Keeping Secrets (Pelican Point Book 4)

Chapter 1

”And you like your new place?” Mom asked.

”It’s perfect,” Keely assured her.

Actually, at that moment the cottage was a mess of boxes that she was halfway through unpacking. Jackets and notebooks and charging cords were strewn across every available surface as she struggled to find a place for everything and put everything in its place.

Despite all that, though? It was perfect.

Keely was twenty-four years old, and she had never lived alone. She had gone from her childhood home to the college dorms to – a wall rose up in her mind, gray and menacing; she veered away from that black time and skipped ahead – well, back to her parents’ house, eventually.

Most recently, she had been staying with her big brother and his friend Travis. But couchsurfing was just as bad as living at home; it made her feel like a screw-up, like a homeless addict who couldn’t get her life together… a reality that was only a few months out of date.

It was past time for her to have a place of her own, and she was deeply grateful to be moving into a space as lovely as this one.

The furnished guest house was a tiny one-bedroom, but it was plenty big enough for one person. It had a workable kitchen, a comfortable bed, and a couch where she could stretch out and read. Books were a passion that had reignited recently, after she’d gotten clean, and she’d brought a whole box of novels and personal development books with her from Rocky Hill.

And then a whole other box for her cookbooks, which felt like a necessity even when there were millions of recipes available online. She loved the grounding, soothing ritual of standing in a quiet kitchen and flipping through her cookbooks, deciding which recipe she wanted to try next.

The quiet street she lived on was as perfect as the cottage itself. The couple in the main house seemed nice enough, though they traveled so often that she had only spoken to them on the phone. And best of all, Nick and Chloe were just a short walk away.

Her cozy new home was located in the idyllic town of Pelican Point, just down the street from her brother and his girlfriend. Keely didn’t want to be dependent on anyone, but it was a huge comfort to know that Nick was there if she needed him.

Pelican Point was the perfect middle-of-the-road sort of town, plenty to do without there being a crazy party scene. There were sweet little shops downtown, a weekly farmers market up by the lighthouse, and breathtaking views from the cliffs.

”You can come home anytime. You know that, right?” Mom’s voice was taut with worry.

”She knows,” Dad said in a long-suffering tone. It was a front; Keely knew that. When he wasn’t putting on a brave face for Mom, he was just as worried about Keely as she was.

Once, their worry would have gutted her. These days, it was a familiar ache. Like a wound that might never heal completely, she had figured out how to live her life around the pain.

”I’m just saying,” Mom told him sharply, ”it’s okay to come home. It’s not a failure to come home. It’s okay to rest. To pause and figure out what’s next. I just want her to know we’re here.”

”She knows,” Dad said again.

”I wish you’d let us come with you,” she fretted.

”I wanted to do this on my own,” Keely said gently. ”Everything is going to be okay.”

”On that note,” Dad said in a gruff voice, ”we’ll let you get back to unpacking. See you next week for dinner?”

”Definitely.”

”Let us know if you need anything,” Mom said. ”And don’t forget to–”

Her last reminder was lost when the call disconnected.

There was a strong knock on the front door. When she opened it, her brother pushed through holding a heavy box that she hadn’t brought in yet.

”The back of your car was open,” Nick told her.

”Hello to you too.”

”What’s in this thing, bricks?”

”Books.”

”Close enough.” He looked around. ”This place is a wreck. Where do you want this?”

”Just set it on the floor there. I’ll figure it out later.”

”That car of yours is falling apart. I can’t believe it got here from Rocky Hill in one piece.”

”She’s a good, reliable car.” The Jeep was old, roughly the same age as Keely, and it had seen better days. But she’d bought it with her own money, just a few months back. It was hers, and she loved it.

”It’s a wreck.”

”It is not! Did you come here just to insult my car and my books?”

”And your mess of a house,” Nick teased. Once an older brother, always an older brother. But there was a lightness to their banter that hadn’t been there for a long time; he was glad to have her here, and that warmed her heart.

”We came to help you move in,” Chloe said from the doorway. She walked in holding a tray of something that smelled amazing, and Nick hurried to take it from her.

”Here, let me carry that.”

”I can carry a lasagna.” Chloe rolled her eyes and looked at Keely. ”He wouldn’t let me help with the boxes.”

”You’re not supposed to carry anything.”

She smiled at him as she rested one hand on her growing belly. ”Anything heavy.”

”The boxes are pretty heavy,” Keely said with a wry grin.

”No kidding!” Travis walked in carrying a plastic tote. He looked around for a moment before setting it atop her box of books. ”So are we going to break into that lasagna or what?”

”Travis!” Chloe scolded. ”It’s for Keely!”

Nick looked at his girlfriend. ”You mean that we drove all the way here smelling that lasagna–”

”I can’t believe I let you drive me here. It’s like two blocks.”

”--and we don’t get to eat any?”

”That’s way too much for just me,” Keely said, ”and luckily the kitchen’s not a mess.”

”What, you didn’t steal all of Mom’s kitchen gadgets when you moved out?”

”She gave me a few things,” she said past the guilt that constricted her throat. She had stolen from her parents, in her darkest days. Nick must have seen the darkness in her eyes, because his expression turned contrite in an instant. She smiled and shook her head the tiniest bit from side to side, letting him know that it was fine. She was fine.

