Chapter Ten
Lynette woke to someone banging on her cabin door, but she refused to open her eyes. Had she gotten even two hours of sleep?
“Lynette, are you in there? Come on! We’re having breakfast on the beach!”
She rolled onto her stomach and smashed her pillow over her head. “Shut up, Jackie! You’ll wake the dead.”
The knocking continued.
“Grr . . . fine,” Lynette moaned as she tossed her pillow to the floor and pushed into a sitting position on the bed.
As she allowed her eyes to drift open, she surveyed her bedroom through wild, steel-gray curls. Light washed across the floor. She hadn’t bothered to close the curtains the night before, since her bedroom window faced the woods.
The outer door crashed open. Her head swung toward the noise in time to see the door rebound against the kitchen wall.
“Oops,” Jackie giggled. She stepped inside, a wicker basket in her left hand.
Lynette flopped back onto the bed, eyes closed again. The top of her head grazed the headboard, but not hard enough to hurt. “I locked that door. How did you get it open?”
Footsteps skipped toward her. “Renee told me where she stashed a hide-a-key.”
Lynette fumbled around for her second pillow, intent on muffling her friend’s screeching voice, but came up empty-handed.
“I see you kicked your pillows off.” Jackie dropped onto the bed and stretched out next to her.
“You aren’t going to let me go back to sleep, are you?”
“Of course not. Get up,” Jackie insisted. “This is the first day of our vacation and we’re going to make the most of it.”
Lynette felt a hand pat her thigh, and she knocked it away. “You know you’re a pain in the butt, right?”
The weight next to her disappeared, and a pillow smacked her in the face. “But you love me, anyway.”
The sound of a drawer sliding open brought her back to sitting. “Get out of my stuff!”
“Hush,” Jackie said. “Aren’t you Little Miss Tidy? Clothes put away already and everything. My rooms are a mess. It’s already heating up outside. It’ll get hot. Since we’re eating on the beach, do you want shorts or capris?”
“What I want is to brush my teeth, use the bathroom, and drink some coffee. Must we dive right into the day?”
Jackie tossed underwear and a pair of denim shorts her way, then held up an orange T-shirt. “ ‘We are the granddaughters of the witches you couldn’t burn,’ ” she read aloud. “A little early for your fall wardrobe, but this will do.”
Lynette caught the shirt when Jackie tossed it, too. “I saw it online and thought it was cute,” she grumbled, then crawled out of bed with a sigh.
“You’ll have to be sure to wear that on Halloween when you hand out candy. It’ll make the kids think twice about you.”
Lynette snagged a hair tie from the bedside table, along with the rest of the clothes Jackie had thrown at her, and shuffled past the irritating woman for the bathroom.
“Get out. I need ten minutes.”
She could hear the dresser drawer slide shut in the bedroom, and then Jackie followed her into the main room of the cabin. “You have five. And if you’re late, we won’t save you any coffee.”
It was the perfect thing to say to get Lynette moving.
Old friends always knew how to motivate each other.
More than five minutes later, but less than ten, Lynette sauntered onto the beach, her cheap flip-flops kicking up sand. Her four friends were already there, laughing and shoving pastries into their mouths.
“We are not going to have an early roll call every single morning,” she warned, wagging a finger at them as she joined the group on the sand.
“Good morning, sunshine!” Renee smiled up at her. “Sleep well?”
“Don’t get me started.” Lynette plopped onto one of two wool blankets spread out on the sand and eyed the thermos in Renee’s hand. “There better be coffee in that.”
Renee handed it to her, along with a paper coffee cup. “No worries. We have plenty.”
She shot Jackie a look as she poured herself a cup, then took a large gulp of the black, steaming liquid. After the sting of the heat passed, Lynette let her head fall back, inhaling deeply. The earthy scent reminded her of the wet morning back home when she’d started on the old garden shed, except here the fragrance was even bolder. A pelican flew in a graceful arc, high above them.
“I’m feeling better.”
Jackie laughed. “Good. For a minute there, I was afraid I’d woke a hungry bear instead of my friend. Why are you so tired? We all turned in early last night.”
Lynette took another big swig of coffee, then reached into a nearby sack and pulled out a soft, gooey Long John. Peanut sprinkles rained onto her lap. “I couldn’t sleep. I swear, the edge of the horizon was turning gold before I finally dozed off.”
Kit removed a round donut with white frosting from the bag.
Annie gasped. “Does that have jelly in it?”
