Chapter Twenty-Two
Lynette woke to the incessant buzz of her cell phone.
“What time is it?” she groaned. As she fumbled for the phone on the bedside table, she knocked over her half-empty water glass from the night before, drenching everything. She gritted her teeth to cut off the litany of swear words that threatened to make her head feel even worse. At least the vibrating would stop if the water shorted out her phone.
But replacing it would just be another headache. She better find the towel she’d dropped somewhere around here after the second cool shower she’d taken before bed.
Her hands skimmed the foot of the bed in search of her towel, but the single thin blanket and top sheet were in a tangle. Giving up on finding it, she used the hem of her over-sized sleeping T-shirt to dry her phone off as best she could. It was a good thing she’d opted for the water-resistant case. The buzz had stopped, but it started up again in her hand.
“Hey, Annie, what’s up?”
Even to Lynette’s own ears, her voice sounded like she’d swallowed glass.
“Well, good morning. Don’t you sound chipper this morning?” Annie said, sounding much too bubbly.
Lynette pictured her friend’s peppy smile and fought the temptation to throw her phone across the room. Maybe that would accomplish what the water hadn’t.
“This is how I sound after tossing and turning all night. If you’re just calling to chat, I’m hanging up now. I want to go back to sleep.”
“Oh, I’m sorry you had a rough night,” Annie said. “Night sweats again?”
Lynette lay on her back, kicked what remained of her covers off the bed, and eyed the rotating ceiling fan above. “Oh, it was a sweaty one, but only because my air is still out. Annie, what do you want?” She thought she heard a cupboard door close. “Where are you?”
“In my cabin. Since I went to sleep so early last night, I woke before the sun was up,” Annie said. “I opened a window, and the birds sounded so lovely. I went down on the beach and sat on the dock to watch the sunrise. It was the perfect way to start the day. I’m starting a pot of coffee now, but then I’m running over to the lodge. Mom, Donna, and Charlotte are loading the van to go home. I saw Jackie walking back toward the duplex with her mom. Maybe she forgot something. But anyway, that’s why I’m calling. I thought you might want to run down and say goodbye to everyone, too.”
Lynette’s head throbbed at the reminder of the reason behind her sleepless night. The heat wasn’t to blame; the culprit was Donna, and she knew she wasn’t ready to face her mother just yet. First, she needed time to process everything she’d overheard the night before.
“Lynette? Are you still there?”
She used her free hand to rub her left temper. “Have you talked to Kit yet this morning?”
“No, why? I thought she might still be sleeping.”
Lynette let her hand fall back onto the mattress. “You woke me up?!”
“Kit’s mom isn’t even here! Fine. I don’t really care whether you come see them off with me. I was just trying to be nice, but I’m hanging up now so you don’t ruin the start of a perfectly nice day for me.”
She felt a twinge of guilt. “I’m sorry, Annie. I have a banging headache.”
But Annie, always true to her word, had already hung up. That was the thing about Annie: you could always trust her to tell the truth.
Unlike my own mother.
In the room’s quiet, she heard a dripping sound. Then she remembered the mess she’d made with the spilled water. “Crap!”
She rolled off the bed and found her bath towel hanging on the back of a small wooden rocker in the corner of the room. Once she’d used it to mop up the floor and dry the table, she tossed the towel onto the rocking chair again and stumbled for the kitchen.
Annie had mentioned coffee. Maybe a fresh, strong pot of her own would help.
Fifteen minutes later, she eased into the Adirondack chair in front of her cabin, hoping to allow enough time for the first cup of coffee to take effect before she had to talk to anyone else.
A soft yellow sun glowed in the azure sky, making Lynette wish she’d grabbed her sunglasses on the way out the door. At least it was cool yet, though the air was heavy with humidity. Dew on the grass tickled her feet, and she suspected her shorts would be damp when she stood. She focused on the solitude as she took another sip of black coffee. The tension in the back of her neck eased. Ten more minutes and she might even be headache-free.
Her phone vibrated in her pocket, interrupting her peace. She pulled it out, vowing to smash the phone once and for all.
It was her lawyer.
Since it had only been a few days since their last conversation, there was a strong likelihood she’d soon need something stronger than coffee for this headache.
“Hello, Kevin. Please, I’m going to warn you I’m already nursing a potential migraine here. So if you are calling me again so soon with bad news, I’m going to beg you to reconsider.”
Because she’d worked with Keven for many years, how he reacted to her request would immediately tell her whether she should go back inside and grab a dose of her headache medication now. If he chuckled, she’d be safe.
He didn’t. “I’m afraid this can’t wait, Lynette.”
She sighed. He was using his lawyerly tone, which meant she might as well get this over with. “Fine. What is it?”
“Have you read the packet of information I sent? I think you might still be away on vacation, so I wasn’t sure.”
She hadn’t pulled the envelope out of her Louis Vuitton bag since stuffing it inside. “Donna gave it to me last night. But I haven’t opened it. I didn’t realize it was time-sensitive.”
