Lauren softened. Poor girl. She reached over and squeezed Hannah’s hand. “It’s okay. I’m fine. Don’t worry about it.” Hannah nodded and dried her eyes on the sleeve of her shirt. Lauren turned once more and looked out the window. A familiar figure stood at the end of the dock, watching the Ellie Mae cruise into the harbor.
“I know all about annoying brothers. There’s one of mine.” Lauren pointed out the window. Matt waved to Jason and Blake.
“Why is he here?” Hannah asked.
“Good question. I better go see what he’s up to.” They cleaned up the galley and went out on the back deck. Jason maneuvered the boat into its slip. Blake tossed the lines to Matt and he tied them off at the cleat.
“Matthew, what brings you by today? Trolling for lost souls?” Jason teased.
Matt grinned. “Not today. I’m just looking for Lauren.”
She narrowed her eyes. “Why?”
Matt scratched his head. “It’s probably better if we speak privately.”
Lauren took his outstretched hand and stepped onto the dock. A shadow crept across his features and her gut twisted in a knot. “What’s going on?”
Matt turned his back to the boat and leaned in close. “I want to give you fair warning that we have unexpected company at the Inn.”
Lauren knitted her brow together. A fleeting image of Holden flashed through her mind. Surely he wouldn’t come back again. Was someone looking for him? “Who?”
“Aunt Jane. She showed up about an hour ago.”
She winced. Poor Mom. “But she’s a day early.”
“I don’t know about that, but I think you better come with me. Mom is a wreck.”
sixteen
Lauren nibbled on her thumbnail as Matt drove them back to the Inn. Aunt Jane was back in town. Did she come to see Granny? Would Mom tell Jane about Granny’s dementia? This was not good.
“Did you get a chance to talk to her?”
Matt shook his head. “Not really. Mom sent me to find you. I can’t believe we’ve never met her.”
“Well, I think you’ll get your chance to hang out. Apparently she’s staying at the Inn.”
Matt shot her a look of disbelief. “No.”
“True story.”
“I hope that changes. Mom is super stressed. You can almost feel the tension between them.”
An icy tingle raced up her spine and Lauren shivered.
Matt glanced over and flipped on the heater. “Are you cold? And why are you wearing Jason’s old clothes? ”
“I helped Blake and Jeremy with a sea kayaking trip. The girl I was with panicked and jumped out of the kayak. Jason gave us a ride back.”
“What happened?”
“Let’s just say my Eskimo roll is a little rusty.” Lauren warmed her hands over the vents.
“Seriously? You went in the water? Do you need to see Dr. Wheeler?” Matt’s eyes widened.
Lauren smiled. “Why, Matthew, you seem genuinely concerned about your big sister.”
“Of course I’m concerned. That water is freezing cold.”
“I feel a lot better with dry clothes on. I’m okay.” Besides, they needed to get home.
Matthew parked the minivan in front of the Inn. They sat in silence for a moment and stared at the front door.
“Let’s do this thing,” he said, extending a fist toward Lauren. She bumped his fist with her own and drew in a ragged breath. How bad could it be?
Matt led the way up the steps and through the front door. An older woman in dark washed jeans and a pale blue cashmere sweater sat on the couch in the living room. She flipped through a magazine, one leg crossed over the other and a silver ballet flat dangling from her foot. A Coach purse sat propped against the couch. Whoa. Nice purse. When the front door clicked shut, the woman looked up and dropped the magazine in her lap. She stood, tucking one side of her silver blunt-cut bob behind her ear. A mixture of emotions flashed across her impeccably groomed features.
“Hello again, Matthew. And you must be Lauren.” She stepped around the coffee table and moved toward them with her arms outstretched. She was taller than Lauren expected. Must have gotten Pop’s height. “I’m your Aunt Jane.”
“Hi.” Lauren stiffened as Jane attempted an awkward hug. She smelled like she’d fallen in a vat of expensive perfume. Matt sneezed.
“Bless you,” Jane said, pulling back and giving him a pat on the arm.
“Thanks.” Matt cleared his throat.
“Just look at you.” She turned her green eyes on Lauren and a thin smile stretched across her face. “My, that’s an interesting outfit.”
