Chapter 16
IF CARLY HADN’T WALKED THROUGH the door at that moment, Anita would have asked Wyatt who’d broken his heart. She knew he hadn’t been married, so was it a serious relationship? At least wondering about it was a distraction from Bobby. As she watched Wyatt interact with Carly, and how she seemed perfectly happy right now, Anita steeled herself for that changing.
“Where do we start first?” Carly asked as she munched on an apple. Sassy had parked herself on Carly’s lap. “That’s a lot of phone calls if we call everyone on those lists.”
Wyatt tapped one of the lists. “I put an asterisk by the ones I think we should start with. See their residency dates? They’re the ones who lived in the town the longest.”
“Good plan.” Carly took another bite of her apple.
A memory stirred about Bobby as Anita watched her. They used to meet for library study sessions, and he always sneaked in snacks. It was a challenge for her to not get caught. She blinked the memory away.
“Okay, let’s do this.” Carly pointed at the first name. “Let’s call Mr. Leo Martin.”
Wyatt pulled the phone closer to him and dialed, then lifted the receiver to his ear. After several moments, he said, “No answer.”
Carly wrote “CB” next to the man’s name for “call back.” “What about Alice Martin?”
Wyatt dialed the next number. “Alice Martin?” he said into the phone. “This is Wyatt Davis and—” He moved the receiver from his ear and looked at Anita. “She hung up.”
Carly shrugged and wrote “CB” next to the woman’s name. “Maybe Mom or me can try her later. She probably thought you were one of those Kirby vacuum sales guys.”
Wyatt chuckled. “Probably.”
“Can I try the next one?” Carly asked.
Wyatt looked as surprised as Anita felt. “Sure. Go for it.”
She dialed, and as she waited for Marjorie Martin to pick up the phone, Wyatt met Anita’s gaze. “You okay?” he mouthed.
She couldn’t explain the expansion of her heart. “I’m okay,” she mouthed back.
“Hi, Mrs. Martin?” Carly said in a rather professional tone.
Anita raised her brows, very interested to see how this conversation was going to go.
“My name is Carly Gifford, and I’m helping my friend’s grandpa find a long-lost friend.” She paused, her nose wrinkling. “No, it’s not a school fundraiser. How old am I? Fourteen.”
Another pause. “I actually live in Seattle, but the friend moved to your city in 1919.” Carly nodded. “Yeah, I know it was a long time ago. The woman is Susan Martin, and she’d be about eighty-three right now.”
Anita smiled, impressed with her daughter, no matter the outcome of this phone call. Wyatt reached over and squeezed her hand, his smile wide, too.
“Oh, you do?” Carly said, reaching for a pencil. “But she moved away?”
Anita covered her mouth and stared at her. Did they already have a lead?
“Do you know where?” she continued. “No? Do you know if she got married before leaving?” She scribbled something illegible on the paper. “Okay, well, is there anything else you can remember that might help my friend and his grandpa?”
Another moment passed, then Carly said, “Thank you very much, Mrs. Martin.” She hung up and wrote down another sentence on the paper.
“Well?” Anita asked, too impatient to wait. “What did she say?”
Carly lifted her gaze. “She said she knew a Susan Martin who used to work at a grocery store. She moved away, though, when they were about twenty years old. If it really was the Susan we’re looking for, she didn’t marry before leaving Carson, Nevada.”
Wyatt frowned. “That might make things easier—if we don’t have to figure out her married name. But Gramps said she was engaged the last he heard, so she must have ended up somewhere with a husband.”
“Let’s keep calling,” Anita said. “We at least have more information now to work with.”
Over the next hour, they made several phone calls, until they hit the jackpot. Almost literally.
“Jack Martin,” Anita said, pointing to the next name on the list. “He’s been in that town for thirty years.”
“Born there?” Wyatt asked.
“Maybe . . .”
“Could be a nephew.” He began to dial the number.
She listened as Wyatt introduced himself, and then his eyes widened. He grabbed the pencil and began to write. “You’re saying that Susan Martin is your aunt?” He paused, his gaze shifting to Anita and Carly, then back to the notebook. “Where is she now?”
Wyatt closed his eyes as he listened to Jack’s reply.
Anita wished she could hear what he was saying, but all she could hear was his murmured voice.
Wyatt opened his eyes and began to write more things down. “Do you happen to have her address? Or phone number?”
Anita’s mind spun. Susan was alive and reachable. Amazement and gratitude flooded through her. What would it be like when they told Mr. Davis?
Moments later, Wyatt hung up. He drew in a slow breath, then said, “Susan is in Medford, Oregon.”
“Where the postcard came from?”
