Heart Echoes Read online

  “I didn’t mention that? I told Maiya. Sorry. Sometimes talking to her feels like talking to you.” Lacey smiled. “Nora and William plan to arrive whenever their RV pulls into my driveway, sometime next week.”

  “Weren’t they in town already this summer?”

  “Yes, but when they heard you and Maiya were here, they decided to swing by again on their way home to Phoenix.” She leaned across the counter. “You know you’re the talk of Camp Poppycock.”

  Teal frowned. “With a population of a thousand, I figured as much.”

  “But it’s all positive. The fact that you’re a big-time Beverly Hills attorney impresses us.”

  “Lace, please. It’s Los Angeles, and it’s not a big-time deal.”

  “You’re so modest.” She giggled. “But you do need a place to work, so Will’s getting a store key made for you. It’s silly for you to sit on the cottage floor and not be able to come in here after hours.”

  “That’s—that’s . . .” She wanted to say “unnecessary,” but that would be a lie. “Oh, Lacey. I wasn’t supposed to be working so much, but this particular case . . .” She shook her head. “Thank you.”

  “Sure. Come look in the back. I want to show you what Will did with the desk.”

  Teal walked around the counter and followed Lacey into the back room. She had been given the tour on the day they arrived and noticed the desk nearly buried under piles and piles of papers.

  The windowless room was rectangular, the width of the coffee shop, painted an off-white and glowing from a ceiling full of recessed lights. It was half kitchen, half office. An exterior door led to the alley. There was a recliner in a corner. It seemed out of place. It had been added for Lacey’s comfort, for those days when she had insisted on working but needed frequent breaks to rest.

  Lacey gestured at the desk. “Will’s done for the day. Make yourself at home.”

  The work space had indeed been cleared. “What did he do with all of his stuff?”

  Lacey pointed to two cardboard boxes on the floor beside it. “There.”

  “I don’t mind working in the other room at a table. If you don’t mind.”

  “I certainly don’t mind, but I saw people interrupt you yesterday.” She put an arm around Teal’s shoulder and hugged her. “Suit yourself. I’m just so happy you’re here.”

  Teal returned her hug and stared at the desk so as not to stare at the recliner in the corner.

  It didn’t matter where she looked, though. Her ears still burned and her mind still visited the back room as it had looked nearly seventeen years ago.

  The kitchen had contained old, smaller appliances and cabinets with doors that did not stay shut. The walls had been covered in dark paneling, the lighting dim. There had been no computer atop the desk, no recliner in a corner.

  There had been a couch.

  And two young people fraught with a passion that had nothing to do with making love and everything to do with expressing hatred.

  Teal patted her sister’s thin back and felt the sharpness of a shoulder blade. “Lace, thanks, but I don’t want to take Will’s space. I’ll use any available table out front and be just fine.”

  “Well, if you need privacy, this is here for you.”

  Teal smiled tightly, unwilling to describe the ghosts that kept the back room anything but private.

  It was after 5 p.m. Teal sat in the closed and deserted coffee shop and tried to decide if River should phone her first. Technically he had that morning, but she was talking to Hannah Walton at the time and he did not leave a voice mail. That gave her stubborn side permission not to return his call.

  But almost nineteen hours had passed since they last spoke. Suddenly stubborn felt ridiculous.

  She pressed the speed dial for him.

  His cell rang and rang.

  She checked her watch again. Classes were over for him. The boys would be busy with kitchen or other duties and soon sitting down to dinner. He didn’t normally schedule counseling sessions for this time of day. He might be—

  The ringing stopped. She expected voice mail to pick up and wondered what to say.

  “Teal?” It was River, live.

  She readjusted her thoughts, a torturously long procedure. “Hi.”

  “Hi.”

  She hated being at a loss for words. “I didn’t think you were going to answer.” She cringed, hating more the reduction of her words to pointlessness.

  “I was out in the hall with some guys; my phone was on the desk.” He said no more.

