Fortunate Harbor (11 page)

She didn’t. She wanted to drive home with Marsh and Bay, pack Sylvia’s bags and dump the woman at the Greyhound station. But things really were more complicated than that. For now, Tracy didn’t see any way she and Marsh could move forward until the road ahead was cleared of ex-spouses and the painful yearnings of one little boy.

She nodded. “I’ll clean up my mess. You clean up yours. Then we’ll see where we stand.”

If he disagreed, he didn’t say so. “That timeline is pretty indeterminate.”

She melted just a little more. “Let’s aim for the short side.”

“At least we agree on something.” Before she realized his intention, he put his hand on her cheek, but when he leaned forward to kiss her, she backed away.

His gaze never left hers, but he nodded slightly, as if the terms of their treaty were being acknowledged.

“See you around,” he said.

“I’m sure you will.” She watched him follow his son to the car. She was still staring at their parking spot when Marsh was on the road leading home.

Dana had never seen her daughter happier. In the two weeks since she and Lizzie had moved into the house on Palmetto Grove Key, Lizzie hadn’t been bored for one moment. Everything was new; everything was special.

Years ago Dana had lived next door to Buddy, a floppy-eared hound, chained night and day to a post beside his doghouse. When the neighbors fenced their yard and ditched the chain, the dog suddenly had half an acre to explore. From the fro-licking Dana had witnessed, the grateful hound had felt the world was his again.

Lizzie reminded Dana of Buddy, thrilled beyond measure at her good fortune and determined to make use of every moment. Olivia had loaned her an old bike, and when Lizzie wasn’t pedaling along the oyster shell road, she was running from one end of the key to the other with her friend, exploring every twig and leaf, shell and piece of driftwood. She ate better, slept better. And the smiles? The smiles nearly tore Dana’s heart in two.

This afternoon was no exception.

“You mean it’s mine?” Lizzie looked at the metal detector in the box beside their kitchen table, then back up at her mother. “Really?”

Dana drew her daughter closer for a hug. “I told you I was going to get you a better birthday present once we settled down. New jeans and tops aren’t very exciting. What’s better than a metal detector for somebody who collects coins?”

“You mean I can find coins with this? Real coins?”

“Lots of stuff. Jewelry, pirate treasure, you name it.”

“How’d you think of it?”

Dana stroked her daughter’s curls. “A little bird told me you’d like it.” Or, more honestly, a vendor at the beach flea market that morning had seen Dana eyeing the metal detector and offered a decent price. The detector was gently used and, best of all, light enough for a girl Lizzie’s age. Dana had not been able to believe her luck.

“Wait until Olivia sees this!”

“You two won’t dig anywhere you’re not supposed to? You’ll check with me before you dig too deep?”

“I might find a 1943 penny.”

“Stranger things have happened.”

“I need one! And a 1916 double-dated buffalo nickel.”

Dana tried not to smile. “If nothing else, that will give you a great reason to examine every smidgen of dirt. I might even use it myself.”

“Does this mean we’re going to stay here? I don’t want to move again. I really, really really like it here.”

Dana tried to be both supportive and noncommittal. “I don’t blame you for not wanting to move.” She lifted the metal detector out of the box and held it out. “Why don’t
you read the directions, then you can take it over to Olivia’s?”

“Why don’t you come, too? Everybody will probably be there.”

Dana had accepted the offer of a job at Wanda’s Wonderful Pies, and she’d already given notice at the Dancing Shrimp. Because of all they’d done for her, she felt obligated to join the other women when they socialized. But a part of her worried about all the togetherness. The others seemed completely comfortable with each other, able to say whatever they pleased. She was a stranger, and there was a lot about her life she had no intention of sharing. The better she knew them, the harder that was going to be.

“I want to do some landscaping,” she said, which was not untrue. “Remember? I promised Tracy that I’d do a little for her.”

“Don’t you like Wanda and everybody?” Lizzie asked.

“It’s not that. I just want to do a little gardening, that’s all.”

“Sometimes I think you’re scared to have friends.”

Dana was surprised. “What do you mean, honey?”

“When I went to school in Alabama, some people were really mean to me. After that I didn’t want to be nice to anybody, ’cause I was scared everybody would be the same way. Was somebody mean to you? Is that why you don’t want to be real friends with people?”

“You never told me anything like that was going on at school.”

Lizzie grimaced. “It didn’t matter. We weren’t there very long anyway.”

“It
does
matter. You can always tell me when you’re having a problem.”

