Hush (12 page)

―No,‖ Gen said coldly. ―It was chronic heart disease.‖

―And investments that went bad,‖ Jarrod kept on.

Coby said quickly, ―It‘s kind of the story for practically everyone who‘s invested in real estate and needs to sell right away, isn‘t it?‖

―You have some property?‖ Jarrod asked.

―No, that would be Annette who‘s inheriting,‖ Faith put in, sweeping an arm to encompass the beach house. ―I think the bitch‘ll get it all.‖

Coby nearly choked on her drink and Gen sucked in a surprised breath.

―Annette and your father love each other!‖ Genevieve declared furiously.

―Yeah, well, she was my friend before she was yours,‖ Faith pointed out. ―I can call her a bitch if I want to.‖ She turned on her heel and left them, zigzagging through the crowd toward Danner.

Coby wondered if she should ease away from Gen and Jarrod so she could talk to Danner now that she and Faith were done.

―I know she‘s your sister,‖ Genevieve said, ―but she‘s pretty awful.‖

―She says what she thinks,‖ Coby answered. ―Sometimes it comes out as inappropriate oversharing.‖

―Glad I don‘t have a sister,‖ she said heatedly.

―Just a stepsister,‖ Coby responded.

She didn‘t know why she said it. Another memory from the campout that wouldn‘t go away.

But Genevieve looked at her blankly. ―What do you mean? My parents were still together when my dad died.‖

―She doesn‘t have a stepsister,‖ Jarrod added, frowning at Coby as if she‘d let him down somehow.

―You said you had a stepsister at the campout,‖ Coby reminded her. ―And you stole her boyfriend from her. That‘s what you said.‖

Genevieve made a strangled sound that turned into a laugh. ―Sorry. Right. That was a lie.‖

Jarrod said quietly, ―Oh, yeah. I forgot that.‖

―It doesn‘t matter,‖ Coby said, seeking to change the subject. ―Mine was a lie, too.‖

―I know.‖ Gen looked over at Annette. ―The only weird thing Daddy Dave ever did was marry your sister‘s best friend.‖

―Where are you living now?‖ Jarrod asked her, clearly ready to change the subject.

―I rent a condo in Northwest. Not far from Lovejoy‘s, actually,‖ Coby told him.

―We‘re living with Gen‘s mom, Kathy, right now. Took a bath on a house we bought.

Couldn‘t keep that mortgage up, so we had to let it go. Sometimes you just gotta say ‗what the fuck,‘ you know?‖

Coby nodded. Danner looked her way and their gazes caught. He inclined his head toward the back of the house and she nodded.

―Where are you staying tonight? Here?‖ Jarrod asked.

―I‘m hoping to go back,‖ Coby admitted.

Gen snorted. ―In this weather? Forget it.‖

―I know.‖ Coby glanced down at her empty glass. The Sand Dune Inn, known as the Dunes, was the closest motel. She‘d probably crash there.

―We‘re at the Dunes,‖ Jarrod said, as if reading her mind a second time. He glanced over at Genevieve. ―Kind of a delayed anniversary trip. We‘ve been married five years already, can you believe it?‖

―It happens to the best of us.‖

―Or the worst of us,‖ Gen murmured.

―You said you just got out of a relationship?‖ Jarrod made it sound like a question and that‘s how Coby took it.

―It was a long, slow decline,‖ she admitted.

―How long?‖

―A few weeks.‖

―Wow, that is recent. Who did the breaking up? You?‖ Jarrod asked.

―It was a mutual decision,‖ she said.

―So he dumped you.‖ Genevieve was knowing.

Coby broke into laughter. ―Why does everybody say that?‖

―Because that mutual decision stuff is bullshit,‖ Gen declared.

―Sometimes,‖ she agreed.

―Always,‖ she countered.

―I guess I was the one who ended it, then. Not that he‘s heartbroken,‖ she added lightly.

Jarrod‘s gaze was frankly appreciative. ―I don‘t know. He might be more heartbroken than you think. I would be.‖

Genevieve scoured him with a look, but the doorbell rang again and Coby chose the distraction as a means to escape. She hurried to the door, but Annette beat her to it and opened it to Hank Sainer, Dana‘s father. Dana might be living on the East Coast and unable, and maybe unwilling, to come, but Hank was still one of The Dads. He had a genial smile and though his hair had grayed it was thick and full, and he looked like he worked out. He was tan, too, so he ‘d either been on a trip or hitting the tanning salons, as the Oregon weather had been dark and gloomy for longer than Coby wanted to remember.

He looked just like a politician.

Dave stepped forward and shook his hand, clapping him heartily on the back, and Big Bob and Jean-Claude stepped up, too. As they were greeting each other, the doorbell chimed again and this time Coby answered it. Kirk Grassi and Galen Torres stood in the rain beyond.

