The Bookstore on the Beach - Brenda Novak Page 0,50

are loving and kind? And why did such a mind-warping thing happen to you and me and not someone else?

Sadly, I don’t have any answers. My therapist has helped me to understand that sometimes people simply make bad choices—or are inherently bad—and bring others pain. I was born to people who don’t have a conscience, and that’s just something I have to learn to live with. But I’ll be honest—some days I manage better than others.

What I remember from when you lived at the house (which seemed normal to me at the time—shows you what a child can be conditioned to accept) is now a heartbreaking and recurring nightmare. I try to avoid thinking about it whenever possible, and yet, there are times when it comes back to me, and there’s nothing I can do to stop it.

My life hasn’t been easy. But I’m sure it hasn’t been as hard as yours, which is why I’ve never felt quite right thinking that you and your daughter might be out there somewhere, struggling to get by, while I had the financial means—once I turned eighteen—to help.

I should’ve tried to find you years ago and would have, except I’ve never been confident that you’d want to hear from me. I hope this letter isn’t too much of an unwelcome intrusion.

Regardless, I will always consider you my sister.

Love—Tammy King

Mary closed her eyes and let her breath go in a long exhale. Tammy didn’t seem to blame her. And she sounded okay, as though she’d weathered the rest of her childhood in spite of its difficulty.

Opening her eyes, she read the letter several more times until she could look for what wasn’t there, as well as what was. Was Tammy married? “King” would suggest she was, or had been. Or she’d changed her name to escape the stain of her parents’ behavior and to duck the media, as Mary had done. And what about children? Did she have any? What kind of a relationship did she have with her parents? Had she stayed in touch? Had she seen Nora since Nora had been released?

Mary couldn’t help wondering all of that and more. But now she was faced with the same decision she’d had to make back then. Did she defend the clean break she’d made from the Skinners? Or did she allow the past back into her life?

She didn’t have an answer, couldn’t possibly decide right now—not with Autumn and Caden and Taylor in town for the summer.

So she tore off the part of the letter where Tammy had written her phone number and flushed the rest down the toilet.

“You will always be a sister to me, too,” she murmured. They were sisters of the heart, but Autumn and Tammy were half sisters by blood. That was another facet to the confusing and painful ordeal she’d endured—one that raised two very important questions: Did Tammy and Autumn deserve to know each other? Was she wrong to keep them apart?

She didn’t know. But just reading the letter had opened the door to a relationship, which was why she’d been so reluctant to do it.

* * *

Having fun?

Taylor’s heart jumped into her throat when Oliver’s text came in. He’d interacted with her a bit on social media, liking the posts she’d put up on Instagram, many of which showed the beach, as well as the one she’d just added of her and Sierra looking badass in front of Sierra’s father’s motorcycle. But Oliver hadn’t called or texted her directly in a couple of weeks. She got the impression he’d tried standing in the wings, waiting for word, but had run out of patience. He was eager to know if he could relax.

She couldn’t blame him. She’d been on edge, too, ever since she left Tampa. But she didn’t have anything to tell him. She hadn’t started her period. As much as she’d prayed for an end to the worrying and waiting, she still didn’t know if she was pregnant.

Or maybe she just didn’t want to accept what the absence of her period meant. She wasn’t as regular as most girls, so she’d been holding out hope that this was one of “those” months and there was still a chance life as she knew it would not be over.

Sierra, who’d heard the phone ding, had lifted the arm she’d been using to block the sun from her eyes and was watching Taylor curiously. “Who’s that?”

“Oliver.”

They’d been swimming in nothing but their bras and panties, since they hadn’t