“Just one,” Louisa said.
“Just you and Cody?” Her mother’s expression had turned troubled.
Louisa nodded.
“How is he?”
Beautiful. Kind. Muscular. Handsome. Strong. Gorgeous. Broken. “Fine, I guess.”
“Is he speaking to you?”
“We’re working on the regatta together, Mother,” Louisa said, realizing they were veering wildly off course. “Hey, do you know anything about that memorial someone put up for Daniel?”
“The cross?”
“Yes.”
“No.”
Louisa eyed her mother.
“I mean, I know it exists.”
“Do you know who put it there?”
Her mother shrugged. “How would I?”
“You and Dad were his closest friends.”
“That was a long time ago. Maybe Marissa had it installed. Or Cody?”
“They didn’t.”
Her mother shifted. She looked uncomfortable. Did she have something to hide?
She opened the refrigerator and pulled out an apple, then found a cutting board and knife and started slicing. She’d eat it with sharp cheddar cheese, same way she had when Louisa was a girl. It was a JoEllen delicacy Louisa had never cared for.
She liked her cheese on crackers and her apples with peanut butter.
Or maybe she just didn’t want to be anything like her mother.
“Cody found something on the back of the cross,” she said cautiously, scrutinizing her mother’s every move.
Mom glanced up mindlessly but continued cutting. “And?”
“It was a note for his dad.”
Her mother stopped cutting.
“It was addressed to Danny.”
“Danny?”
Louisa nodded. “Danny.”
“Why are you looking at me like that?”
“Did you leave the note, Mom?”
“I did not,” she said. “Other people on this island knew Daniel Boggs. Maggie, for instance.”
“Maggie knows nothing about it,” Louisa said. “And to my knowledge, she never called him Danny.”
Mom set the knife down and gave Louisa her full attention. “What do you really want to ask me, Louisa?”
Louisa’s palms had gone cold. Was she really about to accuse her mother of having an affair? “Were you sleeping with Cody’s dad?”
Apparently yes, she was going to accuse her mom of having an affair.
Her mother gasped. “No, I was not.”
Well, shoot, Louisa actually believed her.
“Daniel and I dated very casually before we met Marissa and Warren. I was the one who set them up, if you’ll remember.”
“I know the story,” she said. “But nobody else called him Danny.”
“Lots of people called him Danny,” Mom said. “People he worked with. His boss. Your father. Maggie even called him that now and then.”
“I never heard anyone but you call him that.”
“How do you remember back that far, Louisa? It’s been ages, and you were young.” She found the cheddar in the fridge, took it out, and began hacking at it.
“Mom.” Louisa waited until her mother finally—finally—looked up. “Was there something going on?”
“Something going on with what?” Her father walked in, and Louisa noticed he’d put on a few pounds.
“Louisa thinks I was fooling around with Daniel Boggs.” Her mother rolled her eyes. Her father laughed that hearty laugh of his.
“I didn’t say I thought that. I was just asking if it was a possibility.”
Her dad started drinking a Diet Coke too.
“That will kill you,” her mother said with an air of condescension directed at Louisa.
“Life is killing me, Joey,” he said. “Why are you digging this up now, kitten?”
“Forget it,” Louisa said, feeling suddenly sheepish and regretting coming here in the first place. It was clear that her birthday wish the day she turned nine—I wish my parents would be like other kids’ parents—had not come true.
“Suit yourself,” her father said. He took a swig of soda.
“Did you know that when Daniel died, he had no money in his bank account?”
Neither of her parents answered for a moment.
“I don’t think we should be talking about this,” her mom finally said. “It feels wrong.”
“What feels wrong is that Mr. Boggs—Daniel—left his family with practically nothing. Doesn’t that seem a bit strange?”
Her father stiffened, the smile fading from his face. More wrinkles than last year, she noticed. “The market ebbs and flows. I’m sure if Daniel was low that week, it would’ve picked back up in a month or so. That’s the way it goes.” He took off his hat and fidgeted with it, avoiding Louisa’s eyes.
Louisa didn’t buy it. That’s not how it went when you had a family. You made sure there was enough money to at least see them through a few months of “low.” Especially someone like Daniel, who was arguably the best father Louisa had ever known.
“Leave this alone, Louisa. No good can come from poking around graves.” Her father’s face had turned serious, enough to almost convince Louisa to obey.
Almost.
He held her gaze for several seconds as if to punctuate his sentence and finally looked away.
Louisa couldn’t help but wonder what the man knew—because it sure felt like something.
CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE
TWO DAYS AFTER THE BOTCHED ATTEMPT to take Louisa sailing, and Cody still couldn’t shake the image of her on the boat, struggling to get a breath. It was almost as bad as the image of her lifeless body on the deck of the cutter. That one haunted him at night—no matter how many times he tried to replace it with the image of her in that teal dress, looking just about as beautiful as a person could look.
“How are the regatta plans coming along?” Duncan was at his door, interrupting his thoughts, and while he should thank his superior, truthfully he just wanted to cling to the image of Louisa in that dress for a few more minutes.
“Good,” he said. “I mean, I think they’re good. I’m meeting with Louisa later today for an update.”
“How are you two?”
Cody frowned. “Sir?”
“Things seemed a little strained at the auction. Is there something going on there?” He paused for a beat, then held up his hands. “Never mind. That’s not my business. But I think if you have half a shot with a girl like that, you better take it.”
Duncan had no idea what he was talking about.
“She’s beautiful. She’s smart. She’s successful.”
“So why don’t you ask her out?”
Duncan’s eyes twinkled, and Cody swore if the man were a cartoon character, there’d be a bell dinging on cue with his smile. “I would if I didn’t think she was hung up on my second-in-command.”
“It’s really not like that,” Cody said.
“Enjoy the meeting. It’s slow here, so don’t come back when you’re done.”
“Chief?”
“You heard me, Boggs. You’re done for the day. Go plan this regatta and make it a good one. The Coast Guard and the family of Jackson Wirth are counting on you.”