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“The main house has been done for a bit. What you saw was a bungalow-style guest house we’re building in case we can talk Grandma Howard into living with us so we can make sure she’s taken care of.”
The two cans were topped off and I waited for my card and receipt. “Thanks for the parking hookup, Lucas,” I stated, shoving the card back into my old Velcro wallet. “You’re saving me, Buddy. I have some extra lobsters with me if you’d like a couple.”
“Good day on the water?” he asked.
“When ain’t it good?” I joked. I’d been thinking about my strange afternoon and something he’d mentioned to me before that I found unusual. “Hey, can I ask you something about what you told me last year regarding your momma and that beach you guys always went to?”
“Sure. The haunted one?” he asked, then created a circle with his mouth and made scary sounds like a ghost might make. “Sorry, didn’t mean to tease you, Bo, but that was some crazy shit at our beach. Truthfully, it still is a damn sight weird.”
“Don’t tell no one, buddy, but I had a creepy thing happen on the boat today,” I confessed, kicking at a rock near my feet, cautious about admitting what I’d heard. I knew what I was about to confess might sound odd but he’d told me a story once that had me questioning his sanity. Now that a strange event had happened to me and if anyone might listen, it’d be Lucas.
“Go for it. I’m all ears.”
“Well,” I began. I changed my mind out of fear I’d look silly if I admitted the voice I’d heard. “Forget it. Never mind.”
“Come on, buddy. It’s me,” Lucas said. “There isn’t any odd shit that I haven’t seen or experienced so I’m pretty sure your story ain’t gonna shock me.”
I glanced toward his garage before proceeding, and then lowered my voice. “When I was checking my traps, I heard Memaw’s voice as clear as day,” I whispered, leaning toward him. “Dude, it was like she was right there talking to me but I couldn’t see her.” I looked around and waited for him to laugh.
“The voice was totally her,” he nonchalantly agreed. “Miss Hazel was checking in with you.”
“You believe in stuff like that?” I asked, astonished that he agreed it could be Memaw communicating with me.
“I don’t disbelieve if that’s what you’re asking me. Weird shit happens around here, Bo. Maybe it’s ghosts or something in the drinking water, but hearing voices or feeling like I’m being watched happens to me all the time.”
I was surprised but felt better about my experience earlier after sharing it with him. Maybe I wasn’t losing my shit while I dealt with an overwhelming feeling of loneliness. “Thank you, Lucas. I was afraid I was losing my shit.”
“I’m sorry, but you still might lose your shit when I tell you this,” he began, I assumed he paused to make sure I could handle what he had to tell me. “Jamie stopped by for gas today. He’s back from college.”
I knew he’d eventually be returning for the summer but this came earlier than I’d planned on. Lucas knew what Jamie and I’d meant to one another. It was his shoulders I’d cried on that first year. “Well, I knew he’d be back soon enough.”
“He asked about you, Bo. He wanted to know if you moved out of Beauford permanently. I hope you don’t mind but I told him you were out at the shack,” Lucas said. “I hope I didn’t overstep, buddy.”
“Don’t matter,” I muttered. “He won’t come around.”
“But he only has two more years left. You guys are halfway through the wait already.”
“That him or you talking, Lucas?” I asked, raising my voice unintentionally. “He bailed on me, remember? And it was him that broke his promise.”
“Stuff happens. People grow and change. Maybe you can give him another chance?”
“He didn’t care back then and that’s all I need to know,” I said, feeling bad about my tone. “I gotta run, Lucas. Thank you for the advice, but I want true love. Something that lasts and means as much to my partner as it does to me. I think I’m worth that,” I stated.
“I think you are too, Bo,” he agreed. “I just think Jamie has been missing you and I liked you two together.”
Lucas may have liked us as a couple but I hadn’t recovered just yet. “I’m not over him leaving me behind. I’m still struggling to handle the loss.”
Lucas held his hand out so I grabbed ahold of it and we stood there for a moment, the connection bringing me comfort. “You’ll always have my friendship,” he assured me. “And hey, it’d be okay if you responded to your memaw. She’s listening.”
CHAPTER TEN: Hayes
I’d forgotten to pull the blinds before falling into bed exhausted, so the morning sun beamed across my bed and woke me earlier than my headache was prepared for. I hadn’t bothered to strip out of my tux pants and an undershirt from the night before clung to my skin. Phillip had finally given in and went back to his place after I told him I needed some time alone.
I was heavily drinking when he showed up after my blowup at Daddy’s event, so his pissed off speech about my behavior hadn’t penetrated my brain. Truth was, I wouldn’t have cared anyway. The booze, my anger at my father, and Phillip’s lame attempt at pretending to care about my pain, had brought me to the edge of a cliff I no longer desired to stand on. Fear had prevented me from jumping off before that point, but not any longer.
I may have been two sheets to the wind last night, but I hadn’t missed his fake concern and him grudgingly holding me and calling me baby. He hadn’t called me an endearing name in a couple of years. His attempt at caring for my well being seemed forced. Just like how his love for me felt.
To Phillip, the thought of me risking my place in line to take over for Daddy in the next fifteen years had scared the shit out of him. I’d told him many times before that I had zero intention in following in Daddy’s footsteps. I didn’t need the headache and I didn’t need the money.
