Beach Rental (15 page)

“Well, that will be nice.”

She let him get to the foot of the stairs. “Ben?”

He looked back at her with a faint smile on his face. “Yes?”

“Why didn’t you ask me to go? You always do.”

“I didn’t think you’d say yes.”

“Well, how can I say yes if you don’t ask?”

“Would you go to church with me in the morning?”

She stared at him. “Sure. Be happy to.”

****

On Monday, Maia said, “I’m glad you didn’t forget. I meant to remind you at the cookout, but you vanished after the, uh, mishap.” She put the package she was carrying into the trunk and reached for the one Juli was holding.

“You’re trying too hard to kill the dimples and not succeeding. Don’t laugh. You aren’t the one that got dunked.”

Maia giggled anyway as she closed the trunk lid. “I know it’s not funny.” She put her arm around Juli who was stepping away. “I’m sorry.” She covered her face with her hand. When she removed it, she was in control again.

“Seriously, I’m not laughing at you, but I’ll never forget the look on Jake’s face as he went over the edge.” Maia went to the driver’s side. “You’re comfortable with leaving Ben for the afternoon?”

Juli paused, her fingers gripping the door handle. She looked at her car parked nearby, behind the gallery, then slipped into the car seat. “He was well this morning. I got my phone replaced, so he can call or text me.”

“Oh, no. Your phone went into the sound with you?”

“Oh, yes.”

“I appreciate you coming with me. I don’t usually deliver purchases to clients, but this one is a little different. I’ve been working with her so closely and she’s a great customer. Now that I have Brendan, I can take a little field trip from time to time.” A short distance down Front Street they turned onto Liveoak and then to Rt. 70.

“I love the gallery, but sometimes it’s nice to see it at the other end, from the client’s perspective. It’s a beautiful drive and you might enjoy seeing the house. I’ve only seen photos, but it’s something special.”

“Honestly, I’m not comfortable leaving Ben, but he was looking forward to Luke coming over.” She leaned her head back and rubbed her temples. “They’ll enjoy their visit more, you know, as just the guys.”

Maia didn’t answer, but stared at the road, her hands on the steering wheel at ten and two. She drew in a ragged breath that sounded perilously close to a sob. Juli sat up and put a hand on the dashboard.

“Relax, Juli. I won’t drive us off the road. It hit me for a moment.” She sniffled and dabbed at her eyes with her sleeve. “You forget, you know? And then reality smacks you in the face.” Maia smiled, but with such sadness it almost brought Juli to tears, too. Maia must have felt it because she tried to recover the mood, “I’m so sorry. You’re regretting coming along, now.”

“No. Worried or not, it’s nice to do something different.”

“That’s what I said, right?”

The road ran due north and was lined with forest, mostly pines. Somewhere to the east was the river.

“I meant to tell you—guess who else took a dunking?”

“At Anna’s? Who?” Was this was a better topic? No matter, Juli was happy to get off the subject of losing Ben.

“Leslie.” Maia took her eyes off of the road to catch Juli’s expression. “Leslie Bryant. Do you know her? She came with Jake and Sally? I’m sure you saw her. She has red hair. Nice-looking woman.”

“I don’t remember her. Oh, wait. I do recall a tall woman with red hair. Jake said he brought a woman to meet Luke. Was that her?”

“Has to be. It was Sally who wanted to fix them up. Jake will do anything to make Sally happy. That’s the kind of guy I’d like to meet.” Maia reached down and grabbed her water bottle for a sip. “Well, anyway, Sally and Leslie ran down to the dock with everyone else and saw Jake go in. Sally moved to avoid getting pushed off and Leslie went in, instead.”

“She has my sympathy.” The memory of the weedy, muddy bottom made her shudder.

“Oh, not at all. I think it suited her fine. She was laughing. Leslie’s a good sport.”

A good sport. Did that mean she, Juli, hadn’t been a good sport? Melancholy swarmed over her from out of nowhere. “Maybe she and Luke will hit it off.”

