“Charlee?”
“Yeah, come in.”
Fern opened the door and poked her head in. “Oh, dear, did I wake you? I’m sorry.”
“No, it’s okay,” I yawned. “I need to get up.”
“I just wanted to make sure you were all right.” She entered the room.
I pushed myself up against the headboard. “I’m fine.” I noted her uneasy expression. “Okay, how did you find out?” I grumbled.
Fern sat on the edge of the bed. “At our knitting group at Lulu’s one of the gals got a text saying Ashley was talking to you and Preston.”
I sensed she wasn’t telling me all of it. “And?” I prodded.
“Well, there was some speculation over if you were seeing Preston, and also that you were rude to Ashley,” she conveyed casually. “I knew the Preston bit was nonsense, but I’d kinda hoped there was some truth to the Ashley part,” she added with a smile.
“I don’t know that I was rude to her, but I definitely wasn’t friendly. Does responding with one-word answers count as being impolite?” I asked sarcastically.
“Not in my book. If I were you, I would have told that hussy to—”
“Her daughter was there.” I looked down at the quilted comforter.
“Oh, Charlee, I’m sorry.” She leaned over to pat my hand.
“She was really pretty, and I could see Kenny in her, and it kind of made me feel sick,” I admitted, meeting my aunt’s concerned eyes. “Does that make me a terrible person?”
“No,” she said as she squeezed my hand. “I’d say you handled that situation remarkably well. And Ashley should know better. Actually, I know she does, but she’s jealous of you. Always has been.”
“I know, you’ve said that before.” I pushed back the covers and swung my legs over the side. “But it doesn’t make sense to me. She had Kenny and then threw him away.”
“She’s like a child that got tired of the toy but doesn’t want to share it with anyone else. Especially not you, who had the toy first,” Fern pointed out.
That actually made sense, as petty as it was, but still didn’t make me feel any better. If anything, it just strengthened my animosity toward her. The problem with that was it only hurt me. I didn’t want to hate Ashley. I just didn’t want to ever see her again. And as long as I stayed in town, that wasn’t something I could avoid.
“You might be right, but there isn’t anything I can do about that.”
Fern sighed. “Unfortunately, there isn’t. I think God likes to put challenging people in our lives to strengthen our character.”
“What if I don’t want to work on my character?”
“Then you can be like me and when you see someone you don’t like or want to talk to, just ignore them,” she said matter-of-factly.
I laughed. “Fern, only you could do that in this town and get away with it.”
“Oh, you could too, Charlee. You just have to quit caring what people think.” She hit the nail on the head with that one. That was part of why I stayed away for so long. Which was pathetic, because it didn’t matter what anyone thought.
“On another note, I saw Walter at Lulu’s, and he heard that Earl’s brother Floyd might be involved in something shady.”
“Really?” I perked up. “Like what?”
“Walter didn’t say, but he implied whatever it was is probably illegal,” Fern paused for a moment. “Floyd’s been busted for drugs before, so it could be that.”
“But how does this connect to Earl? Would Earl get caught up in drugs? Or maybe he tried to help Floyd, and something went wrong…” I thought aloud.
“I guess both are possible. It could be worth looking into,” Fern said.
“I agree.” I told her about my visit with Russell Jenkins, and how he had also mentioned Floyd. I didn’t say anything about Cole’s unscheduled visit because I feared Fern might dissuade me from my investigation.
Despite the fact that Cole had arrested her, she seemed to think pretty highly of him, and I know she wouldn’t like it if she knew Cole was upset with me. Especially since she thought he was the perfect man for me. How ridiculous. There was no perfect man, and definitely not anyone perfect for me.
The following afternoon, I drove back down to the port. This morning, Fern had left me a note asking me to meet her there. She didn’t say why. When I called to find out what was going on, she said it was a surprise.
This made me nervous. With Fern, a surprise could be anything from taking me to get kettle corn and saltwater taffy, to volunteering me for a kissing booth at the annual Rockfish Bay Crab Festival. Yes, that had actually happened.
It was right after my breakup with Kenny and I was stuck in town for the summer. In some well-intentioned but messed up sort of way, Fern thought it would be a good idea for me to put myself out there again.
Yeah, like I was going to meet Mr. Right at the kissing booth.
Thankfully, my parents forbade me from even considering the idea, and for once I was grateful for their intervening. The Crab Festival Committee also refused to approve the kissing booth, so it never materialized. The point is, with Fern, I never knew what to expect.
I spotted my aunt’s car, and pulled into an empty space nearby, about a block from where Preston and I had lunch yesterday. This part of town was filled with tourists in the summer, but pretty quiet in the winter.
It wasn’t on the main highway that ran through town, so it didn’t get as much drive-by traffic. I loved it down here. Well, I used to.
Back when I was with Kenny, I spent quite a bit of time at his family’s cannery, working in the gift shop there during the summers while I was in high school.
Now being here was more bittersweet. I had fond memories of this area, but that’s what
