Page 41 of 15 Summers Later

“Your mom has been gone for several years. She loved you both very much, but don’t you think she would want him to go on with his life eventually? Would you really want him to be alone forever?”

Sierra pursed her lips. “I don’t know. That seems pretty selfish, doesn’t it?”

“Not selfish. I understand your concerns.”

“I mean, he could always wait until I go to college. Then I wouldn’t care what he did. That’s only five more years.”

How could she gently suggest it would be better for Sierra to have this conversation with her father instead of Madi?

“Your dad is still relatively young. It’s a lot to ask, for him to put his life on hold.”

Sierra grew silent, her brow furrowed in thought as she returned the water hose to the hose bib. Finally, she spoke in a conspiratorial tone.

“I think he might have been with someone last night. I came home to grab my phone charger at about nine and he wasn’t there. His room had a bunch of his nicer shirts on the bed, like he had been trying to figure out what to wear, and the bathroom smelled like he had showered and put on aftershave, which he hardly ever uses.”

She didn’t want to think about Luke getting ready for his night out. It felt far too intimate.

“He went to the Burning Tree with me and your aunt Nicole. We both left about the same time, around eleven. Unless he met up with someone after that, I don’t think you have anything to worry about.”

“You’d tell me, though, if he was dating someone, wouldn’t you? I don’t want to be surprised out of the blue.”

“Sure. If I hear anything, I’ll definitely tell you about it.”

“And if I hear anything, I’ll tell you,” Sierra said, as if she was doing Madi a huge favor.

Madi didn’t have the heart to tell her that if Luke was dating another woman, she suddenly wasn’t at all sure she wanted to know.

12

As we heal physically, the emotional wounds run deeper, a reminder that liberation is a process that extends far beyond the physical escape.

—Ghost Lakeby Ava Howell Brooks

Ava

Tilly Gentry Walker’s home sat on a hill surrounded by forest land, with a spectacular view of the snow-topped mountains.

Ava had only been here once, several years ago.

When she had lived in Emerald Creek, Tilly had been a widow living in a house much nearer her late husband’s veterinary clinic.

Tilly had remarried about five years ago and moved here with her new husband, to this rambling ranch house overlooking town and the mountains beyond.

As much as she admired Tilly, and all of the Gentry family, really, Ava did not want to be here. Her stomach curled with anxiety. If her grandmother were not walking beside her up the front walk to the wide porch, Ava would have turned around, made her way back down that sweep of a driveway and headed back to Leona’s house.

The journey was only two miles and downhill most of the way. She could be home in twenty minutes, if she walked fast.

Her muscles quivered as she fought the urge to flee.

She couldn’t leave. She had given her word to her grandmother. Ava had hurt enough people lately. She wouldn’t add Leona to the list.

Beyond that, she was carrying her grandmother’s much-loved frog-eye salad. She certainly couldn’t deprive the guests of that.

Over the years, Tilly had become one of Leona’s dearest friends. They had always been friendly, her grandmother once had told her. They had belonged to some of the same groups, had served together on the library board and in leadership of a church women’s group.

Their friendship had been warm but casual, until the events of that summer had linked their families together forever.

“I believe everyone will be in the back,” Leona said now, her arms laden with the marbled brownies she also had made that afternoon. “That’s where they usually gather during the summertime. They have a beautiful patio area, with a waterfall and a pond. Have you been back there?”

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