The Bookstore on the Beach Read online

  The bell rang over the door before she could respond, and two more women, talking about sharks and whether it was safe to go in the water while they were visiting the coast, walked in. Mrs. Vizii seemed as shy of them as she was of Autumn, but the moment she realized they were just tourists, she visibly relaxed.

  “Your mother told me she was waiting for more copies of Neil Gaiman’s new book to come in. I was wondering if they had arrived.”

  She hadn’t removed her sunglasses. Maybe she felt the need to hide behind them. After all, her daughter had been sentenced for stabbing her husband less than a year ago, and the scandal had to be pretty front and center again now that Quinn was back in town.

  “Let me see.” Autumn checked the computer. “Yes. They should be out on the floor.” She walked over to the G’s in general fiction and pulled a copy from the shelf. “Here you go.”

  “Thank you.”

  They returned to the register where Autumn started ringing her up.

  “Where have you been living?” Mrs. Vizii asked.

  Autumn gestured for her to insert her credit card. “In Tampa.”

  “Oh yes. Your mother mentioned that to me. Did you ever find your husband?”

  “No.”

  “What happened to him?”

  “I wish I could tell you,” Autumn said and indicated that it was time for her to remove her card.

  She took off her sunglasses and lowered her voice. “Do you think he could’ve been seeing another woman?”

  Autumn’s spine stiffened. She hated that everyone jumped to that conclusion. “No. Even if he was, I imagine he’d want half our assets, wouldn’t you? Without money, he’d have to work somewhere, and that should’ve made it possible for me to find him.”

  “Have you hired a private investigator?”

  “Yes. One here and in Ukraine, where Nick was last seen.”

  She put her sunglasses back on. “Still,” she said, clearly unconvinced, “I’ve heard of crazier things. Your mother told you what happened to my daughter, didn’t she?”

  She hadn’t said, “Your mother told you what my daughter did.” She’d said, “What happened to my daughter” as though Sarah had been the victim. “Just the basics,” she said so that Mrs. Vizii wouldn’t feel as though Mary had been gossiping about the incident.

  “Well, be careful. As long as your husband’s been gone, you’ll be looking to start dating again soon, and there aren’t a lot of single men in this small of a town.”

  Autumn put the Gaiman book in a bag with the receipt and handed it to Mrs. Vizii over the counter. “I’m aware of that—and I’m not in any hurry to start dating. I don’t even know if...” Her words fell off before she finished with, “If I’m free to start dating or still married.” Knowing her husband could be alive and going through hell halfway around the world made it impossible to say that. It sounded so cavalier—as if it would be easy for her to walk away from everything they’d built together.

  “If he’s coming back?” Mrs. Vizii said.

  A lump rose in Autumn’s throat. She’d thought she was through with tears, but coming home and facing what felt like the final loss of her husband of eighteen years was dredging up all the pain she’d experienced in the early months—as well as the suspicion that maybe he was alive and well somewhere, enjoying life while she struggled to carry on without him. Was it possible he’d had a secret bank account? That he’d stockpiled enough money that he could seemingly drop off the planet?

  She would’ve noticed that something was up, wouldn’t she? He’d never given her any reason to doubt him. And she knew he loved Taylor and Caden, even if it was possible that he’d fallen out of love with her and she hadn’t realized it. But insecurity could twist the clearest of evidence. “Yes.”

  “Well, if you do start dating, be careful. After what my daughter has been through, I wouldn’t want you to get caught up with a certain gentleman who lives here.”

  The two women who’d wandered into the store left without buying anything. “Quinn’s back?” Autumn asked as though she didn’t already know.

  “He is. And all the single women are flitting around him because he’s so handsome. But fishing lures look awfully attractive to the poor fish they hook, too,” she replied and walked out with her purchase.

