Summer by the Sea Read online

  A line formed in Sarah’s forehead. “She’s not here, is she?” Sarah asked flatly.

  “Well, I’m sorry, no,” Natalie replied.

  Sarah’s face turned red and blotchy. “I’ll kill her,” she said through clenched lips.

  “It’s okay.” Sam reached out and touched her arm. “She’s with my kid. At the town library. She’s been bringing her there for the past four days, since Monday.”

  Sarah stared at him. “You entrusted your child to her?”

  He sent Natalie a help me out, here, look.

  But Natalie appeared even more alarmed than Sarah had. She put her hand over her mouth. Blood drained from her face.

  “What is it?” he asked Natalie. “Why are you upset?”

  “Because my receptionist was given to understand that Cassandra had an emergency and was on her way to the airport to fly out of the country—which she never does—so I assumed it was a particularly bad emergency.” Natalie hastily smoothed the balled-up envelope that Sarah had crumpled and dropped.

  But Sam felt so sick, so panicked, that he grabbed it from Natalie’s hand and ripped open the envelope himself. As quickly as he could, he pulled out and smoothed the two pieces of thick blue stationery.

  Thursday morning, Cassandra had written on the heading in bold but shaky handwriting. The next line read, Dear Sarah, and that wasn’t for him so he stopped reading and lifted his head.

  “So, she’s only been gone for a few hours?” he asked Natalie.

  “It appears that way. She came to my office just before noon. She said she wanted to speak to me, but since I wasn’t there, she left the letter and key with my receptionist and said she was on her way to the airport. There was a car waiting outside for her. She left a number at her destination for me to call tonight. That’s all that I know.”

  “Where did she leave Lucy? My daughter?”

  Natalie looked at him helplessly. “I don’t know. What does her note say?”

  But as Natalie spoke, Sarah grabbed the letter from him. He struggled to align himself so he could read beside her, but all they ended up doing was bumping heads.

  Sarah glanced at each page for about two seconds. “There’s not a word here about a Lucy.” Sarah glared at him. “Just about her damn cats. And you. Evidently, I’m supposed to go and see you.”

  “I need to find my daughter!” Adrenaline coursing through his veins, he turned and jumped off the short deck and onto the sand, sprinting toward his house, hoping Lucy was there.

  “Wait, Sam! I think I know where your daughter is!” Sarah called, waving the pages as she spoke. “There is a mention of a Lucy!”

  He turned, still running backward. “Where?” he shouted back.

  “The library. Cassandra says she left Lucy at the library!”

  His heart thumped wildly, but he gave Sarah a short wave of thanks as he changed course toward the street where he’d parked his truck.

  He could be at the library in five minutes. Ten if he hit the two traffic lights on the way. If Lucy wasn’t there anymore...

  No. He couldn’t think about that.

  Inside his truck, he grabbed his keys from under the front seat then backed out of his parking space as fast as he could.

  Please, let Lucy be okay.

  He shifted into Drive and stepped on the accelerator. He was halfway down the boulevard when he realized he was driving in bare feet and wearing only his orange lifeguard shorts and the whistle around his neck. Crap.

  * * *

  AFTER SAM LEFT, everything seemed emptier. Sarah stood with Cassandra’s letter clutched in one fist, the house key in the other, both arms hanging limply at her sides.

  She’d skimmed the whole letter, once. There were excuses, explanations—and as far as Sarah was concerned—rationalizations for why she’d left Sarah again.

  Her Italian man in Naples. Sarah knew all about that. She’d heard it before, months after Cassandra had chosen to skip her parents’ funeral. And again when Cassandra had finally dropped into her life once more—as if her excuses were supposed to make up for another desertion.

  How foolish had she been to think anything had changed with her aunt?

  “I’m sorry,” Natalie murmured. “If I’d been at the office, and I’d known what confusion Cassandra was leaving behind, then I would have attempted to sort it through. When I came out here to see you this afternoon, I assumed she’d fully thought out what she was doing.”