He nodded. “She’s living with her daughter, Lila. She divorced a long time ago, I guess.”
“So she did marry...” Anita cleared her throat. “How’s her health?”
A line appeared between Wyatt’s brows. “Her nephew said that she is healthy physically, but she’s had some mental struggles. She’s basically a recluse. She’s agoraphobic and doesn’t leave the house.”
Anita said nothing, but Carly’s brows popped up. “Why won’t she leave the house?”
“It’s part of a mental illness,” Wyatt said.
“Maybe something bad happened to her?” Carly suggested. “To make her afraid?”
“I honestly don’t know a lot about agoraphobia,” he said.
“I don’t either,” Anita said. “Did her nephew say anything else?”
“Yeah.” Wyatt tapped the paper. “He said I could call her. Maybe introduce myself before I give any information to Gramps. Test the waters, so to speak.”
“Do you think she wants to be contacted?” Anita asked.
“It’s hard to say.” He retraced the phone number with his pencil. “She did send that postcard.”
“With no return address.” Anita hesitated. “Does she have any other issues, like dementia?”
“Not that Jack knows of,” Wyatt said. “He spoke to her a couple of months ago.”
Anita nodded and stared at the number and address he had written down. “Well?”
“What are you thinking?” he asked in a tentative tone.
“We should call her right now!” Carly said.
Wyatt rubbed his forehead. “I’m thinking that too. If we’re all ready to do this?”
Carly raised her hand into the air. “I’m ready!”
Anita smiled and Wyatt chuckled.
“All right, here we go...” He linked his fingers and stretched out his hands, then picked up the receiver.
Anita moved over a seat to be right next to him, and Carly scooted her chair closer.
They could hear the ringing of the phone, and then a woman answered it. “Lila Martin?” he said. “This is Wyatt Davis, I’m the grandson of Sam Davis, an old friend of your mother’s. My grandpa has been hoping to get in touch with her.”
The woman didn’t say anything for a moment, and Wyatt moved the receiver out a few inches from his ear, so Carly and Anita could listen in.
Finally, the woman spoke, her voice sounding sharp through the receiver. “Sam Davis? From Seattle?”
“Yes, that’s right.” Wyatt gave Carly a thumbs-up. “I guess your mother sent him a postcard a few months ago, and hearing from her brought back a lot of memories.”
The woman took a long moment to answer again. “I told her not to send that postcard, but I guess she found a way to without me knowing it.”
Wyatt blinked. “I’m sorry. Is there a reason you don’t want her to get in touch with my grandpa?”
Lila didn’t hesitate this time. “Yes. He broke her heart decades ago, and she never got over it. She has to move on, needs to move on. It’s been over sixty years, as you know.”
“It has been a long time,” Wyatt agreed. “But she moved from Seattle with her family. From what I heard, there was no other option. So I don’t see how she can say that my grandpa broke her heart.”
“That’s her story to tell,” Lila said. “But I don’t want her upset all over again.”
“I understand.” Wyatt drew in a breath. “Would it be possible to speak with her? Maybe it would actually be healing?”
Lila scoffed. “Her life has been far from easy. All those promises made to her by Sam Davis were broken, and I’m not going to watch her suffer over it one more day.”
“I’m really sorry for all of her pain,” Wyatt said. “Do you think it will help her to talk through all of this? I can have my grandpa call her.”
“No,” Lila said. “I don’t know how you got this number, but I don’t want to ever hear from your grandpa.”
Anita touched his arm. “Give her your number,” she whispered.
He nodded. “I got this number from Jack Martin. I didn’t mean to stir up painful feelings or memories. Could you please write down my number in case...in case you do happen to change your mind and speak to her?”
He paused, then finally he recited his phone number. When he hung up, he rubbed at both temples. “What happened that Gramps isn’t telling us?”
Anita laid a hand on his arm. “I don’t know, but it sounds like Susan was very hurt by it.”
Wyatt nodded. “Yeah. I don’t know either—Gramps made everything sound like they wanted to see each other again, but circumstances never worked out. Then they both married, and fell out of touch.”
“Do you think your grandpa forgot what happened between them?” Carly asked.
“Possibly,” he acknowledged. “But obviously Susan hasn’t. Maybe it’s better we tell Gramps that we couldn’t find her. The truth might hurt too much.”
“Or be healing,” Carly said. “Isn’t that what you told Lila?”
“It is,” Wyatt said. “And I know we can’t keep this from Gramps, but it worries me too.” He met Anita’s gaze. “Are we opening a can of worms by doing this?”
Carly rose from the table. “I vote we call Susan’s house again another night. Maybe she’ll answer. Maybe her daughter is protecting her for a reason that doesn’t matter anymore. Susan wrote to your grandpa, after all.”
