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“Can’t we stay here tonight?” the boy asked.
“Like where? One of them fancy cabins?” She waved at the little A-frame cabins strung along the lakeside.
Bliss decided to speak up. “They’re not fancy. You could stay in the one at the end.”
“Why that one?” The woman looked at her more sharply. “Who are you?”
“Just…I just know that no one’s staying in that one. You can see for yourself. Want me to show you?”
She knew without being told that the boy and his mother didn’t have money to pay for the cabin. But she wanted him to stay longer. He was the only friend she’d made all on her own in Lake Bittersweet. And now his mother wanted to drag him away. Same as her mother always did. Yet another thing she and the boy had in common.
“Fine. Show me.”
Bliss snapped back to the here and now and found herself standing barefoot in the middle of the hotel suite, staring at Granger’s back as he lit the burner on the stove. Alvin Carter had given them a large Tupperware container of chili as a thank you. It now sat on the countertop next to the stove, half empty, with the rest of the chili already occupying a pot. Moses stood at his feet, eagerly sniffing the air.
Granger checked the flame under the pot, and something about the hunch of his shoulders made it all click in Bliss’ mind.
“You’re the boy with the fish,” she said numbly.
“Huh?” He glanced over at her.
She stepped closer to him, so close she could see every detail of his irises. Amber flecks embedded in the warm golden brown.
“We caught a fish. On the dock at the Blue Drake. I was…hmm…” She thought back to what summer that must have been. “Eight or so? You were the same age or maybe older?”
Slowly he straightened, then turned to face her. “What the…that wasyou?”
The way he said it made her realize it wasn’t a happy memory for him. Anger smoldered in those amber-flecked eyes. They no longer looked warm; they looked flinty.
“Yes. I told you about the cabin you could stay in. We played on the beach. I think we made some kind of elaborate dam, like an engineering project. We were friends.”
“Friends. Yeah. That was a great time. Especially the part when we got woken up in the middle of the night and kicked out on our asses.”
“What?” She had a vague memory of them no longer being around after that night. After some initial sadness, she’d assumed they’d just left early in the morning and hadn’t had a chance to say goodbye. “I didn’t know that. I’m sorry.”
“My mother didn’t stop ranting about how dumb and spoiled “Blondie” was for the next three months.”
Bliss felt her face heat. “Hey. I didn’t think anyone would find out. I knew you couldn’t afford it.”
Now it was his turn to redden. “How the hell would you know that?”
Oh God. She should have kept her mouth shut about that observation. How was she to know she’d caused so much trouble for them? Eight years old, and already causing messes.
“Just a feeling,” she finally said. “I was just a kid. I wanted you to stay and play with me.”
He stared at her, a wooden spoon gripped in his hand. The spicy scent of red beans and chili powder drifted from the pot. “You didn’t do it on purpose?”
“On purpose?” She frowned at him, uncomprehending. “What do you mean, on purpose?”
“Like a trick. A prank.”
“Atrick? I was eight. Did I seem like some kind of evil eight-year-old mastermind?”
“No,” he admitted. “You seemed like a lonely little girl who didn’t know how to handle a fishing rod.”
She wasn’t sure that was better. But it was certainly accurate.
“I knew the cabin was empty and it seemed like a waste for no one to stay there. I didn’t think anyone would notice. I’m really sorry. So that’s why I never saw you again? I mean, until now? It’s really you, isn’t it?”
