Page 66 of Eight Years (The Trident Trilogy 1)

Chapter Thirty

Outer Banks, North Carolina

2011

This was the first time Millie had been to Camille’s house since Mack died. It had taken her almost two months to get enough strength to come back to collect the rest of her belongings. As she pulled into the driveway, the memories came flooding back.

She’d been sitting on the front porch waiting for Mack to pick her up. He had a week’s vacation, and they were going to fly to San Diego to look for houses, and to register her for college. She’d seen the strange car driving up and then Mack’s friend, Chase, who she’d just met at the base the week before, getting out of the car. She thought for a second that he’d driven Mack to the house. Then she saw how he was dressed—the dark, formal uniform. She remembers looking up at him as he approached her. His clean-shaven face was absolutely void of expression.

She only had vague memories of the rest of that day. She remembers Chase picking up her crumpled body off the porch and holding her as she sobbed. She remembers him leaving her sitting on the lawn chair as he went inside to tell Camille that Mack had died. She remembers hearing yelling, and then she remembers Chase helping her pack a bag, and loading her limp body into his car. Millie had stayed with Chase’s family since that day. She’d never asked him why he brought her there, what Camille had said to him. She hadn’t really had the energy to think about it until now.

Chase told Millie that Mack had wanted to be cremated, and his ashes distributed at sea. She had gone out on the boat with his team members. She released his ashes when they told her it was time. They were all talking to her, hugging her, holding her, but she didn’t remember anything they said. Camille hadn’t been at the funeral. Millie didn’t know if anyone had invited her. She hadn’t even thought about it.

After the funeral, Millie did not leave her bed for weeks. Chase’s wife Mariel took care of her. She finally got Millie to get out of bed for a walk one day. And, since then, Millie had just been living with them like she was one of their kids. She hadn’t even realized she’d been living there for months until she overheard them talking last night.

“Chase, she can’t live here forever. She’s not our child,” Mariel said.

“Keep your voice down. It’s only been a couple months, Mar. She’s still working her way through it.”

Millie went down to them when she heard them talking. Mack always taught her to confront her problems head on.

“Hey,” she said as she entered the kitchen. “I’m so sorry I’ve been here this long. I’ll move out tomorrow.”

“Oh my God, Millie, you weren’t supposed to hear that.” Mariel ran over to Millie, and hugged her. “You can stay here as long as you want. I’m sorry.”

“No, you’re right. You’ve got enough going on. You’ve been so nice to me, but it’s time I figure out what I’m going to do next.”

Chase came over and hugged both of them. “Millie, you can stay here forever if you want. And, we’ll help you figure out what your next step is going to be. Okay?”

Millie nodded. “I don’t want to go back to the Outer Banks. I’ve decided I want to drop out of high school and get my GED. And then I’ve been thinking about starting college early. Dad left me some money. That’s probably what I want to spend it on.”

“Well, you’re going to stay here until all that’s done and then as long as you want after that,” Chase said. “And, you’re welcome back here every summer, every holiday forever.”

***

Millie sat in her car, staring at Camille’s house, for a good thirty minutes before she got up the courage to walk in. The front door was unlocked, as usual, but the house was eerily quiet. Camille almost always had something going on in the kitchen. Millie checked there. It was quiet, clean, nothing on the stove. Millie thought maybe Camille had gone out. But, she never went out. She never went anywhere. Millie looked at the clock on the microwave—two o’clock. Camille would never be outside in the middle of the day. She hated the sun and heat. Millie always wondered why she lived in a beach town. She hadn’t once seen Camille step foot in the sand.

Millie decided to just go upstairs to her room and start packing. She figured Camille would show up sooner or later. Millie stopped to glance in Camille’s room on the way to her own, although she knew she wouldn’t be in there. Camille believed a bedroom was only to be used during sleeping hours. She yelled at Millie many times for being in her bedroom at all hours of the day. Millie peeked in, and saw Camille lying on her bed. She knew at once that Camille was dead. She would never take a nap. Never.

Millie stood in the doorway for a second, filled with a weird mix of shock, sadness and relief. She walked over to get a closer look at her. Camille looked beautiful. She was wearing her best dress, and had full hair and makeup done. Millie would have never expected anything less.

She looked over at the side table, and saw two envelopes sitting next to an empty bottle of sleeping pills. One said “My Will” in Camille’s writing, and the other said, “Millie” in her dad’s writing. She picked up the one that said “Millie,” and ran her hand over her name. Just seeing his handwriting brought the tears back to her eyes.

She shook her head a few times to clear the fog, put the “Millie” envelope in her bag, and went downstairs to call the sheriff. She sat out on the front porch while they did their thing. She heard the coroner say to the sheriff that Camille had been dead for less than a day. Millie knew that somehow Camille had telepathically ordered her to come to the house today. The whole city would have talked if they’d found her looking anything but fresh.

Millie saw the funeral home carrying Camille’s body out of the house. She realized she was sitting on the same lawn chair she’d been on when she heard her dad died. This time, she was sitting straight up, no tears. The only thing she felt was tired.

“Millie.” The sheriff stood over her.

Millie looked up at him, and he handed her the “My Will” envelope. “I found this by the bed.”

“Yeah, I saw it. Umm, I’m not sure if I should have it. Does she have an attorney or something?” She suddenly realized how stupid she sounded asking him that about her own grandmother.

He didn’t seemed fazed. “I think old Dooley downtown is the one who handles her business if you want to take it to him. Sorry for your loss.”

He walked to his car and left. The hearse with her body was already gone. Millie didn’t know what to do. She sat on the porch and finally decided to do what she’d come there to do. She went upstairs, packed up her stuff, and left.

She drove back to Chase and Mariel’s house after she dropped the will off at Dooley Law Office. Mariel almost had a heart attack when Millie told her Camille was dead. Mariel started crying, telling Millie she could stay with them for the rest of her life. Millie ended up comforting Mariel all night.

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