by Jen Gilroy
“Eighteen more days.” The girl unfolded her legs, thin like a spider’s below a pair of black shorts, and leaned toward Mia. “Unless you can get me out of here sooner?”
Nick choked back a laugh at the girl’s hopeful expression. She’d asked the wrong woman to spring her out of jail.
“No.” Mia shook her head like she was sad about not being able to help. “You need to talk to the camp counselors. If you’re not happy, it’s their job to make things better for you.” She hesitated. “You are?”
“Kylie,” the girl muttered. The swing squeaked and her bare feet landed on the floorboards again.
“The counselors can help you, Kylie, if you’ll let them. I don’t want any more kids to hate being here,” Mia said.
“I never said I hated it. Not exactly, but I don’t know…those songs are dumb and the games are dumb. The other girls laugh at me, and there could be bears out there, and I don’t know how to swim, and it’s so dark at night except for these little flashes of light like lightning.” She stopped like a wind-up toy that had run down.
“I understand.” Mia lowered her voice. “When she was little, my sister used to tag after me everywhere. Until I convinced her a bear with sharp yellow teeth lived in our boathouse and it would gobble her right up if she put one foot off this porch. But there’s never been a bear around here since my grandfather built this cottage.”
“Mia’s right,” Nick said. “I’ve never heard of a bear around this side of the lake, but I’ll check if you want.”
“You will? Like really?” Kylie’s lower lip wobbled, and she rubbed a hand across her face. Her purple polish was chipped, and her fingernails were bitten to the quick.
“Sure. As for those little flashes like lightning, I bet they’re fireflies. Do they look like that?” He gestured toward the darker shadows beyond the cottage where sparks of light darted and dipped.
“Yeah. You mean bugs?” Kylie’s eyes narrowed.
“Insects, beetles actually, although some people call them lightning bugs or moon bugs.” Nick smiled at Kylie. “They put on a magical light show for us every night. That’s what my mom says, anyway. Since this is Firefly Lake, they’re an extra special part of summer around here.”
“They sure are, and fireflies aren’t anything to be afraid of,” Mia said. “As for the bears, if there are any, which I doubt, Nick will scare them so far away they’ll never come back. Won’t you?”
“Absolutely.”
The frightened expression on Kylie’s face got to him in a way those scared kids had gotten to him long ago. Back when he’d wanted to be a lawyer to do some good in the world and help people who needed a break. To be a different kind of man than his dad.
Mia smiled like he’d given her an all-expenses paid trip to Paris. “While Nick checks for bears, you come inside with me and we’ll find a flashlight to help with the dark. I’m sure the counselors can do something about the music and those other girls. As for the swimming, I bet all you need is extra help to catch up. We can fix this, Kylie. Will you give the camp staff a chance?”
Heat spread through Nick’s chest. His ex-wife would have walked past Kylie. He hadn’t recognized it at first, but Isobel was shallow, selfish, and self-centered. Mia was different. Even though most of the time she kept it hidden, there was a real person behind her perfect face and designer wardrobe. A loving and caring person.
“Nick?” Mia half-turned, her expression quizzical. “The bears?”
“I’m on it.”
Kylie looked at him, her eyes less like a feral cat’s and more like a scared girl’s. “Can you check out near the cabins and the dining hall? I never saw anything, but last night I heard this scratching noise and well, you know?”
“Yeah, I do.” Although he’d never admitted it to anyone, back when he’d been at summer camp in Quebec, away from home for the first time, he’d convinced himself a wolf pack lived in the woods behind the dining hall. “I’ll check everywhere you want me to.”
“Before she went to the state prison, my mom said you can never trust guys. Especially guys who wear fancy clothes and drive fancy cars.” She flicked a glance at his silver Lexus.
“If Nick says he’ll check, he means it, Kylie.”
Kylie shrugged. “Whatever.” She got off the swing and it hit the wall behind her with a thud. Her eyes were bleak, like she’d seen too much of life too soon. The kind of eyes no kid should have.