“Maybe.” Maia gave Juli an odd look. “Aren’t you two getting along better?”

“We are. It’s important to Ben. And we both want the same thing—to do what’s right for him.”

“How’s it going with Adela?”

“I wouldn’t know. Ben talks to her on the phone when he thinks I’m not around. Adela never calls the house, probably because she might have to hear me say hello.”

“I think we’re almost there. Amanda said it was the first dirt road past the red barn.”

Maia slowed as they approached a road. “It’s graveled. Should I try it?”

“It looks fresh. I say go for it. If it isn’t the Barlow house, we’ll try again.”

The tires crunched all the way up to the house. It was rose-colored brick, low and sleek in front with a multi-storied back section that rose above the front of the house and was ringed by windows.

A forty-something woman with perfect makeup and a silky-looking suit met them at the door and ushered them in. She gave Maia a quick hug.

Maia said, “Juli, this is Amanda Barlow. Amanda, this is Juli Bradshaw. She was kind enough to keep me company on the drive out here.”

Amanda fixed her baby blues on Juli and asked, “Haven’t we met? You look familiar. I never forget a name or face.”

This was the woman who’d been clinging to Luke’s arm at the party. The woman who said her ring had been stolen. Juli felt the words bubbling up, originating somewhere inside and borne up by the air from her lungs—the explanation of why she seemed familiar.

Maia spoke offhandedly, interrupting her. “She’s Ben’s wife.”

“Ben Bradshaw? I heard he married. Sort of last minute, wasn’t it?”

“Practically an elopement,” Maia said. “So romantic.”

“I see.” But Amanda didn’t look convinced.

Juli shrugged. She bent over to help Maia remove the brown wrapping paper from the etchings they’d brought.

“Maia, dear, would you place them around the room where you think they’d look best?” She walked across the room, her heels clicking on the stone tile. “You know, I don’t believe I’ve seen Ben since the party at Marcel and Petra’s house, and barely then. He must have left very early.” She settled her eyes on Juli again. “Were you already married then? Perhaps I saw you at the party with Ben?”

Juli wanted to say it—
I was the help. You might recognize me more easily if I were wearing my little white cap and black skirt.
She was ready to throw the truth out for Amanda’s inspection and be done with it. She had nothing to hide.

“My ring was stolen at that party. It was my mother’s and I hate to think I’ve lost it forever.”

Amanda’s remark dashed her like ice water. Innocence wasn’t enough armor.

“I heard. It’s terrible. Perhaps it will turn up yet.” Maia stood back and pointed. “What do you think? These two would look good over the console.”

“You have a good eye for such things. I trust you absolutely.”

Juli watched Maia’s apple-cheeked, dimpled smile. Didn’t Maia feel deceptive? Less than honest?

Amanda spoke up. “I’ll have the contractor hang them. You’re a dear to have brought them out to me. I’m sorry to rush, but I have to be at the airport in an hour. The car should be here soon.”

Back in Maia’s car, Juli said, “We should’ve told her.”

“Told her what? I was hoping for a closer look at the house so I’m kind of disappointed. Amanda’s personality kind of grates, doesn’t it?”

“We should’ve told her where she’d seen me, as a server at the Hammonds’ party.”

“Why? I didn’t
not
tell her. I jumped to the next step and told her you were Ben’s wife. Nothing else is her business.”

They rode in silence for a few minutes, southbound on Rt. 70 until the Barlow house was well behind them.

Maia continued, “Amanda Barlow is a gossip of the highest order. Giving her grist for her gossip mill is the same as encouraging her. You wouldn’t give whiskey to an alcoholic, would you? Or drugs to an addict?”

“No.”

“Well, then.”

“It doesn’t feel right.” A tiny lie here and there. Little white lies. Who did they hurt? She’d told a bunch of them herself, so she could hardly fault Maia. “Maia, do you think I had something to do with the loss of her ring? Is that why you spoke up?”

The long pause nearly killed her.

“Juli. Why would you ask me that?” Maia’s voice was small.

