“Duh. Who doesn’t?”
“I guess I mean kids in crazy noisy hordes. We do a summer story time program at the library, and our enrollment is full, and I want to offer another story time, maybe even two. They last about an hour, and it’s simply reading a book with cool pictures to a group of kids about two to five years old. You could choose which mornings you wanted to do it. The library would pay you, not much, but something.”
“Wait, what? I can read stories to kids? Awesome sauce!” Willow almost bounced off the sofa. “That sounds like so much fun! Gosh, I haven’t looked at picture books for years and years.” Willow talked as if she were fifty years old. “I used to spend hours with picture books.”
“You’d have to be capable of dealing with rambunctious kids,” Darcy told her. “And of course, we’ll need to get permission from your parents.”
“Oh, they’ll give me permission. The library with old ladies and little kids? They’ll be thrilled.” Willow squinted her eyes as her words replayed in her head. “I don’t mean you are an old lady. I just…”
“It’s fine, Willow. And look, I think your parents are home. Lights are on in some of the rooms now.”
“Oh, groan.” Willow’s shoulders sagged. “They’re going to be wicked pissed.”
“Let’s go get it over with,” Darcy said.
11
As they walked down the lane to Willow’s house, Darcy tried to push back her misgivings. Of course she’d done the right thing, stopping Willow from snorting heroin. But Boyz wouldn’t like that Darcy had asked Willow to work in the library and he especially wouldn’t like that he’d told Darcy he knew what was happening with Willow and tonight Darcy had proved him wrong.
At the steps to the porch, Willow came to an abrupt halt.
“They’re going to kill me,” she whispered.
“You can handle it,” Darcy said. “They love you. Come on.”
She started up the steps to the side door. Willow stood frozen. Darcy reached back and took her hand. She was surprised when, as they entered the house, Willow kept a tight hold on her hand, and there they were, in the gleaming space-age granite-countered kitchen, standing together like two girls facing their headmaster.
Boyz was at the refrigerator, taking out a bottle of carbonated water. “Autumn, want some water?” he called. He wore a navy blazer and a striped button-down shirt, open at the collar. Loafers without socks. Party clothes.
“God, no, I’ll be up peeing all night as it is.” Autumn came to lean against the door from the dining room. She’d kicked off her stiletto heels, and still looked stunning in a tight pink strapless sheath. Her abundant red hair was falling down from its elegant chignon. Seeing Willow and Darcy, she recoiled. “Willow! What the hell?”
Boyz turned, startled, then snorted. “Oh, Darcy, honey, this is too much.”
It was Willow who spoke first, in a shaky little girl’s voice, and she squeezed Darcy’s hand so tightly as she spoke, Darcy thought she’d have bruises.
“Dad, Mom, listen. Something happened. I have to tell you.”
Autumn surged toward her daughter. “Are you all right?”
“I’m fine. But I almost did heroin with Logan.” Willow rushed out the words in a breathless squeak.
“Take a deep breath, Willow,” Darcy whispered. “You’re hyperventilating.”
“Darcy ran into the yard and stopped us.” Willow gave a half grin. “You should have seen her—she was like a maniac, she totally scared Logan!”
Autumn put her hands on her daughter’s shoulders and ran them up and down Willow’s arms, in the process accidentally—or not—sweeping Darcy’s hand away. “Are you okay?”
“I’m fine. I—”
“Heroin?” Boyz crossed the room in three steps and loomed over the women. “Are you telling me you did heroin?”
“Oh my god!” Autumn burst into tears.
“Heroin,” Boyz muttered. “Way out here on this isolated sandbar.”
“Mom, I said I didn’t do it. Darcy stopped me.”
“What the hell was Darcy doing there?” Boyz demanded.
“I just told you. We were in the backyard—Logan and I—and he wanted me to snort some heroin, and Darcy, like, exploded into our yard and kicked his hand and the stuff flew into the grass and Darcy yelled at him and he left and Darcy took me to her house for hot chocolate.”
Autumn stared at Darcy, who was almost painfully aware of how sloppy she looked in her T-shirt with its slogan—The library, a great place to get checked out—and shorts and flip-flops. Darcy couldn’t remember when she’d last brushed her hair. She’d never met Autumn. The other woman had flawless skin and a killer figure, was taller than Darcy, even barefoot. Darcy felt she was being judged by a really sexy schoolteacher.
“I don’t understand,” Autumn said. “Who’s Logan?”
Willow cringed, drawing her shoulders up as if she wanted to be a turtle hiding in her shell.
“Maybe we should sit down,” Darcy suggested. Trying to inject some calm into the situation—Willow was trembling, Boyz’s face was crimson—she gestured toward the kitchen chairs.
“Right,” Boyz snapped. “Right, tell us what to do in our own house.”
“I’ll leave if you’d like, but you might want to hear what I have to say,” Darcy replied, keeping her tone neutral.
Willow wrenched herself from her mother’s hands and plunked down in a chair. She crossed her arms over her chest and hung her head.
Autumn pulled out a chair next to her daughter. Boyz sighed mightily and sat, and Darcy took a seat at the far end of the table.
“All right,” Autumn said. “Let’s begin at the beginning. Who is Logan?”
“My boyfriend,” Willow muttered.
“Your boyfriend?” Autumn broke into a relieved laugh. “Honey, you’re way too young to have a boyfriend.”
“Oh, please,” Willow rolled her eyes at her mother’s na?veté.
Darcy spoke up. “Logan Smith is an island boy. As I told Boyz, I overheard him trying to…have sex with Willow. In the backyard. I was sitting in my backyard. I couldn’t help overhearing.”
Willow lifted her head. “See? I am old enough to have a boyfriend. Logan’s really nice. And totally hot.”
But Autumn was glaring at her husband. “As Darcy told you? When did Darcy tell you this piece of news? And where?”
Willow’s head whipped toward Darcy. “Wait, what? You told my father?”
“Cool your jets, Autumn,” Boyz said. “We ran into each other in the grocery store. Before that moment I had no idea she lived here, on the island or on the next street. It’s the only time I’ve seen her since we’ve been here.”
Darcy cut in. “I told Boyz that I knew Logan Smith. He’s handsome and he’s charismatic and he’s a troublemaker. I’ve heard rumors that he’s dealing heroin. Now I know.”
Autumn stayed focused on her husband. “Why didn’t you tell me, Boyz?”