Summer By The Sea. Cathryn Parry

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СКАЧАТЬ glanced at each page for about two seconds. “There’s not a word here about a Lucy.” Sarah glared at him. “Just about her damn cats. And you. Evidently, I’m supposed to go and see you.”

      “I need to find my daughter!” Adrenaline coursing through his veins, he turned and jumped off the short deck and onto the sand, sprinting toward his house, hoping Lucy was there.

      “Wait, Sam! I think I know where your daughter is!” Sarah called, waving the pages as she spoke. “There is a mention of a Lucy!”

      He turned, still running backward. “Where?” he shouted back.

      “The library. Cassandra says she left Lucy at the library!”

      His heart thumped wildly, but he gave Sarah a short wave of thanks as he changed course toward the street where he’d parked his truck.

      He could be at the library in five minutes. Ten if he hit the two traffic lights on the way. If Lucy wasn’t there anymore...

      No. He couldn’t think about that.

      Inside his truck, he grabbed his keys from under the front seat then backed out of his parking space as fast as he could.

      Please, let Lucy be okay.

      He shifted into Drive and stepped on the accelerator. He was halfway down the boulevard when he realized he was driving in bare feet and wearing only his orange lifeguard shorts and the whistle around his neck. Crap.

      * * *

      AFTER SAM LEFT, everything seemed emptier. Sarah stood with Cassandra’s letter clutched in one fist, the house key in the other, both arms hanging limply at her sides.

      She’d skimmed the whole letter, once. There were excuses, explanations—and as far as Sarah was concerned—rationalizations for why she’d left Sarah again.

      Her Italian man in Naples. Sarah knew all about that. She’d heard it before, months after Cassandra had chosen to skip her parents’ funeral. And again when Cassandra had finally dropped into her life once more—as if her excuses were supposed to make up for another desertion.

      How foolish had she been to think anything had changed with her aunt?

      “I’m sorry,” Natalie murmured. “If I’d been at the office, and I’d known what confusion Cassandra was leaving behind, then I would have attempted to sort it through. When I came out here to see you this afternoon, I assumed she’d fully thought out what she was doing.”

      “Oh, she’s thought it out, all right,” Sarah said bitterly. “Trust me.”

      “But it’s irresponsible to leave a child unattended!”

      “She once left me unattended for ten months, Ms. Kimball.” Shaking her head, Sarah went back to the driveway where her rental car was and gathered up her luggage. She rolled her suitcases back to the deck and joined Natalie, who was still standing there with that look of concern on her face.

      “There’s nothing more you can do,” Sarah said simply. “She’s gone, and that’s that.”

      Natalie’s forehead creased. “I’m going to call her tonight.”

      “Fine. But don’t get me involved. I don’t want to hear about it.” Sarah took the house key and stuck it in the lock. The door opened easily.

      “No, honestly,” Natalie said behind her. “I want to. My father, before he retired, was Cassandra’s longtime attorney. In his files, he has all sorts of her correspondence that I need to read because that is not the way I want to work with her in future.”

      “Good luck with that.” Sarah bumped her luggage and briefcase over the threshold and into Cassandra’s inner sanctum. It smelled like paint and turpentine. “Social services tried to reach her when I was twelve. Repeatedly. When the woman decides to disappear, she really disappears.” Sarah glanced around at the room. It really hadn’t changed that much in twenty-eight years.

      Natalie had followed her inside and was turning over papers on Cassandra’s kitchen table. “I’m sorry, but I’m not going to let this go that easily.”

      Sarah just shrugged. She’d spent most of her life fighting in just the same manner. Fighting for answers. Fighting for power. Fighting to keep what was hers.

      She should have left well enough alone when it came to Cassandra. She could have gone anywhere for this forced summer sabbatical of Richard Lee’s. Hawaii, for one. Tahiti or the South of France.

      Sarah didn’t even honestly know why she’d chosen to come see Cassandra after all these years.

      The meditation stuff...anyplace had people who could teach her that skill.

      The rest of her reason for being here was...the subconscious cry of the little girl still inside her who was upset that she’d been abandoned by her aunt and wanted some honest answers why.

      Completely ridiculous. Honest answers didn’t always come. Time and again, Sarah had learned that the only thing worth fighting for was her own personal power. If she had enough of it, she would always be in charge. And no one could hurt her again.

      Cassandra had proven her wrong in that belief, too. Sarah saw now that she could be queen of the universe, and Cassandra would do whatever the hell she wanted to do, regardless of what was going on with the people around her. Even the little people—including her only vulnerable niece.

      Natalie stopped rifling through the papers on the kitchen table. “Look at this.” She held up a letter. “It’s to you, from Sam’s daughter.”

      Sarah snatched it from her. And immediately put her hand to her mouth.

      In childish handwriting, a girl named Lucy Logan had written,

      Dear Sarah,

      I’m so glad you’re coming to visit us! I admire you and hope to meet with you soon.

      Your friend, Lucy Logan

      The girl had decorated the edges with tiny, skillful drawings of seashells and aquatic life.

      Sarah just sighed and closed her eyes. “How old is Lucy Logan?” she asked Natalie.

      “Eleven, I think.”

      “And where is her mom?”

      “She lives a few towns over. The rest is up to Sam Logan to tell you. Or not.” Natalie’s lips twisted.

      Sarah sat and put her head in her hands. “I really hope that little girl is okay.” She looked up at Natalie. “Can you give me Sam Logan’s contact information, please? I need to follow up with him.”

      The lawyer hesitated.

      “I need to know that Lucy is okay,” Sarah insisted.

      “Come here.” Natalie beckoned her to the side window. When Sarah had joined her, Natalie pointed to the two-story home with the back porch beside them. “See that house?”

      Sarah saw two Adirondack chairs and a grill. СКАЧАТЬ