“Eucalyptus? Is that the name of your street?”
“No. Like.”
“Like?” she asks, trying to decipher his meaning. “You mean like a tree?”
“Yes.”
Olivia quickly launches her map app and brings up Oceanside. Quite a few streets are named for trees. “Ash, Pine, Oak . . .” She lists them off out loud.
He grabs her arm. “Pine!”
“You live on Pine?”
He grins. “Yes.”
Well, damn.
“Good job, Josh.” She gives him a fist bump. “Let’s get going. We have a long drive ahead.”
CHAPTER 29
Summer of ’01
Through Dwight’s office window, Olivia watched Lucas and Lily play basketball in the driveway, envious they hadn’t invited her. He was teaching her how to line up a shot. He’d already taken her kayaking that morning and taught her how to paddle since their dad said he didn’t have time to teach her.
Olivia chewed off a hangnail on her thumb. Lily hadn’t asked for her help in a long time. She always went to Lucas and only sought Olivia when she needed something, like to raid her closet for the sweater Charlotte just bought her, which Lily returned with a tear in the armpit and insisted she didn’t do it. Aside from the one time she wore it to a movie with a friend, Lily swore the sweater had been folded on her dresser the whole time, and it didn’t have a hole when she took it off.
Olivia didn’t believe Lily. Holes didn’t magically appear. Lily threw a temper tantrum when Olivia pressed that Lily owed her a new sweater.
What had she done to make Lily act so mean? What happened to that sweet girl who held her big sister’s hand, looking up to her with brown eyes as sweet as warm chocolate cake? Olivia didn’t know.
She spat out the hangnail and covered a yawn, hating this summer. The Whitmans hadn’t invited them to the lake house. She was missing Blaze, and missing out on hiking, canoeing, eating too many Popsicles, and roasting marshmallows with him over their bonfire. And it was all Lucas’s fault. Idiot had to get caught lifting a Hot Wheels car. Their dad didn’t know, but he was stealing again, a Bic lighter here, a jerky stick there. He bragged about it the other day when she overheard him talking with his friend Tanner. She was tempted to tattle on him, but she wasn’t mean like Lily. Lucas would get his comeuppance one day; Olivia was sure of it.
Behind her, Dwight smacked his computer monitor.
“That won’t help,” Olivia said without looking back at him. Lucas just tried to give Lily a high five and she jerked her hand away at the last second. Now Lily was laughing as Lucas chased her across the driveway.
Olivia yawned again, as much from weariness as to quell the pull in her stomach. She wouldn’t invite herself to play. She didn’t want to join them outside. She’d probably be bored anyway.
“It’s so damn slow,” Dwight complained. “Time for an upgrade.”
“Try defragging it.” Mr. Whitman taught her that trick last summer when his computer was sluggish while she played a video game.
“No time.” He was leaving in a few hours, visiting winery clients from Temecula up to Calaveras County. He’d be away for a couple weeks. “Your mom will be home late. She has her Women in Real Estate thingamajig.” Olivia knew he wanted to be out of the house before Charlotte returned. Avoiding her was better than getting into another argument about how much he was spending. “Keep an eye on your brother,” he said.
“Lily too?” she asked absently, tugging a hangnail with her teeth.
“Hmm. Yeah, her too.” His fingers rapped the keyboard. The computer’s fan whirred as the unit powered down, his third attempt to reboot, but the computer kept freezing.
“They don’t need me,” she muttered. They seemed to be doing fine on their own.
“Do I detect some animosity?”
She shook her head—she’d never admit it—and turned away from the window. “Here, let me do it.” She approached the desk. Dwight vacated his seat. Olivia rubbed her eyes and sank into the chair.
“Tired, Princess?”
She nodded. “Nightmare again. Couldn’t fall back to sleep.” That version of her dad who invaded her dreams scared her.
Dwight stood beside her. He casually eased his hands into his side pockets, his gaze out the window. “It’s just a dream. Nothing to be afraid of.”
“I know that.”
Olivia rebooted the computer and waited for the password prompt. She scooted aside. “You want to enter it?”
“Go for it.” He nodded at the keyboard. “It hasn’t changed.”
She logged on and started the defragmentation to free up more space.
“I notice you’ve been watching your brother and sister. They’re pretty close, aren’t they?” he asked, packing his briefcase. Olivia nodded. “What about you and Lily? Still get along like you used to?” She shook her head. “Sorry about that, Princess. Maybe things will change when you get older.”
She wasn’t sure about that. They were drifting apart faster than two kayaks caught in the tide.
He dropped a hand on her shoulder. “My brother and I were never close. I survived. You will too. Don’t let them bother you. Just worry about yourself and you’ll be fine. You only need to rely on you.”
“And you, Daddy?” she asked, looking up at him.
“Always, Princess. I’d never turn my back on you. In fact, you come to me anytime, no matter the problem. No matter how much trouble you’re in. I’ll be there for you. Those dreams get worse, you see me,” he instructs, trying not to look bothered. But Olivia can tell he’s concerned about her. Or maybe he’s concerned about the contents of her dreams. He told her once when she was scared or hurt, so was he. If she was sad, he felt sad, too.
Her smile was heavy. “I will.”
He gestured at the monitor. “How long is that going to take?”
“Long. You can finish packing. I’ll stay here.” She didn’t need to watch it, but what else would she do? Her friends were on vacation. She was too young to get a job. And naps were for babies.
Dwight dropped a kiss on her head. “You’re the best daughter ever.”
“Love you.” She lifted a hand when he left the room and doodled until something better came along. She drew a picture of her dad with a cape and left the sketch on the desk. He’d see it when he returned and know that she thought of him as the best dad in the world. Her superdad.
CHAPTER 30
They make good time to Oceanside. Olivia takes an exit that points them toward the Pacific. She eases down her window. Josh does the same. The air smells of salt and diesel. Traffic, congested and noisy, moves slowly. She drops the visor to block the glaring afternoon sun as they inch toward the beach.
Josh leans as far forward as his seat belt allows, anxious to get home. His knee bounces and his gaze swings everywhere, taking in the scene. Concrete and palm trees. Cyclists in flip-flops on beach cruisers. The blue-gray ocean ahead where the water swirls like her emotions: hope that Lily is home, worry that she isn’t, and the fear she’s been abducted, injured, or killed.
“Recognize anything?” She keeps her emotions and thoughts in check so she won’t alarm Josh.