Settling Scores (Piper Anderson Series) (21 page)

The next morning everyone pulled their sluggish bodies out of bed and out to the water to take in their last deep breaths of sea air before heading home. Betty had cooked a huge breakfast that most of them were to hung over to even smell, so while the parents all partook, the rest of them escaped the smells and congregated with their toes in the sand.

“That was the perfect wedding,” Jules sighed, wrapping her arms around Michael’s waist.

“It’s too bad about your honeymoon,” Jedda said as he laced his fingers with Crystal’s. She hadn’t stopped smiling since she came back to the bonfire last night to report how amazing it was to hear her sister’s voice. Crystal called her parents, and while her sister wasn’t ready to talk to them herself, they were overjoyed for the news that she was safe. They’d all raised their glasses, threw back shots of one alcohol or another and celebrated the gift that was a happy ending to a difficult story. Which is why they were all hurting this morning.

“It’s just a honeymoon” Bobby shrugged, kissing Piper’s hand. “I’ve got everything I need right here.”

“I think I’d be too hung over for a honeymoon right now.”

“I hope not.” Willow laughed as she caught Josh’s eye, wishing he’d stop ignoring her this morning. “Denny called your captain. He had a lot of good things to say about you and asked if you’d be available to help on a case for another week. This coming week actually.”

“What kind of case?” Bobby asked, looking skeptically at a grinning Willow.

“They have a lead on a cold case that came up in the Cayman Island. He’d like you to go down there and blend in with the tourists. He thinks you’d do even better if you looked like you were really on vacation. Like with your new wife. They’ll cover the plane tickets and your hotel. He said the leads a long shot, like a real long shot.”

“Are you serious?” Piper asked, jumping up and down and then immediately regretting the fast movement.

“You guys could leave as early as tomorrow morning if you accept the assignment,” Willow confirmed with a smile as she tucked her wind-blown hair behind her ear.

“Willow,” Bobby said, looking hopeful but guarded. “You really didn’t have to do that. We don’t regret spending my vacation time up in the city with you.”

“I didn’t do anything. I mentioned it to Denny and the next morning he was setting it up. He really liked you. He could see you were a good cop and a good friend.”

“This is amazing.” Piper laid her hand on her aching head. “We need to pack and get someone to watch the house. We’ll have a million things to do.”

“I was going to ask if you wouldn’t mind if I stayed there while you were gone. I’ve brought back all my parents’ old things from their house and Jedda’s going to go through it with me.”

“So you’re staying in Edenville?” Jules asked, with a hopeful look in her eye. “We’d sure love having you.”

“I’m not really sure what I’m going to do. I’m going to take it one day at a time and hope something just works out. I know I always have a place on Block Island to go back to. That’s a good feeling. Eventually, I want to go back to the apartment and go inside. It’s not going to be easy but I need to do it.”

“You’ll do it when you’re ready,” Piper said, flashing a knowing smile. “You’re welcome to stay at our house as long as you’d like. Not just while we’re gone. As long as you don’t mind dogs. Bruno is good company.”

“I appreciate it.” Willow nodded; happy Bobby and Piper would be getting their honeymoon.

Josh had been silent through the entire conversation, though most of the eyes in the group had glanced over at him every time Willow spoke. Willow however had tried to not stare at him. It was a feat that took most of her willpower.

“Everything’s cleaned up from last night. I’m heading back to town now. You need me to put anything in my car?” Josh asked as he pulled his keys from his pocket.

Everyone froze for a moment, looking uncomfortable and disappointed by the idea that Willow and Josh hadn’t patched things up. He wasn’t blatantly ignoring her but the tension was easy to see.

“I think we have enough space,” Michael said, shooting a steely stare at Willow. “Don’t you think so Willow, more than enough space? Probably too much really.” Apparently Michael hadn’t been too drunk to remember his advice from last night and Willow was hearing his message loud and clear, but she couldn’t find the words that would win her Josh’s forgiveness.

“Okay then,” Josh said awkwardly as he waved and headed back up to the house to say goodbye.

“You need a big move Willow,” Michael implored, urging her with his eyes to go after Josh.

“It’s not the right time. I’m not giving up but I know he’s not ready to hear what I have to say yet. You guys don’t understand how badly I screwed this up. It’s going to take time.”

“You’re preaching to the screw-up choir,” Betty laughed as she joined them out on the beach and wrapped her arm around Willow’s shoulder. “Don’t worry too much, your mama is in there right now, trying to convince Josh that you’re worth another shot.”

“Oh my gosh,” Willow cried making a move for the house, but Betty’s arms snared her in place.

“She’s your mama, that’s her job. Let her do her work child.”

“That’s mortifying, is everyone in there just standing around listening to her make her case?”

“Yup.” Betty grinned as Willow rested her pink cheek on her shoulder.

Everyone broke into an empathetic laughter as they made their way down closer to the water taking in the last few waves against their feet before they were forced back to reality. Only Crystal stayed behind and Betty finally released Willow, touching both girls on the shoulder and tipping her head with a warm smile. “I’m so glad to have you two here. I feel like your lives were meant to intersect in North Carolina. It’s not always easy to believe that everything happens for a reason. But moments like last night, it restores your faith a little doesn’t it?”

“It sure does,” Crystal chimed in reaching her hand across to Willow. She’d never really grown accustomed to a lot of physical touching from people, but she took Crystal’s hand anyway and squeezed it tightly.

Betty stepped away quietly to join everyone else who was staring peacefully out at the horizon.

“I don’t know if thank you will ever be enough,” Crystal said, releasing Willow’s hand and taking a seat on one of the chairs around the now extinguished fire.

“This changed me Crystal, it really did. I feel so different now that I actually did something that matters. Something that worked out. You don’t need to thank me. I’ve already gotten so much out of this experience.”

