AllFreeNovel
Share Us
Victor grunted. It occurred to Rebecca that Victor had nowhere else to go—that he was hiding out in the wake of his divorce in the last “home” he’d known. He’d decided to try on his old life like an old glove. Did it fit him? Did it fit either of them? Rebecca didn’t know.
Rebecca sipped her coffee and texted her kids. Lily had begun her internship and loved being back in the city. Shelby had found a tick on her hairline that morning but had removed it promptly. Chad, who texted the least of all her children, sent a selfie of him on a basketball court with his tongue out. Rebecca smiled and wrote back, “My one-of-a-kind son.”
After they dressed, Rebecca and Victor met in the foyer to approach one of the neighbors. Victor seemed hesitant, like an anxious dog. “Why don’t we try the Petersons?” Victor pointed at the house to the left.
But when they knocked on the Petersons’s door, nobody came. A sign on the mailbox said “the Gregors,” anyway, which wasn’t a family Rebecca or Victor had ever heard of.
“Let’s talk to Mr. and Mrs. Walton,” Rebecca suggested, pointing at the brick house to the right of theirs.
Victor groaned.
“What?” Rebecca demanded. “They were always over for dinner.”
“Mark Walton was about as dull as they come,” Victor said.
Rebecca rolled her eyes and shot out through the lawn. It was wet from the storm and the morning dew, and it dampened the bottom of her jeans. “It looks like someone mowed recently,” she said. Victor was quiet.
Rebecca was relieved when she saw the sign that read “The Waltons” still hanging on the front door. She rang the doorbell, and immediately, a dog yapped wildly in the back.
“They always had the most annoying dogs,” Victor muttered.
A moment later, a woman in her seventies opened the door and peered through the crack. Her yappy dog bounced behind her legs. “Hello?”
“Hi! Mrs. Walton? You probably don’t remember me. My name is Rebecca Sutton.” Rebecca stuttered over her last name.
Mrs. Walton’s eyes widened. The dog’s yapping reached another decibel. “Rebecca! My goodness.” She opened the door a little bit wider. “Where on earth have you been?”
Rebecca laughed gently as Mrs. Walton’s eyes shifted toward Victor. Immediately, her face tightened with anger. “Victor Sutton, as I live and breathe. I’d recognize you anywhere.”
“Hello, Beatrice.” Victor crossed his arms over his chest. “You’re looking well.”
The air between them was thick with tension.
“Have you come back to pester that wonderful woman?” Mrs. Walton asked icily.
“We don’t want to pester her. We’re worried about her,” Rebecca tried.
“Worried? Esme Gardner has always done well for herself,” Mrs. Walton pointed out.
“We recently learned about her husband’s death,” Rebecca continued timidly.
Mrs. Walton’s eyes were pained. “Larry was a remarkable man and oh, so healthy. He was always out running along the beach or tending to his garden. Goes to show you that life has its way with all of us.” She cleared her throat. “I went to the funeral a couple of weeks back.”
“How did Mom seem?” Rebecca asked.
“Strong as an ox,” Mrs. Walton reported. “She had some friends over for dinner after the burial. We stayed up all hours of the night, talking about the good old times.” She again glared at Victor as though she wanted him to know just how many good times Esme had had after he’d left.
Rebecca bit her lower lip. “Thank you for supporting my mother during that horrible time.”
Mrs. Walton sniffed.
“We really do need to find her,” Rebecca continued. “We arrived yesterday and assumed we would catch her at the Sutton Book Club.”
“She’s normally there. So committed to the Book Club, just like her father was,” Mrs. Walton said.
“But it was closed,” Rebecca countered. “And she never came home last night. Did she tell you about a trip she had planned? I know Nantucket neighbors always watch out for each other.”
Mrs. Walton frowned. “She didn’t mention anything.”
