“Be quiet,” she spat in a hushed tone. She glanced over at Rigo. He looked ready to walk over to them, so she held up her hand again to reassure him. A cool calm had come over her, hearing Thad spout something so vindictive against Dylan. “I’m hardly in his right pocket. That’s insulting. And you don’t know Dylan like I do. His motivations are far from selfish in this.”
Thad gave an incredulous bark of laughter. “Right. He gets to sleep with a gorgeous woman who also just happens to be the heiress of the company he leads, but can never completely control. Does Fall strike you as the type of guy who wouldn’t want total and complete control of his domain? He’s drawing you closer into his circle of influence. By the time the news breaks about who you are,” Thad hissed, “he’ll already be in the most prime position of power when it comes to you. God, Alice, can’t you see what he’s—”
“Stop it!”
This time, she didn’t care when Rigo lurched toward them. She spun and started toward her cabin.
“Alice—”
She ignored Thad. “It’s okay, Sal,” she said quietly to Rigo when he approached her. “I’m going to my cabin now. Good night.”
She was done listening to Thad Schaefer.
Or she wished she were, anyway.
His accusations kept repeating in her head over and over. She didn’t believe a word of his allegations.
So why was it she cringed each time she recalled them as she tried desperately to sleep that night?
*
MAYBE it was her sense of growing unrest that made her do it, or maybe it was a weak sentimentality that she didn’t know she possessed until that summer. Probably, it was just the fact that her unsettling conversation with Thad had told her one thing loud and clear: The storm was on the horizon. It was coming, whether she was ready for it or not.
Whatever the cause, the next day during the lunch break, she returned to her cabin and grabbed her cell phone. She headed toward the back terrace.
“Uncle Al?” she asked quietly a moment later, staring out blindly at the sunlit beach. There was a long pause on the other end.
“Alice? Is that you?”
“Yeah. It is. How are you doing?”
“Good. All right, anyway. Can’t get rid of this cough,” he said, clearing his eternally congested throat and coughing a few times as if to prove his point. She didn’t like the sound of his lungs.
“You smoke too much,” Alice said out of pure habit. Sadness swept through her. She always said it.
Al never listened.
“Gotta have some vices,” he croaked.
“Yeah, because you’re such an angel otherwise,” Alice laughed. He joined her, his familiar rough bark of amusement making the ache in her chest swell.
“Your mom and I thought you’d fallen off the face of the earth. We haven’t heard from you since last Christmas.”
“I know. I’ve been really busy with finishing up my program and trying to find a job.”
“You got yourself that fancy degree. I hope you ain’t going to find out it was all for nothing.”
“No,” she said quietly. “Uncle Al, it wasn’t for nothing. I did get a job. With Durand Enterprises.”
This time, the silence stretched even longer. She could almost hear his mind going into overdrive.
“Uncle Al?” she asked, damning the tremor in her voice. She scrunched her eyelids closed when they started to burn. “I think maybe you better go away for a while. Leave the trailer. Maybe take that trip you always wanted to take to see Arizona and New Mexico. You . . . you don’t have to tell anyone else. Just go.”
“Are you saying what I think you’re saying, Alice?”
“I am. I . . . I won’t be able to control what happens in the near future, Al. Please. Just leave there.”
“Do you want to talk to your mom?”
“No,” she cried out sharply. The thought of hearing Sissy’s voice panicked her. “Please don’t tell her I spoke to you. Don’t let on what we talked about. I don’t want to talk to her. I don’t think I ever want to talk to her again.”
She heard Al’s heavy, wheezy exhale. “I suppose you want an explanation,” he said after a moment. “I’m not sure I can give it. I more suspected all these years than knew anything concrete.”
Alice couldn’t respond. Her throat had tightened uncomfortably.
“If it helps any to know it, I’m glad you found out. You should have the life that was taken from you. You deserve it. You never did belong here. I think you knew that better than anyone. That didn’t stop me from wishing sometimes that you did belong with us.” His voice broke slightly at the last, increasing Alice’s misery. She’d never heard Al show any emotion aside from anger or gruff fondness.
“Will you please go, Uncle Al?”
“It’s going to be all right. You listen to me about that.”
“Okay,” she whispered. “Take care of yourself.”
“You do the same. Don’t you let anyone else do it, either. That’s one thing the Reeds taught you. Don’t trust anyone else to your happiness. It’ll only lead to misery.”
Alice shut her eyes and felt a tear skitter down her cheek.
God, Al was right. They’d taught her that lesson so well, she wondered if she’d ever be able to unlearn it.
EIGHTEEN