  “Oh, she’s thought it out, all right,” Sarah said bitterly. “Trust me.”

  “But it’s irresponsible to leave a child unattended!”

  “She once left me unattended for ten months, Ms. Kimball.” Shaking her head, Sarah went back to the driveway where her rental car was and gathered up her luggage. She rolled her suitcases back to the deck and joined Natalie, who was still standing there with that look of concern on her face.

  “There’s nothing more you can do,” Sarah said simply. “She’s gone, and that’s that.”

  Natalie’s forehead creased. “I’m going to call her tonight.”

  “Fine. But don’t get me involved. I don’t want to hear about it.” Sarah took the house key and stuck it in the lock. The door opened easily.

  “No, honestly,” Natalie said behind her. “I want to. My father, before he retired, was Cassandra’s longtime attorney. In his files, he has all sorts of her correspondence that I need to read because that is not the way I want to work with her in future.”

  “Good luck with that.” Sarah bumped her luggage and briefcase over the threshold and into Cassandra’s inner sanctum. It smelled like paint and turpentine. “Social services tried to reach her when I was twelve. Repeatedly. When the woman decides to disappear, she really disappears.” Sarah glanced around at the room. It really hadn’t changed that much in twenty-eight years.

  Natalie had followed her inside and was turning over papers on Cassandra’s kitchen table. “I’m sorry, but I’m not going to let this go that easily.”

  Sarah just shrugged. She’d spent most of her life fighting in just the same manner. Fighting for answers. Fighting for power. Fighting to keep what was hers.

  She should have left well enough alone when it came to Cassandra. She could have gone anywhere for this forced summer sabbatical of Richard Lee’s. Hawaii, for one. Tahiti or the South of France.

  Sarah didn’t even honestly know why she’d chosen to come see Cassandra after all these years.

  The meditation stuff...anyplace had people who could teach her that skill.

  The rest of her reason for being here was...the subconscious cry of the little girl still inside her who was upset that she’d been abandoned by her aunt and wanted some honest answers why.

  Completely ridiculous. Honest answers didn’t always come. Time and again, Sarah had learned that the only thing worth fighting for was her own personal power. If she had enough of it, she would always be in charge. And no one could hurt her again.

  Cassandra had proven her wrong in that belief, too. Sarah saw now that she could be queen of the universe, and Cassandra would do whatever the hell she wanted to do, regardless of what was going on with the people around her. Even the little people—including her only vulnerable niece.

  Natalie stopped rifling through the papers on the kitchen table. “Look at this.” She held up a letter. “It’s to you, from Sam’s daughter.”

  Sarah snatched it from her. And immediately put her hand to her mouth.

  In childish handwriting, a girl named Lucy Logan had written,

  Dear Sarah,

  I’m so glad you’re coming to visit us! I admire you and hope to meet with you soon.

  Your friend, Lucy Logan

  The girl had decorated the edges with tiny, skillful drawings of seashells and aquatic life.

  Sarah just sighed and closed her ey
es. “How old is Lucy Logan?” she asked Natalie.

  “Eleven, I think.”

  “And where is her mom?”

  “She lives a few towns over. The rest is up to Sam Logan to tell you. Or not.” Natalie’s lips twisted.

  Sarah sat and put her head in her hands. “I really hope that little girl is okay.” She looked up at Natalie. “Can you give me Sam Logan’s contact information, please? I need to follow up with him.”

  The lawyer hesitated.

  “I need to know that Lucy is okay,” Sarah insisted.

  “Come here.” Natalie beckoned her to the side window. When Sarah had joined her, Natalie pointed to the two-story home with the back porch beside them. “See that house?”

  Sarah saw two Adirondack chairs and a grill. A wetsuit hung over the railing, along with a beach towel. “Are you saying that’s where Sam lives? Right next door to me?”

  Natalie nodded.

  If Sarah stayed, there would be no avoiding him.

