Gift of Friends

Chapter Fifteen

Following phone calls to both her lawyer and Donna the next morning, Lynette felt marginally better about her house situation, as well as the bad press Lauren had showed her by the campfire.

It was a relief to learn that her lawyer had indeed received the scheduled payment from the sale on Lynette’s behalf since they’d last spoken and deposited it into her account. He was curious if a packet he’d sent the previous week from New York to Lynette’s home had arrived. There were things he needed to discuss with her, but he was confident these items weren’t material in nature.

When she’d talked with her mother, Donna confirmed the arrival of a large envelope from Lynette’s lawyer. It was waiting for her on her desk in their home library. She’d gone on to convince Lynette that their home was fine, despite the water Relic discovered in the basement. Their friendly neighbor, Owen, who they’d borrowed tools from in the past, had kindly helped with the cleanup, along with Annie’s husband and son. Donna seemed less interested in discussing things on the home front. She wanted to hear all about Whispering Pines and whether her daughter and friends were having fun.

Feeling better about things back home, Lynette vowed to have a fun day. When Renee gently rapped on her cabin door around nine, she was game to put on hiking clothes and head into the woods with her old friends. Jackie and Renee set a quick pace for the other three.

“Hey, Jackie!” Lynette yelled. “Guess who helped Mom clean up the mess in my basement?”

“How would I know?” Jackie snapped over her shoulder.

Lynette stepped around a fallen log and hurried to catch up with her. “Jeez, what has you so uptight this morning? You used to smile when someone mentioned Owen.”

Jackie pushed her hair back off her forehead. “But you didn’t mention Owen. You were making me guess. I hate guessing games. Man, it’s so hot! I should have stayed in bed.”

Lynette could tell something was up with Jackie, and she sensed her friend wasn’t in the mood to make small talk. She slowed her steps just enough that Jackie and Renee were soon out ahead of her again. She didn’t want to catch Jackie’s crummy mood.

Crabby or not, Jackie was right about one thing. It was already hot, even in the woods, despite the early hour and shadowy path. She hung back and allowed herself to focus on the beauty and peace around her. Walking through the dense trees was so different from her morning strolls through Ruby Shores.

“Renee, any ideas for what we’ll do when we get back from our walk?” she eventually asked. “I might need to stay out of the sun. I saw on my phone this morning that it could reach a hundred today. That’s blistering hot, even by the water.”

Renee slowed so Lynette could catch up to her. “Actually, I do have a plan for later. It’s a surprise. I’m not sure if everyone will think it’s fun, but I bet you will.”

“Oh, I like surprises!” Lynette said. She checked behind them and noticed Annie and Kit were discussing something. Jackie was still out ahead, and the distance between her and the rest of their small hiking party was growing.

“Jackie seems uptight this morning,” she said to Renee. “I have no idea what’s bothering her, but I think she might need some space today. Annie and Kit probably have lots to talk about, now that Kit is raising Isaac. Since Annie is both a high school principal and a mother of three grown kids, I’m sure she has plenty of advice to offer. They could talk all day.”

Renee nodded and swatted away a bug, then started moving again. “Jackie will tell us what’s going on when she’s ready. I understand why Kit might be looking for guidance, too. Big life changes like she’s going through are tough to navigate. They took in a teenage boy at the same time they got married! That’s a lot for anyone to deal with. I feel like life keeps me caught up in one big change after another, too. It’s been that way ever since my first husband died.”

“How many years ago was that? My heart broke for you when I read your Christmas letter that year,” Lynette said. She remembered receiving Renee’s unusually brief note. She’d canceled her holiday plans for that evening and stayed home in front of her Christmas tree with a glass of wine, mourning a man she’d never met. Grieving for her old friend’s excruciating pain.

“He died in 2005. Sixteen years is a long time. There were still some good times, after losing Jim, but raising two kids as a single, frazzled mother often felt like one crisis after another. But we made it.”