―Hey, Coby,‖ Kirk said.

―Hey, Kirk. Galen . . .‖

The two men entered together. Kirk had shaved his head bald and looked harder than he ‘d been in high school, but he still carried his guitar everywhere. Galen appeared much the same, compact, dark-complected, with a rare smile that was blinding when it appeared, as it did when he spied Suzette. Annette had said they‘d been dating a year, and from the way Galen reacted, he seemed to want things to keep on going down that path.

Juliet practically threw down the empty tray she‘d been carrying to the kitchen upon seeing Kirk. She gave him a big hug that he seemed to just tolerate, but she was into it. Her eyes scoured the room while she hugged him, scoping out who was watching. Another ―It‖ couple in the making?

Right behind Kirk and Galen was Donald Greer. Ex—vice principal Greer. His hair was thinner and the lines across his forehead, tiny impressions twelve years earlier, were now deeply etched lines. His eyes, behind steel-rimmed glasses, seemed to search the room for errant students even yet, and his lips were a straight line without a hint of curvature. Coby realized Annette wasn‘t the only one who would have trouble calling him Donald.

Genevieve had moved to greet them and asked Donald, ―Is Wynona coming?‖

―No,‖ was his short answer, which stopped even bold Genevieve from venturing further.

Coby engaged in small talk with Hank Sainer for a moment. She asked him what his political aspirations currently were and he responded, ―You mean after I become governor?‖ with a wolfish smile.

―Really? That‘s where you‘re heading?‖ Coby asked.

He shrugged, but she suspected it was false modesty. Still, he was charming, in his way, and good-looking—his smile engaging and ever present—and she figured no matter what his qualifications, he would make it pretty far just looking like he did.

―How‘s Dana?‖ she asked.

―Married. Happy. Making babies.‖ Something crossed his face and when he saw Coby watching, he added with a self-deprecating shrug, ―I have trouble thinking of myself as a grandfather sometimes.‖

Jean-Claude heard that last bit and said, ―You‘ll get used to it. I‘ve been one for eleven years now. Eleven years!‖ He grinned and looked around for Benedict, who was at the table carefully tasting some antipasto. The look of horror that chased across his face as he sampled marinated olives made Jean-Claude belly laugh and Hank Sainer smile.

The decibel level was definitely increasing, and Suzette came by with another tray filled with shivering glasses of red wine. As Coby exchanged her empty for a full glass of red, Suzette asked, ―Did you know I‘m engaged?‖

―No. Wow. Congratulations!‖

―I wanted to tell you earlier, but Galen wanted to keep it secret a little while longer. But now that he‘s here, I just thought, oh, hell. What am I waiting for?‖

―I‘m happy for you,‖ Coby said.

Suzette grew surprisingly sober as she shifted the tray in her hands. ―We‘ve talked a little bit about Lucas Moore. Galen told me all about raiding your campout that night, and about Pass the Candle.‖

―Did he?‖ Coby‘s gaze touched on Galen, who was with Kirk and Jarrod, and they were joking around and playing air guitars.

―Yeah, and the notes Vic wrote. He still sees Vic, you know, but Vic‘s changed a lot.

Really.‖

The notes.
Clearly Galen felt Vic was the perpetrator, but Coby, who‘d purposely shoved that memory to a distant corner of her mind because it was stupid, distasteful high school stuff, wasn‘t convinced it was Vic‘s doing. It just wasn‘t quite his style. She remembered him as being up front; loud and obnoxious, sure, but when the notes arrived just before high school graduation, slipping into each of the girls‘ lockers who‘d been at the campout, with their ―I know who you are and I saw what you did‖ kind of message, it was the work of someone sneaky and meanspirited.

Coby remembered hers as reading, ―Daddy Dave has a wandering cock.‖ She‘d been disgusted and mad, but when she‘d heard the gist of what some of the other girls‘ notes had said, she‘d swallowed back her anger because her message was one of the least offensive.

Still, they‘d stirred up quite a controversy. Genevieve had waved her note for all to see, incensed, offended and ready to fight. ―Who did this? One of you assholes!‖ she yelled at the boys.

―And get it right, okay? This isn‘t even right!‖

―What did it say?‖ Coby asked her later, to which Gen snapped, ―He got me confused with Yvette. Thought I was in love with Lucas. Stupid.‖ She glared at Vic Franzen.

―You sure it was Vic?‖ Coby asked.

―Juliet saw someone slipping a note inside Yvette‘s locker. She‘s sure it was Vic.‖

An accusation Vic Franzen fervently denied, apparently to this day.

Some of the other girls wouldn‘t even admit they‘d received one. Ellen had assured them that she hadn‘t gotten one, but then she hadn‘t walked at graduation, either. She left school early, so it was hard to know what the truth was.