  She breathed.

  “Teal, you want to go first?”

  “I’m not sorry for being angry.”

  He laughed, long and hard.

  A smile wobbled into place.

  He said, “I didn’t think you were. The question is, are we cool?”

  It was River-talk for was she calm enough to engage in normal conversation? “We’re cool. How was your day?”

  They engaged in normal conversation, a lengthy exchange that soothed her nerves. Backroom ghosts and Hannah Walton’s distress faded from the forefront of her mind. Jake’s importance in the overall scheme of their life lessened.

  Teal was married to a good man. She was the mother of a wonderful daughter whose hormones would even out in the long run. All was well with the world.

  “So,” he said, “work sounds like it’s becoming an issue. What do you think about cutting your visit short?”

  “I think that would totally defeat its purpose.”

  “That would be your ‘mommy time,’ which seems to be on the wane?”

  Like a mommy bear, Teal felt something primal rise up inside of her. “River, we’ve only been here four days. Once the countersuit and motion to dismiss are filed, I can work on the discovery in my spare time. Maiya is—”

  “I miss you.”

  She went silent.

  “Teal, I miss you so much it hurts. I physically ache inside.”

  “Maybe it’s your ribs?”

  “It’s not my ribs.”

  “I’m sorry, hon.”

  “I’m sorry for being so deeply in touch with my feminine side.” His chuckle fell short. There was no humor in it.

  “Look at it this way: less than five weeks to go.” She had tentatively set the first of October as a departure date. That would put Maiya back in time for the end of her suspension. “It’s not that long, right?”

  “Only if I don’t see you before then. I guess I better buy the ticket I put on hold.”

  “You’re coming! For Maiya’s birthday?”

  “Yep, for a long weekend.”

  “What about the auction?”

  “I’m learning to delegate. I’ll be back in time to fix any screw-ups and finalize things.” His tone held little conviction.

  As they continued to talk, she heard the strain in both of their voices. As much as he missed her and Maiya, it was a difficult choice for him to leave school even for a few days. He did not mention the cost, but she knew that a flight to the nearest airport—located at Camp Poppycock’s twin town up the coast, where few people chose to go—would be priced sky high.

  She felt a rush of guilt for causing the situation but quickly reminded herself that maintaining a relationship required sacrifices. Despite his show of a feminine side, he was totally in tune with his masculinity. He would be fine.

  She wasn’t so sure about herself. Call it pride or whatever, revealing to River the ugly part of her life would hurt. The thought of his meeting Randi and Owen and seeing firsthand the poor, backward town turned her stomach. It was not who she was; it was not the woman he had married.

  And yet it was still a part of her.

  Before River came into her life, she had grown by leaps and bounds. In the light of his love, though, she had positively blossomed. How else could she have found the courage to return to Cedar Pointe?

  And yet she was wilting.

  There were ghosts in the back room of the coffee shop. There were ghosts at her
mother’s house, on the stone walkway where she had clung to her father when she was three. There were ghosts in Lacey’s naiveté. There were ghosts of Maiya’s bio dad in casual conversation at every turn.

  Teal feared that not even River could withstand them.

  Chapter 31

  LOS ANGELES

  River flipped his cell phone in his hands, end over end, staring at nothing.

  They were not good at this long-distance relationship.

  Why had Teal left him?

  If he had been sitting with her, looking her in the eye, he could have told her. “This feels like when I lost Krissy and Sammy,” he would have said. “I went through the motions, and after a while, I got used to the motions. I got used to their absence. It hurt less. I don’t want to get used to your absence now. But I’m starting to.”

  He was.

  And it scared him how quickly it had happened this time around.

  Instead he told Teal that he missed her. Which he did.

  He missed her when they were on the phone.

  Years ago friends and even his sister had warned him about second marriages. “There is more baggage than you can ever imagine. She has a kid? Oh.” Groans. “You’ll always take a backseat to the kid. The kid was there first.”