Wyatt’s brows shot up. “Are you sure you’re only fourteen?”
She smiled. “Yep, and I’m starving. Let’s get dinner ready.”
“I’m in.” Wyatt rose from the table too, and as Carly headed into the kitchen, he turned to Anita. “What do you think? Should we continue down this path?”
She drew in a breath. “I agree with Carly. Your grandpa keeps talking about her. And maybe he broke her heart, but they can work through it, right? It’s never too late?”
Wyatt gave a thoughtful nod. “Right.” He peered at her. “Are you sure you want to keep helping me? I mean, you have a lot on your plate with talking to Carly later.”
“Honestly, this has helped her with a larger perspective on life.” She stood. “And as for the other...I have to trust that Carly will be able to handle her father.”
Wyatt’s gaze moved over her face. “If there’s anything I can help with, let me know.”
“Of course.”
He grasped her hand, his touch warm and gentle at the same time. “I mean it, Anita. I want to help. You’ve both helped me along this tricky road. I would have ignored it if not for Carly.”
She smiled, but mostly her stomach fluttered at the way he held her hand. It was short-lived, of course, because Carly was only a dozen feet away in the kitchen. “All right, I’ll let you know. Thanks for the offer.”
Wyatt stepped away from her, and they both headed into the kitchen.
“What can I do?” he asked.
“Cut these up.” Carly handed over a couple of peppers.
“Orange peppers?”
“They’re sweet,” Anita said. “Do you think you can handle an onion, too?”
“Bring it on.” Wyatt smiled. “I can’t promise not to cry, though.”
Once the meat and veggies were sizzling in the wok, Carly said, “I think we should tell your grandpa all about what Lila said. Then we’ll see what his answer is.”
Wyatt paused where he was setting napkins on the table. “You’re right. The more I think about it, the more curious I am. Don’t you think it’s odd that Susan would claim he broke her heart?”
“Or maybe Lila is just dramatic?” Carly offered. “Like some of my friends.”
“That’s a long time to hold on to a heartbreak, though,” Anita said.
Carly shrugged and sat down at the kitchen table. “Not so long. I mean, divorced couples hate each other for the rest of their lives.”
Anita stilled. “Where did you hear that?”
Carly looked up. “No one. It’s just what I observed. You hate Dad. And my friend Becky said that her parents have been divorced for five years, and they still hate each other.”
Anita wondered what Wyatt was thinking about all of this. “I don’t hate your father, Carly. I just hate that he disappeared on us.” Of course that could all change now. “Can we talk about this later? I don’t want to spoil our dinner.” Maybe putting off a teenager’s caustic remarks wasn’t the best parenting move, but she couldn’t keep up with the conversation with Wyatt here. There was too much to talk to Carly about, and it needed to be done in private.
“Anyone want some rice?” Anita scooped rice from the pan into a serving bowl.
“I do,” both Wyatt and Carly said.
The next half-hour was spent eating and chatting, with Anita steering the conversation to things like the school band and her newest art client. Wyatt even talked a little about his day at work.
All too soon, dinner was over. They all agreed to meet at the assisted living center the following night and talk to Mr. Davis. Wyatt gathered up his files and headed to the door, and Carly disappeared into her bedroom to call one of her new friends.
Wyatt paused at the front door. “I guess we didn’t need so much information after all when Jack Martin turned out to be a direct link.”
“We got lucky,” Anita said. For some reason, she didn’t want him to leave yet. Because when he did, she’d have no more excuses to put off talking to Carly about her dad.
“Call me later?” Wyatt said, his green eyes on her.
She hesitated, and he rushed to say, “Or not. But I’ll be hoping the best for your talk with Carly.”
“I’ll call you.” Her pulse sped up. “I don’t want you home alone dying to know what’s going on.”
His mouth lifted. “That perfectly describes what I’ll be going through if you don’t call.”
Anita folded her arms. “So...you mentioned that you’ve been through heartbreak. What happened?”
Surprise crossed his expression. “You remember?”
“I do.”
He glanced away for a second, then said, “Her name was Cynthia. She basically left me at the altar—well, I did get a few hours’ notice, so I wasn’t actually standing at the altar.”
“Oh, I’m sorry.” She winced. “How long ago did that happen?”
“Three years.” He shifted the box in his hands. “Long enough to be over the rejection, but not long enough to completely forget it.”
Anita could see the pain in his eyes...He’d obviously really cared for Cynthia. “I’m sorry. It sounds like a rough breakup.”
Wyatt nodded. “The long view is that it was for the best. And life moves on. And sometimes there’s something better waiting.”