“Nor did—”
Static came through the line, making it impossible to hear what the lawyer was saying.
“Great,” she said, pushing herself out of her comfortable chair to see if she could find a stronger signal. “Hold on, Kevin. I’m having trouble hearing you.”
She left her coffee cup on the wide arm of the chair and took a few steps away from her cabin, which snuggled up against the tree line rimming the resort. Another bar appeared in the top right corner of her phone.
“Can you hear me?”
“I can. Can you hear me?”
Lynette grinned, despite the pain in her head. “We sound like a TV commercial. What were you saying about the packet, Kevin?”
“Actually, don’t even bother to read that one. What I sent was a copy of the original sale agreement with an updated payment schedule to show that they’d caught up. However, your buyer’s attorney reached out to me late yesterday afternoon. Lynette, they are requesting some modifications to the terms previously agreed upon.”
Lynette allowed her head to drop forward, and she rubbed the back of her neck. “Can they do that?”
“It’s unusual,” he said. It sounded to Lynette like he was rustling through paperwork. “But we talked about the risks you would accept around the deal terms. You were optimistic about the buyers’ ability to make the required payments, even though I cautioned you that I didn’t love leaving them with some wiggle room. An out. Pardon the jargon.”
Her lawyer’s statement was correct, even if it stung to hear it. Neither her attorney nor her mother had wanted her to sell to her two old employees. She’d wanted it to work out so badly for the two women, having mentored them herself through the years, that she had gone against their advice. “What do you mean when you say an out?” She emphasized the last word with air quotes, even though her lawyer couldn’t see her. “How bad is it, Kevin?”
There was more static, so she moved again.
“Lynette?”
“Yes, go ahead. I can hear you.”
“I’m not sure yet. Instead of one last payment to you in six months, they’ve asked for a one-year deferment, and then monthly payments until they pay you in full. We would, of course, impose a fair level of interest and a penalty on the late payments, but if you agree to the amendment, they wouldn’t be in breach of contract. Remember, we knew this could happen.”
She cleared her throat, frustrated at the admonishing tone that was creeping into his voice. “And if we don’t accept?”
He paused, as if worried how she’d take the answer.
“Kevin?”
“Yes . . . well . . . a few different things could happen, none of which would be desirable for either party. It sounds like they are suffering some significant financial challenges at the moment. Some employee issues have also surfaced. I worry that if you force their hand, they may have to shutter the business.”
Lynette sank onto the grass. Her legs no longer felt reliable. “That’s not acceptable!”
His grunt was humorless. “I thought you would say that. Listen, I felt it was my responsibility to loop you in on this immediately, but they’ve given us a month to respond. Are you still at that ocean resort?”
“It’s a lake resort, but yes. I’ll head home on Sunday. Will you be sending me new papers to sign? Do I need to fly to New York to figure this out?”
The moment the words were out of her mouth, she realized her old habits of flying anywhere on a moment’s notice, regardless of cost, might no longer be feasible. The final agreed-upon original payment was also supposed to be the largest, and now it was at risk.
“I don’t think that will be necessary,” Kevin said. “But give me a few days to work on this and we’ll talk again next week. I really am sorry to have to call you with this news, Lynette. I hope I didn’t just ruin the rest of your vacation.”
Lynette grunted. “Kevin, I’m afraid you’re going to have to get in line for that.”
Twelve hours later, Lynette joined her friends around the firepit where their mothers had spent the previous evening. A little of her gin and tonic sloshed out onto her hand as she sank into another of Renee’s new red chairs. “These suckers are comfortable, but they are a nightmare to get in and out of,” she said, careful not to spill any more of her drink.
“Where have you been hiding all day, Lynette?” Kit asked. “I thought you would join us on the beach. It wasn’t so hot today.”
Lynette shook her glass to help the ice inside keep her favorite cocktail cold. “I woke up with a headache. Took me most of the day to shake it. A few things have come up over the past twenty-four hours that gave me plenty to think about, too. I wasn’t in the mood to socialize.”
She didn’t miss the concerned looks her four friends exchanged.
“But don’t worry,” she continued. “My head feels fine now, and I’ve put all that other nonsense out of my mind for the moment. It’ll still be there for me to deal with when I get home.”
Jackie handed her a bag of sunflower seeds. “Here. I know you’ve always liked these. They go better with whatever is in that glass than a s’more would.”
Annie waved a metal roasting stick in their direction. “But if you want me to whip one up for you, just let me know.”
“What’s in the glass, Lynette?” Renee asked.
“Gin and tonic,” Lynette said, giving her glass another shake. “And it’s tasty. Nobody is allowed to judge me, either. I’m on vacation. Now, what were you lovely ladies discussing when I arrived a few minutes ago? I heard Kit laughing. Oh, and if anybody plans to tell any deep, dark secrets tonight, keep your voice down. You wouldn’t believe how far sound travels out here.”