  They spoke from personal experience. He insisted that still, it must have been worth it, right? Replies varied, the best being “On some days.”

  But he trusted the light Teal had brought into his life. Their journey together would definitely be worth it. It was definitely worth it.

  Why had she left him?

  For Maiya’s sake. Which meant, yes, he was sitting in the backseat. Again. Or still?

  Still. In a sense.

  He worked with teens who had never known a front-seat ride. Which explained why they had ended up in his care. And yet . . .

  And yet, where was the balance? Maiya was his own child in every way but genetically. He gave her plenty of front-seat rides. Short ones, when the situation deemed it necessary.

  He should have been part of this decision about her. They all could have dealt with it without anyone leaving town.

  But there was more going on here. And if he had been sitting with Teal, looking her in the eye, he could have said the hard thing.

  “Guilt is why you went to Cedar Pointe. But all of your good intentions to make up with your family and share Maiya with them will not purge you. It will not fill the hole in Maiya’s heart. She needs to know who her biological father is, and you need to tell her everything. It’s the only thing that will free you and her.”

  A thought struck him and the phone tumbled onto the desk.

  Maybe Teal was doing exactly that. Maybe Bio Dad lived in Cedar Pointe. Maybe she couldn’t deal with River being in on it.

  Maybe that was why she had left him.

  Chapter 32

  CEDAR POINTE

  Lacey sat on a park bench, eyes shut, head tilted to catch the sunlight full on her face. “This is great.”

  “Mm-hmm.” Teal spoke beside her. “Thanks for pulling me away from work.”

  Lacey opened her eyes and looked at her sister. “It’s Sunday.”

  “Now that’s the pot calling the kettle black. Happy Grounds is open seven days a week. Either you or Will or both of you are there before it opens at six thirty and after it closes at three, every single day.”

  “Sunday hours are shorter. It’s our day off. Sort of. When do you take off?”

  “When a job is done.” Teal turned to her now, the sunlight glinting off her sunglasses. “I guess we’re both caught up in meeting other people’s needs. Your way is just more obvious. You get to give them coffee and muffins. I write briefs and argue.”

  Lacey smiled and gazed out over the huge expanse of ocean far below them. The bench was located along a narrow path that ran along the rugged coastline. She felt flooded with a familiar sense of gratitude for all that had been given her. The beauty of where she lived, the privilege of serving the comforts of coffee and muffins, the ability to leave the shop in another’s hands while she and Will attended church, and now an afternoon with her sister and niece.

  Maiya had hiked off the path ahead of them, through scrubby vegetation and out onto a promontory. She sat out there now, evidently having her own time of quiet. Lacey hoped she was contented with the past week. They had slipped easily into a routine of lessons, work, and evenings of games or DVDs.

  Lacey said, “Maiya is extraordinary. I hope you make more babies.”

  Teal shifted and crossed her legs. “It seems selfish to admit to you that we don’t want to.”

  “No worries.” She tried to keep her tone light, but it always hurt to hear such things. “We could have a baby, but we don’t want one.” Of course the others hurt even more. “We’re expecting our third” or “Our first grandchild is on the way.”

  “River and I agreed early on. Given our histories, we’re not all that interested. Being a single mom took it all out of me, and River’s loss of his family took it all out of him. I suppose we’re just selfish cowards.” She turned to her. “How about you, Lace? Do you talk about adopting?”

  “With my situation . . .”

  “But you’re good now, right? You’re getting stronger every day.”

  She shrugged. “I’ve only been cancer-free for four months. We can’t really plan much except hope we make it to six months. After that we’ll hold our breath waiting for a year. If we get to five years, maybe we’ll start to think that we might have a different future. Maybe we could adopt.”

  “Oh, Lace.” Teal removed her sunglasses and flicked a finger beneath her eyes. “I’m sorry. I didn’t think—I can’t imagine.”

