The Secrets of Lake Road

Sara’s mother had been waiting at the pier. She released the most terrifying sound Caroline had ever heard. Caroline pinched her eyes closed and waited for the cry to end. She searched for comfort in the thought that at least Sara was finally with her mother. When she opened her eyes again, the men were loading Sara’s body into the back of the van. The vehicle rolled off the beach in a hushed silence until it reached the parking lot, where the gravel crackled under its tires. It drove behind the Pavilion and up the hill onto Lake Road and out of sight.

Underwater recovery started packing their gear. One of the men explained Sara’s body most likely surfaced sometime during the storm on that first night, a term they called refloating, and the wind had carried her to the south end of the lake. It was the reason they hadn’t been able to find her sooner.

*

Once underwater recovery was packed and gone, Caroline’s friends and their parents started making their way home. No one talked. There was nothing left to say.

Sheriff Borg tipped his hat at Caroline and her mother, pausing a long time to look over her mother’s bruised face.

“It’s a long story,” her mother told him. “But you’ll have to ask Dee Dee if you want to hear it. I’m sure she’ll be happy to tell you all about it.”

The sheriff continued staring at her mother as though he had more to say, but maybe under the circumstances he decided it could wait because he said, “Fair enough,” and walked away. He stopped to talk with Chris’s mother, Dee Dee. Chris and Johnny were with her. Caroline had just noticed they had been watching from the pier. Caroline couldn’t help but think Johnny was with his new family, and it was her fault.

Her mother looked at the group on the pier, and Caroline wondered if she were thinking the same thing, if she blamed Caroline.

“I’m heading home,” her mother said. “Are you coming?”

“In a minute.”

Once her mother walked away, Johnny headed in Caroline’s direction. He bumped her shoulder and motioned toward the south end of the lake. “You did good,” he said.

She shrugged. “It was Cougar who found her.”

“Yeah, but you’re the one who brought the dog with you.”

“I suppose.” She paused and looked in the direction where the sheriff and Dee Dee were talking. She glanced back at Johnny. “I’m real sorry about what I did to you.” It was the only other thing she could think to say.

“Forget about it,” he said. “It’s not your fault.”

He was right. She was twelve years old and couldn’t be held responsible for her parents’ lies.

“It’s funny,” he said. “But I’m not really mad. I mean, it’s messed up finding out Kevin’s not my real dad, but it kind of makes sense. Now I know why things were always weird between him and me, you know?”

She nodded.

Johnny nudged her shoulder again. “I’m staying with Chris and his mom until the end of the summer. At least until I figure things out.” He shrugged. “I wanted you to know.”

Caroline looked at the ground and forced out the word okay.

“You’re still my little sister, you know.”

“Half-sister,” she said.

“Technically, true.” He wrapped an arm around her. “I’m still going to pick on you.”

“Great.”

He laughed and dropped his arm. “Well, I guess I’ll see you around the watering hole.” He started walking away.

“Hey, Johnny,” she called.

He turned around.

“No halfsies,” she said. “Brother and sister.”

“You got it,” he said and smiled his crazy silly smile that could break a million girls’ hearts.

*

Gram was pulling out the last of the boxes in the back closet off the screened-in porch. She told Caroline she was determined to get through all the old junk and be done with it. She had been directing Caroline’s mother all morning: Pick up this box and set it out for the trash, carry this one to the car to donate, try not to break anything in this box and put it in the hall closet.

Her mother didn’t complain and did what Gram had asked her to do. However, Caroline noticed every move her mother made was done with slow, careful steps, as though she were recovering from a bad fall. There were bruises on her mother’s body to match the shiner on her face. Despite looking beat-up, her mother seemed, oh, Caroline didn’t know, better somehow. There was something different about her, something Caroline struggled to name, but she didn’t put much effort into it anyhow. She no longer felt as though it was her responsibility to figure her mother out. She learned maybe it was better to leave some things alone.

“I can help,” Caroline said to Gram when she dropped another box onto the floor outside Caroline’s bedroom door.

“No, you should be outside,” Gram said. “Go on and have fun. You shouldn’t be hanging around inside, not on a day like today.”