by Addison Cole
She’d taken a walk with Christmas and returned the calls and emails she’d missed. Phillipa had sent her two film pitches to consider. A few weeks ago she would have been chomping at the bit to get the most challenging roles. But her life had changed so much, the idea of filming ten to fifteen hours a day and being away from Grayson and Christmas for weeks on end didn’t sound the least bit appealing. She was excited about the romantic comedy script she’d read, though, and she hoped to secure the lead role. But that was only one movie.
She no longer needed to fill empty hours with work to avoid a life she wasn’t living. She liked the life she and Grayson were building together. She hadn’t even realized that’s what they were doing, building a life together, but that was exactly what had happened. And the life they were building was becoming their real life.
In the afternoon Parker armed herself with a bag of pretzel M&M’s and took Abe’s box down to the dock. She was doing well, but she wasn’t a fool. There were going to be tears, and tears required hugs or chocolate. Since she’d sent Grayson away, what other choice did she have?
Christmas lay on the dock beside her, his tail slapping the wood in a pattern that seemed to say, Hurry up! Hurry up!
“You can go chase birds. I don’t need a babysitter.” She kissed his head. “Really, I’m good now.” Good. I’m so much better than good. I’m happy.
Christmas woofed and bounded back toward the beach, leaving Parker alone with the box Abe had given her. She was happy that Abe had thought of her and sad that he’d had nobody else. Running her finger over the rough wooden edges of the box, she thought about Bert and the day she’d opened his safe-deposit box. She’d cried the whole way home from the bank. Now, thinking of what Helga had said when she’d given it to them, she wondered how a man’s most treasured possessions could possibly fit in a box. Then she thought about the things she cared about, and she had the answer, and her heart ached anew. Her most treasured things weren’t possessions at all. They were a man, a dog, a few close friends, cherished memories of Bert, and Grayson’s emails and all the memories they’d created together recently. Abe didn’t have anyone.
Drawing in a stabilizing breath, she opened the lid and saw the pictures she’d given Abe looking back at her. Her heart squeezed with the memory of his knobby fingers holding the picture of him and Bert. She lifted them from the box, enjoying the memories of both men they roused.
Setting those pictures aside, she withdrew an aged and worn envelope. The handwriting and date told her it was the first letter Bert had sent to Abe. The one he’d said he read. With shaky fingers she opened the letter, missing Bert anew at the sight of his familiar script. She smiled at the succinct note and wondered if he’d kept it short because confidence and control were so important to his brother.
Abe, you stubborn son of a gun. Call me. Bert.
Abe was right. He had wanted to fight it out.
Quiet laughter slipped out, and she turned damp eyes up toward the sky.
“You two. I love you guys.”
Christmas barked, and birds scattered. Parker watched them fly toward the clouds, thinking about the three people she’d lost. She’d been an infant when she’d lost her mother. She didn’t have any memories of her, but she’d always felt she was missing a piece of herself. But she’d moved on. Bert had taken a bigger chunk of her heart, and Abe had taken another piece. She never knew a heart could take so much loss and still function, but Grayson had shown her that not only could her heart still function, but it could be strong and happy and feel full again.
Lifting out the stack of Bert’s letters, she fingered the neatly spliced edges, imagining Helga’s capable hands sliding a letter opener along the creases. Parker chose to believe Helga had read each of the letters to Abe. Pleased with that thought, she put them aside. Whatever the letters contained was between Abe and Bert. It was enough for her to know the letters had been among Abe’s most treasured possessions.
She withdrew a book wrapped in red cloth from the box and unwrapped it. Turning the pink journal over in her hands, she saw the word Diary written across the front. The pages were frayed, as if they’d been read many times. A small golden lock hung crooked from the hinges, the tiny clasp broken. Like the man who left it to me.
She opened the cover, her pulse quickening at the scrawl of youth in the center of the page. Miriam Stein. Her heart stumbled as Abe’s voice whispered to her, My girl Miriam had guts. With shaky hands, she flipped the page of his daughter’s diary and read the date written in the top left, December 3, 1980.