Lauren squirmed under Jane’s piercing gaze. “I went for an unexpected swim.”
“Oh, well. I see.” She shook her head. “I still remember the day you were born. You—”
“Oh, Lauren and Matt, I didn’t realize you were back.” Mom came in from the kitchen with a cup of coffee. “Lauren, did you meet your Aunt Jane?”
Lauren nodded. Mom passed the coffee to Jane. “Here you are, lots of cream and sugar in there.” She laughed nervously.
“Thank you, Debbie. I was just telling Lauren I remember the day she was born. It seems like yesterday.” Jane lifted the coffee cup to her lips.
Mom’s eyes flitted from Jane to Lauren and back to Jane. Her face paled. “Oh?”
Mom’s hand trembled as she brushed her bangs out of her eyes. What was going on here? She hadn’t seen her mother this worked up since Seth disappeared on a fishing trip back in high school.
“You made a very dramatic entrance and oh, that red hair.” Jane laughed. “We were all so surprised.”
Matt cleared his throat. “Aunt Jane, why don’t we sit down and you can tell us what brings you to Emerald Cove.”
She glared at Matt. Zip it.
“Why don’t we have lunch first?” Mom asked. “Lauren, come help me make the sandwiches.”
Jane shrugged. “I would love some lunch.”
The front door flew open and they were nearly trampled by Matt’s children.
“Daddy!” Joshua yelled, careening toward Matt at top speed and wrapping his arms around Matt’s legs. Emmie and Ava toddled in wearing matching purple dresses sprinkled with pink polka dots. They clapped their hands and giggled as Matt scooped Joshua up and swung him around in a circle.
A look of complete relief washed over Mom’s face. Whatever Jane planned on telling them would have to wait.
Lauren left Matt and his children with Aunt Jane and followed her mother into the kitchen.
“What’s going on?” she whispered.
“What do you mean?” Mom called as she disappeared behind the pantry door. Lauren slid onto a stool and waited. Mom brought peanut butter, bananas, and a loaf of bread to the counter. She avoided Lauren’s gaze.
“Come on, Mom. You were shaking in your boots out there. Why does Aunt Jane make you so nervous?” Lauren reached for a knife and slathered peanut butter on a slice of bread.
“She’s up to something. I can sense it.” Mom’s knife clacked against the cutting board as she sliced a banana into coins.
“Anything I can do to help?” Angela wandered into the kitchen with Gavin nestled in the crook of her arm like a football. Lauren grimaced at the spit-up oozing down Angela’s shoulder.
Mom turned and offered a weak smile. “Hi, Ang. Oh, do you need a towel?”
“What? Why?” Angela glanced down at her shoulder. “Oops, yeah, I guess I do.” She grabbed the dish cloth draped over the edge of the sink and dabbed at her worn t-shirt with her free hand. “Is that woman on the couch really your sister?”
Mom nodded. “Could you get the egg salad out of the fridge, please?”
Angela tossed the dish cloth in the sink and pulled open the refrigerator door. She bumped Gavin’s head on the door as she reached in and he began to cry. “Oh, sorry little buddy.” The helpless cry of the newborn caused the hair on Lauren’s arms to stand at attention. An old familiar ache welled up within her. A
ngela produced a pacifier and popped it in his mouth.
“Here.” Mom passed her three sippy cups from the drying rack. “Fill these with milk, please.”
Lauren got up to get the milk and the shrill ring of the phone startled her. The cup slipped from her hand, bounced off the counter and rolled under the table.
“I’ll get it, Mom.” Lauren reached for the cordless phone lying in the middle of the counter. “Hello? Inn at the Cove.”
“Debbie?” The woman’s voice sounded vaguely familiar.
“No, this is Lauren. May I help you?” She crouched down and crawled under the table in pursuit of the errant cup.
The woman hesitated. “Hello, Lauren. This is Sandra Tully. Is your mom around?”
Lauren sucked in a breath. Of course she wouldn’t ask how she was doing. She probably hated her for breaking Blake’s heart.
“My mom is here, but we have company.” The kitchen filled with voices and activity as Matt, Aunt Jane and the children came in. The little girls clamored to get into their booster seats. Lauren stood up, set the cup on the counter and pressed her hand to her ear to block out the racket. “May I take a message?”
