“All the ones who mattered, at least,” Jack said.
“So, what about the Orgone people? Are they still up at Rangeley?”
Jack and Debbie both shrugged.
Ten: Amber
Amber turned slowly, looking at the living room. Everything had been boxed and was ready to ship. Her cousins had told her not to bother—they said that they could just as easily send someone down with a truck to carry everything back. Amber turned them down. She had no desire to see any of those people. Once they had learned the contents of Evelyn’s will, all the old scabs had been picked again.
Evelyn would have hated to see her house like that—most of what she loved packed away into boxes.
Amber smiled and laughed at herself. Evelyn wouldn’t have seen anything. She would have tripped over everything exactly once and then she would have effortlessly learned where all the obstacles were and she would have kicked each box as she made her way through the space.
A knock pulled Amber out of the thought. She went to the door thinking that it might be the guy she had hired to take all the boxes to the shipping office.
It was Shawn.
Amber’s mouth turned down into a frown.
“What?”
He looked hurt by her rudeness.
“I’m just here to check up on you, Amber. I was worried about you. I heard you quit your job after your cousin died.”
“She’s gone, Shawn. You have no more reason to be here.”
“Actually, I do,” he said. He held up an envelope and Amber recognized it before she even saw the return address printed in corner. It was from the lawyer’s office that Evelyn had used. There hadn’t been any mention of Shawn in the will—Amber had been braced for that when she read it. The envelope sent a dagger of concern into her heart. It finally seemed like she was getting everything settled and now this.
“May I come in?” he asked.
“No. I will talk with you on the porch.”
He looked hurt again. Slowly, like moving himself was painful, he slid away from the door and let her come out to join him.
“What does it say?”
Instead of just telling her, he lifted the flap and pulled the paper out. Shawn unfolded it and held it out so she had to stand next to him to read it.
The letter started out with, “I’ve instructed my attorney to send out this letter after I pass,” and was mostly one of thanks. Amber could hear Evelyn’s voice in the words. At the end, the letter said, “I’ve left something for you at the house. Please stop by and get it when you have a chance.”
“May I come in and collect my remembrance?”
“I don’t know what that might be, Shawn,” Amber said. “I’ve been through everything and I didn’t see anything earmarked for you. I have no idea why she wouldn’t have mentioned it specifically.”
He smiled. “It was our secret.”
Amber rolled her eyes. There were people who Evelyn liked to spend time with and people she merely tolerated because she had a mutually beneficial relationship with them. Shawn was definitely one of the merely tolerated people. Amber didn’t believe for a second that Evelyn shared a secret with Shawn, but the paper in his hands was hard to deny.
“Come in. The shipping guy is going to be here any second, so make it fast.”
He moved slowly, putting his hand up over his mouth as he entered and looked around the living room.
“Oh, no. She would have hated to see her house look like this,” he said.
Amber folded her arms across her chest and waited at the door.
Shawn looked over to her with a sad smile.
“I guess not, huh?” he asked. “She wouldn’t have seen it at all.”
He shook his head and laughed, still pretending to be sad.
“What did she leave you, Shawn?”
He turned out his hands, gesturing to Amber.
“I told you, I don’t know what it could be,” she said. “The will clearly gave me latitude to disperse things to relatives how I would. There were only a few specific items even mentioned—a pair of earrings and a painting that her husband made. You weren’t on that list. All this stuff is going to relatives who expressed interest.”
His eyes shifted around the room. For just a moment, it seemed like his stare settled on the door to Evelyn’s room. Amber had cleaned that room first and then she had closed the door so she wouldn’t have to look at the place where the bed had been.
“It’s you,” he said. This time his smile was more sheepish than sad.
“What are you talking about?”
“The whole time you were gone, she told me that she didn’t understand why you had left me to come live with her, and she didn’t know why you left her to go live in Maine. When we talked, she said over and over that if she could help you deal with your fear of trust, then maybe she could help you and me get back together.”
“I don’t have a fear of trust, Shawn. I have a fear of your manipulation and your mean streak. I consider that fear to be completely legitimate.”
“Amber,” he said, looking hurt again, “I wish you could really take a step back and see things for how they were.”
“Really,” she said, not disguising her contempt. “Please, why don’t you educate me.”
“All that stuff that happened with your family. You lost your parents, and your whole world fell down around your feet. You never recovered from that. You’re still processing that pain.”
Amber didn’t respond. She just raised her eyebrows and stared at him, daring him to go on.
“You went to college and had some relationships, but nothing serious. You didn’t try to really see yourself with anyone until you and I got together. Granted, I rushed things asking you to move in with me, but can you blame me? You’re the best thing that ever happened in my life and I saw the trouble you
