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“Sounds good.Do you know where to access the attic?”
“End of the hall.”
“I’ll come back tonight to take a look.”He found himself following her once again, out of the bedroom, back down the hallway to the stairs.“Will your husband be joining you soon?”
If he hadn’t been watching her, Bryson wouldn’t have noticed the way her hand tightened on the railing.
“Why do you ask?”
“Just wondered if you were going to have help sorting through all of this.I didn’t realize Georgia was such a decorator.”
The house wasn’t messy.Everything had a place.But every wall from floor to ceiling was covered with furniture, framed pictures, shelves loaded with seashells.Every table had doilies and knickknacks.Every window showcased glass miniatures and more shells.
“It is a bit much, isn’t it?I think she got lonely there at the end,” Hadley said.“Mom said Nan constantly walked the neighborhood.Stopped at yard sales and the like.It makes me sad to think of her doing that just to have people to talk to.”
“Maybe it wasn’t loneliness as much as trying to help the people out.”
“Hmm.Nan would totally do that.Buy something just to overpay and tell them to keep the change.Thank you.I hadn’t thought of that.”
Hadley crossed the room toward the front door and Bryson followed.He didn’t like thinking of Georgia as lonely, either, and once again, he thanked God he’d made the time to sit with her.“She was a special lady, that’s for sure.And the best poker player I know.”
A laugh bubbled out of Hadley.“Seriously?Oh, I have to know that story.”
Bryson grinned at Hadley’s expression and moved to the porch to leave.“I’ll tell you…when I come back tonight.”
Mary Elizabeth drove homebut didn’t go inside.She left her car in the driveway and started walking, not stopping until she made it down the boardwalk to the swings near the pavilion.
She sank onto one of them with a silent sigh and gripped the edge until her fingers and cut hand ached.
It wasn’t possible.
Was it?
“Hey!I thought that was you,” Tessa said from behind her.“I’ve been calling your name.Didn’t you hear me?”
Mary Elizabeth turned and forced a smile, watching her friend walk up with the confidence of a woman who knew herself well.Truth be told, Mary Elizabeth had always envied that about Tessa, how sure of herself she was when it came to life despite all of the difficulties she’d endured.“No, I didn’t.Sorry.”
Tessa paused and stared at Mary Elizabeth from behind her sunglasses.
“What’s wrong?”
“Nothing.”
“Yeah, tell me another one.What happened to your hand?”
“What?Oh, I-I cut it on some broken china.It’s fine.Shouldn’t you be in the salon?”Tessa’s salon was the best on the island, a one-stop spa where anyone could be pampered to their heart’s content.
“My appointment cancelled last minute so I thought I’d take a walk before my next one.Hey, obviouslysomethinghappened.Did you and Adam have an argument?”
Adam.Dear, sweet Adam.“No.No, he’s off playing golf.”
“Okay,” Tessa said, perching herself on the boardwalk railing with her back to the ocean so that they were face-to-face.“So it’s not Adam.The girls?Are they fighting again?I know it upsets you that they don’t get along, but they’ll work through it.They always do.”
Mary Elizabeth dragged in a breath and wished the salt air could heal what was broken inside of her.
“Okay, you’re officially scaring me.Talk or I’m going to call an emergency meeting,” Tessa ordered, pulling her cell phone from her pocket and waving it like the threat it was.
“I can’t.”
