“Welcome on this beautiful morning,” Lotus said in her breathy voice from behind the counter.“So nice to see you again, Naomi and Lennox.”
We signed ourselves in on the tablet, ditched our sandals, and headed into the center of the yurt.Sometimes Lotus went for a dark, introspective class and she pulled down all the shades, but today she’d thrown everything open and the morning sun shone in through the windows, lighting it all up.She’d even opened a few windows, causing the gauzy drapes to flutter and send a beautiful warm breeze fragrant of wildflowers and honeysuckle toward us.
“How about here?”I suggested, finding a big open spot near the back and a breezy window.
“Sounds good.”We unfurled our mats and grabbed a couple of blocks each, then settled onto the floor, facing each other.
“Gabrielle called me after she got home from seeingyou know who,” he said, his voice just above a hush.“Said she was, of course, obstinate, and played up the angle of ‘looking out for the island and people’s children’ like I’m some kind of predator and Mabes isn’t really my daughter, but my captive.”
“Is that what Gabrielle said?”I asked, stunned.
He nodded.“The Mouth doesn’t trust me.Thinks because I haven’t spewed my life’s story to her, she can snoop around.”
I shook my head and growled, then softened my face and smiled as Jordana Pedersen walked in.She gave me a wave back, but set her mat down on the other side of the room.Facing Lennox again, I leaned toward him.“I was busy working with some of the new hires, so I didn’t get a chance to talk to Gabs, but did she at least getThe Mouth,” I whispered that bit, “to agree to take the post down?”
He nodded.“Yeah, she said she would, but when last Gabrielle checked, it was still up, and had garnereda lotof comments and shares.Several people said they knew me.Remembered me from high school, college, and my basketball days.But that back then I was Lennox Murchie.So now the old biddy has my former name as well.”
“Oh, for fuck’s sake,” I exclaimed, which prompted a few people near us to glare at me.“Sorry,” I muttered.
He shook his head.“At this point, regardless of whether the post comes down or not, my face and Mabel’s face are out there.Recent photos of us, with our location and even my occupation and place of work.We just have to hope that Kyla wasn’t on social media searching for us.Or if she was, she uses her two brain cells and stays put in Cedar Bluff.”
I reached out and rested my hand on his.“I’m really sorry you guys are going through this.”
“Me too,” he said with a sigh.He glanced behind me since he was facing the door and my back was to it.“Oh shit.”
I whipped around to find none other than Jolene Dandy with her minion Karen Ribko, the woman who owned one of the touristy gift shops in town.Jolene zeroed in on us, and her copper eyes widened.
I faced Lennox again, dipped my chin to my chest and repeated, “Don’t come over here.Don’t come over here.Don’t come over here.”
“Good morning, Naomi,” came Jolene’s shrill voice behind me.
I spun around and glanced at her.“Jolene.Karen.”
“So, you thought you needed to obtain a lawyer, Principal Paul?”Jolene asked, her voice loud enough to draw attention from the dozen other people in the room.“Only people with something to hide get lawyers.”
My blood was like molten lava running through my veins.How dare this woman.
Lennox cleared his throat and forced out a smile.“I didn’t get a lawyer.Gabrielle just offered to help me.And whether we have something to hide or not is none of your business.”
“Did you ever stop to think that maybe Lennox and Mabel are in witness protection and you just went and advertised their whereabouts to the entire world?To the people they might be hiding from?”I said, my voice shaking just a touch.I had to bunch my hands into tight fists, otherwise I was going to jump up like a puma and claw this woman’s eyes out.
Karen’s eyes widened, and she glanced at Jolene.“Jolene, that’s really dangerous if that’s the case.”
Flustered, Jolene waved her hand dismissively.“I doubt that’s the case.You’re just making things up.I just want to knowwhoyou are.Is she really your daughter?Seems far too old, or you far too young for the two of you to be father and daughter.What, did you have her at thirteen or something?”
“Yeah.I did,” Lennox said deadpanned.“After her mother—my stepmother—molested me.She’s who we’re hiding from.Because she just got out on parole.Are you happy now, Jolene?You know our dirty little secret.I was raped by my stepmother, got her pregnant, she went to jail, my daughter and I went into foster care together so I could raise her.We moved here to get a fresh start.Her mother just made parole, and we have no idea if she’ll leave us alone, or try to find Mabel and take her away.”
Every single person in the yurt was dead silent.They all gaped with disgusted disbelief at Jolene, whose face was brighter than a perfectly ripe strawberry.“A-a woman can’t rape a man,” she finally blurted out.
“You absolutely fucking can, Jolene,” said a man I couldn’t see from the other side of the yurt.“Get your head out of your wrinkly old ass.”
Jolene craned her fold-riddled neck around to see who had said that.
“You just doxxed our new principal and his daughter—a minor,” Jordana said.“They could be in real danger.”
“I-I-I am looking out for the island.For the children,” she stammered, trying to defend her actions.
“Maybe leave that to their parents?”Jordana said, shaking her head in repulsion.“You’re certainly not looking out for Lennox’s daughter.”
