The Bookstore on the Beach - Brenda Novak Page 0,95

But hearing this, she let the drape fall back into place with only a cursory glance. “See? I told you she did. It’s on her mind or she wouldn’t have hit me up. What’d you tell her?”

“Nothing.”

Her eyes went wide. “She let you get away with that?”

“I told her there were reasons I couldn’t say more, that sometimes mothers have to make difficult decisions to protect their children.”

Laurie unwrapped the sandwich Mary had brought her from the deli. “But she’s not a child anymore. And that was the perfect opportunity. You should’ve told her everything.”

Mary shook her head. “I have to meet Tammy first, get some sort of feel for who she turned out to be. The timing of her search for me makes me nervous. Why now? After all these years? I mean, Nora just got out of prison. Did she trigger the search?”

Laurie sent her a disgruntled look as she opened a bag of barbecue potato chips. “That’s pretty cynical.”

“Cautious is the word I prefer to use.” Sometimes Laurie didn’t understand—because she’d never been through what Mary had.

“So how did she react when you wouldn’t tell her anything?”

Mary took the onions off her Italian sub. She’d forgotten to order it without them. “Resigned, I guess.”

“Don’t let that fool you. She’s spent months and months searching for her husband. She’ll start searching for her father next—you wait and see.”

“She might. But it’ll take six weeks before she can get the results of a DNA test. That’s all I’m really looking for—enough time to meet Tammy, get to know her a little bit and figure out where Nora is.”

“A sister could be a wonderful addition to Autumn’s life, especially now that she’s lost Nick.”

“Tammy could also turn out to be the bane of her existence,” Mary pointed out, frustrated that Laurie could advocate so tirelessly for the truth without realizing what was at stake.

“I can’t help feeling sorry for her.”

“You’re not the only one. I loved her. I still love the child I knew back then. And I owe her. That’s what makes this so hard.”

“When are you two going to meet?” Laurie sipped her kombucha. “And don’t tell me you’re going to wait until Autumn and the kids go home. I’m tired of lying to Autumn,” Laurie went on. “She thinks I’m her real aunt. That my son is her cousin and my mother her grandmother.”

Mary poured some of Laurie’s chips out on her own plate. “You’ve never minded that before,” she said as she popped one into her mouth. As a matter of fact, Laurie was the one who’d initially suggested it. She’d offered to give context to Mary’s life so that it would be easier to hide from her past, and the closer they grew the more Mary did become part of the family.

“It’s not that I mind. I was happy to step into the gap and play that role. I knew you needed it. But Autumn was so little when I met her. Being her aunt meant something a little different then. It didn’t seem like it had to be taken so literally. Now she’s thirty-eight and will feel betrayed by me when she learns the truth. So I panic every time she corners me, like she did not long ago, right here—” she gestured around the room “—asking about her father.”

“I can understand that. And I appreciate you supporting me in spite of it, especially for so long.” She drew a deep breath. All roads led to the same destination. As much as Mary wanted to forget for good, the Skinners were going to have the last laugh—and, because of Tammy, might derail her life all over again. “I was going to wait until after they left. But maybe I should do it sooner, just in case. We’re closed on Mondays. I’ll do it then.”

“This Monday?”

“No. The fundraiser is this weekend. Let’s get through that first and give ourselves a chance to recover. But soon.”

“It doesn’t have to be on a Monday. I can always watch the store if you need me to.”

Mary remembered how hard it had been to hear Tammy’s voice on the phone and knew it would probably be much harder to see her in person—harder not to trust, and trust was the very thing that could get her into trouble. “We’ll see how it goes.”

22

Taylor was surprised when she showed up at Sierra’s to find her brother there. She’d thought he was off playing volleyball with his friends—kids that’d been her