That’s exactly what we’ve been fighting against happening all these years. Since we got that room converted into two and David back, the townsfolk have left us alone to get on with our lives. If we tell them who Lucy is, then it will all come out.”

  “OK, but if she comes near you or does anything to hurt you again, I’ll tear that bitch’s hair out. You should have nothing to do with her, is that clear?”

  Shona recoiled, having never seen Chloe so incensed. “I don’t want her anywhere near me. You don’t have to say all that.”

  “I know,” Chloe replied, running her hand through her loose brown curls and taking her coat off. “I’m sorry, honey. She’s just really got my goat tonight.”

  “Well, there won’t be another parents’ night for the rest of semester so we can stay out of her way. You should get some sleep. It’s late.”

  Shona led Chloe’s weary, spent body into the bedroom.

  “Momma, can I stay behind after preschool tonight? Miss Adamson’s started an art club,” David asked as he pulled his sne
akers on the next morning.

  “Since when?” Chloe replied, then kneeled down to tie his shoes.

  “She told us all yesterday to ask if we could stay until five and that she’ll tell Mr. Bennett to bring all the kids home on the school bus afterwards. Bobby’s going. Can I go, Momma? Please?” His pleading face was too much for Chloe to refuse.

  “OK, baby, if you’re sure you wanna go?” She scooped him up off the ground to his feet and smoothed his hair down. “You know your momma paints, don’t you?” For a moment she became lost in the memory of the day last week when Shona had sat for her. She looked up at the stunningly detailed portrait hanging on the hallway wall, stifling a blush at what she remembered happened afterwards.

  “Momma?” David repeated.

  “Why, of course you can. You’ll be even better than me, I bet.”

  David grinned and grabbed his school bag, then held his hand out for Chloe as they set off on the walk to Fairview.

  Chapter 34

  It was half past eleven on Wednesday morning, and Lucy sat at her desk deep in thought. The letter she’d decided to try and write to Shona was covered in scribbled out sentences as she tried to find the words to explain. She was jolted out of her daze by Principal Miller who burst through her door.

  “Lucy, this is getting out of hand now. I cannot believe you’ve let it happen again.” Miller’s face was the angriest Lucy had ever seen it. Her hands were clamped on her slim hips, strands of wispy hair out of place in her haste to get to Lucy’s classroom.

  Lucy looked back at her, then jumped up out of her seat. “Oh, damn.” Seconds later she’d almost barged past Miller and was running down the corridor towards the playground, ten minutes late for her duty twice in as many weeks. Only a few feet from reaching her post, she heard an ear-splitting scream which filled the air. She looked over to the climbing frame twenty yards away at the other end of the playground.