“It’s true, Kylie. Nick’s a good man.” Mia’s look was so warm and loving, Nick ached. It made him wonder how it would feel if she ever looked at him that way. “He wouldn’t be my friend if he wasn’t.”
And didn’t that sum things up? Nick went down the steps into the darker shadows cast by the cottage, where the fireflies glowed bright. He’d turned his back on the path he’d been headed down at seventeen, and by keen intelligence and force of will, he’d turned himself into a good man, an honorable man. But it hadn’t stopped Isobel from cheating on him. It hadn’t stopped him from feeling like an impostor either, like if he’d been good enough and the son his dad wanted, the guy might have stuck around longer.
Nick moved to the edge of the lake, where the sand was soft under his shoes. Water slapped against the wooden dock, in time with the beat of the music from the cottage. Music that had nothing to do with the camp songs he remembered and everything to do with a green-eyed sprite called Kylie. The kid who had him out here in the dark when he should be in his office at work on a pile of legal briefs.
The kid who’d helped him see Mia in a whole new light and who’d made him face a truth about himself. Although he still didn’t do serious, he couldn’t maintain this friendship farce much longer, either.
He tossed a piece of driftwood into the fire pit encircled by a blackened ring of stones and stared at the dark water of the lake. It was slick, impenetrable, and deceptive, waiting until he let down his guard to suck him in.
What was he thinking? As soon as he got his mom settled, he was out of here and back on the fast track. He wouldn’t let anything or anyone, especially not a woman, distract him ever again.
No more excuses and no more self-doubt. Mia repeated the words like a mantra as she slipped out of Harbor House early the next morning. The air was cool and the sun stained the eastern sky red. For the first time in a long time, she was building an independent life.
Her house. Her lips curved into a smile as she pictured the cozy rooms in the little clapboard cottage Sean and his brother were renovating for her. They planned to put in a new kitchen with cabinets salvaged from a friend of a friend. Sean wouldn’t let her pay anything because she and the girls were family.
Her job. Her smile broadened. For the first time since college, she had money she’d earned through work she’d done. Although she only had one music student so far, she’d had lots of inquiries for September.
And friends who’d never been part of her life with her ex-husband. Gabrielle. Nick.
Mia’s pulse sped up and her insides quivered. Like she was sixteen again, when she’d lingered outside the North Woods Diner in the hope she’d catch a glimpse of Nick as he cruised by on that motorcycle of his, with some girl with big hair and tight clothes riding pillion. Back then, he’d gone out with girls who had what Mia’s mom and the other women at the golf club called a bad reputation.
A sharp, high-pitched bark yanked her back to the present. “Pixie?” She eyed the dog through the screen door. “Okay, but only because I don’t want you to wake Gabrielle.” She opened the door again and grabbed the dog’s leash to clip it to her pink, rhinestone-studded collar.
The dog whined and Mia put a finger to her lips as she closed the door behind them. She slid a baseball cap onto her head, tucked headphones into her ears, and gave a little skip in time to Abba’s “Dancing Queen.” Her mom’s happy song.
Last night she’d even faced the cottage, no longer the Gibbs place, where she’d spent all those summers with an unhappy mom and a dad who’d cheated, but C
amp Rainbow, where kids like Kylie could make new memories.
Mia picked up speed, and Pixie kept pace beside her as they passed the grand old houses once owned by the mill bosses, where big maple trees shaded wide porches. At the foot of the hill, they crossed the intersection to her house. It was tucked into a marshy curve of the lake, where Nick had told her loons nested in the spring. The little house that already felt like home.
This early the town was quiet and the lake was still. A train rumbled through the level crossing at the end of Main Street and its faint whistle echoed. At the foot of the hill, she turned right onto Main, where the lone traffic light was stuck on green. The sidewalks were empty and the storefronts dark. Outside McGuire and Pelletier’s law office, Pixie tugged on the leash and Mia faltered. The gold letters across the window glinted in the morning sun, and two tubs of red petunias on either side of the door were wet with dew.
Her phone vibrated. She glanced at the screen and yanked the headphones out of her ears as she fumbled to answer. “Naomi?”
