Chapter 15
Present Day
It didn’t take Shannon long to complete her experiment and write the missing lab report.
After all, she’d already done the experiment several times—twice, now, successfully.
This time, she backed up a copy online, then took the lab report directly to her professor.
She didn’t want anything to be taken from his mailbox this time.
She considered asking the professor if she could sit down and watch him grade it and receive the grade then and there, but decided against it.
Right before she left his office, he asked her, “Are you holding up all right?”
She guessed he was referring to her father’s stroke. She offered a somber smile. The image of her father in his wheelchair or in bed was never far from her mind.
“I’m all right,” she said. “It’s been tough. Thanks for giving me a redo.”
“It’s the least I can do,” the professor said. “Take care.”
By six o’clock, Shannon’s updated grade was online. She called Russell right away. “It’s over,” she said. “I need to celebrate, like, right now.”
Russell laughed. “I take it you passed?”
“I didn’t just pass. I got Honors,” Shannon said, grinning so big that it hurt her face.
They decided to go out for Indian food. Shannon hurried to get dressed, then walked the three blocks to the best Indian food near campus.
Russell waited for her, wearing black jeans and a black T-shirt.
It looked as though he’d styled his hair.
He opened his arms to her, then hugged her in a way that made her heart pound.
“Of course you got an Honors,” he said. “I’m sure that’s what you got the first time, too!”
“It doesn’t matter. It’s over,” Shannon said.
They grabbed a table on the porch, where they each ordered the spiciest paneer dish on the menu, plus light beers. Russell raised his beer. “Let’s get this summer started, huh?”
“Finally,” Shannon said. “I’ve had a stomachache for weeks.”
They ate, chatted, laughed, and ate some more.
When their beers were finished and their plates were scraped clean, Russell insisted on paying, then led Shannon off the porch and down the road to a bar.
It was eight thirty and balmy with heat, and beautiful people in their twenties swarmed the streets.
Laughter echoed. Shannon imagined that if they ran into Dina, Cole or Mimi, she and Russell wouldn’t care.
They had each other; they had good humor and excitement for the future.
Over their second beers, Shannon again expressed her theory that Dina had taken her lab report from the professor’s mailbox. “I guess it’s something I will never be able to prove,” she said.
“You’d better watch your back next year,” Russell said. “She’s out to get you.”
“It’s weird. When I first met her freshman year, I thought it was amazing! Another science girlie. I was so ready for our friendship to blossom. It did, for a little while.”
“I remember when you used to bring her around. I thought she wanted to date me at first,” Russell said, laughing. “What changed between you guys?”
“She probably turned on me when you didn’t want to date her,” Shannon teased him.
Russell scoffed. “You’re going to blame me?”
“It all goes back to you,” Shannon affirmed.
“Well, I guess the universe does revolve around me,” he said thoughtfully. “Thanks for finally confirming that.”
Shannon punched him lightly on the arm. The eye contact between them was startling.
Suddenly, Russell leaned forward and kissed Shannon right there at the table.
Shannon felt her heart rise into her throat.
She felt warm and generous and hopeful. But a split-second later, all her fears crashed in on her.
A kiss always leads to relationships, and relationships always lead to heartbreak.
Even if Russell wanted to marry Shannon, he might have a stroke at the age of fifty-six and never be able to speak to her again.
She broke the kiss quickly and got to her feet. Russell looked pale and petrified. He stood, too, and searched for something to say. “Shannon,” he said. “I…”
But Shannon couldn’t imagine that what he wanted to say would help. “It’s okay. Don’t worry about it. Let’s forget it,” she begged him, then turned and headed for the exit, unable to look back.
When Shannon reached her apartment, her phone was filled with messages: some from Isabelle, others from Felicity, ten from Russell, and a single one from her mother. The one from Arietta said only, “Hi, honey. I’m sorry.”
Shannon called her mother immediately. She wanted to hear her voice, to know what Arietta was so sorry about. It didn’t sound good.
When Arietta answered, her voice was strangled and erratic. Shannon struggled to understand her.
“Mom?” Shannon whispered. “Are you all right?”
“I’m fine, honey,” Arietta said. But there were sobs between her words, and she hung up a moment later, refusing to answer the phone again when Shannon tried to call back.
Shannon was petrified. Rather than go to bed for the night and try again tomorrow, she drank a cup of coffee, threw some things in a bag, got in her car, and sped for Hyannis Port. The last ferry left a little before midnight, which gave her plenty of time.