“Sure does,” Kit said, handing it to the other woman. “You can have it. Jelly-filled aren’t my favorite. Besides, I already ate one donut. I probably don’t need another.”
After accepting the sugar bomb, Annie turned to Lynette. “Did those ghosts Renee mentioned keep you up?”
Lynette snorted. “The opposite. I was hoping to hear something, or at least sense it, but all I heard were animal noises coming from the woods behind me.”
The pastry only made it halfway to Annie’s mouth. “Animal noises? What kind of animal noises? Like bears?”
They all laughed as Annie swiveled on the blanket to stare into the heavy tree line behind them.
Renee poured herself some coffee. “The occasional bear does wander into this area, but we’ve only had one cause any trouble. Somebody didn’t latch the cover on the dumpster behind the lodge and a bear knocked it open. What a mess! We didn’t actually see the bear, but it left plenty of evidence behind.”
“Are they dangerous?” Annie asked. A thin line of frosting arced across her upper lip.
After screwing the top back on the thermos, Renee shrugged. “They are wild animals, so yeah, they can be dangerous. Just be smart and don’t leave food or garbage lying around. If you’re really worried, I think I have some bear spray in my office in the front of the lodge. You can carry it in your pocket. But I never bother.”
Annie still looked doubtful as she finished off the rest of her donut. Red jelly smeared her fingertips.
“The totem pole looks perfect mounted there where your sidewalk runs into the beach, Renee,” Kit said, nodding toward a carved wooden post. “Mine is still sitting on our front patio at home. Isaac swears it wards off evil spirits and germs. When none of us got sick during quarantine, he said it confirmed his theory. Aren’t you glad you brought one back from Maui?”
Renee pulled her knees to her chest and allowed her coffee cup to dangle from her fingertips. “So glad. I think of that trip almost every time I walk past it now. That was a wonderful vacation. I only hope you have half as much fun here as we did in Hawaii and Arizona.”
Lynette caught a wistfulness in her tone. “You aren’t seriously worried that we won’t enjoy ourselves here, are you? This place is a little slice of paradise! Look how calm the water is out there. It’s like glass. And I loved that we could just drive here. Still not comfortable with the idea of climbing back into an airplane yet, but I’ll get over it.”
“That surprises me,” Jackie said, dumping the cold dregs of her coffee into the sand. “You’ve traveled all over the world, Lynette.”
“A lot has changed during the past two years,” she replied.
Even more had changed than her four friends would guess, but she wouldn’t get into that and risk ruining this peaceful Saturday morning. Her discontent might not be real if she didn’t put it into words. She’d been so sure she’d love living in their big, beautiful home in Ruby Shores, but her confidence in that was slipping away. She was lonesome, bored, and she didn’t even want to allow her mind to puzzle over her potential financial concerns if the sale ultimately fell apart.
A slight breeze ruffled the once smooth surface of the lake, as if her thoughts stirred the surrounding energy. She noticed a loon far out on the water. But a blur of movement shifted her gaze to the left, where two brightly colored butterflies danced above the picnic basket.
“Oh look, butterflies!” Jackie said.
Lynette was happy to have her thoughts interrupted. The fluttering insects reminded her of a similar picnic in their recent past, though that was beside a different lake and the sun was higher and hotter. She jumped to her feet and waved her arms up and down, like wings. “Ladies! What does this remind you of?”
Annie grinned, wiping her sticky fingers on a paper napkin. “Summer camp?”
Laughing, Lynette dropped her arms. “Well, kind of. I was thinking about our picnic lunch we had, out on Owen’s old summer camp land, the weekend of our class reunion.”
Jackie nodded. “Except that was a white butterfly and wine instead of monarchs and coffee, but yeah, I see the similarities. I also remember how all of you were pushing me to chase my dream of building something of my own after I missed out on that promotion.”
Kit sighed. “And to think I was still hemming and hawing about marrying Dean back then. What was I so afraid of?”
Lynette laughed. “Marriage. The very idea still terrifies me, but I’m glad you don’t feel like you made a mistake. I also remember how we all dove into the water, intent on finding us some of those diamonds. Remember Counselor Wendy telling us about the diamonds in the falls when we were kids? I’d like to point out that we have, in fact, found our own diamonds at this point.” She raised her wrist and jiggled her diamond tennis bracelet, then pointed at the ring fingers of Kit, Annie, and Renee, plus the diamond studs in Jackie’s ears.
“We’ve come a long way, baby,” Jackie said, showing off her earlobes.
