Page 34 of The Summer that Changed Everything

Or did she hope Natalie would come out strongly on the side of truth and accountability? Because then she’d feel obligated to betray her brother, which would not only make Reggie hate her, it would probably make her mother hate her, too, once Reggie had to suffer what would happen as a result.

“It’s been fifteen years,” Natalie said. “Everyone’s moved on. It’d be foolish to go back and try to correct anything.”

Anna bit her lip as she brought the car to a stop at the first light. She should’ve known how her mother would respond. Natalie did whatever she had to do to protect Reggie, and the same was expected of Anna.

11

When Ford returned home, he was sticky and eager to peel off his dirty clothes and get cleaned up. But working with plants and the land had once again helped him find his center. He had to stop being so reactionary, he realized. He needed to figure out how he wanted to resolve the various problems in his life and take the necessary steps to get there—while having faith that it would happen over time if only he stayed the course. And he needed to do that without letting Paris and Christina, or even his mother and brother, ruin his quality of life.

After he showered and dressed, he called Jack Minter, an attorney in DC who’d done so much work for Wagner Business Solutions over the past decade that he’d become a friend. Jack acted as general counsel, handled everything from patent and trademark protection to mergers and acquisitions to labor and employment law. So far, he hadn’t been involved in helping Ford with his divorce or haggling over the estate. Those were personal issues handled by other attorneys. But when Ford needed to find theright person to help with something and he didn’t know where to turn, Jack was often a good place to start.

“Ford, man, what’s up? I haven’t heard from you in months.”

Ford wanted to go down to the beach. After spending most of the past decade cooped up in an office, he couldn’t be outside enough. Coming back to the sea made him feel as if he was finally escaping—both the confines of the office and a marriage he’d found suffocating.

But it was between five and six, the hottest part of the day. Since he didn’t plan to get in the water, he’d just get sticky again. He walked over to the windows instead, where he could view the ocean in air-conditioned comfort. “That’s unusual, I know. But I’ve been swamped.”

“You’re always busy.”

“Yeah, well, I’ve been dealing with more personal stuff than usual.”

“More trouble with your father’s widow?”

“That—and Christina and I are getting a divorce.”

A sigh came through the line. “Somehow that doesn’t surprise me.”

He and Christina had been out with Jack and his wife on numerous occasions—whenever they were visiting DC or occasionally when Jack came for a meeting or something at Wagner Business Solutions. “Was it that obvious?”

“At times.”

“We struggled from the beginning. I should’ve bailed out sooner.” Before a child was involved...

“You have a good divorce attorney?”

“I do.” Another work associate—who headed up one of the company’s biggest accounts—had given him a recommendation for that.

“I’m sorry for what you’re going through.”

“Thanks. I’m hoping to put it behind me soon.” Themarriage, anyway. The baby was another matter. Because of what it would mean for a child coming into a relationship like the one he had with Christina, that was a painful subject, one he could barely bring himself to think about.

He had the summer. He’d get back on his feet by then, he told himself.

“I hope the same,” Jack said. “So... what can I do for you?”

“Fifteen years ago, there were some murders here in North Hampton Beach.”

“Did you saymurders?”

McBride, Lucy, Aurora, the Clarks and everything that’d happened that long-ago summer had been on Ford’s mind so much since he got back, he hadn’t realized how jarring such an intro would be to someone hearing about it for the first time. Jack dealt with a lot of problems, but murder wasn’t typically among them. “Sorry,” he said with a chuckle. “I should’ve warned you that this wouldn’t be the usual kind of call.”

“You’ve got my attention. But now I’m scared the police over there don’t know you like I do so you’re looking for a defense attorney.”

Ford laughed again. “No. They caught the guy responsible—Mick McBride. Ever heard of him?”

“I don’t recognize the name, no.”

“The murders were a big deal at the time, made the national news.”

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