  Autumn sighed as she sat on the stool. She wondered what Quinn thought about his ex-mother-in-law going around town saying such terrible things about him. She was willing to bet he wished he could leave this place. But with his own mother stricken with cancer and his father in need of help with the restaurant, there probably wasn’t much he could do.

  5

  “What is it?... Hello?... Hey, I’m talking to you.”

  Mary finally heard Laurie over the pounding of her own heart. But it wasn’t until Laurie touched her elbow that she lifted her eyes from the article she’d been reading. As soon as she’d walked out of the bank, and Laurie had gone into the store next door to get some allergy medicine for Chris, the headline had jumped out at her from one of the newspapers in the bins by the door. “What? Oh, it’s nothing,” she said and tucked the paper under her arm.

  Laurie followed her to the car. “It’s obviously something. You seem upset even though our meeting went well. They’re going to give us the money. Aren’t you excited?”

  Mary was hopeful that putting a coffee shop in the bookstore would bring in more business, but she was too worried about her family to focus on the progress they were making toward that goal. “I was just reading an article that... Never mind. It’s no big deal.”

  Laurie didn’t let her get away with the evasion. “What was it about?” she asked after they climbed into her Honda Accord and snapped on their seat belts.

  “What was what about?” Mary tried playing dumb in hopes that Laurie would let it go in her hurry to get on with the day.

  “That article!” Laurie responded in exasperation.

  Reluctantly, she handed over the newspaper she’d purchased, and before starting the car, Laurie read the heading that had caught her attention. “DNA Reveals Daughter’s Only Parent To Be No Relation.”

  “Can you believe that?” Mary said. “Some poor woman took a DNA test because she wanted to learn more about her mother, whom she’d never met, and found out that the man who’d raised her wasn’t even her father. He’s dead now, so she can’t ask him what happened, and she has no idea how she came to be in his custody.”

  “Poor thing. That would be a real mystery, wouldn’t it?”

  “I don’t think these DNA tests are a good thing.”

  Laurie frowned. “I can see why you wouldn’t.”

  Mary rubbed her forehead. “Stories like that are popping up all over the place.”

  “Which is why I think you need to get out ahead of the problem. If Autumn takes a DNA test, how will you explain the results?”

  “It won’t be easy. But I’m not sure I want to guarantee she finds out by telling her, either. The truth won’t impact just her life. Or mine. Or yours. It’ll impact Taylor’s and Caden’s. I doubt that’s what she’d want.”

  “Then let her decide whether to share it with the kids.”

  Mary adjusted her seat belt, which suddenly felt too confining. “But once she knows, she can never not know. Should I really put her in the same position I’m in now, trying to decide whether it would be best to bury the past or drag it into the present?”

  Laurie folded the newspaper, put it on the console and started the engine. “There are no easy answers, Mary. You could be right. I was talking to my mother this morning, and she thinks you’d be crazy to bring it all out into the open. So maybe I should quit encouraging you to do it.”

  “You’re just trying to help. I know that.” She waved at Joann Hunter, who’d come out of the grocery store. Joann owned an alterations business in town and brought her granddaughter into the bookstore two or three times a month. Mary liked her but was grateful when she didn’t stop and expect Mary to lower her window so they could chat. “What, exactly, did Nana have to say?” she asked as Joann got into her own vehicle one row over.

  “That it’s behind you, and we should let it stay that way. That it doesn’t have any bearing on the present. She also mentioned that Autumn has been through enough and insists that talking about how you came to be who you are, and she came to be who she is, won’t serve any good purpose. There’s no reason to look back.”

  Mary desperately wanted to agree with Nana, but... “Did you mention how easy it would be for Autumn to find out the truth without me?”

  “Of course. She said to let that make the decision for you. If Autumn finds out, then you’ll have to address it.”

  Mary tried to imagine how her daughter might react to the news. “She matters more to me than anything, Laurie. She always has.”

  Laurie put the car in gear but hesitated before backing up. “You’ve proven that time and again. You’ve done an amazing job as her mother, have always tried to protect her.”