Renee looked a little lost. Then Lynette remembered she wasn’t at their reunion weekend. “I’m sorry, Renee, I forget you weren’t at our reunion. But you must remember Wendy and the diamonds?”
Renee nodded. “Don’t worry about it. I understand that the four of you have more history together. Besides, you’ll probably get sick of hearing me talk about all my old memories of out here, too. So I apologize in advance if I bore you. But there is just something special about this place. I hope you feel that, too. Something that makes the good times even more memorable.”
Lynette sat back down on the blanket, then reached over to grab hold of Renee’s ankle. “Hey, girl. What do I always say?”
Renee frowned. “Just say ‘thank you’ . . . ?”
This pulled a giggle out of Lynette. “Well, yeah, I say that all the time, but that wasn’t what I meant. Stop apologizing. That was something I noticed in my business. Women have this annoying habit of always saying we’re sorry. Men don’t do that. We need to stop. Except for when it actually needs saying. But not for every little thing.”
“Fine,” Renee said, making a hand motion as if locking her lips closed. “In that case, I’m going to share so many of my fun old memories over these next two weeks, and no matter how sick you get of hearing about them, I will not apologize.”
The other women all assured her they’d love to hear more.
“Where should I start?” Renee asked.
Lynette gazed around. “Start with this beach. What are some of your happiest early memories of hanging out down here? You used to come here as a kid, too, right?”
“I sure did,” Renee said, grinning. “There are so many memories, I wouldn’t know where to start. But, let’s see . . . All right, do you remember that colored picture of a little kid’s sand bucket on the wall in the lodge? We didn’t talk about it, but maybe you noticed it.”
Lynette didn’t remember, but both Jackie and Annie nodded.
“I finally threw the rusty old thing out last year. It sat on a shelf in the office since the eighties. But after I cut my foot on some broken glass only a few feet outside my office, I removed all hazardous items from the area.”
“What’s the story behind the bucket, then?” Kit prodded.
Lynette always loved the way Kit could keep their conversations on track.
“You wouldn’t believe it.”
“Try me, Renee,” Lynette said. She believed most things.
“Fine. But there are ghosts involved.”
She rubbed her palms together. “Perfect.”
Renee laughed. “Well, during our first summer vacation at Whispering Pines, we spent most of our time down here on the beach. I was ten. That means Ethan, my big brother, was eleven. I remember how mad he was that he had to miss his baseball tournament back home to come to Aunt Celia’s resort. Jess would have been about eight, and Val was a bratty five-year-old.”
Lynette reached for the thermos again. This wasn’t feeling like a quick conversation. “Where do the ghosts come in?”
“You’re going to have to wait for it, and I’m not going to apologize,” she said with a wink. “I can’t remember the exact order of events, but I think I fell in love for the first time in my life the same day we found that bucket.”
Annie pulled her sweatshirt off. The temperature was continuing to climb. “Keep talking,” she said, tossing the garment to the side.
Renee didn’t need further encouragement. “There was another boy out here that summer. He was traveling with his grandparents. No brothers or sisters. He was Ethan’s age, and they started hanging out and fishing together. He was so cute. Man, I haven’t thought about him in years. I wonder what ever happened to him . . .”
“He’s probably bald with three ex-wives and a beer belly that would interfere with your sexual pleasure,” Kit offered, maintaining a deadpan expression.
That stopped Renee cold. Then she laughed. “If that’s the case, I’ll keep Matt.”
“I’d keep Matt regardless,” Jackie teased.
The conversation brought memories of Storm forth again for Lynette. It was probably the “bald” comment. Or maybe it was the mention of falling in love for the first time. The man in Owen’s backyard was much bigger than the Storm of her youth, and his handsome black hair had disappeared, but he certainly wasn’t rocking a beer belly. Was he divorced? Or married? She had no idea. It was going to be tough to keep her recent encounter with Storm to herself. Her friends would eat the story up if she shared how she ran into him.
Renee was talking again, and she tried to pay attention to what she was saying. Her friend still hadn’t gotten to the ghost part yet.
“Sorry, that sent us off on a tangent,” Renee said. Then she gasped and covered her mouth when she realized she’d apologized again. “The boy’s name was Brandon, and he’s part of the story. If I remember right, we were building sandcastles down here. Of course, Ethan had to turn it into a competition. When we were kids, everything had to be a competition. I think it was his way of trying to assert some dominance, since his sisters outnumbered him,” she said. “Now, let me get back to the bucket. I think it was Jess who dug it up. It was buried right over there, and it was obviously old, so it had to have been under the sand for a long time. At the beginning of that vacation, an old guy who worked for Aunt Celia had told us that there were two little ghost boys that have roamed around out here for years, causing all kinds of mischief. And get this . . . he’d specifically said they liked to steal toys and bury them in the sand!”