It’s Chanukah. All I wanted was a guitar. I got this stupid diary and a bunch of ugly jewelry and fancy clothes…
Chapter Twenty-One
THE SOUND OF car doors closing and Christmas’s barking pulled Parker from Abe’s daughter’s diary. She had no idea how long she’d been sitting on the dock reading, but she’d read every entry from December 3, 1980, through November 2, 1982, and was nearing the end. Christmas charged up to meet Sky, Bella, Amy, Leanna, Jenna, and Jessica, who were headed down to the dock. Parker waved, still in a bit of a fog from all she’d read. The girls looked like they’d come from the beach, each in a cute sundress, the tops of their bathing suits tied around their necks. Their flip-flops slapped against the dock as they made their way to Parker with Christmas bumping into their legs and excitedly licking their hands.
Parker smiled up at her new friends, traipsing toward her like the cavalry.
“There you are,” Amy said. She set a bag down beside Parker. “We were worried about you.”
“I’ve been calling you all day.” Sky sat beside Parker, and the other girls sat, too, forming a circle around her. “Jana wanted to come, but she wasn’t able to reach her dance students to cancel her class.”
“My phone’s inside. Sorry. I guess I’ve been out here longer than I thought.”
Jenna reached into the bag and withdrew a jumbo package of snack-sized candy bars. “We brought grief food.”
“Aw, you’re so sweet. But Grayson beat you to it.” She grabbed the unopened bag of chocolate from behind her. “Did he ask you to check on me?”
“Please, we don’t need to be asked,” Bella said. “We wanted to come earlier, but when you didn’t answer your phone, Sky called Grayson, and he said you were probably sleeping. So we waited, and waited, and finally got sick of waiting.”
“Um, full disclosure.” Sky wiggled a finger in the air. “Grayson did call me this morning on his way to work and asked if it would make him a total overbearing a-hole if he turned around and refused to leave you alone today.”
Parker melted. That was so Grayson.
“I told him it would, and that if you told him you were fine, you were and he should trust you.” Sky leaned closer and said, “I hope that’s what you wanted, but don’t think for a minute that we girls think ‘fine’ means ‘fine.’ We know better.”
Unexpected tears welled in Parker’s eyes.
“Oh no,” Leanna exclaimed. “We didn’t mean to make you cry.”
Parker shook her head, overwhelmed with affection for these women who had so quickly become a part of her life, and for Grayson for calling Sky, and for…Well, geez. Couldn’t a girl just cry? She swiped at her tears.
“You didn’t make me cry. I mean, you did, but not in a bad way. I’m really okay. As okay as I can be. I just…” She tried to find the right words to express how much their friendship meant to her. “Grayson called you, and you’re all here.” She fanned her face to dry her tears. “I’ve never had this type of support before.”
“Tissues,” Jessica said.
“On it.” Jenna dug in the bag again and tore open a big box of tissues. She handed a bunch to Parker.
“Thank you.” Parker wiped her eyes and held up the diary. “I think I’m crying because of this. Abe left me his daughter’s diary, among other things, but his daughter’s diary! It’s so full of teenage angst and heartache.”
“Why did he leave it to you?”
Amy asked.
Parker shrugged. “His nurse said he had no one else. Abe said his wife left him for another man, and he was so full of hate when he spoke of her, I’m not surprised they didn’t keep in contact. And his daughter?” She ran her hand over the diary, remembering the frustrations it held. “Abe said she ran off to join a band and he spent thousands trying to find her but she left no trace.”
“I wonder if she was abducted,” Jenna said.
“You never know,” Jessica added.
“She was so unhappy. I think she really did run away. She wrote a lot about wanting to play in a band.” Parker flipped through the diary. “But I don’t think it was just the band. Listen to this. ‘Today Jackass’—that’s what she calls Abe.” Her heart hurt thinking about Abe reading those words, and she wondered if he’d read them a million times, or only once, and tossed them aside with the rest of his emotions. She forced herself to continue reading. “‘Today Jackass actually spoke to me. He said to be dressed and ready by seven for dinner with the Paddingtons. That’s eleven words in six days. A record.’” She lowered the diary.