―When‘s the big date?‖ Coby asked Suzette.

―Haven‘t really decided yet. Well, actually,‖ she whispered, leaning forward, ―we have, but we don‘t want to step on Annette‘s birthday celebration.‖ She glanced Galen‘s way and he caught her eye and smiled. ―Maybe we can announce it after she blows out the candles on her cake or something.‖

Coby couldn‘t help a stab of envy for their happiness. She remembered Galen as being one of the quietest guys, the most serious. Both he and Paul Lessington had been lieutenants to Kirk Grassi, Jarrod, and Vic Franzen, whereas Theo Rivers had kind of moved in and out of their group, a football player more than a musician. Lucas Moore had also done his own thing.

―If I were you, I wouldn‘t let Danner Lockwood get away a second time,‖ Suzette pronounced before walking away.

Juliet, who was standing near Coby, her gaze on Kirk, now glanced Coby‘s way. ―But he came here with your sister. . . .‖

Coby watched Danner head down the hallway toward the bedrooms and the den. She said something to Juliet, but her thoughts were chaotic and a moment later she followed after Danner.

The den door was ajar as she neared. Pushing it open with her finger, she found him standing in front of the picture of Annette that covered a good portion of the south wall, flanked by oil lamp sconces. Annette was wearing a dark blue dress, the skirt artfully spread around her as she sat on a dark brown velveteen-covered settee, her arms folded over a curved wooden scrolled edge, her beautiful, if slightly frozen, face gazing out at them, smiling faintly.

―It wasn‘t always this picture,‖ Coby said. ―Dad had an old sailing ship on that wall for years.‖

―I wonder whose idea it was to change it,‖ Danner said.

―Annette‘s,‖ Coby said with conviction. ―And Dad‘s.‖

―Faith has a real problem with their marriage.‖ His blue eyes searched her face and Coby fought the sudden speeding up of her pulse.

―It‘s just always been weird. You know that.‖

―Yeah.‖

―Why did you come here with Faith?‖ Coby heard herself asking, both appalled and thrilled at her own reckless courage.

―To see you,‖ he said.

―You couldn‘t just call?‖ she asked a bit breathlessly.

―Not really.‖

He smiled and she smiled back. Good . . . God. It took so little to make her feel this way.

And then the lights flickered.

―We‘d better eat soon or the power‘s going to go out and we‘ll all be stumbling around looking for candles and flashlights,‖ she said.

―I‘d say we‘ve only got a matter of minutes before we‘re rounded up.‖

―I‘d say you‘re right.‖

―Can we talk later?‖ he asked. ―After all this is over?‖

―Sure.‖

―Tomorrow? When we‘re both back in Portland?‖

―I‘d . . . like that,‖ Coby admitted.

―Danner?‖

They both turned toward the voice that sounded from outside the den. Faith‘s voice. She might not be romantically involved with him, but she was his date for the evening and Coby couldn‘t help but feel slightly guilty.

For an answer he headed toward Faith‘s call, brushing by Coby on the way out, squeezing her hand briefly before going to find her sister.

As soon as he was gone Coby collapsed onto the navy blue love seat, which still had the same corduroy cover from twelve years earlier; that hadn‘t changed. She‘d sneaked into this room as soon as she could get away from the campfire, her head swimming from vodka and shocking secrets, and laid her sleeping bag on the love seat and crawled inside, shivering.

Like she was shivering now.

With a feeling of annoyance she rubbed her arms hard, lost in pleasant thoughts of seeing Danner the next day.
Danner.
Without Faith or Jarrod or anyone else around.

It was amazing.

Feeling absurdly happy, she glanced around the den, noting how little it had changed since that night she‘d sneaked away from the campfire to its safe warmth. The giddy smile that had been on her lips since meeting with Danner slowly fell away as her thoughts, as ever, returned to that haunting night.

She hadn‘t been able to sleep. The couch was too small and she was suffering the effects of too much alcohol. Her mind ran in circles, constantly running over the same unsettling snapshot s of the whole evening, returning again and again to review them once more. She‘d had enough to drink to only recall snippets of the evening, but she definitely remembered kissing Lucas. But Lucas had also made out with Genevieve; she‘d seen that, too. And then he was really supposed to be Rhiannon‘s boyfriend and it was wrong to cheat on a friend. But was Rhiannon even a friend? And there was cold sand beneath her feet as she ran to the water‘s edge and threw up. And then Lucas was there . . . no, that was before . . . and someone—Jarrod?—came and broke them up. It was all swirled together, and as soon as she ran it through her mind, she ran it through again. A never-ending, low-grade bad feeling. An anxiety hangover that vied with the real one.