  She didn’t know what to think. She was too tired and emotionally drained to even know what her true feelings were anymore. She just knew that her old reaction—to fight harder—seemed futile all of a sudden.

  After Natalie left, Sarah brought in her bags and briefcase full of books and set about finding a place to sleep.

  Her old room was set up for her. Plus, there were the cats her aunt had mentioned. Two of them, one large and black, the other small with a white belly and paws. They climbed out from under the bed when she sat on it.

  She gave a little scream and jumped up. “Dammit, I don’t like pets! Go away!”

  They both skittered back under the bed. Returning to the kitchen, Sarah saw that two containers with dry cat pellets were set up beside the table, along with two silver bowls full of water. There was also another, more detailed note explaining their care.

  Cassandra obviously believed Sarah would feed and water her cats for however long she would be missing. She’d left instructions, but she hadn’t left a timeline.

  Anger curled in her belly. But who was present for her to be mad at? She was all alone, yet again. Sarah climbed under the covers and pulled the crisp, clean sheet over her head. Before long, she was sobbing her heart out. Pathetic. A Silicon Valley tech executive, reduced to crying on her childhood bed because an aunt she didn’t have much of a relationship with anyway had left her on her own. Again.

  And then she was vaguely aware of a shift on the mattress beside her.

  She peeked out over the covers.

  Two purring, furry bodies were snuggled up, one on either side of her.

  Sarah had never lived with pets. But she buried her cheek beside the big one’s head. He purred her to sleep, and for a second before she drifted off, she could swear she didn’t feel so alone and angry anymore.

  CHAPTER FOUR

  SAM DOUBLE-PARKED his truck on Wallis Point’s Main Street. Then he got out and ran across two lanes of traffic toward the town library, up two short stone steps and through the heavy oaken doors, breathing heavily. He was barefoot and shirtless, but he wasn’t going to stop now. The air inside the library was cooler, but his skin was hot. He was filled with panic.

  He just needed to find his daughter, and then he could breathe easier. Something must be terribly wrong with Lucy. Wouldn’t she have phoned him if she were here and safe?

  He stopped just inside the lobby, perplexed. He didn’t often come inside this building—his middle school had its own library that he visited with his students—so he looked around for guidance.

  A sign for the children’s section pointed down a set of stairs. No, Lucy wouldn’t be in the children’s section. Try the magazine reading room. Sam headed in that direction, but the only people there were two old men sitting on overstuffed chairs who didn’t even glance up from their newspapers.

  Now what? Sam turned, heart in his throat, wondering who to ask for help, when a serious-faced librarian behind a desk called him over.

  “Hello, sir.” With wide eyes, she looked him up and down and gave him a censuring frown.

  He exhaled and held up his hands. “Sorry, but this is an emergency. I’m looking for my daughter, Lucy. She’s eleven. Medium-length brown hair. Yea high.” He used his hand to approximate her height. “Please, I can’t get hold of the woman who was taking care of her. Cassandra Shipp, you must know her? She’s a children’s book illustrator who lives on Wallis Point beach.”

  “Yes, of course I know Cassandra.” The librarian smiled and stepped out from behind the desk. Luckily for him, she seemed to understand his state of mind. No mention of his bare feet, bare chest or orange lifeguard trunks. “I think I can help you, sir. I know where your daughter is.”

  “It’s Sam,” he said in relief. “And thank you. I’m going out of my mind, here.”

  “It’s not a problem.” She smiled sympathetically and beckoned him to follow her.

  They zig-zagged through stacks of books that gave off a slight musty smell and finally ended up in a small open area with a row of computers.

  Lucy was sitting alone nearby at a large wooden table. She was squinting in concentration as she tapped on her iPad.

  “Lucy!” He ran over and hugged her to his chest. “I was worried something had happened to you!”

  Lucy stiffened and frowned up at him.

  The librarian hovered nearby, watching them. At Lucy’s less than enthusiastic reception, she suddenly seemed worried. “Is everything okay, dear?” she asked Lucy. “Do you need me to get you some help?”