“Can
you
tell
me?
”

Dana could almost see her daughter growing up in front of her eyes. Sometimes Lizzie’s new maturity stunned her, and
sometimes it frightened her. How long would Dana be able to placate her with tiny portions of the truth?

“I guess I just haven’t had time for friends,” Dana said. “Maybe I’ve forgotten how. Maybe I’d better learn, huh?”

“Can I take the metal detector to the beach? Once I read the directions?”

Dana was glad to see the child reemerge. “You can if you’re very careful. I’ll be down the road if you need me. Be home at five.”

By the time Dana gathered her gardening supplies, slathered sunscreen on all skin bared by her shorts and tank top and drove up the road to the entrance to Happiness Key, Lizzie was already at Olivia’s.

The beds around Dana and Lizzie’s cottage hadn’t looked like much before Dana started to dig, but luckily they’d been in good condition, and she’d only had to weed and turn over the sandy soil to ready them for assorted annuals she had found on clearance. Time would turn the seedlings into mounds of bloom, but even now, the effort made the cottage seem more like home.

While planting her beds, as well as a narrow strip of dirt in front of Wanda’s shop and two massive pots by the shop door, she’d used up one and a half flats of annuals. Now she still had as many to plant. Since hot weather had arrived, she was running out of time.

The entrance to Happiness Key was marked by a sign that no one had bothered to remove, although now it lay on its back staring at the sky. Faded lettering announced a brand-new deluxe condominium community where happiness was guaranteed. Of course the sign was seriously outdated, but once upon a time, when this property was still called Happiness Haven, an office had stood on this site, and the foundation was
still visible to anyone who searched hard enough. Right where Dana intended to plant the rest of the annuals, there had been a garden, a perfect oval carved out of the sand between the road and the driveway up to the office, with a small “wishing pond,” a flourishing palm tree, coral and scarlet hibiscus, and clusters of zinnias and marigolds rimming the edges.

Although she had no intention of sharing her memories, Dana remembered exactly what the oval had looked like. She also remembered the pastel-painted houses, the playground, the cool depths of the stuccoed, red-roofed office with its soda machine and pamphlet rack detailing wondrous destinations like Cypress Gardens, Weeki Wachee Springs and Gatorland.

No traces of the palm tree or pond remained, and the driveway to the office was barely visible. A few scraggly shrubs hung on, despite weeds that were taller and in better condition.

Dana had wondered if she had the physical strength to clear the whole bed without a chain saw, but once she began, she was pleasantly surprised to find it wasn’t as hard as she’d expected.

Half an hour later she stood to stretch. She was making headway, but slowly. Another half hour and she would have cleared enough room to plant, but she needed a break. She strolled to the office site and examined the debris. A few broken cinder blocks lay beside chunks of concrete. The demolition team had removed almost everything else, which Dana was glad to see. If Lizzie arrived with her metal detector—and she certainly would—she wouldn’t have to contend with broken glass or roofing nails. Dana circled the perimeter, just visible because of the gravel base that had once cradled the concrete foundation and deeper pockets of concrete that had surrounded the borders.

The site looked untouched, as if once the office was demol
ished no one had given it another thought. Perhaps, until she had come with tools in hand today, no one had. Perhaps her memories of this welcoming place, where guests had come to buy Grape Nehi and chat, were the only memories that survived. She wished she knew.

She had just completed her examination when a dark SUV passed on the road leading to the cottages and, eventually, to the point at the end of the key. As she watched, the car slowed, then stopped at Alice’s house. She frowned and shaded her eyes. A tall figure unfolded from the driver’s seat, clearly a man by his height and the breadth of his shoulders. He stood without closing the door and spoke to a woman who had intercepted him. She thought it was Tracy, although at this distance, with most of her body shielded, Dana couldn’t be sure. As she watched, the man shut the door, and the two started up the path to Alice’s.

For a moment the world went dark. Lizzie might be in that house, and a strange man was on his way inside. This could be perfectly innocent. The man could be a friend of Alice’s; he might be there to read a meter or take a survey. Maybe he was just asking for directions and needed Alice’s advice.

Or maybe her worst fears had finally come true.

Dana started up the road to see, leaving her tools in a heap behind her.

Once upon a time, Tracy had routinely apologized for CJ. If he forgot a name, an appointment, a charity banquet, she apologized. If he didn’t want to attend her mother’s cocktail parties or a childhood friend’s wedding, she invented reasons. If he refused social engagements because no one he needed to shmooze was on the guest list, she went into action.

Today, she made no excuses. In fact, she skewered her ex with enthusiasm.