“My family was destroyed Willow. That’s not an exaggeration. Getting Erica back, that’s a gift we’d long since given up on. In our minds, just finding out what had happened to her, getting her body back, getting some closure was what we’d resigned ourselves to as a best case scenario. When so much time goes by you get too afraid to let yourself believe you might get good news. I think I’m still in shock.”

“I bet she is, too. What did it feel like talking to her last night?” Willow wanted as much detail as Crystal was willing to share. It was like Michael had said; you only have room for so many memories in your mind. She was trying to fill herself to the brim with happy ones, pushing anything else out of the way.

“It was so strange, I thought it would be awkward but really it was as though no time at all had past. Her voice was the same. She was still my sister. Hearing that she was happy and safe, that she’d found her way in this world was amazing. But the most important thing she said to me was that none of this would have been possible without you.”

Willow averted her eyes from Crystal as she took a seat on the chair next to her. “It took a lot of people working to get it to come together.”

“She told me the truth Willow. She didn’t want to see me. It hurt to hear but I’m starting to realize that her life has been complicated. Her exact words were, if Willow hadn’t been so convincing I don’t think I would have had the courage to do this. It never crossed my mind that it would take courage to reconnect with me, but it’s all starting to make sense. She was truly afraid, and you did something to sway her. I’ll forever be grateful for that”

“I told her everything,” Willow voice cracked “I told her my own story, in detail that I’ve never done before. Memories I’d forbidden myself from speaking again. I tore out my own heart and showed her how broken it is, but that it was still beating.”

Crystal’s hand came up to her mouth as she crumpled, shedding what would likely be her millionth tear over the last twelve hours. “T
hank you, Willow. That must have been so−”

“Therapeutic,” Willow explained as she reached across and placed her hand on Crystal’s shoulder. “I told you, this changed me. I needed this so badly.”

“And now what will you do?”

“I have no clue. For the first ti
me, I’m realizing I really am welcomed in so many places. There’s a home for me, all I have to do is be ready to take it. Did Jedda tell you about all the stuff in my rental car? I have boxes from the apartment we grew up in. We’re going to go through it. Maybe when we get back to Edenville. Do you think that would be too much for him? You know him better than anyone right now. You know how he’s doing with therapy.”

“He has good days and bad. Some days he’s angry, some days he’s sad. I think going through those boxes might be hard but it will help you both in the end. I do have one suggestion though,” Crystal reasoned. “You may want to consider doing it here. Edenville is his soft place to fall right now. It’s where he’s working. It’s where he’s healing. Bringing those memories past that city line, might be unhealthy for him.”

“I never thought of that. Do you think we should do it here, this morning? Like now?”

“You’ve got a couple hours before we have to head out. If you think you’re up to it doing it this morning would probably be best.”

“I’m up to it. I’ll head out to the car and carry the boxes out here. Do you mind asking Jedda if he’s ready? And everyone, if they don’t mind could be here with us.” Willow lit up as she got to her feet, feeling completely prepared to dive headfirst into this small pool of her past. Completely prepared knowing she wouldn’t be alone in the water.

She walked swiftly toward the car, an anxious skip in her step as she rounded the house and saw Josh sitting in his car. The engine was running but he didn’t seem to be going anywhere. He didn’t see her, his gaze fixed ahead of him, so she tapped lightly on his window.

“You okay?” she asked through the closed window as he shook himself back to reality. He rolled the window down and rubbed at the tension in his temple.

“I’m good, just thinking before I take off.”

“About what?”

“Whether or not I’m ready to hear what you have to say. I’m genuinely happy that you’ve started heading in the right direction. I just want to stand next to you and watch you get yourself together. But I’m still pissed. You walked away, and if Marcario hadn’t been killed out there, would you be here right now? I don’t like the answer I keep coming up with to that question. So what does that mean the next time something goes wrong?”

“I don’t know,” Willow admitted, her two hands on the frame of his car window, clinging to it as though it were her last connection to him.

“I think it’s good that you’ll admit that anyway,” he responded, gripping his steering wheel tightly. “I’d be more worried if you were sitting here promising me that it will never happen again. That you’ve got everything under control now and you’re not planning to live your life with your running shoes on.”

“I hope I’m not, but I think it’s too soon to say. I don’t feel like running away right now, but that doesn’t mean I never will.”

“I guess I’m not really one to judge the running. I’m feeling like running myself lately. You’ve kind of ruined Edenville for me.”

“I did?” Willow asked, furrowing her brows and biting at her lip guiltily.

“Maybe that’s a little dramatic. I just mean that I was already feeling a little caged in there, now the more I’ve seen of the world the less Edenville feels like home to me. It just feels too insulated, too blind to what’s really going on. I just want more.”

“I won’t make you any promises Josh, because that would be selfish and reckless. Two things I’m trying to be less of. But I’d really like if you stayed. I was coming out to get the boxes you packed up for me from the apartment. Jedda and I are going to go through them this morning. Crystal doesn’t think bringing them to Edenville is a great idea. That’s Jedda’s safe place and keeping the two things separate could be helpful.”

“That makes sense,” Josh nodded, looking like he was arguing with himself about what to do next. “I wanted to tell you earlier, while there might be something in there that means something to you, there wasn’t anything in there that would be really catastrophic to see. It was all pretty straightforward stuff. In case you were worried.”

“Thanks, I was worried. Well, worried and a little hopeful that maybe there’d be something in there I could give to Denny and he could chase down more leads. But even if there isn’t I’ll still be glad to be done with all of it.” Willow fidgeted with the zipper on her sweatshirt and waited for Josh to make a move to get out of the car. “I know I blew it with you Josh, but I could really use you as my friend again. No one’s ever understood me like you do. The real me, the one I didn’t even understand.”