The life Renee described was so different from Lynette’s. She could barely imagine what her friend’s day-to-day life looked like in those ensuing years. “But you conquered all, and now you are a superwoman, running a beautiful resort and retreat business with your handsome husband. The troubles are behind you.”

Renee nodded but said nothing more on the topic, so Lynette walked alongside her in silence, taking in the natural beauty all around.

Something off in the trees caught her eye. “What’s that?”

“What’s what?” Renee said, slowing. She sounded like her mind was somewhere miles from the woods at Whispering Pines.

Lynette stopped. “There. It looks like . . . an old clothesline?” She laughed. “But that can’t be right, not out here in the middle of nowhere.”

“Believe it or not, that’s exactly what it is. An old camper used to be parked out here. We stumbled across it a few years back. Well, Lauren and Harper were the ones to find it, actually.”

Curious, Lynette strode toward the tilted metal pole. “Hey, Jackie, wait up! Come back here! Renee, isn’t Harper pretty young? Like three or four? A few years ago means she was a baby back then.”

Renee followed her. “Remember how Jess’s ex-husband fathered a baby with his mistress? That crazy, incompetent woman showed up out here one day, totally unexpected, and tried to take Harper. Lauren was here at Whispering Pines, alone, babysitting her new half-sister. It was a cold and rainy day, not hot like today. Lauren was terrified. She ran into the woods with Harper to try to lose the woman. Jess realized the girls were missing, and a few hours of complete chaos followed. Matt and a deputy helped find them, thank God. They were hiding inside the camper that used to be out here.”

To Lynette, it sounded like something out of a horror movie. “Wow! Maybe life outside of the Big Apple isn’t as boring as I always thought.”

“I’ve never even been to New York City, but trust me when I say that my life has not been boring.”

“Oh, Renee, you really need to visit New York someday. We’ll go together, and I can show you all my favorite things. But what happened to the camper? The trees and underbrush are so thick out here.”

Renee nodded as Jackie, Kit, and Annie all joined them at the same time.

“Camper? There used to be a camper here? Where did it go?” Annie asked, spinning in a slow circle.

“Val convinced a bunch of guys to help her yank it out of here.” Renee pulled her phone out of the pocket of her hiking shorts and checked it. “Dang. I’m sorry to cut our hike short, ladies, but I just got a text from Julie. She’s having trouble with our credit card machine and one of our customers is trying to check out early. I better get back. Besides, the mosquitoes are vicious today.”

“But what did Val want with an old camper? Do they take it camping? I don’t understand how they even got a camper out of here. Or in,” Kit said, looking as curious as Lynette felt.

“I’ll tell you the entire story, I promise. Or Val can. It’s really her story to tell, anyway. Ready?”

Jackie, still unusually quiet, nodded and headed back in the direction they’d come. “Ready. I need to call my mom, anyhow.”

“Is everything all right?” Annie asked, hurrying to catch up with Jackie.

“No. It’s my dad. He fell yesterday. Mom called late last night to let me know, but she said he was going to be fine. I just worry, you know?”

Lynette’s thumb rubbed against the empty spot on her finger where she used to wear the silver ring she’d lost in the lake. “I do know what you mean, Jackie. I hate that our parents are getting older. But if any of you tell Donna I said she’s old, I’ll never speak to you again.”

Lynette helped herself to a handful of pretzels from a bowl on the coffee table in Jackie and Kit’s cabin. Voices floated over to her from the kitchen counter where the two were busy layering cold cuts and cheese slices on homemade bread. Jackie seemed to be in a better mood. Lynette could only catch every third word or so of their conversation over the hum of the air-conditioning unit in the window. She wandered over to stand in front of the cool stream of air, munching the pretzels.

