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“Do you think that’s all I do?” he chuckled.
“So where are we going?”
“A surprise.”
I smiled, climbed into the passenger side, and we pulled away.
***
We ended up driving all the way to Eagleville Preserve. Andy parked the car in the closest spot to the whitewater falls that emptied into Eagleville Lake, and opened the door for me to join him. The weather was beautiful, the soft breeze giving the air a soft chill that made me wrap my arms around my shoulders, despite the heat of the sun. I gazed out across the pond, taking in the mesmerizing view as I stood next to Andy.
“It’s beautiful,” I said. “But you do know I’ve been here a few times before, right?”
Andy chuckled and wrapped an arm around my shoulder. I felt my body melt into his as he pulled me close and pointed to the small island in the middle of the pond. “I bet you’ve never been there, though.”
I frowned, looking up at him in wonder. “Eagleville Manor, really?”
Andy only nodded, looking down at me with a mischievous smile.
“That place’s been abandoned forever,” I said. “You know that, right?”
He winked at me and led me towards the Coventry side of the lake, where a few fishing boats were strung up. “It pays to hang out with a small-town celebrity.”
I shook my head in disbelief as I followed him around the dam and towards the fishing boats. Three men sat in beach chairs under a small umbrella table, playing cards and drinking beer. One of them looked up as we approached and flashed us a wide smile.
“Andy Stetson,” he greeted, slowly getting to his feet and stretching before shaking Andy’s hand. “Haven’t seen you in a while.”
“Been a long time, Jack,” Andy agreed. He wrapped his arm around my shoulder again and brought me forward. “Jack Baxter, meet Andrea Canfield.”
“Bobby’s sister?” Jack frowned, squinting at me as if he were trying to find something to recognize me with.
“The one and only,” Andy chuckled.
“Well, I’ll be damned,” Jack smiled. “I heard you left Mansfield a long time ago. A smart girl like you should know not to come back to this dead-end town.”
“Thanks, Jack, really,” Andy laughed. “Jack’s from Coventry. We never see eye to eye on whose town is better.”
“Mansfield’s nothing without that university,” Jack argued, shooting Andy a challenging glare that didn’t seem too menacing coupled with his smile.
“And Coventry’s just as hospitable as ever,” Andy grinned.
I smiled at the two men as they took shots at each other, and briefly let my eyes wander back to the lake. The Manor sat on a small island dead center of Eagleville Lake. Rumor was, it belonged to a rich farmer who had once owned most of the farmland in Mansfield and Coventry before he lost it all after his wife died. People say he broke off ties with the mainland ever since and was finally carried out of his house when he died. Alone. For a while, it had been a bit of a tourist trap for both towns, but eventually lost its appeal when the stories of ghosts and hauntings died down. Someone bought it years later and closed it to the public, reviving the mysteriousness for a while, but not long enough. The last I remembered, no one had set foot on the island in decades.
“So, I was hoping I could borrow your boat,” Andy was saying.
Jack looked from me to Andy and back again. “I’m assuming you want the keys as well.”
“Nothing like that, Jack,” Andy said. “Just want to show her around. I’m kind of pulling the big cards here.”
Jack laughed and fished into his back pocket, pulling out a ring with a set of keys in it and tossing it to Andy.
“You know which drives the boat and which opens the house,” Jack waved. “Nice to see you, sweetheart. Give my best to Bobby.”
“I will,” I said, and let Andy pull me away and down to the fishing boats.
“You’ve been to Eagleville Manor?” I asked in surprise as he helped me into one of the boats.
“Several times,” Andy said. “Very few people know this, but Jack is the groundskeeper. He let me in on his secret when I saved his house from burning to the ground. Since then, he lets me take the boat out whenever I want.”