While she drove, Russell tried to call Shannon seven times. Shannon couldn’t bring herself to answer it. She reflected on the previous weeks, during which she and Russell had fallen into one another for comfort. They were probably both confused about what that had meant.
For years, Shannon had been in love with Cole, and Russell had been in love with Mimi. Now, they were both reeling, wondering what the next phase of their lives would be. It was understandable that they’d accidentally fall for their best friend of the opposite sex.
Could she and Russell go back to pretending that nothing had happened between them?
Maybe Shannon could stay on Nantucket for a few weeks, until the dust had settled and she and Russell could laugh about this.
Or maybe in a week, she could call Russell and say something like, “That was weird, huh?” And they’d laugh and get over it.
That had to be possible. They had an entire year of grad school left together. Shannon couldn’t imagine not having Russell nearby to help her fight through it.
At the port, the ferry was a giant shadow over the glowing water, and the moon illuminated everything from the waiting car windows to the hats of the ferry dock workers. Shannon couldn’t imagine why so many people were trying to get to Nantucket so late at night.
While the ferry surged over the Nantucket Sound, clouds shivered on the horizon and flashed with lightning.
Shannon stood under the awning and watched as rain charged over the ocean, making it look like it was boiling.
By the time the ferry reached Nantucket port, the waves were so volatile that many ferry riders had to sit.
Shannon drove from the harbor to the Nantucket house, wondering what she was walking into. Perhaps her mother had gone to bed after a night of crying. Maybe they could wake up early tomorrow and have some coffee and get through this heartbreak together.
But when Shannon parked out front and entered the house, she found her mother wide awake at the kitchen table, with a glass of wine in front of her. She gazed unseeing into the air before her. She looked as though she’d seen a ghost.
Beside the glass of wine was what looked like a letter. Shannon couldn’t quite read the words from where she was.
“Mom?” Shannon whispered.
Arietta nearly leaped from her skin. “Shannon!” she cried, reaching for the letter, as though eager to tuck it away.
This quick movement told Shannon she needed to see the letter, if only to see what her mother was up against. Was it something from Shannon’s father from back in the day? Was it something from a lawyer?
“What is that?” Shannon asked, sitting beside her mother.
“What’s what?”
Shannon gave her mother a look that echoed Arietta’s own from back when she’d had to reprimand and parent her daughters. Arietta stalled, then set the letter back on the table. She looked as though she’d done something wrong.
At first, Shannon didn’t recognize what she was reading.
Dear Mrs. Peters,
It has come to our attention that the amount you sent us is not enough to cover the damages you’ve caused. Please send an additional fifty thousand dollars by the end of the week to protect your and your husband’s tremendously damaging secrets. You know exactly what will happen if you don’t.
Your Guardian Angels
Shannon gaped at the letter, then turned her attention to Arietta, who couldn’t stop crying. Her cheeks were inflamed.
“Fifty thousand dollars?” Shannon breathed. “Mom, what is this?”
Arietta shook her head.
“You already sent them something?” Shannon demanded.
Arietta closed her eyes, which felt like proof enough of what she’d done.
“How much?” Shannon whispered.
Arietta didn’t answer.
Shannon was on her feet, stewing with rage. “They can’t do this to you,” she shot. She couldn’t believe these cruel, manipulative people. These people who’d seen a grieving widow and decided to take her for all she was worth. She pulled her phone from her pocket and prepared to dial the police.
But before she could, Arietta gripped the phone, and she tugged it out of Shannon’s hand. “No police,” Arietta rasped. “Please, no.”
Slowly, Shannon let herself fall back into her chair.
She looked at her mother, trying to understand.
She listed the facts: her mother was being blackmailed.
Arietta had already paid the blackmailer and was now expected to pay even more.
It pointed to one thing and one thing only: her mother and father had done something wrong. But what?
Shannon wondered if she was too frightened or too childish to ask.
“Mom,” she finally rasped. “Mom, what did you do?”
Arietta turned to gaze into the dark hallway that led from the kitchen to Shannon’s father’s room.
Her look was harrowing. At that moment, Shannon understood, or thought she did.
Arietta didn’t know what she was trying to protect herself from.
She didn’t know what the blackmailers knew.
In fact, it was impossible to know, as Fred kept his secrets locked tight in his head.
He would never speak his secrets aloud again.
“I love you,” Shannon breathed, reaching for her mother’s hand and squeezing hard. “We’re going to get through this.” They had to.
But Arietta seemed unsure what to say to that. Together, they gazed down at that friendly sounding blackmail letter and listened as the rain barrelled down on the house. Shannon could hardly hear herself think.