“Mom?” Her elder daughter’s voice was muffled. “I didn’t wake you, did I?”
“Of course not. What’s wrong?” Mia’s maternal radar went on high alert. “Are you hurt? Is Emma hurt?”
“No, we’re okay.” Naomi sniffed and there was a rustle like she’d dropped the phone in bedding.
“Naomi? Sweetheart?” Her legs shook, and Mia sat on the bench in front of Tremblay & Sons Plumbing and Heating, two doors from McGuire and Pelletier. Pixie squeezed beside her. “What’s wrong? You never call this early.”
“Dad got a job offer in San Francisco.” Naomi made a choked sound. “He wants Emma and me to move there with him because he said us living in Firefly Lake was only ever temporary.” The choked sound turned into a sob. “Why didn’t you tell me?”
Because a job in San Francisco was news to her. “Sweetheart, listen.” Mia clenched her fist around the phone and sucked in a breath, rich with the smell of yeast from the Daily Bread Bakery. “Your dad hasn’t said anything to me about a new job or you girls moving. He agreed the two of you would live with me in Firefly Lake.”
Naomi hiccupped. “Dad promised he’d look for a job in Boston or New York to be closer to Emma and me.”
“When did he promise that?” Mia’s stomach heaved, and she gripped the phone tighter.
“Before we left Dallas. He said it was our special secret.” Naomi’s voice was thick with tears. “Then last night he told me he got this great opportunity. He’s already taken it, and Tiffany’s all for it. Dad wants his new family more than us.”
Tiffany, the beautiful blond marketing intern Jay had cheated on her with. The one who’d gotten pregnant and given Jay the son he’d always wanted. “That’s not true.” Mia forced the words out and hoped she was right. She also hoped Jay wouldn’t betray his daughters like he’d betrayed her.
“Apart from work, all he cares about is Tiffany and the baby.”
“Your dad, he…” Mia stopped. Her days of making excuses for Jay were over.
“Why did Daddy break his promise?”
Mia’s heart turned over. Naomi hadn’t called Jay Daddy since she was six. “I don’t know, honey.”
Except, she did. Her ex-husband was a liar and a cheat, more concerned for himself than anyone else, even his daughters. And she’d fallen for it, over and over again. Mia shifted on the wooden bench. She ached to take her daughter in her arms to soothe her and tell her everything would be okay.
“He promised me. I trusted him. I don’t want to move to San Francisco.”
“Of course you aren’t moving to San Francisco.”
Pixie squirmed onto Mia’s lap and licked her face.
“We chose to move to Firefly Lake together, remember? So we could be close to Charlie and Sean and the baby. Your dad was fine with that.”
Maybe fine was an exaggeration, but Jay had agreed, which was all that counted, and Mia had a legal agreement to prove it. She took another breath of warm, yeast-scented air.
“In Firefly Lake I can be close to Ty,” Naomi added.
Mia’s throat constricted as yet another worry crowded in. Naomi’s friendship with Sean’s son was the one reason she’d first hesitated about the move to Vermont. “We have friends in Firefly Lake, sure, but your dad loves you and Emma and—”
“He loves us as long as we do what he wants.”
“What do you mean?” Mia’s mouth went dry. She eased Pixie away and stared at Firefly Lake’s Main Street without seeing it.
“Nothing, forget it.” Naomi’s voice was guarded.
Jay couldn’t take the girls from her. Not without going to court. Besides, he’d always said his work schedule was too unpredictable for him to have Naomi and Emma for anything more than vacation visits planned at least three months in advance.
“Mom? Dad wants to talk to you. He says he—”
“Amelia?” Mia flinched as Jay’s voice boomed across the miles. He’d never called her Mia because he thought the name wasn’t sophisticated enough.
“Jay.” Mia tucked Pixie into the crook of her arm and stood, then ducked under the awning of the plumbing and heating store. “What’s this about you moving to California? You didn’t say anything to me, and Naomi’s upset. She thinks you want her and Emma to move, too.”