Kit squished her face up in obvious disbelief. “He probably buried the bucket to mess with you.”
Renee spread her hands out, palms up. “Maybe. But I like to believe it was the ghost boys. Their names are Albert and Arthur.”
“The ghosts have names?” Annie said. She didn’t look as doubtful as Kit. “You say that like they’re still haunting the resort.”
“They are.” Renee winked. “Actually, legend has it that the boys got lost in the woods around here years and years ago. They found their bodies in a cave. Now, the spirits of the little imps still hang around here, causing trouble.”
Annie shook her head. “I bet the bears got them.”
Jackie shoved her in the shoulder, laughing. “Oh, stop. The bears aren’t going to get you. Go on, Renee.”
Renee laughed. “Let’s see, what came next? Sand caked the bucket, so I guess we brushed at it with our hands. I remember it was a hot and windy day. Some of the sand got into Val’s eyes.” Renee gazed out over the lake, lost in her memories. “She screamed and bawled, sending both Mom and Aunt Celia running to help. They carried her up to either the lodge or our cabin, I can’t remember which. As they were running across the grass with her, Mom yelled back at us to stay out of the water.”
Annie took another peek into the white pastry bag but, not finding anything tempting enough, rolled the top back down on it. “Let me guess. You didn’t listen.”
Renee shrugged. “I can tell you work with kids. You’re partially right. I listened, and so did Jess, but Ethan didn’t. Then again, I guess he didn’t feel like he had a choice.”
“Why not?” Lynette asked. She was still hoping to hear more about the ghost boys, but she was becoming invested despite herself.
“I’m getting there. Be patient. Cute Brandon was fishing out on the dock.” She pointed at the old wooden dock that jutted into the water off to their right.
Lynette was confused. “I thought he was building sandcastles with you.”
“No, but he was close by,” Renee clarified. “Not long after those three disappeared to get the sand out of Val’s eyes, Brandon started yelling something. Turns out one of our plastic blowup rafts had blown into the water. I can still see it, the bright pink of it, bobbing on the waves out there.”
Lynette followed her finger with her eyes. “Your brother went out to grab it?”
“He did, even though we were yelling at him to stay out of the water. I wasn’t too worried about what Mom would say about him going in. She was pretty distracted and much more worried about Val than the rest of us, but I didn’t want to disappoint Celia. As a kid, I always wanted to impress her. But Ethan didn’t listen. He waded out into the water. Problem was, it was windy, like I said, and he couldn’t move as fast as the raft. He eventually caught it, but he’d reached deep water by then, and it didn’t take us long to realize that he was struggling to get back. The waves were really high way out. This is a big lake, and it can be deceiving. Remember that if you take any of the boats out while you’re here.”
“How did he get back? Did you all get in trouble?” Kit asked as she slid her sunglasses off the top of her head onto her nose.
“Brandon saved the day,” Renee said, a wide grin making her look like a kid again. “And he had my heart. He jumped in, swam out to Ethan despite the now obvious danger, and helped him get back to shore. He’d captured my undying love . . . until he had to go home early when he broke his leg. But before that, once he’d rescued Ethan from the lake, I suppose the two of them felt invincible. They snuck into the woods later that week, even though the grownups had warned them to never go into the trees without an adult. Believe it or not, we think they found that cave where Arthur and Albert supposedly died. The idiots stood on top of it. Brandon fell in and hurt himself, and it was Ethan’s turn to save him. Aunt Celia was so flustered, waiting for them to be found. Honestly, I think that was the most upset I remember ever seeing her.”
Lynette considered this. “She probably didn’t want to double the number of ghost boys roaming around out here.”
“Right!” Renee said, motioning at her with both hands. “I never thought about it like that. Wouldn’t that have just ruined this place for everyone? Seriously though, Celia never would have forgiven herself if something happened to Ethan out here.”
When she paused in her storytelling to catch a breath, the haunting call of the loon, far out on the water, filled the silence.
The sound provided the perfect backdrop to Renee’s story. Lynette could feel her own grin widen.
Maybe a few mystical spirits actually do still roam the woods around Whispering Pines, after all. I’ll have to consult the tarot cards about the ghost boys.