“Can you imagine your own father never speaking to you? The whole thing is filled with this kind of stuff. He worked all the time. Her mother seemed nice, but listen to this.” She flipped a few more pages. “‘Two hours of straight fighting. Going on three now. I begged Mom to leave him again’—‘again’ is underlined about ten times—‘but she looks at me like I’m crazy and says he’s a good man, he’s just stressed, he doesn’t mean it, and all the other crap adults say to kids like we’re idiots.’”
“Wow,” Sky said. “No wonder she left.”
“Does it say where she was going?” Jenna asked.
“No. It doesn’t even say she planned to run away in so many words, but there’s this.” She flipped to the last entry she’d read. “‘I’m saving every penny Jackass gives me. I was going to finally buy my guitar, but it would be too bulky to carry and too easy for people to remember.’”
“Sounds like she didn’t want to be found. And she was smart,” Sky said.
“She’d written about that guitar since the very first entry, and this one’s dated two years later. It makes me so sad to think that’s the thing she clung to with all the stuff she was dealing with. She wrote about having a ton of cash, and in all that time she never bought the guitar. I think she must have been saving up to run away all that time.” Parker closed the diary. “I guess Abe was always giving her money.”
“Instead of love,” Jessica said. “It happens a lot in wealthy families. And the guitar? If she’s anything like I am with my cello, it signifies something much bigger than just an instrument to her.” Parker knew Jessica had played for the Boston Symphony Orchestra before having Dustin.
“Maybe it signified freedom,” Parker said. “I have to find her mother and return this to her.”
“Definitely.” Leanna petted Christmas, who was snoozing between her and Jessica. “I can’t imagine not knowing where Sloan was. That’s a parent’s worst nightmare.”
Parker thought of her own mother and wished for the millionth time that she’d been a little older when she’d lost her, so she could remember her face, her voice. Anything.
“We can help you,” Jenna said. “Do you know anything about her? Name? Where she lives? I guess if she’s remarried, she’d have a different name.”
“I bet Caden can do some kind of search at the police station,” Bella offered.
“Jamie knows how to pull anything and everything off the Internet, and I know he’d help.” Jessica smiled reassuringly.
Parker knew Jamie had developed OneClick, a search engine rivaling Google.
“Kurt’s friend Treat Braden has connections with private investigators in and out of the country,” Leanna said. “I’m sure he’d be willing to connect you with them.”
“You guys are so awesome.” Parker was overwhelmed by their support. “But I’m hoping Helga, Abe’s nurse, might know where to start. She worked for him for several years, so maybe she has her new last name or an address or something.”
“Okay, but if she doesn’t, we’re here to help,” Amy reassured her.
“Then we have a plan. If Helga can’t help, the Seaside girls are on the case!” Jenna took the diary from Parker, set it in the box, and carried the box to the far end of the dock. When she returned she pulled her sundress over her head. Christmas’s head popped up to watch the pretty girl in the blue bikini that barely contained her enormous boobs. “But before we start this mission, we have to initiate Parker to our group.”
Parker watched as each of the others pulled off their dresses and dropped them to the deck. “Initiate?”
“It’s time for you to become a Seaside sister.” Jenna stripped off her bikini—right there on the dock! She yelled, “Chunky-dunking!” and leaped into the water, splashing them all.
Christmas barked, leaping around the dock as bikini tops flew in the air, bikini bottoms fell to the girls’ feet, and naked women dove into the water, one after the other.
“I’ve never skinny-dipped!” Parker knew her cheeks were bright red, but as the girls laughed and splashed, urging her on, her embarrassment slipped away with every cajoling plea.
“Take it off!” Jenna hollered.
“Come on! It’s totally fun!” Amy yelled.
“Don’t be a chicken!” Bella called out.
