Page 51 of The Summer that Changed Everything

“What are you doing here?” he asked.

She hadn’t expected to encounter him, hadn’t been planning to go up to his door or anything. It was just bad timing that he’d come home when she was walking down the street. She knew Ford liked him. She’d liked him, too, back in the day, which was why it’d hurt her so badly when she’d learned he was the one crowing to everyone that Lucy had probably encouraged her father to get rid of Aurora because Aurora was pursuing Ford. Lucy had been shocked when she heard the rumors he’d started, thought Chet knew her better than to accuse her of something like that. But the moment her father was arrested, she’d become anathema to him—just like she had to Ford.

Unlike Ford, however, Chet had actively made her life even more miserable by saying what he did.

So how was she going to handle seeing him again?

Keeping a friendly smile pasted on her face despite the tightening of her chest, she said, “I, um, can you tell me which house is the Zampino house?”

He came to a complete stop. “I’m not sure the Zampinos still live here.”

She shaded her eyes as she leaned in the window. “Well... do you remember which house they owned when they did?”

“Why do you want to know?” he asked.

She figured she might as well be honest. Ford’s investigator would probably be looking for the same house at some point. “I just want to see it.”

“Because...”

“Because I don’t believe my father killed Aurora, Chet. I think it was somebody else. So I want to see the house where she attended that party, get a feel for what it might’ve been like that night and what could’ve happened.”

Chet was wearing sunglasses, which made it hard to read his reaction, but he hesitated long enough to tell her he wasn’t willing to embrace her doubt. “After fifteen years?” he said. “If it’s your father who’s sent you on this fool’s errand, he’s lying to you, plain and simple, which shouldn’t surprise anyone. After all, heisa murderer.”

“That doesn’t mean he murdered Aurora,” Lucy stubbornly insisted.

“Then who do you think did?”

“I don’t know yet. But like I told Reggie—who lied under oath, by the way—I intend to find out.”

He smacked the steering wheel. “That’s so stupid!”

Pushing away from the window, she straightened. “Be that as it may.”

“I don’t want any part of what you’re doing,” he said.

“Fine.” With a shrug, she started walking again. “I’ll find it on my own.”

Muttering a curse, he sped up and got beyond her. But a second later, she saw his brake lights go on, and he waited for her to catch up. “Honest to God, Lucy,” he said when she could hear him again. “I don’t understand what you think you’re doing. Coming back here after so long... It won’t amount to anything. You realize that. Nothing good, anyway. You’re just going to rip this community in two, pit friend against friend, family member against family member!”

“I’m not so convinced of that,” she said. “Everyone managed to remain united against me last time, remember?” She glanced over at him. “And you were part of the reason.”

In spite of his dark glasses, she could tell that she’d surprised him. He hadn’t expected her to punch back. But she was tiredof being a victim of circumstance, tired of feeling powerless. She would do what she needed to do here—and neither he nor Reggie would stop her. The same went for everyone else.

“What are you saying?Ididn’t do anything.” He spoke evenly, but she could feel a strong undercurrent of emotion.

“That’s not how I remember it.”

Cursing louder this time, he hit the gas pedal and rocketed away from her. She’d thought she’d seen the last of him. But he didn’t turn into a drive. Once again, he stopped in the middle of the road, only this time he was so far away that he put the car in Reverse.

She could hear the whine of the engine as he raced back to her, going so fast the vehicle rocked hard when he stomped on the brake. “Look, I’m sorry for whatever you’re holding against me. I didn’t do anything to hurt you, not on purpose.”

“Telling everyone I put my father up to killing Aurora wasn’t doing anything?”

“She was trying to take Ford away from you, and I know you know that, because I was the one who told you. We had a conversation, remember? Where I said you should confront her?”

“And I refused! If Ford wanted to go out with her, that was his decision. So if I wasn’t even willing to confront her, why would I press my father tokillher? I was seventeen years old! That sort of violence never even crossed my mind!”

“You’re asking me, and everyone else, to take a lot on faith with that statement.”

---