  “Maybe now what I have to protect is our relationship. That’s what frightens me.”

  “Does that mean you’re going to tell her?”

  “It does. I just... I want to enjoy one final summer with her and the kids first—one summer in which everything still feels the same. Do you think that’s too much to ask?”

  Laurie glanced at the newspaper as though it were a ticking time bomb. “I hope not.”

  * * *

  When Taylor’s phone rang, all of her new friends were swimming with her brother except Sierra, who’d come out of the water and was lying on a towel beside her. Sierra must’ve hear
d the buzzing, because she opened her eyes, leaned up on her elbows and gazed out to sea while Taylor dug her phone from her bag.

  The caller had a Tampa area code but didn’t have a number Taylor recognized. It could be Oliver—Danielle had told her he might call—but it could also be someone else, like her high school with news about the yearbook, which hadn’t been ready on time this year, or registration dates for fall.

  She’d been monitoring her calls and would’ve waited to see if whomever it was left a message. But Sierra glanced over as if she was surprised Taylor wasn’t answering, and that made Taylor impulsively hit the talk button.

  She regretted doing so the second she heard Oliver’s voice. “Hey.”

  Conscious of Sierra watching her, she tried not to show her sudden panic. “Hi.”

  “What’s up?”

  “Not a whole lot. I’m at the beach with some friends.”

  “Did Danielle go to Virginia with you?”

  “No. These are just...some people I met.”

  “For the first time?”

  “Yeah. Two of them are twins.” She wasn’t sure why she added that unnecessary detail, except that she was nervous. “They live here year-round.”

  “I live here year-round, too,” Sierra volunteered. “My dad and I moved in just after Christmas.”

  Taylor glanced over. “Three of them live here. The rest are visiting for the summer, like me.”

  “How’d you meet them?”

  “They were here at the beach when Caden and I arrived.”

  “Oh.”

  He didn’t say anything else, so she scrambled to fill the silence. “What are you doing?”

  “Babysitting my little brother. He’s such a pain in the ass,” he added under his breath.

  “How old is he?”

  “Eleven.”

  “My brother’s quite a bit older than that, but he can be a pain, too.” She said that automatically, with a laugh, but regretted it right away. Oliver knew Caden—they used to be friends—so he might have something negative to say, too, which she already knew she couldn’t tolerate. She could say what she wanted to, but if anyone else put Caden down, she’d defend him to her dying breath.

  Luckily, Oliver didn’t comment on Caden, and managed to gain a little of her respect.

  “When will you be back?” he asked.

  “Not until school starts.” She was glad she had almost three months before she had to face even the possibility of running into him. Except...if she was pregnant, she would almost be showing by then.

  She grimaced at the thought of going through her senior year carrying a baby. What had she done? If she was pregnant, her mother was going to be so upset.

  “Okay. Well, call me if you get bored,” he said.

  “I will.”

  “Um, Taylor?”

  She caught her breath at the more somber tone of his voice. “Yes?”

  “That night at the party...”

  Knowing Sierra was watching her closely, she tried not to react. “What about it?”

  “I keep thinking...”

  She waited.

  “We didn’t use any protection, did we?”

  “No,” she replied and heard him sigh heavily through the phone.

  “I didn’t think so.”

  They’d both been a little drunk.

  “Is that going to be a problem?” he asked.

  She could hear the anxiety in his voice, and it almost made her angry. He thought he was scared? The worst that could happen to him was he’d have to pay child support for eighteen years. As bad as that sounded, especially at their age, it would be much worse for her. Not only would she have to pay at least as much, she’d also have to carry the baby, deliver it and raise it—unless she had an abortion or gave it up for adoption. “I hope not.”

  There was a long silence. “Does that mean you don’t know?” he asked at length.

  She glanced over at Sierra, who was adjusting the straps on her swimsuit. “That’s exactly what it means.”

