Page 5 of The Engagement Party

“Yes.” Cassie laughed. “But so do crackers. The nanny is likely using that trick right now to keep her quiet.”

Nanny. Sierra had grown up in a whirl of day care, school, afterschool programs, and sports teams that kept her occupied until her parents picked her up. She didn’t have a choice becauseno complaininghad been her father’s motto.

Silence descended again but this time it carried a note of comfort. Sierra watched the world whiz by outside the window. Aperfect display of fall foliage loomed. The bright orange and red leaves hinted at the full explosion to come.

Never one to be confined, she lowered the window and smiled as the cool air brushed over her skin. She’d grown up outside of Boston and spent her entire life there. Her view of the world consisted of the limited destinations she’d traveled in her family’s minivan. Never far and never fancy because her parents always had just enough money to cover the bills. Venturing north now allowed her to experience a different view, one less crowded, where buildings peppered the landscape while paying homage to it.

Mesmerized by the way the setting sun broke through the towering trees and bounced off the leaves in shades of gold and pink, she’d missed that they’d turned down a narrow lane and now eased out of the safe cocoon of branches. Blue water stretched out in front of them.

They all sat up straighter in their seats as the vehicle rolled to a stop in a makeshift gravel parking lot in the middle of nowhere. No buildings or people. Just a boat launch and gas pump, a few parking spaces under a carport, a car that likely belonged to Will and Ruthie, and what looked like two locked sheds, one big enough to house an office. The other the size for boating gear and little else. Two out-of-place golf carts sat on the right side, locked to a pole with heavy chains.

“This is the right place,” Alex said.

Cassie studied the map on her cell phone. “The email Will sent said we park the car here, get into one of those golf carts, and drive across the causeway.”

“It’s why we skipped lunch.” Alex pointed near the golf carts then to the car’s GPS screen, which showed only blue. “Will saidthe carts only go fifteen miles per hour and we had to get across in time.”

“In time for what?” Mitch asked, fully engaged now.

Sierra didn’t understand why only Mitch showed a glimpse of the anxiety she had to beat back to keep it from spilling over into wild, panicked screaming. Alex and Cassie talked as ifdrive into the ocean but do it fast or you’ll drown at high tidewas a welcoming way to introduce them to this part of Maine.

Every low-budget horror movie started this way.

Sierra inhaled through her nose and forced her muscles to relax. That meant ignoring the spray from the water lapping up onto the dark rocks only a few feet away. She’d hoped the causeway would be an obvious paved road, but no. It amounted to an extra-wide makeshift sidewalk, rising maybe five feet above the waterline, buffered on both sides by jutting boulders. She assumed their job was to hold back the water at low tide but that was asking a lot from a bunch of rocks.

The lane stretched out for what looked like the distance of more than two football fields then curved toward an island and a structure she couldn’t quite make out in the fading sun but assumed was a dock. More rocks gave way to grass and trees and a few buildings. She spied the outline of the side of a three-story house.

The whole scene probably held a quaint charm for some. Not her. Too isolated.

“How did you guys pick this place?” Mitch asked, sounding as skeptical as Sierra felt.

Cassie waved a hand in the air and her massive diamond caught the light. “Not us. Ruthie. Her family owns it.”

Mitch frowned. “They actually own an island?”

“A lot of people do,” Cassie added.

“Uh, no.” Sierra felt like she’d gotten into the wrong car. “What people?”

Mitch leaned forward. “Who the hell are you guys hanging out with these days?”

“You two ask more questions than our four-year-old.” Alex finished his comment by closing everyone’s windows and getting out of the car. He stopped to grab his cell. “Let’s get the luggage and get going before we get trapped.”

“There are so many things wrong with that sentence,” Mitch whispered.

Cassie got out then poked her head back inside the SUV. “What happened to your sense of adventure?”

Mitch scoffed. “It died when I was fifteen.”

Sierra didn’t appreciate the use of the worddiedright then.

“Hey, this is Ruthie and Will’s thing. Let’s play along.” Alex thumped his hand against the roof of the car before walking away. “The road is going to wash out if we don’t move.”

Sierra hated everything about this. “Why does he keep saying that?”

Cassie shut the door behind her and walked over to the chained golf carts and started talking Alex through unwinding one from the other. They used a key Will must have sent them to unlock the vehicles.

Sierra was in the middle of giving herself a this-will-be-fine pep talk when Mitch looked at her. The flat line of his mouth spoke to his lack of excitement for this venture.

---