After hanging with Kit and Renee in the lodge for most of the day to avoid the sun, she’d slipped back to her own cabin midafternoon for some solitude. It had been stuffy inside, but a ceiling fan positioned over her bed and a smaller window unit than this one had kept the temperature bearable. She’d only meant to rest for a few minutes, but sleep finally found her. When she woke, the fan above was motionless. When the bathroom light wouldn’t turn on either, she knew she’d blown a fuse. A lukewarm shower had revived her, but this cool air felt heavenly.

“I hope you like turkey or ham,” Kit said as she placed a tray of sandwiches next to the pretzels.

Lynette turned to her friend. “Either is fine. Where do you suppose Renee and Annie are? Didn’t we agree on 6:30?”

As if her words had conjured up one of the missing Kaleidoscope Girls, the outer screen door into the cabin’s enclosed porch squeaked open and slapped shut. Annie’s voice reached the living room before she did.

“Tell me you didn’t start the party without me!”

Kit laughed. “It’s never a party until you arrive, Annie. You’re just in time for sandwiches.”

“Perfect,” Annie said, stepping into the front room and kicking her sandals off next to the inner door. “I’m starving. And sunburned.”

Lynette picked a sandwich off the top of the pile, then took a closer look at their latest arrival. “God, Annie. Are you just coming in from the beach now? I couldn’t take any more sun today.”

Annie nodded, but walked right past the food for the kitchen. “I probably should have done that, too. I need something cold to drink. Where’s Renee?”

The entire kitchen was easily visible from the living room, and Lynette saw Jackie spin away from the refrigerator with two bottles of beer in each hand. She kicked the door to the fridge closed with one foot. “How about a beer?”

“Yes, please!” Annie cried, taking both of the bottles from Jackie’s left hand and giving one to Kit. “But we need an opener.”

Jackie held one of the remaining two bottles toward Lynette. “Beer?”

She shook her head. She hadn’t enjoyed an icy beer since high school. If she was going to splurge and allow herself a cocktail or two, it would have to be something tastier than beer. She’d already overdone it once on this vacation with the wine.

“Save it for Renee. I’ll get some ice water.”

Annie slammed a drawer. “Speaking of Renee, I thought she’d be here already,” she said, popping the top off her beer.

Jackie used the opener next. “She was here, but then she said something about forgetting to bring over the surprise, and she ran out. That was about five minutes before you got here, Lynette.”

Lynette wandered to the kitchen and flipped open a few of the upper cabinet doors before finding a water glass. “Renee has these cabins well stocked. Oh, and remind me when she gets here—I think I blew a fuse in my cabin, and I’m not sure how to fix it. I need to ask her. Even though I hate making her do any work for us. It’s supposed to be her vacation, too.”

Annie took a sip of her beer, then used it to point to a small sign posted on the wall in the kitchen. “What if you tried that number? Her daughter, Julie, might answer. Maybe she can handle it without bothering Renee at all.”

“That’s a good idea,” Lynette said. Once she’d dumped ice into her glass and filled it from the tap, she pulled out her phone.

She’d just finished talking to Julie when the outer screen slapped shut again.

“Sorry I’m late!” Renee yelled as she hurried into the front room. “Tell me the party didn’t start without me.”

Lynette laughed as she watched Renee set a small wooden box on the coffee table next to the food. She loved how they often said the same things, like both Annie and Renee had when they got to Jackie and Kit’s cabin a little late.

It was another perk of a long, comfortable friendship.

“I can’t believe you kept these!” Lynette cried, fingering her way through the stack of letters. The contents of the box turned out to be Renee’s promised surprise.

Renee placed her empty paper plate on the floor next to her rocking chair, then used her foot to push off the coffee table, setting the rocker into motion. “We can thank Mom for that. I had no idea she kept that box after I moved out.”

Jackie returned to her spot on the couch next to Lynette after putting the extra sandwiches away. She nodded toward the box. “I love that you two kept your promise to each other to stay in touch after summer camp. Are those all the letters Lynette sent you through the years?”