  Lacey touched her arm. “Hey, it’s okay. I can’t talk to anyone else like this. Can you imagine? ‘A Danish for you, ma’am, and oh, by the way, let me introduce my friend Mr. Death. Yes, he’s right here next to me. No, you can’t see him.’ That wouldn’t be so good for business.”

  Pools of tears threatened to overflow from her sister’s eyes.

  Lacey smiled. “Seriously, it’s all right.”

  “How can you smile?”

  “Because I can’t see him either.”

  “You know what I mean.” She picked up the sweatshirt on her lap and swiped it across her face. “Don’t you and Will talk?”

  “We talk plenty, but he’s too close. He gets depressed, and then I lose hope because I can’t do this without him. Sometimes I need to unload, though, like I did just now.”

  “I suppose Randi is out of the question.” Her nose wrinkled in a frown. “What about your friend Holly?”

  Lacey’s mouth twitched involuntarily. She quickly pursed her lips.

  “What’s wrong?” Her sister was overly observant. It probably made her good at her job.

  “Nothing.”

  “Come on. If we’re going to have our first good old-fashioned sister heart-to-heart, we can’t hold back.”

  “You want a good old-fashioned sister heart-to-heart?”

  “Sure. We’re due, aren’t we?”

  Lacey grinned. A real talk with Teal? It would be a dream come true. “The sister rule book says that thirty-two years—which just so happens to be my age—is as long as you can go without one.”

  “Or else what?”

  “Poof. You’re no longer sisters.”

  “We better get at it, then.” Teal took a deep breath. “So what’s up with Will and Holly?”

  Her question hit Lacey like that first dive into an ocean wave as she paddled on her surfboard, on her way out to beyond the breakers. The water chilled her to the bone even through the wet suit. Its power frightened her. It knocked the breath from her. Her arms stilled and she lay her forehead and nose against the rough surface of the board. It rocked and she considered turning back to shore.

  Then she would recall the exhilaration of riding on top of the water and she paddled again.

  She had to trust that this first dive into a heart
-to-heart with Teal would lead to good things.

  Teal said, “I’ll be honest. Holly has always annoyed me, so I am not the most unbiased observer. However, she hangs around the store an awful lot. I thought you two were always close. If you can’t talk to her, then something is up.”

  Lacey swallowed twice before she could speak. “We are the best of friends. When I was sick, she spent every weekend and all of her school holidays pitching in wherever we needed extra help. Mostly, though, it was her emotional support that kept me going through the worst days.”

  “But . . . ?”

  “But like you said, she’s always at the store. She calls late at night when I’m normally asleep. And is it my imagination, or is she moony around Will?”

  Teal winced and nodded. “What about Will?”

  “He’s been acting secretive, whispering on the phone and always being quick to get off when I walk in the room.”

  “So, no proof of anything?”

  She sighed. “No.”

  “Have you confronted him? Come right out and asked him?”

  “I don’t want to know if it’s true. The thing is, I can’t blame him. I’m not the wife he used to have. He’s had to take care of me and our home and our business for months now. He deserves better.”

  “Shh. Don’t go down that road. Nothing is your fault, okay? Not the cancer nor how it’s affected your everyday life. Not any idiotic choice Will might have made.”

  Lacey nodded. “Thanks, Teal. I feel better.”

  She laughed. “Lace, I didn’t even give you any help yet.”

  “You didn’t?”

  “No. The thing is, in my opinion Will has not done anything. It’s so obvious he absolutely adores you, the way he looks at you, the way he speaks to you and treats you. The phone calls?” She shrugged. “Maybe he’s trying to order you flowers or tickets for a cruise. He doesn’t even notice Holly. She’s an unhappy divorcée who wants to have what you have.”

  “Cancer?”

  “You know what I mean. Hon, I’m not big on painting rosy pictures. I can offer hope to wives in crises, but I’m weak on the warm fuzzies. So that is my honest opinion. If you’d like, I could even give notice to Holly to vacate the premises.”