“I’m sorry,” she told Pete Knight, as they started up the path to Alice’s door. “He was supposed to be here half an hour ago, but CJ’s as reliable as a tornado. You never know where he’s going to touch down or how much damage he’ll do.”

Pete didn’t look annoyed. He was dressed like a laid-back guy, in khaki shorts and a navy T-shirt. He shrugged and didn’t even glance at his watch. “You’ve got his list. I can look around on my own.”

“First we’d better introduce you to the other women. Otherwise they’ll be freaked when you start scratching in their yards and peeking in their windows.”

“If you don’t mind me saying so, this is kind of an odd little development.”

“You’ll think it’s odder when you’ve met all of us. But as long as the houses are still standing, I’ll keep renting them. Which is where you come in.”

“Glad to do my part.”

Tracy knocked on Alice’s door. Earlier she had seen Janya walking in this direction, so she hoped to do a two-for-one introduction. Wanda opened the door, and Tracy realized she’d hit the jackpot.

“It’s a party and I wasn’t invited?” she asked.

“Keep your shirt on, woman. Janya came over to help Alice with something, and when I saw there was a gathering, I brought a pie for everybody to taste. I’m thinking it might be good for opening day.”

“What pie?”

“Elvis Surprise. Elvis’s favorite sandwich was peanut butter, bacon and banana.”

Tracy made a face. “Bacon? That’s bogus.”

“Crushed peanut brittle, mashed bananas and chocolate chips.” Wanda looked up at Pete. “You look like a man might appreciate a slice of pie.”

Tracy made the introduction, and Wanda stepped back to let them inside. Janya, Lizzie and Olivia were clustered around the dining room table, with Janya pouring iced tea from a cobalt glass pitcher. Alice was just coming out of the kitchen with matching plates.

Everybody stopped as Tracy introduced Pete.

“Pleased to meet you,” Pete said. “Is this everybody?”

“My mom’s not here,” Lizzie told him. “Olivia and me were playing with my new metal detector, then we came inside. It’s heavy! Miss Alice made a tablecloth for Olivia. She crocheted it. It’s beautiful.”

“Where is it?” Tracy knew how hard Alice had worked on the pineapple pattern tablecloth, and how many obstacles she had overcome to finish it for her granddaughter. Tracy had seen the tablecloth right after Alice completed it, but Alice had insisted it had to be washed, starched and stretched out to dry before it could grace a table.

“On the floor in Nana’s room,” Olivia told her. “First you put down a shower curtain, then a sheet, then you mark the sheet as a pattern, then you put down the tablecloth and pin it to fit.

Pete smiled at the girls. “Sounds like quite a project.”

“My mom’s planting flowers,” Lizzie told him.

“I probably saw her. Up the road?”

“Maybe. She’s around.”

Wanda left for the kitchen. “I’m dishing up pie. I’ll just assume everybody wants a piece. Don’t tell me if you don’t, on account of my feelings will be hurt.”

“Do you have an extra minute?” Tracy asked Pete. “Wanda’s pies are spectacular.”

“I never turn down pie.”

The girls made room at the table, and Pete took a seat beside Lizzie, who, without a hint of shyness, began to explain how she and Olivia had made certain there wasn’t a single ruffle or pleat in the tablecloth as they pinned. Pete, who clearly liked kids, asked all the right questions.

Wanda was just bringing in the pie when the front door opened and Dana appeared. She stood in the doorway a moment, as if her eyes were adjusting.

“You’re just in time,” Tracy told her. “Wanda’s testing another pie, and we’re the guinea pigs.”

“We’ll make room for you over here,” Janya said, sliding her chair closer to Olivia’s. “Come sit with us.”

Dana didn’t move, and she didn’t smile. “Thanks, but I can’t. Lizzie and I need to head home.”

“I haven’t had pie!” Lizzie held up her wrist, adorned by a watch and pointed to the dial. “You said I could stay until five. We were going out to the beach.”

“I forgot. I need to hit the dry cleaner before it closes.”

“Lizzie is welcome to stay here,” Alice said.

“Thanks, but I have other errands, and I need Lizzie’s help.”

“That’s not fair! Can’t I at least have my pie first?” Lizzie asked.

Wanda held up a hand. “I’ll just pack up two pieces, one for each of you, and you can eat them at home tonight. No need to fuss.”

“It’s still not fair,” Lizzie muttered.

Tracy didn’t think so, either, but she wasn’t going to throw fuel on that flame. “Let me introduce you to Pete before you go.” She explained who he was and made the introduction.

Dana gave a short nod. “Lizzie, come on please. Now.”