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“Sorry, sometimes when I get lost in thought, I get this stern look on my face. I think the Bloody Marys were a littletoogood,” she joked, looking up at him sheepishly.
“I don’t want to murder you, I promise,” she added.
“Thank goodness,” Jasper chuckled. Before he or Emma could rib her any further, their food finally arrived, and Jolene was thankful for the diversion. Not too long after they dug in, the crowd began to die down, and Anthony and Clarissa were able to join them.
“So, what’s going on?” Anthony asked, after leaning across the bar to kiss Emma’s cheek. Jasper told him about the prickly pods they found in his truck.
“They’re sweetgum pods,” Anthony explained, “and they grow all over the wildlife preserve behind Emma’s property.”
“Why would someone do that, though?” Clarissa asked. “I mean, Jasper and Jolenejustgot here.”
“Beats me,” Anthony replied with a shrug, “but I think Emma was right. Something is indeed messing with us.”
Jolene waited patiently for someone to suggest calling the police so she could strike down the idea, but to her relief, no one brought it up. Unless there was concrete evidence, aka, photographic or video evidence, there wasn’t much they would do. At least not yet. Plus, she didn’t want Clarissa to have to deal with the police again. Not that they had hurt, but that it might bring up memories of who had.
“Most of this stuff is happening at Emma’s place, right?” Jasper asked. They all nodded.
“Well, maybe we should take a closer look at the surroundings and see if we can find the cause without it going much further. I can go out this weekend and look around.”
“You’re not going alone,” Anthony announced immediately. Jasper turned to his brother and smiled.
“Don’t worry, little brother, I know my way around the wilderness as well as you do.”
“No, he’s right,” Jolene interjected, “you shouldn’t go alone. I’ll go with you.”
“Me too,” Anthony agreed.
“Well, if you’re going, I’m going,” Clarissa said, looking at Jolene.
“I’m coming too,” Emma added, as she met Anthony’s gaze from across the table.
Jasper chuckled, touched that the people surrounding him were so concerned.
“Well then, it seems like we have our next step.”
7
For the rest of the week, Jolene and Jasper continued to help Emma with the repairs to her cabins. As promised, Jasper took Emma around to the local glass dealers and found a company they wanted to work with in Charleston. Really liking the idea of using some stained glass, they sorted through the inventory until Emma found some pieces she absolutely loved.
When Jolene wasn’t helping Jasper with repairs and the bar was too busy to visit with Clarissa, she found herself walking the beach and wading into the cool, ocean water. She had been to the beach before, but never by herself, and never to a place so secluded. It amazed her how different the experience could be, and she quickly became addicted to it.
There was a quietness that stretched over Emma’s property despite it only being a mile or two out of town. It was not like the quietness of the swamps back home, which were filled with singing insects and the sounds of the ruthless circle of swamp life. No, here, there was nothing but the sound of the waves, when there were any, and the occasional caw of a seagull. The quietness gave her a space to think. Not just about Clarissa, but her own life as well. In fact, the more time she spent in Folly Beach, the more she understood why her sister wanted to get lost there.
Every night, as soon as they were able, Clarissa and Anthony would come over and the five of them would spend the evening together. It reminded Jolene of all the Sunday dinners she and Clarissa’s grandmamma would host when they were children, and it filled a place in her heart she didn’t realize had been empty. As their family grew and became more unhinged, Grandmamma had stopped the family dinners because no one could get along. But here, with this little thrown-together family, there was no drama, or at least the kind that she was used to.
By the time Friday came around, they were all nervous, but excited to explore the wildlife preserve. Anthony had gotten them a camping permit, and Jasper had taken it upon himself to buy everyone proper camping gear. When Jolene tried to pay him back, he refused, stating that it was his way of paying her for the hard work she had done while repairing the cabins.
“I haven’t gone camping since I was a teenager,” Jolene mused as she helped him load up the packs with water, food, a first aid kit, and tools. “And we never went camping like this. Aren’t we coming back tomorrow night or Sunday?”
“We are,” Jasper confirmed, clipping a tent into one of the pack’s straps, “but I’m a big believer in hoping for the best and preparing for the worst. Besides, you never know what might come in handy if we’re faced with an unexpected situation.”
“Fair point,” Jolene countered. With everything going on, she wouldn’t be surprised if they did indeed run into an unexpected situation. Though nothing had happened on Wednesday or Thursday, Emma, Jasper, and Jolene had all woken up Friday morning to something strange. Emma’s back door, which she swore she had locked, had been found hanging wide open, and Jasper had stepped onto his porch to find his new welcome rug covered once more with sweetgum pods. At first, Jolene thought she had been spared when she walked outside and found nothing. But as she headed back in, she spotted a row of fresh wildflowers smashed between the hinges of the screen door. It all unnerved Jolene, and she felt a strange anxiety build inside of her.
“Hey,” Jasper said, noticing her get lost in thought. “You’re making that face again.”
Jolene blinked herself out of her thought process and went back to packing the food.
“Thanks,” she replied, meaning it. “Sometimes I get stuck in my head if someone doesn’t pull me out.”
