Page 11 of In the Pursuit of Haven
I hid the Dimond rattle behind my back and tried to make my excuses, but Haven always knew when I was lying.
She stood on the front porch and clucked her tongue. “Honey, stop right there.” She threw her arms around me. Her short blonde hair glistened under the porchlight. Haven wore it in a sassy little pixie cut she’d had since the ’60s. And her outfits hadn’t changed much since the ’70s. She wore a mix of overalls and sundresses, sometimes a mixture of both. For now, she was in a long blue nightgown embellished in the front with embroidery.
I melted into her strong embrace. She was my second home, and it smelled of lilacs and berries.
“I was so worried!” Haven squeezed me tightly like she’d been afraid that she’d never feel me again. “Roxy! You have no idea! I tried to call you after getting your message. What happened to your phone?”
“It all got washed away with our boat.”
She gasped. “You got caught up in that storm? You poor thing! A part of me knew, justknewyou were out in it! I was terrified all night. Each bolt of lightning had me pacing. Where did you go?”
“Brown’s Island,” I admitted. There was no getting around it. She’d only trick it all out of me anyway, and besides that, it just felt weird having secrets that Haven didn’t know too.
Her hands swung to her side when she took me in. “All night? Out in the open?”
“Yes.” I dropped my head, feeling the tears form at the corner of my eyes. It was a bad habit of mine when I was caught and humiliated.
“No, no, no!” She wiped the tears from my eyes. “You’re okay now. I’m just happy you’re alive.” Her hawk-like gaze caught the Dimond rattle next. “What’s that?”
“It’s a…” I wasn’t sure exactly. “We found it in the crags. The lightning cracked the rock in half at the edge of the island.”
Her hand was on her mouth at the horror of my close call. Haven wasn’t going to be sick, would she? “Who all was out there with you?” she whispered.
I should’ve rehearsed a better story. “Um…” I could’ve said Abby. I should’ve said Abby. “Jessie.”
I didn’t think that her face could drain of any more blood. “Jessie Crabb? Pete’s son?”
“Yes.” Would she ground me forever?
“Why did he take you out there?”
“Ruth dared me to go to Wizard Rock. She…” It was really stupid, now that I said it aloud. “She said I didn’t belong…”
“And so you threw yourself at Jessie Crabb, after I told you to have nothing to do with that family?”
“He’s really nice and he kept me safe out there. I could’ve died…”
“You almost died because of him.”
“No! If I’d gone out alone…”
“How would you have done that without a boat? No, he just wanted to getyoualone.”
Yes, but it wasn’t like that. “It was innocent.”
“He kissed you.” She wagged her finger at me. How did she know everything? Sometimes I wondered if Haven wasn’t a wizard herself! She let out a scathing harrumph when I didn’t deny it. “You’re never seeing him again, Roxy!”
“Haven, please!” He was different from every guy I knew. She could trust him. “He wants to meet you… uh, formally.”
“Are you kidding me? I know exactly why he wants to meet me.”
My chin shot up. “The locket?” The words flew out of my mouth before I could keep them back. Apparently, I couldn’t stop the confessions this morning. The blunders kept coming.
“My dear… yeah, as a matter of fact! And it’s ridiculous. Why should I ever want anything to do with Pete and that-that treas—” She sighed loudly. “There’s only one reason a guy with Jessie’s… background goes after a girl like you, and it isn’t because he likes you. I mean,reallylikes you. I’m sure he loved kissing you. Ugh!” She stuck her tongue out and threw her hands up. “This is your mother’s territory, not mine! Let her give you the lectures—heaven knows she’s been through it all, but I’ll tell you this—the Crabbs are only good at one thing… using people up and throwing them away. Oh my. Oh my. Why didn’t you listen to me? You thumb your nose up at every guy—every guy—and he’s the one you go for? Honestly, honey, I know what I’m talking about.”
“You do?” Her every objection broke my heart, not just because she didn’t like Jessie, but because whatever the Crabbs had done to ruin her family had made it so she never recovered. I was almost sure of it. But Jessie and I would prove we were different. Somehow. Despite the odds.
“You know what they did to this family?” Haven asked. “Oh, they can be charming, incredibly charming to get what they want, but it all ends one way—betrayal.”
