The View from Alameda Island - Robyn Carr Page 0,63

Stohl’s grocery for a few items for dinner, getting an ice cream cone for their walk home, then sitting out on the porch with glasses of wine in the late afternoon sun. They sat on wooden folding chairs that Lauren bought to accompany her kitchen dinette set.

“You need better chairs,” Cassie said. “Like maybe rocking chairs.”

“I’ll keep that in mind,” Lauren said.

They waved at strangers who passed by; everyone in Alameda got out and about on sunny days. Neighbors jogged, pushed strollers, pulled kiddie wagons behind their bikes or just walked. The parking spaces along the main street in front of the shops and restaurants were always full, but Lauren couldn’t imagine ever taking her car four or five blocks for a glass of wine or burger, unless it was a driving rain.

“I have loved having you here for a visit,” she told Cassie. “The reason you came so suddenly and expensively, not so much. But just having you here? It’s wonderful. I’m sorry about your sister.”

“She’ll probably come around,” Cassie said. “When she figures out all this little mood is going to get her is Dad, she’ll probably rethink the whole thing.”

“She has a sweet side,” Lauren argued.

“As long as it suits her purposes,” Cassie said. “I wish we were close, but I’m not compromising with her anymore. She stepped over the line.”

“It worries me to think she might not know the difference between squabbling and abuse,” Lauren said. “Beth never approved of my marriage but she stuck by me. Your sister will need you someday. And there’s something you should know—I was more like Lacey than like you. I had a feeling I might be getting in over my head with your father, but I pushed it aside. He was so powerful, capable and rich. He’s helped Beth a lot. He offered to help my mother but she refused him.” She laughed at the memory. “Honey said, ‘How very sweet, Brad. No thank you.’ When he blustered she added, ‘Just give it to a charity.’ He was furious. But you know your father can be generous and charming when he wants to be.”

“I loved those times he was happy,” Cassie said. “Christmas parties, birthday parties, summer barbecues. I didn’t trust them, but I liked them. It’s just that all the stress leading up to the party was awful and after all the company left, he so often took a turn for the worse.”

“When something didn’t go the way he expected,” Lauren said.

“I really don’t want to leave you,” Cassie said.

“Well, you’re going to,” she said with a laugh. “I have to go to work on Monday and you have to go home. I can’t have you hanging around watching over me. It’s time for both of us to get on with our lives.”

“It didn’t seem like the East Coast was so far away before...”

“I’m going to be fine and you have Jeremy and law school to think about. Just promise me one thing, Cassie. Promise me that if things don’t feel right with Jeremy, you won’t spend your entire life trying to change them. Take the shades off, Cassie,” she said. “See honestly. Don’t lie to yourself. And please—don’t be afraid. I was too afraid of what he might do to us.”

“I’m not the one with that problem,” she said. “I’m thinking about putting off law school for a year,” Cassie said. “I’d like to come back here, work, reapply, live closer. I talked to Jeremy. He understands. He wouldn’t mind getting back to the West Coast, though he’s starting to think of Boston as an adventure, but—”

“No!” Lauren said. “No, no, no! We’re going to move forward, you and me! I’m going to work and get divorced and this winter I’ll fix up this house. After the divorce is settled, I might buy it. Next spring I’ll plant a garden. And you’re going to get the first year of law school under your belt. We’ll Skype. We’ll get this big transition handled—my first year on my own, your first year with Jeremy and with law school. Maybe we’ll live closer down the road but for now? We’re going to move ahead with our plans.”

“Who will help you, Mama? If things get bad again? If he tries to hurt you? Who will help you?”

“I have assembled a good team,” Lauren said. “A good lawyer, my sister, my brother-in-law, a few friends... There’s a record and a restraining order. The sale of Honey’s house—that money is tucked away and