“Yes, it sounds like you have a house full. When I finished my shift this morning, your grandmother was extremely agitated. That’s unusual for her. She’s most anxious late at night. Please tell your mother she needs to drop by and visit today.”
This was getting complicated. She glanced over her shoulder. Mom had stopped making sandwiches and stood at the counter with her eyebrows raised expectantly. Lauren panicked. “I’ll be sure to let her know. Thanks. Bye.” She clicked the phone off and set it on the counter. Probably didn’t win any bonus points for hanging up on her, either.
“Who was that?” Mom asked.
Lauren felt Aunt Jane’s curious stare. A slow heat crawled up her neck. Joshua tugged on Aunt Jane’s sweater. “Sit by me, sit by me,” he begged. But Lauren could tell she was most interested in hearing about the phone call.
“Sandra Tully wants you to stop by the hospital today,” Lauren mumbled quickly.
Mom stiffened. A fork full of egg salad hung suspended over a slice of bread.
Aunt Jane zeroed right in. “Anything you want to share with me, Deb?”
Mom slowly shook her head. The egg salad glopped onto the bread. “No. Not particularly.”
Jane’s berry-red lips hung open. Her green eyes flashed. “I see. When were you planning to tell me about Mother?”
Here we go. Lauren shot a glance at her brother. He had taken over her task of pouring milk into his kids’ cups. He stood with the cap off the milk, eyes darting between Mom and Aunt Jane.
Mom pressed her lips into a thin line. She slapped the sandwich together and sliced it in half.
Aunt Jane closed the gap between them in two quick strides. “Debbie?” She pressed her French-manicured fingers against her sister’s arm. “I asked you a question.”
Lauren glared at her brother. Do something. He shrugged helplessly.
Mom set the knife on the cutting board and turned to face Aunt Jane. Her eyes glistened with tears. “Honestly, Jane, I didn’t know you cared.”
Jane gasped. “That is not fair.”
“Fair? You want to talk about fair?” Mom’s voice went up an octave. The children munched on their sandwiches in silence, eyes round as saucers.
“Mom—” Matt interrupted.
Mom pulled her shoulders back and lifted her chin. “You’ve done nothing for twenty-seven years but mail souvenir postcards and brag about your husband’s money. You didn’t even come back for Dad’s funeral. I don’t want to hear one word from you about fair.”
Jane cut her eyes toward Lauren and then back to Debbie. “You know exactly why I left. When you’re ready to talk about that, let me know. I’ll be at the hospital.” She turned on her heel and stormed out of the kitchen. A moment later the front door slammed.
Mom sagged against the counter, dropped her chin to her chest, and began to cry.
seventeen
Lauren grabbed a tissue from the box on the counter and passed it to Mom. “Here.”
“Thank you.” Mom dabbed at her cheeks. “I didn’t want it to come to this.”
Lauren put the knife in the sink and rinsed the cutting board. Now what? Someone needed to stop Jane before she got to Granny. Lauren tried to catch Matt’s eye while she twisted the lid back on the jar of peanut butter. He leaned against the fridge, arms crossed and brow furrowed. Maybe Matt could run interference.
Angela slipped her arm around Mom’s shoulders, resting her head against Mom’s. “I’m sorry you’re upset.”
Mom patted Angela’s hand. “Thanks. I’m sorry you had to hear that.”
“We’re all adults here, Mom. I think we can handle it,” Lauren said.
Mom shook her head. “You don’t know the half of it.”
Gavin spit out his pacifier and it landed with a plop at Angela’s feet. “Tell us. Maybe we can help.”
Lauren scooped it up and passed it back, glancing at the clock. “I think somebody should go after her.”
Matt nodded. “I agree. If Granny had a rough morning, she won’t be able to handle a surprise visit from Aunt Jane.”
Mom took a deep breath, exhaled slowly and shuddered. She shook her head. “I can’t even go there right now.”
Matt and Lauren exchanged worried glances. She couldn’t go to the hospital or she couldn’t deal with the situation? Cries erupted from the table as a tug-of-war broke out between the twins over a sandwich crust and Joshua whined for cookies. Angela moved to intervene. Gavin began to cry and Angela scurried between the children as each one became increasingly more agitated.