She gave Kit an exaggerated wink. They’d promised each other not to mention the conversations they’d overheard the mothers having the night before.
“Lynette, are you drunk?” Kit asked.
“Don’t be ridiculous. How can you even ask that?” Lynette demanded.
Maybe a little,she thought. Not that she wanted any of her friends to know this wasn’t her first drink of the evening. Especially Renee, since she was the only one who actually knew about her struggles and rehab stint.
Kit shrugged. “Sorry. We’re all adults here.”
“That’s right,” Lynette said, waving her index finger at her. “Seriously, what were you talking about a minute ago?”
Renee looked unsure for a moment, then relented. “I was telling them about how I used to try to impress Celia when we’d visit here as kids.”
Lynette relaxed in her chair and let her eyes go to the top of the tall pines above them. “I’m going to guess that whatever you did to impress her worked, because she left this amazing place to you.”
“That’s nice of you to say, Lynette. We always got along. She kind of felt like a much older sister to me, even though she was actually old enough to be my grandmother.”
“We’ve heard bits and pieces of what she left to others in your family, but why don’t you recap it,” Jackie suggested.
“Sure,” Renee said. “As you know, Whispering Pines passed to me. She left her house and some rentals to my brother, Ethan. It took us a few years to get around to cleaning out her attic. We all went in there together and decided who got what. Ethan didn’t want to make those decisions alone. There were so many neat things up there. We even found a gorgeous wedding dress, tucked away in an old trunk. It was in pristine condition. Celia never married, so no one actually wore it until my sister Jess married Seth.”
Lynette poured a handful of sunflower seeds out and tossed some into her mouth. Her creative self tried to imagine the vintage gown that Renee described. “I remember a picture from your wedding on the wall in the lodge, but was there one from your sister’s wedding, too? I’d love to see the dress.”
Renee shook her head. “They didn’t get married out here, but they did honeymoon in your cabin.”
Lynette remembered Renee telling them the honeymoon part when they’d first arrived. Then she had another thought. “Lauren is Jess’s daughter, right?”
“She is, and I already know where you’re going with this. Yes, Lauren loved that vintage gown. In fact, it wouldn’t surprise me if she’d ask to wear it for her own wedding someday. Not that she’s engaged or anything now. But there were some other vintage dresses up there, too. Maybe Celia wore them when she was a young woman. Lauren kept those. They aren’t formal gowns, but they really are beautiful. Maybe she could show you those someday. I know you two share a love of fashion.”
“I would like that,” Lynette agreed.
The conversation continued to flow amongst the five women. Renee provided them with a summary of Celia’s generosity, as well as many of the high points of her life and career.
“That reminds me,” Renee said later, the fire having died down to mere embers between them. “We also found a newspaper article about Celia in her job. If I’m remembering right, she was in her thirties when they featured her. What she accomplished was so unique for women back then. That was the focus of the piece. I’ll have to find it again and let you read it. I think I tucked it in the blue trunk in my living room. We pulled that trunk out of Celia’s attic, too. It’s the one that held the wedding dress. You’ll need to be sure to read the article, Lynette. I see so many similarities between you and my aunt. You were both incredibly successful businesswomen.”
The past tense Renee used grated on Lynette’s already taut nerves. The gin wasn’t helping her relax as much as she’d hoped. Maybe one more would do the trick. She should probably stop, but too many bombshells had landed smack dab in the middle of her life lately. Her mother, the one person she trusted more than anyone else on Earth, had lied to her about so many important things. The business she’d worked so hard to build over decades was possibly imploding at this very moment, and if she didn’t make some big concessions, she would face a very different financial future than the one she’d imagined.
Even Renee thought she was washed-up. Hadn’t she practically said as much?
Maybe Annie sensed Lynette’s distress, because she changed the subject. “Say, Renee, I understand Matt and Robbie are taking my husband fishing for a couple of days, starting tomorrow.” She was trying to roast another marshmallow over the dying fire. “Henry thought Owen might come, too?”
“That’s what I hear,” Renee said. “But don’t any of you worry. I reminded Matt that we don’t allow boys on our girls’ trips, so they won’t be swinging by here at all. The closest they might come is way out there on the water. Robbie thinks he’s found the best fishing spots right now. But I guess we’ll see.”
The mention of Owen brought Storm to mind for Lynette. She pictured the man, flat on his back on Owen’s grass, how the tiny butterfly tattoo on his inner arm had practically rippled when he’d flexed.
She shuddered, pushing the thought away. If any of these women found out Storm was back and she hadn’t mentioned it, they’d tease her as mercilessly as everyone teased Jackie about Owen. That was the last thing she needed right now. She already had plenty of other things on her plate to worry about.
With her luck, he might come knocking with his hand out, looking for reimbursement for the truck she’d totaled more than thirty years ago.
One last nightcap suddenly sounded like the perfect way to end a dreadful day.