“Are you sure it was Willow?”
Darcy shook her head, irritated by the interruption, although it was a fair question. “Then, I assumed it was. I’ve never met Willow, but she has her mother’s red hair, and I’ve seen the girl from my kitchen window several times. She was carrying groceries into the house with her mother, stuff like that. But the other night when I was sitting out on my patio, I heard them. Willow and Logan. He was trying to get her to have sex. She was protesting, but also kind of not. I didn’t know what to do.”
“What did you do?”
“Nothing. Willow stopped him and went into the house. I heard Logan get in his truck. I was relieved. I wasn’t sure that it was my place to intrude. But on Monday I was in Stop and Shop, and I accidentally ran into Boyz. Literally. So we said hello and it was polite enough, but then I told him about Willow and Logan, and he brushed me off. He went all superior and told me he and Autumn are Willow’s parents and they know how to take care of her. He accused me of making up a story so I could get his attention. He thought it was all about him. I don’t know why I’m surprised.”
Nash frowned. “You know having sex with an underage girl is statutory rape, right?”
“I do know that. I also know that lots of island girls that age are having sex. The community tries to warn them about diseases and pregnancy and of course the laws, but it’s hard to be logical when you’re a teenager.” Darcy studied Nash’s face. “You think I should have done something.”
“I would have.”
Darcy waited for him to say more. When he stayed quiet, she said, almost defensively, “I talked to Jordan about all this. She thinks I should leave it alone. It’s true, I don’t know anything about Willow, what she does when she’s off island.” Tears swelled in her eyes. “I hate this, Nash. I feel like I’m being judged.”
Nash rose. His expression was so serious, she was afraid he was going to leave, just walk right out the door.
Instead, he came around the coffee table and sat down next to Darcy.
“Hey.” He pulled her against him in a comforting hug. “I apologize if you think I’m judging you. I’m not. I think I’m probably more of a straight arrow than lots of people. Hell, I’ve never even driven the wrong way on any of all those exasperating one-way streets on this island.”
Darcy smiled, glad she knew he was trying to make her smile. She closed her eyes and relaxed against him. “I was telling you all this because of Boyz, really. I mean, I know how bizarre it is that he and his family are living right behind my yard for two months. But when we divorced, neither of us was mad. I guess I’m trying to say we had a passionless divorce. I want you to know I have zero interest in the guy. If anything, I think he’s more arrogant than he was when I met him.”
“Okay, then. I have zero interest in the guy, too.” Nash sank into the sofa cushions, wrapping his arms around Darcy, snuggling her against him.
“As for Willow…it helps to know your thinking. Boyz’s family—his parents, his two sisters—are very close. The father and mother sort of rule the roost. They’re sophisticated and snotty, but their basic values are sterling.”
“That’s good.” Nash kissed the top of her head lightly.
Darcy sighed. “Life is hard to figure out.”
Nash nodded. “Yeah, it’s easy enough to know what to do from a distance, as a rule. But when it’s personal, it gets confusing.”
Darcy heard a note of sorrow in his voice. “Did something like this happen to you?”
Nash tensed up. “Nah. Just speaking in general.”
There it was, Darcy thought, the door to Nash opening an inch and quickly closing.
She didn’t press him. They sat together in silence. Darcy was exhausted from worrying about it all—what Nash would think about Boyz being on the island and so near. And she thought that in a way, they had almost had their first argument.
Nash pulled away. “I’ve got to go home and get some sleep. I almost fell asleep right now. Fresh air and construction work, a sure cure for insomnia.”
Darcy walked him to the door and lightly kissed him goodbye. She had thought she was telling Nash about her and Boyz, yet in a way, she and Nash had learned something new about each other.
—
Darcy was out in her garden the next morning, weeding around the foxgloves and humming as she worked. She had to leave for the library, but she’d risen early, dressing and spinning through her morning chores as happily as Cinderella with birds on her wrists.
“Alfred, go back and get your flip-flops.” Otto Brueckner’s voice was pleasant but firm.
“But I don’t need them on the beach,” the boy protested.
“Maybe you’ll need them if we go into a restaurant for an ice cream sundae,” Otto said, his voice coaxing and kind.
Darcy sat back on her knees and shamelessly listened. She couldn’t help overhearing the sounds of the doors slamming on the car, the giggles of the children, and Susan calling, “I’ve got the picnic basket and the towels. I think we’re ready.”
They were a happy family, Darcy decided, and the meetings between Otto and Autumn were simply her imagination embroidering events that had never taken place. Neighbors did talk to each other, after all. Look at her and Mimi. Look at her and Clive. Okay, maybe she and Clive were not the best example. Still, as she gathered her gardening tools and kicked the dirt off her clogs, she vowed she would stop making something out of nothing, spinning drama from normal life. Obviously she read too many books.
Maybe she was exaggerating what she had with Nash, too. If her marriage to Boyz had taught her anything, it was how easily she adorned reality with her dreams. From that first dramatic kiss in front of the restaurant, when Boyz had swept her down in his arms as if they were stars in a movie, Darcy had let her imagination run wild—and how could she not when Boyz and his family were so beautiful, so captivating? How fortunate she was to have a grandmother who’d left her a house on the island; how lucky she was to have a job at the library, doing work she loved. But life was full of ups and downs, twists and turns, shocks and sins and loss and disappointments. She knew that from experience.