“Matt,” she said. “We need to get home for naps.”
Lauren sighed. “Well, I guess that leaves me.”
Mom’s face blanched white and she stared at Lauren. “No.”
“I’m not going to sit here and give Aunt Jane unrestricted access to Granny. If she’s up to something, I want to know what’s going on. Did Seth fix the van?” She rifled through the basket for the keys.
Mom pressed her lips into a thin line and closed her eyes. “I don’t think you should chase her down.”
Lauren grabbed the keys and whirled around. “I’m not chasing anybody down. I’m going to visit Granny. If she happens to have an unwanted guest, I’ll be there to help out.”
“Aren’t you going to change first?” Angela gave her a disdainful once-over.
Lauren glanced down at her sweats. Oh, yeah. She hadn’t bothered to change out of Jason and Christi Cavanaugh’s old clothes. She shrugged. “That would give Jane too much of a head start. I’ll be back as soon as I can.” She planted a kiss on her mother’s cheek and waved goodbye to Matt and his family. She padded toward the front door. Shoes would probably be a good idea. The hall closet provided few options. She snagged a pair of her mother’s old hiking boots and jammed her feet inside. A little snug but they would have to do for now.
She opened the front door and Mitchell greeted her on the front porch. His tail thumped against the porch rail. “I’m sorry, Mitchell. Not today.” She jogged to her mother’s minivan and hopped inside. Dang. Her wallet and cellphone were still in her backpack inside Blake’s truck. She would lose too much time trying to track him down. Maybe he would bring them by when he finished with his clients. Her heart fluttered in hopeful expectation and she chided herself. Broken engagement, remember? Isn’t there a period of mourning or something?
The van smelled faintly of Italian food. Mom must have delivered a meal to someone from church. Lauren glanced back up at the house. Mom stood in the kitchen window watching. Lauren’s chest tightened. Aunt Jane had really gotten to her. She needed to get to the hospital before things got worse.
She turned the key in the ignition. Nothing. “C’mon, I don’t have time for this.” She banged on the steering wheel with the palm of her hand. Matt and Angela could drop her off at the hospital. Then
again, she would rather run all the way there before she climbed inside a van full of cranky children. She took a deep breath and turned the key once more. The engine coughed and sputtered before it roared to life. She kissed her fingertips and touched them to the visor overhead. Thank you.
Gravel pelted the underside of the van as she careened down the hill. She barely tapped the brake at the stop sign, pulling out onto Hillside Drive without looking. Thank goodness the road was deserted. Maybe she was driving a little fast. Jane was going to get to the hospital first, anyway. Lauren’s stomach twisted in a knot. How would Granny react to seeing her daughter again? Aunt Jane had spent more than half of her life separated from her family. A lump formed in her throat. The memory of a baby in a pink and blue knit hat, swaddled quickly and whisked away, flashed through her mind. Not now. Stay focused.
A half-dozen cars sat waiting at the intersection with Main Street. Not a single car was moving in either direction. A gaggle of silver-haired ladies stood in the middle of the street, staring and pointing out toward the water. Lauren blew out a breath. She couldn’t see what they were pointing at but she needed them to move, pronto. Somebody blasted their horn and the women startled. Then they all scurried to the sidewalk as fast as their legs could carry them.
Once she turned onto Main Street, traffic picked up and Lauren cut through on a side street. The hospital parking lot was nearly empty. She parked, turned off the car, and ran toward the sliding glass doors.
The waiting room was deserted. Someone had tuned the television to the Golf channel and polite applause erupted as Lauren raced to the nurse’s station. Shannon stood at behind the counter, head bent over a chart. She glanced up as Lauren’s boots squeaked across the linoleum floor. Worry clouded her blue eyes. “I’ve been trying to get a hold of you. I can’t find anybody who has your cell number. There’s a lady here who claims to be your aunt but—”
“Tall? Light blue sweater? Silver hair to about here?” Lauren sliced her fingertips at her jawline.
Shannon’s eyes widened. “Yes. How did you know?”
Unraveled Page 13