“I wish,” Renee said, shaking her head. “I’m not as much of a pack rat as my mother. When I moved here, to Whispering Pines, from Minneapolis, I tossed a lot of stuff, including any newer letters. But Mom was careful to keep things that were important to each of us kids after we moved out. They still live in the same house where I grew up. They’ve updated our bedrooms, but we each have a few shelves of our old things in closets throughout the house.”

Lynette couldn’t imagine having full shelves of things from her girlhood days. She and Donna had moved around too much for that.

She pulled out the envelope at the front of Renee’s box. “I bet this is the very first letter I ever sent you. The postmark says October nineteenth, 1982.”

Jackie leaned over to look. “I’ve always loved your handwriting, Lynette. Your cursive is a little fancier these days, but I’d recognize your writing anywhere. I wonder if my girls could even read this, since it’s in cursive.”

Annie grimaced. “Don’t get me started. I hate that the school systems have moved away from teaching cursive in the lower grades.”

Lynette pulled the torn flap out of the back of the old envelope. She’d licked and sealed it shut nearly forty years ago. She laughed as she pulled out a folded piece of paper and four small, rectangular pictures fluttered into her lap.

“I forgot I sent you school pictures of everyone! Do you guys remember how we always had to file down to the gym to get these pictures taken during our first weeks of school?”

Kit snatched the photos out of Lynette’s hand. “These are too funny! I forgot you had braces, Annie. If these were taken at the start of seventh grade, we were twelve, right? You look about eight years old in this one.”

Annie shrugged. “What can I say? I was a tiny yet mighty gymnast back in those days. Puberty was slow to find me.”

Kit groaned as she gave the pictures back to Lynette. “Lord. My hair was awful! No wonder kids used to call me Carrot Kid!”

Renee smiled. “I knew Lynette would get a kick out of reading some of these old letters, but I’m glad the rest of you might enjoy them, too.”

“These are priceless, Renee,” Jackie said. “If we see Lavonne again while we’re here, we’ll have to be sure to thank her for saving them. When my mom cleaned out my room, she didn’t do as good of a job picking out the important things to keep for me.”

Lynette scanned the letter she’d written so long ago. “I love my descriptions of our school days. Moving from room to room between classes was a big deal for us.” She folded the lined notebook paper back up along the well-worn creases and stuffed it back in the envelope, along with the school photos. “I still can’t believe you kept these.”

“Well, I kept the ones you sent me during junior high, high school, and then the first couple years of college. While I wish I’d kept everything, it is nice to have these,” Renee said. “Pick another one!”

Lynette worked her way through the stack, smiling at the various dates, pen colors, and variety of envelopes. “I remember how I used to love finding funny cards to send you.” Her fingers stilled on an envelope dated from May 1988. The specific day wasn’t legible. “Maybe I talked about prom in this one.”

“Oh, the heartache,” Renee said, clasping at her chest in mock despair. “That was a tough couple of months for me. First, the guy I’d dated throughout most of my senior year broke up with me. He turned out to be such a jerk. I remember thinking he was calling to ask me to prom, but he broke things off. I wanted to die. He probably didn’t want to spend the money. But then, my old friend Lynette here stepped in and saved the day. My prom dress didn’t have to go to waste, after all. I just knew going to the prom with all of you was going to be perfect. I was so young and dumb, thinking it would be a night of romance and magic.”

Jackie pulled the envelope from Lynette’s hand. “But the way it turned out, Lynette was the only one who seemed to find any romance that night. I remember how my date was more concerned with his track buddies than me. Kit would have preferred to be there with her student teacher than her science nerd date, and Annie went with an underclassman.”

“I object!” Annie said, holding up her empty beer bottle. “Elliott was nice. And a good kisser. I did enjoy some romance that night. But our little Lynette here couldn’t keep her hands off her date. Not that I could blame her.”

They all laughed as Annie fanned herself.

“And my date only had eyes for Jackie,” Renee added with a shrug.

Jackie opened the letter. “How about if I read this one out loud? Lynette might paraphrase or leave out some good details if we let her read it to us.”