  Sam tried not to be insulted. He knew the librarian was just doing her job. He was trained to be sensitive toward dangerous situations with kids, too, so he understood her response. What he didn’t understand was Lucy’s reaction. It made him feel sick. But if he’d had a closer relationship with Lucy, frankly, then none of this would be happening.

  His serious daughter shook her head at the librarian. “This is Sam Logan. He’s my father.”

  Not a huge recommendation on his behalf.

  “Yes,” the librarian said, “I understand. But are you all right to go with him?”

  The breath seemed to leave Sam. He felt chilled, and when he saw the look in Lucy’s eyes, the chill deepened. Was she that indifferent to him? Did he not matter to her at all?

  “I’m fine,” Lucy murmured, so self-possessed for a girl her age that he still couldn’t believe it. She went about shutting down her iPad.

  “Are you sure?” the librarian pressed.

  “Yes.” But Lucy didn’t look at her.

  The librarian didn’t seem convinced. She pursed her lips. Her gaze dropped again to Sam’s swim trunks. “You’re a local lifeguard?” she asked. “At Wallis Point beach?”

  “I am,” he answered dully. “I also teach earth science at Wallis Point Middle School. Sam Logan. I’m a registered mandated reporter.”

  This meant he was trained to recognize signs of child abuse and to report them to the appropriate authorities. He took out the driver’s license he always kept in the pocket of his swim trunks in case he needed to show his identification on the beach and handed it to the librarian. “You can call my school principal and check on me. I’m sure you know who Tara is.”

  The librarian squinted at his ID. “Yes, I know Tara quite well. Excuse me.”

  She walked away, and Sam was quite sure she really was going to call his boss and check up on him.

  He couldn’t remember if Tara knew about Lucy or not. Lucy didn’t live in Wallis Point, so she wasn’t a student in his school system. He didn’t talk about his personal life to his coworkers much. Maybe he shouldn’t have been so private about Lucy.

  He definitely should have made her matter to him more. And until now, he hadn’t realized how important she really was to him. Until this, the first time he thought that he’d almost lost her.

 
; While Lucy finished packing up her notes and papers, he sat with his elbow on the library table, nose pinched between his fingers. He just felt so beaten down.

  Lucy stared at him, and her lip quivered. Maybe he was scaring her with his reaction, too. “Didn’t you get our letter, Sam?” she asked softly.

  He straightened in his chair. “What letter?”

  “Cassandra and I wrote letters to you and to Sarah.”

  “It’s more appropriate to pick up the phone and call, Lucy,” he said sternly.

  “But I don’t know your phone number!” she protested.

  “Of course you do, it’s—” Sam paused. Colleen knew his number. Colleen contacted him. She controlled his access to Lucy. And, he supposed, her access to him. In recent years, he’d done nothing to rock that boat.

  He shook his head, stunned at his own cluelessness. “Sorry,” he muttered. “I’ll write it down for you.” He glanced at her. “Do you have a phone?” The last he’d checked, Lucy didn’t have one. But it was dawning on him not to take anything for granted. He knew so little about her.

  Lucy shook her head and rolled her eyes. “Mom won’t get me one.”

  Then he would get her one for her birthday in two weeks. It was a safety issue.

  Okay, one problem solved. He took in a breath. “Where is Cassandra?” This was the real question, and he knew he should be discussing this with the adult and not the eleven-year-old, but Cassandra wasn’t here and Lucy was.

  “Well,” Lucy said, “this morning Cassandra got an emergency note from Claudio’s son in Italy. Claudio used to be Cassandra’s boyfriend. Sam, he’s dying and he needs to see her.”

  Claudio. This was the “gentleman friend” in Naples Cassandra had told him about. “I thought he was coming in August.”

  “I don’t know about that,” Lucy said, confused. “I don’t think that’s right.”

  Sam remembered that was supposed to be his secret with Cassandra. “Maybe I’m mistaken. What happened then?”