The Bookstore on the Beach - Brenda Novak Page 0,39
said, “No, I’ll just assume everything is fine and see what happens in the morning.”
She was growing up. “Good idea. I love you.”
Taylor said the same and disconnected, and Autumn returned to bed. But when she set her phone aside and pulled her computer back into her lap, Quinn’s friend request was still there, and once again, it caught her eye.
“Oh, what the hell,” she said and clicked Accept. She assumed Quinn would be asleep, which was why she felt fairly safe messaging him.
The cake was great. Thank you.
She wasn’t quite ready to go to sleep so she navigated away from Facebook and read a few click-bait news articles. When she grew frustrated with how slowly they moved the story along and constantly held out the most important detail, she returned to Facebook to see if she could find a profile for Sierra Lambert. Maybe the girl had posted about the argument with her father or the police showing up. It was a long shot, and Taylor had probably already checked Instagram, but Autumn figured she had the time. Worst case, she found nothing. Best case, she could text some reassurance to Taylor.
She couldn’t find a Sierra Lambert, though, not one close to Sierra’s age who revealed that she was from Sable Beach.
She was just about to close her computer when an instant message landed in her box.
You’re up late.
It was Quinn! For some inexplicable reason, her heart started to pound, and her fingers hovered over the keyboard for a moment before she started typing. Nights can get long, she finally wrote.
Most people think they’re too short.
Those are people who can sleep.
You can’t?
Not until three or four in the morning.
It wasn’t until then that she could finally get her mind to shut down.
What do you do during that time?
For the past nineteen months, I’ve been searching for my husband.
I heard he went missing. I’m sorry about that.
Autumn wasn’t surprised that he knew. Most people in Sable Beach had probably been told about Nick, but she hated that Quinn was one of them. She was afraid he’d assume, like so many others, that Nick had walked out on her.
He could come back one day, she wrote, although she wasn’t sure why she’d felt the need to say that. She’d given up on the idea, hadn’t she? Wasn’t that why she’d come to Sable Beach? To start the difficult task of putting it all behind her?
You have no clue what happened to him?
None, she wrote. He left to go on a business trip, supposedly to New York, and never came back. Then she added, and please don’t suggest he ran off with another woman. I’ve heard that one before. Lots of times. I understand that could be a possibility—I’m not naive. But there are quite a few reasons I find it unbelievable.
Like...
He adored his kids, for one. And I can’t imagine he wouldn’t want half our assets. But he didn’t take a dime. Everything he owned—his most prized possessions—are still where they always were. No one has emerged to say he had gambling debts or anything else that might make him want to bug out. I could go on.
Your mother speaks highly of him.
She blinked when she read his response.
What does that mean?
She seems like a good judge of character. I doubt she would’ve liked him if he was the kind of guy to run out on you.
If Autumn had learned anything in life, she’d learned that almost anyone could be “that kind of guy—or girl” given the right set of circumstances and temptations. In Tampa, her best friend’s husband had gotten involved with his dental assistant, which tore their family apart, and he’d been nice, too. But she didn’t believe those kinds of circumstances existed in Nick’s life, not at the time he disappeared. Their marriage had been solid, and he’d seemed fulfilled in his work.
He had been hiding things from her, though. She’d assumed that was all related to what he was doing for the government. But maybe there was more.
He seemed to be sincere.
I have no doubt he was. You’ve heard what happened to me...
Should she lie? Let him think that his own scandal had died down? She was tempted to cut him a break, but he knew what the residents of Sable Beach were like, so she doubted he’d believe her, anyway.
Yes.
I wasn’t cheating, Autumn. I never went out on Sarah once. It was her own insecurities and fears that led to what happened.