“Do not read that out loud,” Lynette said, trying but failing to remember what she might have said to Renee. She reached for the envelope, but Jackie held it away.

“Fine. I’ll just share the juicy bits.”

Annie got to her feet. “Hold that thought, Jackie. I need to use the bathroom.”

“All right. But hurry.”

Lynette watched Jackie’s face as her friend read the letter to herself. What had she told Renee about that awful last month of her high school days? Had she dared to reveal more to Renee, the girl she hadn’t known quite as well as Annie, Kit, and Jackie? Things happened during that last month of high school that she’d thought she would never share with anyone . . . like the man who attacked her on the night she’d wrecked Storm’s truck. Now, all these years later, she couldn’t be sure she was remembering things quite right.

At one point, Jackie looked up from the letter to catch Lynette’s gaze. “I’m so sorry you had to go through that crap with your mom’s boyfriend,” she said.

Donna’s poor choice of men wasn’t one of the topics she still refused to discuss. Her friends already knew the stories about Donna and her boyfriends. While those situations had undoubtedly left Lynette with a few emotional scars, she liked to think she’d overcome them.

“Stop talking!” Annie yelled from the back of the cabin. “I can hear you!”

Kit tucked her foot underneath her bottom. “You guys had better wait for her. I think our little Annie always had a thing for Lynette’s boyfriend, Storm, and she doesn’t want you to reveal anything about him when she isn’t in the room.”

Annie hurried back into the room, shaking her hands as if the bathroom might not have a hand towel—or she was just in a hurry. “Go ahead, Jackie.”

Jackie shrugged. “It isn’t a long letter. You wrote this after a late work shift, Lynette, and it was the day before we graduated. Donna was at a fortieth birthday party for someone named Raven, so you must have been home alone. You apologized to Renee for spending a little too much of your time on our prom night with Storm, and you worried she didn’t have fun with Owen.”

Relief washed through Lynette. The terrible events of graduation night hadn’t unfolded yet when she’d written this particular letter, so her secrets were safe.

“A little too much?” Annie repeated, interrupting Lynette’s thoughts with a giggle. “Lynette, you bailed on all of us! We’d probably still be grounded if my parents would have caught you sneaking back into the house so many hours after curfew.”

“I forgot about that,” Jackie laughed. “It actually surprised me, though, when you and Owen didn’t hit it off. You two could have made a cute couple.”

Kit leaned forward and stared at Jackie. “You are so full of shit, Jackie. You know exactly why that didn’t happen.”

“I have no idea what you’re talking about,” Jackie said as she folded the letter back up, though that was obviously a lie.

Lynette decided to let Jackie off the hook, so she picked up on a different thread from the letter. “You guys won’t believe this, but the woman named Raven that I mentioned in the letter is the same person I bought our Ruby Shores house from.”

Annie reached for a pretzel. “Oh, sure! Raven Black. But what was her mother’s name? I forgot that’s who owned your house before.”

Lynette took the envelope from Jackie and put it back in the box, then set the whole thing back on the coffee table. “Her mother died when she was young. The person you’re thinking of was Sybil Gage, Raven’s grandmother. Donna met them both when Sybil was a resident at the nursing home where she worked.”

“I didn’t really know either woman, but Sybil was a relatively well-known college professor when I was a new teacher,” Annie said between nibbles of a pretzel stick. “Raven was the only female family practitioner in Ruby Shores for years. I hated to see her move away. Remind me again where she and her husband moved to, Lynette?”

Lynette was happy to steer the conversation away from the shadows that still haunted her from that time in her life. She told her friends more about both women and the fun memories she had of Sybil and her house, and even shared about the mystery box she’d discovered in her garden shed.

The conversation continued to ebb and flow, as it always does between old friends, weaving between memories of long-ago days and newer life developments.

The box of old letters reminded Lynette that even though old secrets sometimes try to poke their way back to the surface, she was a master at pushing them back into the dark.