The Bookstore on the Beach - Brenda Novak Page 0,123

going on?”

“Maybe Tammy’s too frugal to find a nicer house?”

“Or she craves the anonymity that would go along with living in such a backwater area.”

That was possible, Mary supposed. She hadn’t come out of those years with the Skinners without a few personality quirks of her own. It was possible Tammy had fared no better.

“Should we go to the door together?”

“No, I’d rather go alone.” Laurie had been great to come along, but Mary felt safer having someone in the car, able to call the police if anything went wrong.

“Maybe you should text her first and double-check the address.”

“I don’t want her to have any warning that I’m here. I’ll just go talk to her. The car’s here, so it looks like she’s home,” she said and got out.

The rain that pelted her bare arms and face was warm. Since she didn’t have a jacket, she was glad of that. She’d also neglected to bring an umbrella, so she kept her head down as she hurried to the stoop and tried to shake off what she could of the wet.

A blanket covered the front window, and there wasn’t any lawn furniture or pots of flowers—not even a welcome mat. The house didn’t look dangerous exactly. She had no reason to think it might be. But it didn’t seem very welcoming, either.

She glanced back at Laurie, who was watching her with the engine running. They could go back to Sable Beach, forget about this. But after all the effort they’d put into coming here, she knew Laurie would insist on knocking even if she decided not to.

There had to be a good explanation for why Tammy lived in this house.

Throwing back her shoulders, Mary gathered the nerve to ring the bell.

The wait seemed interminable. Every second that dragged by felt like an hour. But after banging on the door when no one answered the bell, she heard movement inside the house.

Standing with her back to the window in case Tammy lifted the blanket to look out, she held her breath as she waited—and the door finally opened.

But it wasn’t Tammy who answered; it was Nora.

* * *

Taylor was lying on the dusty old couch on Sierra’s screened-in porch, her head resting in Sierra’s lap as they gazed out at a yard that wavered and shimmered in the heat.

“Are you glad you did it?” Sierra asked, running her fingers through Taylor’s hair. The repetitive action was so relaxing Taylor could hardly keep her eyes open.

“Told my mom? Definitely. It makes the pregnancy more real. I mean, I’ll have to face it now. But it was getting pretty real, anyway.”

“Thanks to Oliver and his brother,” Sierra muttered with a scowl. “They’re lucky they live far away from me. They’ve been such dicks lately.”

Taylor knew Sierra was reacting to her swollen eyes and tear-streaked face. It upset Sierra to see her unhappy. But Taylor was actually feeling better. “I’ve cried a lot the last twenty-four hours,” she admitted. “The reality of what I’m facing will hit me randomly, and tears just...well up, out of nowhere. But I think I’m finally all cried out.”

“It’s cool that your mom’s taking the news so well.”

The buzz of a wasp, dancing around the door leading outside, drew Taylor’s attention, but it couldn’t get in, so she watched it without any real interest. “My grandma took it pretty good, too. My Mimi is awesome. And now they’ll both help me. I shouldn’t have waited so long.”

“Do you think there’s any chance your mom will let you stay in Sable Beach for the winter?”

Her mother hadn’t mentioned that as a possibility. But Taylor had certainly thought of it. “Doubt it.”

Sierra scratched Taylor’s scalp, then ran a finger over her face, both of which felt better than Taylor could ever have imagined. “Why not?” she asked. “Now that your senior year’s screwed up, anyway, there’s no reason to go back.”

“Oliver wouldn’t be able to see the baby.”

“Oliver doesn’t want to see the baby. He keeps asking you to get an abortion.”

“As much as I’d like to stay here, I don’t know if I could go through the pregnancy without my mom.”

“You’ll have your grandma. Or...maybe you’ll all move here.”

Taylor finally let her eyes close. “That would be hard on Caden,” she murmured. “He has water polo.”

“Water polo isn’t everything. We’re talking about a baby.”

The heat was making her even sleepier. “Yeah, but my mom will try to keep things as normal for him as possible. He’s not the one who screwed