the room for it.
“Is it true?” Wendy asked.
“Is what true?”
“You must have known he was going to announce it today at church,” Wendy said.
“I...”
“You did,” Rachel said. She tried to keep the accusation out of her voice. But why hadn’t Anna warned them? They had just been sitting there exposed to...
“I guess I didn’t really believe that he would,” Anna said. “I mean, I wouldn’t have thought that he would want to make such a—a spectacle out of it. But I guess that he needs to... He needs to have it done.”
“He shouldn’t have done that,” Emma said, the conviction in her daughter’s voice filled with the kind of purity that only the young could feel.
“Were you going to tell me?” Rachel asked. “Ever?”
Anna blinked. “Why would I tell you right now?”
“I don’t know. You couldn’t wait to blow your life up until I was through all of this? You might as well have confided in me. You could’ve talked to me.”
“Enough,” Wendy said. “It’s not time to fight. If you need a place to stay, Anna, you know you can always stay in the Shoreman’s Cabin. It’s available.”
“Right,” Anna said. “I’m sure the Forest Service won’t mind at all if we negatively impact the revenue by giving me a place to stay.”
“We built this place,” Wendy said. “For us. And I reserve the right to benefit this family with what we’ve built. You need a place. We have a place.”
“Thank you,” Anna said quietly.
Rachel couldn’t remember the last time she’d seen her sister quite so unraveled. It reminded her of younger Anna. Who used to explode at the drop of a hat and then put herself back together and become a cheerful, sweet child minutes after the storm.
She had been replaced by the smooth creature that had made Rachel’s stomach hurt the day of the funeral. But she wasn’t entirely sure she was ready for windswept, hurricane Anna yet, either.
She wondered what was wrong with her that she couldn’t find any compassion right now. Maybe it was just that the well was dry. Because her husband was dead and Anna had betrayed hers.
Her stomach tightened.
She knew it wasn’t that simple. She knew that it couldn’t be. Because what Thomas had done rang so hollow and so false that even if he was telling the truth... She knew that it wasn’t the whole truth.
But she still couldn’t find it in her to be soft. To be forgiving. To let somebody else have a problem when her own life had been destroyed.
And it hadn’t been her fault.
It hadn’t been her choice.
And when her sister looked at her, Rachel couldn’t bring herself to offer any reassurance.
Their mother had given her a place to stay. That would have to be enough for now.
5
The ghost’s name is Roo. Ron got out the Ouija board and asked her. Don’t tell Mom. And tell her the boys are staying in their dormitories, too. Of course, they would never come over to ours!
—FROM A LETTER WRITTEN BY SUSAN BRIGHT TO HER SISTER, JUNE 1961, WHEN THE CAPE HOPE LIGHTHOUSE PROPERTY WAS CONVERTED TO A SATELLITE CAMPUS FOR LOGAN COUNTY COMMUNITY COLLEGE
EMMA
Emma wasn’t a liar by nature.
But for the past two weeks it had felt like that was her primary method of communication with her mother.
She bit down on the inside of her cheek and pulled her small car into the parking lot of J’s Diner. The shabby yellow building was at the top of a hill that overlooked the main street in Old Town, and she sat for a moment, her interactions with her mom from the past week playing over in her mind...
“How are you?”
“Fine.”
“How is school?”
“Good.”
“Looking forward to OSU?”
“Yes...”
Not that it was new. Over the years she had honed omission into an art form, and the subtle bending of the truth into a tool she could wield with ease. She’d become skilled at recognizing things that might add weight to her mother’s already heavy burden.
She couldn’t remove a whole boulder, but she could carry around life’s pebbles all on her own without her mom having to worry about them.
Yes, and sneaking out for coffee and a hopeful glance at Luke is definitely in your mother’s best interest...
She sighed and killed the engine, then got out of the car and looked around. The town was bustling with people on their way to work, getting coffee from their preferred spots.
The town of Sunset Bay consisted of two main segments—the utilitarian segment of town just across the bridge