  He said nothing for a moment. She wanted him to comfort her, to reassure her that she wouldn’t be in it alone. But she knew that was asking too much. He wouldn’t be there for her; they weren’t even together. “Will you let me know when you find out?”

  “Yes.”

  “I’m sorry if you’re scared,” he said. “If it comes to that, we’ll...we’ll figure it out, okay?”

  Not only did his words surprise her, they also came off as sincere, dissipating some of the tension, fear and anger she’d been feeling. “Okay. Thank you.”

  “Sure thing,” he said, and then he was gone.

  “Who was that?” Sierra asked as Taylor put her phone back in her purse.

  “A guy from Tampa.”

  “Your boyfriend?”

  Taylor saw Caden coming toward them and wanted to stop talking about Oliver before he overheard and started asking questions. “I’ll tell you later,” she muttered under her breath.

  Sierra’s eyes moved from Taylor to Caden and back again. “Your secrets are safe with me,” she said.

  * * *

  “Let’s go over to The Daily Catch for dinner.”

  Ever since her mother and aunt had returned from their errand at the bank, Autumn had been curled up on the antique red velvet couch in the corner, deeply immersed in Kristin Hannah’s latest book. She couldn’t remember the last time she’d been relaxed enough to read for pleasure, so it felt familiar in the way coming home felt familiar—cathartic, healing, right. “Tonight?” she said to Laurie, who’d been the one to suggest it.

  “Why not?” Laurie put several pens into a drawer as she straightened the register area. “Chris is dying to see you, and he loves that restaurant almost as much as you do.”

  Autumn’s mind reverted to her encounter with Sarah’s mother and what Mrs. Vizii had had to say about Quinn. “I can’t wait to see Uncle Chris.” She was about to suggest they go somewhere else, though. She wasn’t eager to run into Quinn, given her embarrassing behavior when they were younger and then his awkward situation now.

  But as she opened her mouth to continue, Laurie spoke again. “I try to give them my business whenever I can. I heard that one of Beth’s cancer medications costs eight thousand dollars a month. Can you believe that?”

  Using one of the bookmarks they gave away for promotional purposes, Autumn closed her novel and sat up. “No way! That’s outrageous. How could one prescription cost so much?”

  Laurie shook her head. “I have no clue. It’s a crying shame—that’s what it is. And, apparently, it’s not the only medication she needs, so there are other bills piling up.”

  Mary had just carried a box of books that hadn’t sold into the back so that she could make room for all the new releases. “There was talk around town of creating a GoFundMe campaign to help cover her treatment,” she said as she returned, keeping up with the conversation while she worked. “But Mike and Quinn wouldn’t hear of it.”

  “Why not?” Autumn prompted.

  Mary glanced toward the front, apparently to make sure someone wasn’t about to walk in and catch them talking about the Vanderbilts. “They won’t accept any help,” she said when she found that the coast was clear. “They don’t feel right asking others to sacrifice on their behalf.”

  “They insist they’ll cover everything themselves,” Laurie concurred.

  With so many people asking for handouts on the internet, Autumn couldn’t help but admire their determination to remain self-reliant. That wasn’t very common these days. But if they were already falling behind, how would they ever catch up? The restaurant seemed to make a decent living—it was popular—but the Vanderbilts had never been considered rich. “That’s admirable,” she said, changing her mind about what she’d been so eager to suggest before. She couldn’t ask to go somewhere else, not if the Vanderbilts needed money to help finance Beth’s cancer treatments.

  “They’re fine people,” Laurie said.

  Autumn wondered if that statement extended to Quinn. His parents were well-respected in the area, but with Mrs. Vizii running around, intimating that Quinn was no better than Satan himself, Quinn’s reputation couldn’t be as sterling as his parents’. Even if people discounted what Mrs. Vizii said—after all, he was the one who’d been stabbed—Mrs. Vizii had cast a shadow over him by making people wonder if he was partially to blame. “I’ve always liked them,” she said.