Page 12 of An Island Summer
“He’s brooding!” she corrected her. “It’s so dreamy, Meghan. You’re at the beach, a handsome man has walked into your life…” She grabbed Meghan’s hands and did a dramatic twirl.
“No more romantic movies for you,” she said, dropping Tess’s hands. “I’m cutting you off.” But Meghan couldn’t deny that there certainly was something interesting about Toby Meyers.
SIX
Meghan swam out of her sleep, wrapped in the cocoon of her blanket with the faint squawk of seagulls outside her window. The slant of the sun streaming in told her it must be around eight o’clock. Any later and the beam would slide off the bed onto the hardwood floor. She focused on the lamp made of driftwood on the side table next to the bed until the image sharpened. Running her fingers over her face, she attempted to clear her already buzzing mind.
Today, she and Tess would spend the day applying for jobs in the area. While she needed the money, the idea of running plates from a kitchen, counting tips, and soaking her feet at the end of the night didn’t make her want to get out of bed any faster.
Charlie stirred next to her. She reached over and stroked his head, turning toward him. He nuzzled her as if consoling her. “You’ve got it all figured out, don’t you?” she said. “You’re always content. How do you do it, hm?” She ran her hands over his ears.
She lay there, her gaze roaming the room. A row of Pappy’s tattered fishing hats still lined the wall. If she closed her eyes, she could imagine him in every single one of those baseball caps with the fishing hook on the brim. Meghan got up, slid one off its hook, shaking off the dust, and placed it on her head, her long auburn-brown hair flowing out from under it. “How do I look, Pappy?” she asked quietly. With no answer, she changed out of her pajamas, slid on her cut-offs and a T-shirt, and called Charlie to come with her as she left the bedroom.
Tess’s door was still closed, so Meghan gave the dog some fresh water and filled his food bowl before making herself a cup of coffee, the nutty aroma tickling her nose. The air in the cabin was sticky and warm, so she settled at the kitchen table near the air conditioning unit, her attention falling upon the envelope that had Pappy’s final things in it. The nurse had said that he’d gathered the items himself quickly just before he’d gone into the hospital. He had given the envelope to the paramedic who’d come to the house when he’d first felt the beginnings of his heart attack. It had her name on it, so they’d saved it for her.
Maybe it was because Meghan still had on his faded denim cap, but she felt strong enough to see what was inside. She set her mug on the table and picked up the envelope, looking down into it. Inside, she found the last photo she and Pappy had taken together when she was sixteen. It had been just after they’d gone for ice cream, the two of them leaning against the railing of the public boardwalk leading to the fishing pier, holding dripping ice cream cones. He was pretending to take a bite of her mint chocolate chip and she was doubling over in laughter. How simple things had seemed then.
She reached in and pulled out an oddly shaped metal object—a very small key of some sort—rolling it around in her fingers.
“Morning,” Tess said, shuffling in with a yawn. “Nice hat—oh, coffee. Tell me there’s more.”
“I made a pot,” Meghan said.
“You’re my guardian angel,” Tess said with another yawn, padding over to the kitchen area to make herself a cup. She pulled Pappy’s favorite mug from the cabinet and Meghan let her vision blur to pretend it was him who was holding it. Tess leaned across the counter. “Whatcha got over there?” she asked.
“When I received the will with Pappy’s cottage, I also got this,” Meghan said, holding up the envelope. “It has the house key, this key”—she pinched the small key she’d found and showed it to Tess—“and a photo of the two of us.” Curious, she peeked back in to see if there was anything else in the envelope and spotted a small piece of paper. Scratched in Pappy’s handwriting on a scrap of paper was a short list:
My favorite photo of us
My house key
The key to the box in my closet
Meghan locked eyes with Tess and the two of them took their mugs into Pappy’s room. Meghan opened the two bifold closet doors and caught her breath when she took in Pappy’s clothes. Her fingers instantly trembling, she gently grabbed the sleeve of one of his flannel shirts and held it to her face, wishing his hand were there to lift her chin and tell her it would all be okay.
With a deep breath, she slid his hanging clothes out of the way and peered around inside. A small stack of shelves at the right had a few unopened bags of fishing lures, some trophies he’d won in the local fishing contests, and a smattering of books. She scanned the shelves, but there was no box that she could see.
“Check at the bottom,” Tess directed, holding her mug.
Meghan got her cell phone off the dresser and shone the light around the base of the closet, illuminating Pappy’s loafers and the boots he used to wear in the marshes. Then she checked the top shelf above his hanging clothes—nothing but more books and magazines.
“I don’t see anything,” she said, trying to hold her breath to stifle the remnants of Pappy’s scent that still lingered.Pappy, where is it?
Tess leaned in around her, having a second look. “I don’t see anything either,” she said. “Are you sure it’s in this closet?”
“He said, ‘my closet,’” Meghan replied, “but we can check the others.”
They went out into the small hallway that led to the living area and opened the coat closet. Nothing out of the ordinary. They checked the other bedroom—no box.
“That’s weird,” Meghan said. “I wonder where it is?”
“We’ll find it,” Tess told her. “I’m sure it’s here somewhere.”
Meghan took the key back into the dining area and returned it to the envelope for safe-keeping, wondering what it was that Pappy had saved just for her.
“Maybe it’s a box full of his secret stash of cash from a lottery win, and we’ll find it weeks from now,” Tess said, sitting down across from her at the table. “Maybe I’m roommates with a millionaire.”
Meghan beamed at her friend, thankful for the lighter atmosphere that only Tess could provide in times like these.