“I planned to tell you when I brought the girls back. I didn’t expect Naomi to get all emotional. I thought she’d be thrilled and want to surprise you.” Mia caught the impatience in her ex-husband’s voice. “She had some idea I’d move to New York or Boston.”
“She said you promised her.”
Once, Mia had loved this man with her whole heart. When she met him in college, she’d imagined them building a life and making the family she’d wanted and that they’d grow old together. A dream that had started to die a long time ago, the first time he’d hooked up with a girl like Tiffany and Mia had pretended to not notice.
Like her mom had pretended to not notice her dad’s women.
“I may have said I’d look for a job in Boston or New York, but I didn’t expect Naomi to take me seriously.”
“You’re her father. Even though she’ll be sixteen in two days, Naomi still believes what you tell her.” Mia held on to her temper by a thread. “And why did you upset her so close to her birthday?”
“It was a misunderstanding. Naomi’s a big girl and she can handle it.” Mia pictured Jay running a hand through his sandy hair as his pale blue eyes narrowed. “I’ve got a great job offer, and Tiffany has friends in the Bay Area who can help out with the baby.”
“You decided this when? Without a word to me? We agreed the girls would live with me in Firefly Lake. I gave you all the vacation visits you wanted, but Naomi and Emma need me. They need stability, roots, and—”
“Hang on. You’re making a problem out of nothing. Didn’t Naomi tell you?” His tone turned persuasive and became what Mia had always thought of as his salesman voice. “The whole point is you’ll move, too. I’ll still pay child support. I’ll even add extra so you can get a place in San Francisco. It’s not like you have anything to keep you in Firefly Lake.”
Mia tensed, and sweat trickled between her breasts. “My sister’s here. I’ve got a job. I bought a house and—”
“Sell the house. As for your job, it’s not like substitute teaching or a few music students is a big commitment.” His laugh was the one Mia hated. The one that diminished her and made her doubt herself. “Naomi said you’re working for some old woman, clearing out her house.”
“Gabrielle isn’t old, and she needs my help.” Mia curled her toes inside her sneakers. “As for the teaching, I’ve always wanted to use my degree and—”
“You can teach in California if you want. What you do about teaching is your decision, but I won’t let you put my daughters at risk.” He clicked his tongue against his teeth. “Emma told me all about your house and that boy Naomi messages all the time. She’s not interested in the sons of my friends, boys w
ho are going somewhere in life. Instead, she gets mixed up with the guy who cuts your grass. He’s as good as related.”
“They’re our daughters and my house is my business.” Mia set Pixie on the sidewalk and made her voice decisive. “As for Ty Carmichael, he’s a good kid, and he and Naomi are friends.”
“As soon as she’s in California, Naomi will forget all about him.” Jay’s tone sharpened. “You’ve always been too lenient with the girls. Naomi especially needs a firm hand. She’s strong-minded and willful like your sister.”
Maybe if Mia had been more strong-minded she wouldn’t have stayed with Jay as long as she had. “You’ve already wrecked our family because you wanted somebody new. I won’t let you uproot the girls again.”
Jay gave the kind of sigh Mia was too familiar with. “You and I hadn’t been right for each other for a long time. And Firefly Lake—”
“Is my home.” Mia steadied herself against the wall of the plumbing and heating store, the brick cool against her back.
Pixie looked at her with anxious brown eyes.
“Besides, my sister needs me.”
And she needed Charlie too. Apart from the girls, Charlie was the only close family she had.
“Visit your sister a few times a year. When we lived in San Francisco before, you loved it, remember? You even talked about applying to the music conservatory.”
She had loved it, but San Francisco was right after they got married and she’d been starry-eyed in love with her husband. As for studying at the conservatory, she’d let go of that dream when Jay got his first promotion and she got pregnant with Naomi. The first of a whole lot of sacrifices she hadn’t realized she’d made until it was too late.
“San Francisco was a long time ago.” Dizziness and nausea rolled over her in a wave. “I have a teaching certificate I never used because we moved around so much for your job. But Jay, we have a custody and visitation agreement, and there’s nothing in it to say the girls and I have to follow you around anymore.”