“Then why—”

“Why did I cut you off when you were about to tell Amanda you were working at the party? Because I didn’t want Amanda Barlow speculating about you, the marriage, maybe even about what happened to her ring all over creation to anyone who’d listen. And plenty of ears would be thrilled to listen and pass it along.”

“I don’t have anything to hide.”

Maia groaned. “If I thought you had anything to do with the theft, or any other crime—well, I know you didn’t because I know.”

“You know because you know.”

Maia giggled. “Impeccable logic.”

“I didn’t.”

“I know.” She reached over and touched Juli’s hand.

“Thanks. Maia, keep your eyes on the road, please?”

****

By the time Juli had stopped at the grocery store and returned home, twilight reigned.

Juli stood in the darkened living room, silence close around her.

“Ben?”

The first sharp edge of panic touched her. It was too early for him to have gone upstairs to bed. She dropped the grocery bag and her purse on the floor and headed toward the stairs, then saw a silhouetted shadow on the porch. Juli approached the window, but didn’t go outside immediately. His head was held low and his shoulders curved inward. He sat, unmoving, with one hand up to cover his face. The grief in his posture gripped her heart and tears welled in her eyes.

Had Frankie come back despite Luke’s warning? Had something else happened?

Ben didn’t look up when Juli walked out the door, nor when she stopped in front of him, so she didn’t speak, but pulled the empty rocker closer to his. The runners scraped against the porch floor. Ben dropped his hand from his face.

“Juli.”

She sat in the rocker, rested her arm on the smooth wooden arm rest and reached her hand across to grasp his. “Ben,” she answered. This was an abrupt change from this afternoon. Juli was wary and afraid. “What’s up? Didn’t Luke come over? Is something wrong?”

Ben stared straight ahead for a few minutes. When he spoke, his voice was low and grave, heavily laden with regret. “Luke drove me to the doctor.”

Juli was afraid to ask for more. She couldn’t find the words that would ease the heart of his sadness. “To the hospital in Morehead?” Where his oncologist had his offices, but she left that part unspoken.

Ben cleared his throat and nodded, yes. “Early on,” he gave a rueful laugh, “he suggested some experimental treatments. Clinical trials. I didn’t want to be a guinea pig. I felt well enough. I accepted death. I wasn’t in a hurry to die, but I wanted to die well, if that makes any sense. Or, I
thought
I was okay with it. Honestly, I don’t think I accepted what he told me, that the end was inevitable and not far away. I felt so good, Juli. Tired, yes, but I was recovering from an illness, so that was understandable. Then I met you and knew I was lonely. I asked you to share these last weeks with me. And now….”

“Go ahead. What?”

“Now, I’m regretting the decision not to seek aggressive treatment. The odds wouldn’t have been good even then, but maybe.” He drew in a slow, ragged breath. “I made an appointment with him for today thinking it might still be worth a try, even if it only extended….”

He fell silent again. The answer he’d found in his doctor’s office seemed obvious given his downcast air. Gently, she squeezed his hand.

“I hope you aren’t angry Luke took me. I didn’t want to say anything to you about it until after I’d spoken with the doctor. False hope and all that.”

“I’m not angry.”

“Juli, I haven’t really lived in many years. I didn’t know it. I had things, people, events in my life, but no real heart since Deb died. Dr. Lewis said I’d waited too long. For treatment, I mean.” He snatched his hand away and placed the heels of both fists against his forehead.

Juli’s chest seized and her heart ached. For his regret, she could think of nothing to say except the usual platitudes and that wasn’t enough. Before this, her personal relationships had never been close. She mentally rummaged through what experience she did have and came up empty. Words failed her. Her lips felt numb.

It was as if a weight was pressing hard against the back of her eyes, forcing moisture out even as she fought crying. She wanted to support Ben, not bring him down further. Why should she care so much about him? This was a business relationship—or rather he crafted their relationship as a business arrangement because her heart wasn’t engaged—because it wouldn’t hurt her.