She looked at her new friends who had come over despite the fact that she’d sent Grayson away, somehow knowing what Parker didn’t, what she couldn’t, having never had sisters—they knew she needed them, regardless of how well she thought she was doing.
GRAYSON PULLED DOWN the driveway, waving to Sky and the girls as they passed on their way out. Christmas greeted him as he stepped from the truck.
“Hey, buddy. Where’s your mama?”
Christmas ran to the cottage, and Grayson let them both in. He found Parker sitting at the kitchen counter wrapped in a towel. Her hair was soaking wet, and her cell phone was pressed to her ear. The box Abe had given her sat open in front of her, and a handful of empty chocolate wrappers were piled on the counter to her left. He scanned the contents of the box—a red cloth partially covered the letters Parker had left for Abe, and a pink journal lay on its side. He was glad to see she’d opened the box, but he wished he hadn’t gone to work so he could have been with her when she did. He leaned down and kissed her cheek.
She turned a smile his way and held up a finger, mouthing, One sec. Don’t go away.
Like there was anywhere else he wanted to be? It had been hell staying away all day, but at least Sky had texted him when she arrived at the cottage to say Parker was there and the girls were with her.
“Okay, thank you,” Parker said into the phone. “I look forward to meeting you, too.” After she ended the call, she jumped to her feet and hugged Grayson. “I’m so glad you’re here. It’s been a crazy day.”
“Looks like it. So, you’re okay?”
She looked down at her towel and her smile widened. “The girls initiated me into their group, and I looked through the box, and now I have to go to New Jersey.”
“Whoa, towel girl. New Jersey?”
She pressed her hands to his chest. “Yes! I have so much to tell you.”
“I can’t wait to hear. I’m glad you’re okay. I was worried about you.”
“I know you were. Thank you for not coming back to rescue me. I love that you wanted to.”
“Not rescue you, baby. Be with you. Comfort you. And my sister has a big mouth.”
“I love her! I love all the girls, and, Grayson?” She grabbed his face, her eyes dancing with excitement. “I love you. So very much.”
“Now, that’s what I like to hear.” He pressed his lips to hers, and felt her melting against him, and just as quickly, she broke the connection.
“Stop kissing me for a second or I won’t be able to think.”
“What’s wrong with that?”
“Grayson,” s
he pleaded.
He put his hands behind his back. “Okay. Start at the beginning, but I’m not sure how long I can resist you.”
She went up on her tiptoes. “Me either.” She kissed him again. “Darn it. This always happens. Act unsexy or something!”
He laughed and tugged her against him. “This is as unsexy as it gets. Say your piece so I can take mine.”
“You’re so bad.” She bit her lip, and the darkening of her eyes told him she was thinking about how good it would feel to be close, just as he was.
“What was I saying?” she asked breathlessly.
“Something about an initiation that looks like it included nakedness and chocolate, you looked in the box, and you need to go to New Jersey.”
“Oh, right,” she said. “You make me forget everything.” She shook her head, completely unaware of the effect seeing her flustered over him had on every part of him. Finally she said, “Did you know the girls chunky-dunked?”
“Everyone knows they do, but usually only at night at their community pool.” His eyes narrowed. “Did you skinny-dip here?” Thank goodness they had no neighbors.
“Uh-huh. It was so much fun. I’d never done it before, but…I love them so much, Grayson. It’s like having the sisters I always dreamed of. I wasn’t going to do it, but they were having so much fun, and they could probably convince me to do anything.”
“That sounds like trouble,” he teased. “Tell me the rest, baby. The box? New Jersey?”
She grabbed the box and told him about what she’d found, what she’d read, and how she felt compelled to return the diary to Abe’s ex-wife.
“I called Helga. She did some poking around, and she found his ex-wife, Sarah. I asked Helga why she didn’t just return the diary to her directly. She said she’d never go against Abe’s wishes, but that she’d hoped I’d come to this conclusion on my own. Can you imagine? That’s loyalty.”
