Page 47 of Haunted Hearts
To: Lydia Chandler; Undisclosed recipients
Subject: It’s OFFICIAL!
Hello all,
It’s with great pleasure and tons of pride that I’m able to finally announce…
The ground breaking for the Hawthorne Bay Public Library renovation project will be next Monday, October 30 at 10:00 AM!
Thanks to the diligent efforts of everyone on our board, along with the permit offices here in town, we were able to fast track the project, making it possible to break ground before winter gets going. Special thanks also go to our architect, Will Holloway, for working tirelessly this weekend to clinch those proposals.
This is a truly wonderful accomplishment that couldn’t have happened without such dedicated help from so many. As chairman of the library board, I want to extend my personal thanks to everyone who had a hand in bringing this to fruition. From fundraisers and historical research to long meetings and boring email threads, this was a team effort. THANK YOU ALL!
Please don’t hesitate to contact me with questions. I hope to see you all at the ground breaking.
All the best,
Ethan
By the time I’m finished reading the email, my heart’s racing and my blood’s gone cold,spreading all throughout my body, to my toes, my ears, my fingers. There’s not a single inch of me that doesn’t feel suddenly numb.
Ground breaking?How the hell? I thought we weremonthsaway from any actual construction. I must have read the email wrong. There’s no way they could actually have pulled this off. Will didn’t say anything aboutthis.
But I’m not wrong.
I scan the email again, feeling sicker and sicker with each of the congratulatory replies that comes in. It’s clear the others in the thread have been in the know, that I’m the one they left in the dark. Honestly, it seems I’m lucky they deemed me worthy of receiving even the announcement email.
It’s over. The plans are final; the permits are issued. They’re breaking ground a week from tomorrow, ripping apart any last hope I might’ve had—for connecting with my mother, for landmark status. For what I thought I had with Will.
Will.
Amid the despair I feel at knowing what’s going to come of the project, the anger I feel at Will is rising fast and hot inside my chest.
How dare he. How fuckingdarehe.
It’s not only about the renovation. It’s not just about the computer lab, losing a historical landmark. It’s not even only about my mother, about preserving the last shred of connection I have to her. It’s about Will’s betrayal—the fact that heknewall this, helpedfacilitatethis. While I was sucking his dick in my kitchen, he was planning how to fuck me over.
I’m fucking livid. I turn the key in the ignition like I’m wrenching a screwdriver right into Will’s eyeball, pull right back out of my driveway, and skid off down the street. I know where Will Holloway lives, and so help me, I will bang all night on his goddamn door until he opens it and I can see his stupid face. I want him to look me in the eye while he admits to me that he knew about the ground breaking. I want him to see my face when I tell him he’s nothing to me, and never was.
Not that he’ll care. I obviously meant nothing to him, either.
The light’s on in Will’s house as I pull up in his driveway and stalk to the front door. It’s ten at night, but I ring the doorbell, anyway. I don’t think he’s sleeping since the light’s on, but even if he is, I don’t give two shits. Rise and shine, motherfucker.
The door opens. A tall, lanky guy without a shirt appears and cracks the screen door enough to stick his head out. He’s got the same blond hair as Will, but his eyes are ice blue instead of Will’s sapphire, and his muscles are longer, leaner. I’m pretty sure it’s Will’s brother, Zeke, whose shitty resume I fixed up last week.He leans against the doorframe, holding the screen door open to talk to me.
“You’re the librarian,” he says.
“That’s me. Where’s Will?”
The guy arches an eyebrow. “You seem mad. He do something?”
I blow out my breath. I don’t even know this guy, and I’m losing patience. Until now, I’ve been riding high on adrenaline, stoking the flames of anger in my chest to make sure the reaming out I’m about to give Will is second to none.
“You could say that, yeah,” I snap.
The guy in the doorway looks amused. Suddenly, I hear a voice coming from the room beyond, and my insides seize with rage and something like fear. I push it all down. I’m not afraid of Will. Will should be afraid ofme.
“Zeke? Who the hell’s here?”
