Page 6 of Bluebell Tides

“Yes. I’m sure you’re right.” Celia hesitated. “Is Ethan still taking good care of you? I’m sure you’re both still shaken up after the trip.”

“He’s been a dream,” Sophie lied.

The following night, Sophie was able to remove one of her bandages. The skin beneath was angry and reddish-pink, with bits of white mixed in where it had already begun to regrow. Sophie was amazed at the resilience of her body, a body that had faced a forest fire and lived on. She wasn’t sure if her heart was quite as resilient. She still needed to write back to her professors to arrange a time to talk with them. She needed desperately to explain herself.

Free from one of her bandages, Sophie felt lighter than she had since the hospital. She had a sudden, desperate need to get out of the house. She put on a big sweatshirt and pulled it over her head, then donned a pair of sunglasses. She wanted to see something other than the sad, tousled sheets of her bed. Tasha watched as she got ready, jangling her keys.

“Are you sure you don’t want company?” Tasha asked.

“Don’t worry about it,” Sophie said. “I need to think.”

“Too much thinking isn’t good for anyone,” Tasha said, but she let Sophie go.

Sophie stepped into the early evening. Purple light descended upon the line of squat houses. Sophie marched past them, her heart swarming with memories, visions of not so long ago, when she and Ethan had walked hand in hand through the neighborhood, eating ice cream or planning their next drinks out. Over there, they’d kissed beneath a pregnant moon, and over by that stop sign, they’d gotten into a silly argument that eventually left them breathless with laughter. Their relationship hadn’t been total garbage, Sophie told herself.

But it had certainly ruined her life.

Sophie headed toward the street near campus where most of the students congregated, where their favorite bar and favorite burrito place and favorite coffee shop sat in a little cluster of joy. Sophie considered what she might do. Maybe she could grab a drink for herself, sit in the corner of the bar, and people-watch. Maybe she could convince herself that everything would, one day, go back to normal.

And then, a group of people spilled out of the bar, cackling. Ethan was among them.

Sophie recognized him immediately. The gash of his smile and the curls of his hair felt like punch after punch into her gut. She stepped into the shadows and watched him chase a woman, catching up to her. It was clear they’d been in the bar together. Sophie vaguely recognized her as someone in Ethan’s circle, another woman from a wealthy East Coast family—a woman who, probably, Ethan should have been with all this time. Ethan’s hands found her sides, and he pulled her into him, kissing her with reckless abandon. Sophie’s knees gave out, but she didn’t let herself fall.

This was the man who, over the phone, she’d been telling her mother was taking care of her. This was the man who, two weeks ago, had wrapped her in blankets on his bed and said, “I love you. You’re the one for me. I’ve never been so sure of anything.”

Was she a fool to have believed him? Or was she a fool now, standing in the shadows, watching him with this growing ache in her gut?

She was on the verge of a nervous breakdown. She was on the verge of giving up.

4

It was Ruth’s fourth day in Maine, which, according to the Eco-Lodge records, was meant to be her final full day in Bluebell Cove. This felt laughable. She was still nowhere near reaching her goal, nowhere near reaching the courage required to begin. Goodness, what was she waiting for? After a brief pep talk in the bathroom mirror, she put on a pair of jeans and a blouse, then went to the foyer to find Celia and Celia’s sister, Juliet, peering at something on the computer. At the sight of her, they grinned.

“Good morning!” Juliet said. “You must be Ruth.”

Ruth flinched, then fixed her face into a smile. “I am, yes.”

“Celia tells me you’ve been on your own all week,” Juliet said. “It’s too bad. We get so many great people coming in and out of the Eco-Lodge. We wish you could be here during a more active time. A time to meet people. A time to really feel what it means to be a guest at the Eco-Lodge. It’s a singular experience. At least, we think so.”

Juliet looked out the window, and Ruth followed her gaze to what seemed like a frigid spring day, the wind so violent it seemed eager to rip the new leaves from the trees.

Celia snapped her fingers and narrowed her eyes. “That reminds me. Ruth, I’ve figured it out. I know who you are. You can stop pretending.”

At this, Ruth nearly shot into the ceiling. Was it possible that Celia had really figured her out? Who’d told her? Who did Celia know in Bluebell Cove?

Ruth had thought the Eco-Lodge was a safe space, but she should have known better. Nowhere in Bluebell Cove was safe.

At Ruth’s aghast expression, Celia grinned and explained herself. “You’re the journalist,” she said. “You’re here to review the Eco-Lodge for Tourist Monthly. I’d forgotten you were coming.”

At this, all the panic melted out of Ruth’s heart. “Oh yes. How did you figure it out?”

Celia laughed. “Your editor emailed about three weeks ago, asking for official photographs of the Eco-Lodge. Last year, Wren took bucketfuls of pictures for us, so I sent some of them along. I assume they work for the piece? If not, we can have her take more.”

Ruth had, in fact, peeped the photographs that her editor had secured for the article. But she hadn’t so much as opened a Word document and written a single note about the Bluebell Cove Eco-Lodge. As it was already day four of her five-day stay, she needed to ask for an extension on both the room and the article. It was impossible to explain why she’d forgotten the reason she’d “officially” come here.

“But I wish I had known,” Celia said. “We haven’t even opened the kitchen for you! Not once. I feel like a failure. I guess I can’t ask you not to include that laxness in the article?”

“I think our readers will respect that you’re keeping tabs on the environmental effect of opening the kitchen for a party of one,” Ruth said. “It’s an eco-lodge, after all.”