Page 11 of The Summer that Changed Everything

She was pacing in the living room, trying to decide if she should give up before she even started and go back to Vegas, when her phone rang. She hoped it was one of her friends, checking to see if she got in okay. A familiar and friendly voice would probably help. But Caller ID indicated it was Dahlia Hunsacker, Sharon Smoot’s niece.

If she was going to have to interact with the locals, Dahlia would be a good place to start. They’d already spoken over the phone and she’d been decent, so Lucy drew a deep breath and answered.

“Hi, there!” Dahlia responded once she’d said hello. “You in town yet?”

“Just got in,” she confirmed.

“Great. How was the flight?”

It’d been interminable—a very long time to second-guess her decision. “Tedious.”

“I bet. Well, I hope the cottage is comfortable, at least. Everything okay there? I stocked the kitchen with water, coffee, creamer and some snacks to tide you over until you can reach the store.”

Her kindness nearly brought Lucy to tears. It was more than she’d expected. “That was very nice of you,” she said and meant it.

“No problem. Is there anything else you need?”

“No, I’ll be fine from here. I’ve stopped by the store on my way into town, so I have plenty of supplies. And everything looks great, especially the landscaping. I don’t know who you hired, but you definitely don’t want to let go of him or her.”

“Landscaping?”Dahlia repeated in apparent confusion.

“Yeah, the yard.”

“But I haven’t hired a gardener.”

“You did it yourself?”

There was a slight pause. “I’m embarrassed to say I didn’t even think about the outside. It was... it was pretty overgrown when I was there last, so I should have. But...”

Lucy crossed to the window and peered out at the dogwood, yellow border forsythia and mountain laurel—she didn’t know the names of the rest of the trees and plants. “It’s not overgrown anymore,” she said. “It’s all been groomed very recently.”

“How?”

Lucy had no answer. “I don’t know, but I found a bunch of gardening tools on the side of the house, which also suggests someone was here recently.”

“I’m completely baffled!” Dahlia exclaimed. “I mean... it’s hard enough to get someone to do a good job when you’re paying for it. But to have someone clean up the yard without charging me or even telling me about it is... just plain odd.”

“Maybe it’s someone who has fond memories of Sharon—a favor to her. As I remember, she was good to the whole community.”

“But we don’t even know when she’ll be back,” she said. “And no one seems to be paying any attention to the cottage. The only person I’ve seen around there, at least in the past few days, is Ford Wagner.”

Lucy had just taken a drink from her water bottle. At the mention of Ford’s name, she nearly choked before she could swallow. “Ford Wagner was here?” she asked in sheer disbelief once she could speak.

“Yeah, but there’s no wayhe’dever act as gardener for anyone. Rich as he’s always been, I doubt he even knows how to mow a lawn.”

Lucy cleared her throat. “I thought... Well, I assumed he’d be somewhere else—Bethesda where they lived before, I guess—helping his dad with the family business.”

“His dad died in January. Ford’s running the show now.”

“What about his older brother?”

“I get the impression Houston’s still not up to much.”

Closing her eyes, Lucy pressed a finger and thumb against her eyelids. She’d purposely not allowed herself to think about Ford in a very long time. He’d been her first love, so the fact that he’d no longer had any interest in her after her father was arrested had ripped her heart out. She’d given him her virginity only days before news of her father’s killings had broken and still hated herself for being so stupid as to believe he might truly have been interested in her as a person. She’d thought she saw something deeper in him than she’d first expected—judging by the friends he’d hung out with—but she should’ve known better. “I’m sorry to hear about his father.”

Her words had been clipped so as not to invite more conversation on the subject, but Dahlia didn’t veer away from it. “I guess it was totally unexpected. A heart attack. Came out of nowhere.”

“That’s too bad,” she muttered. Then, before she could catch herself, she asked the question that was suddenly burning uppermost in her mind. “So where’s Ford now—I mean, today? He’s not here in North Hampton Beach, is he?”Please, God, no...

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