”This kitchen was already set up,” she continued, ”so I didn’t have to bring or buy much.”

She led them through and pulled four plates down from a shelf. The lasagna steamed when she cut into it and served up generous slices.

”There’s some leftover Greek salad in the fridge,” she told her brother, ”and a pitcher of lemonade.”

”Why am I not surprised that you made meals and beverages before you’d even unpacked?”

”How am I supposed to unpack without sustenance?” she shot back.

”Pizza,” he said flatly. ”You order pizza.”

”Or you call Chloe,” Travis added, ”and she delivers lasagna.”

”By car,” Chloe said with a roll of her eyes, ”even though we live on the same street.”

”That’s a long way to walk carrying lasagna,” Nick said as he brought four glasses to the table.

”It’s really not.”

They settled in around the table with full plates of food, and a newfound warmth settled into Keely’s chest. She had family. She had friends. She had a place of her own.

She was doing pretty good at this whole adulting thing.

Now she just needed a job.

”This lasagna is amazing.” Nick was already halfway through his slice.

”It’s so good,” Keely agreed after her first bite. ”Thank you, Chloe.”

”My pleasure,” Chloe said. ”I really didn’t think we were going to stay and eat it. We just wanted to see if you were settling in okay.”

”I love the company, really. And I’ll be unpacked in a day or two. Then I need to dive into the job hunt. Do you have any leads? Is the ice cream place you work at hiring?”

Chloe shook her head. ”Not right now, sorry. I can point you in the right direction if you want to find some work online, though.”

”Thanks, but with all my classes online, I really want a job that gets me out of the house.”

”I so get that. It’s why I work at Kula. Well, that and the free ice cream.”

”Sure, rub it in,” Keely said with a laugh.

Chloe giggled. ”Sorry.”

”It’s okay. I’ll find something.”

”Maybe the Bottlenose?” Chloe asked, looking at Travis. His eyes widened, and he shook his head. Chloe’s cheeks turned bright pink.

”Oh. Right. Sorry. Never mind.”

”It’s okay,” Keely said. ”Alcohol was never my poison of choice. Still, my sponsor wouldn’t think much of me working at a bar. It’s not the smartest choice for someone who’s fresh out of rehab.”

”You’ve been clean a long time now,” Nick said quietly.

”Almost six months,” she confirmed. Then she shrugged. ”Still a baby, really.”

Chloe reached out and gave her arm a squeeze. ”You’re doing great!”

”Thanks.” She looked down and carefully loaded her fork with pieces of cucumber and olive. It felt silly that Chloe’s praise would land so hard and mean so much, but it did.

At some point in the very recent past, a tenuous pride had eclipsed her shame. She wasn’t sure when it had happened, but one day she’d realized that when she thought back on her struggles with addiction, the knowledge of how far she had come outshone the guilt of falling that low to begin with. She was on the straight and narrow now. And Chloe was right. She was doing great.

More than anything, she was grateful.

She had come so close to losing everything – to losing her life, both figuratively and literally. And while she was proud of her efforts, she knew that the real credit went to her parents. Without their endless love and forgiveness and determination to pull her out of the hole she had fallen into… Well, she didn’t like to dwell on that. But she knew that she wouldn’t be sitting here today without them.

She had overdosed. Seen others overdose. Looked death in the face more than once.

And because of that, each moment of her ordinary life had gained a new shine. Like a child seeing the world for the first time, she was astonished by the beauty of ordinary things. Just to be sitting here around her new kitchen table with people that she cared about, eating nourishing food made with love… it meant the world to her.

Conversation had ebbed away as they enjoyed the phenomenal lasagna that Chloe had made. The homemade noodles had a pleasant chew to them, but at the same time they were so tender that they nearly melted away along with the fresh sauce and creamy cheese. It was a hearty, heartening meal. Pure comfort food.

As Keely ate, she stole glances at Travis through the copper-colored curtain of her hair. Her brother’s best friend had always been a charming, affable kid – qualities that had only solidified as he’d aged. Until recently. He had been strangely quiet the past few weeks.

He was quiet now, expressionless as he ate his food. That wasn’t like him at all. He should be making conversation, gently teasing.

They had known each other for ages, but in a distant sort of way. He was Nick’s best friend, and she was the annoying little sister. She had thought that they’d struck up a genuine friendship, or maybe even something a bit beyond, when she came to stay in Pelican Point a few weeks back, but things had slowly petered out.

She was trying not to take it personally. Which had been hard when he was ignoring her… and not so hard when she saw that he was also withdrawn from Nick and Chloe.

Or maybe it was just because she was there. Maybe he hadn’t wanted to come to her house at all.

So why had he?

Travis was a painfully beautiful man, with soft brown curls and thick black lashes framing his hazel eyes. When he was young, he had been downright pretty. Now, a strong jaw with a few days’ worth of stubble contrasted with his softer features. His nose was long and straight, and his smile was dazzling.

Usually.

Keely hadn’t seen him smile since she’d moved to town. Not really. Not like he used to.

There was something else going on, something deeper than giving her the brush-off.

And she wanted to know what it was.