Page 5 of The Summer Guests

“There must be an accident,” said Susan.

The whine of a siren confirmed it. Susan turned and saw flashing lights moving toward them; then an ambulance swooped past the paralyzed traffic.

“I hope it’s nothing serious,” said Ethan.

The flashing lights vanished over the crest of the hill, and Susan thought of smashed cars and broken bodies. She’d trained as a nurse, and even though she no longer worked in a hospital but as a school nurse, she had not forgotten the panic of trying to save a life, and all the things that could go wrong. She looked back at her daughter, who was once again staring at her phone, oblivious to anything else. Elizabeth, too, seemed lost in her own thoughts. Whatever drama was now playing out on the road ahead seemed to hold no interest for either of them.

Traffic began to move again. They crested the hill, and two crumpled cars came into view. Suitcases had been flung from a rooftop rack, and clothes were scattered across the road in a bright confetti of holiday wear. Lying in the ditch were an ice chest and a purple tennis shoe.You came to Maine on vacation, never imagining this was what awaited you,thought Susan. But who thought about such things when they were packing their shorts and sunscreen? They expected lazy days on a lake and lobster rolls on the seashore. They didn’t imagine they would instead end up in a hospital bed.

Or never go home again.

Her first glimpse of Maiden Pond was little more than flickers of gold through the tree branches, the reflection of sunlit water penetrating the smothering wall of spruce and pine. As they curved down Shoreline Road, she caught more glimpses but never a full view, only tantalizing flashes, bright as Christmas tinsel.

“Is that the pond down there?” said Zoe. At last, she’d set aside her phone and was looking out the window.

“Yep, that’s Maiden Pond,” said Ethan.

“I’m going to change straight into my bathing suit.”

“How about waiting till morning, hmm?” said Susan. “We need to spend time with Colin’s family first. You haven’t seen Kit since the wedding.”

“He didn’t want to talk to me much, then.”

“Oh, that’s just Kit,” said Ethan. “Your cousin’s shy.”

That would be one word for it,thought Susan, remembering the silent and slouching teenager who’d spent her entire wedding reception in tight orbit around his mother, Brooke. This year he’d be seventeen, old enough to start college in a few months. Maybe he’d acquired a few more social skills since then.

They bumped along a gravel road and stopped at a wooden sign nailed to a tree:

Moonview

Absolutely No Trespassing

The forbidding sign was carved in simple block letters, unadorned by any flourishes, and it offered no hint of what waited at the bottom of the driveway.

“You need to get someone to cut back these trees, Mom,” said Ethan as they descended the narrow driveway, tree branches scraping the sides of their car.

“Your father let it go for too long. We’ve had other things to think about.”

“I’ll call around town, find out if we can hire someone to—”

“I’m sure your brother will take care of it.”

There was a silence. “Of course,” Ethan muttered. “Colin will take care of it.”

Suddenly the woods opened up, and a view of Maiden Pond bloomed into sight, its surface gilded by the afternoon sun. And there, looming above the water, was Moonview, the Conovers’ summer home. Elizabeth had called itthe cottage, so Susan had expected something rustic, but this was no mere cottage. It was a sprawling house with multiple gables, four chimneys, and a wide deck with steps descending to a sweeping lawn. They pulled to a stop behind Colin’s parked BMW, and as Susan stepped out of the car, she took in a deep breath, inhaling the delicious scent of pine trees and grass and damp soil. Except for a bird that chittered in a tree branch overhead, it was utterly silent here, the pond as flat as glass, its surface undisturbed by a single ripple.

A screen door squealed open and banged shut. “Well, here you are at last!” called out Ethan’s older brother, Colin.

She turned to see Colin and his family come down the steps from the deck to greet them.The golden couple,Ethan had once called Colinand Brooke, not just because of their blond good looks, but also because of how easily they seemed to glide through life. Even here, in this rustic corner of Maine, Brooke looked as stylish as ever, her blond hair clipped in a gleaming pageboy, a pink sweater twinset hugging her slim waist. Behind them lurked their son Kit, his face half-hidden beneath shaggy blond hair, his shoulders slouched, as if he was trying to blend into the background. As everyone else shared hugs and hellos, Kit kept his distance, managing only an awkward wave of greeting.

“We expected you here hours ago,” said Colin as the two brothers pulled suitcases from the trunk.

“Traffic was bad,” said Ethan. “Plus, there was an accident.”

Colin paused, frowning into the trunk. “Is this box, um ... Dad?”

“Oh, just give him to me,” Elizabeth said, and calmly plucked the box containing her husband’s ceramic urn out of the trunk. “I’ll be glad when I don’t have to worry about this anymore.”

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