Chapter 2 #2
June felt her cheeks warm. She slid her hand through his arm, and her heart thudded hard in her chest, not with fear this time, but with something that felt dangerously close to comfort.
“Or on an empty stomach with no fuel for our brains.” June walked beside Holt, trying to steady the wild beating of her heart, which was being driven by her rogue emotions.
Inside, the diner smelled like butter, coffee, and grilled bacon. It was warm, loud in a gentle way, the clatter of plates and low conversations blending into a blanket of ordinary life.
A waitress with kind eyes led them to a booth by the window. Holt slid in on one side, and June sat across from him, still feeling the strange steadiness of having his arm offered so easily. As if nothing had changed.
But of course, everything had changed between them, and they were no longer the young adults they were thirty-eight years ago, June reminded herself harshly.
Holt ordered eggs, toast, and coffee. June ordered pancakes and fruit because she needed something sweet to counter the bitter taste of the morning.
When the waitress walked away, Holt leaned back slightly, his hands folded on the table.
“So tell me about you,” Holt said. “It’s been thirty-eight years.” He smiled. “Sorry, you don’t have to tell me but I have to admit to being curious about your life.”
June’s throat tightened. The question was simple, but it carried decades.
June forced herself to smile lightly.
“It’s been a rollercoaster of highs and lows, ” June admitted. “I got remarried, got my father’s law firm back, had a beautiful daughter, and then..” She stopped abruptly, a flash of that life crumbling hit her, but she gathered herself quickly. “Then my husband died eighteen years ago.”
“I’m sorry, June.” Holt’s voice was soft and filled with compassion. “My mother told me about that.”
June swallowed the lump clogging her throat and nodded, giving him a tight smile. “Thank you.” She cleared her throat. “I managed. Willa kept me busy after that.”
“Your daughter looks so much like you,” Holt told her and frowned. “Did her father have blue eyes?” he asked as the coffee came, and he waited for the waitress to walk away. “I know your family all have brown or green eyes.”
June’s head shot up at the question as she stared at him, shock coursing through her for a moment before she gathered herself once again.
“Yes.” She nodded. “She’s the pride of our lives.
” She smiled as she thought of her beautiful, courageous, and loving daughter.
“She was the most wonderful child. I don’t know how I got so lucky with her. ”
“She’s really great,” Holt told her, and June was surprised to see how much he meant it. There was pride shining in his eyes, and guilt tore through her, nearly knocking the breath from her lungs and making her choke on coffee. “Are you alright?”
June grabbed some water and drank it quickly, nodding. “I’m fine.” She nodded. “I think I breathed in air as I took a sip of coffee.” She managed a brittle laugh.
“I’m surprised that Willa didn’t become an attorney like you,” Holt said, getting right back to the topic of Willa.
“From the moment she could walk, and Carmen first took her to the fire station, Willa wanted to be a firefighter,” June explained nostalgically. “But my late husband and I, both being attorneys, gently nudged her toward studying law.”
“Ah,” Holt nodded. “I get that. My father wanted me to be an architect.”
“But you always knew you wanted to be in the FBI,” June remembered.
“Yeah,” Holt said with a soft laugh, leaning back in the booth. “So how did Willa end up being a fire captain?”
“The day…” June paused again and swallowed hard.
“The day of Trevor’s accident, I had just fetched Willa from university.
She’d come home for spring break. It was about a week after her eighteenth birthday.
That’s when she sprang it on me that she wasn’t going back to Harvard.
She was joining the fire academy and was also engaged to her boyfriend of two years. ”
“All in one breath!” Holt said good-naturedly.
“Yes, all in one breath,” June nodded, her lips turning up into a smile. “That was quite the emotional day.”
“I can only imagine,” Holt said, his eyes darkening with emotion.
“We got through it.” June thanked the waitress as she set their plates of food in front of them. “It wasn’t long before Willa got married, graduated, became a firefighter, and gave me three beautiful grandchildren.”
“What happened with your accident?” Holt steered the conversation to the present.
June told him about it. “But, since I’ve been in Sandpiper Shores, I’m driving again at least.” She tried to make light of it.
“That was until I ran out in front of you and scared the heck out of you,” Holt pointed out, his gaze softening and his voice lowered.
“You’re doing great. In all honesty, when I found out about your accident, I kind of did some checking.
I saw your car. It’s only natural that you’d be wary of getting back behind the wheel. ”
They ate in silence for a few moments.
“I’ve told you my life story. It seems only fair that you tell me about you,” June said.
“Okay. As you know, I went to Virginia,” Holt told her. “And uh… You remember Lillian Forester?”
June’s shoulders stiffened slightly at that name, and a pain sliced through her heart.
She’d known he’d married Lillian, and when they’d gotten a divorce all those years ago, June had felt awful at the feeling of pure elation that had hit her back then.
But Lillian had been the woman who had been the final straw that had broken her fragile marriage to Holt.
The woman who had changed the entire course of June’s life.
She took a quick deep breath and mentally shook it off.
“Yes, I remember her,” June said, hoping her voice didn’t sound strained.
Holt’s expression turned distant for a moment. “Lillian was studying at the University of Virginia.”
“What did she study?” June asked, hating the way it sounded.
“Communications and public relations,” Holt told her.
June heard the bitterness beneath his calm tone, and her heart squeezed for him.
“I’m not even sure how it happened,” Holt continued, his voice steady but not warm. “We seemed to just fall into a relationship and then marriage. It was easy at first. She liked the idea of my work. The title. The structure. I think she liked what it looked like.”
June listened, feeling the sadness settle in her chest, and couldn’t help the dark thought that swept through her mind: Lillian also liked Holt’s money.
“Rad was born a year after we were married,” Holt’s voice was soft now. “He was such an easy baby.”
“He’s a wonderful young man,” June admitted. “You must be so proud of him.”
“I really am.” Holt nodded. “When Rad was three, Lillian decided being a mother and my wife no longer suited her image, so she left.” He sighed. “Lillian met a plastic surgeon in California and decided she wanted that life. She took off and never looked back.”
“That’s awful,” June said, and her voice held real compassion.
Holt shrugged, but it was not careless. It was a man who had learned how to survive.
“Honestly,” Holt admitted, “it was the best thing for both of us. She was never a good mother to Rad. Lillian used him as a prop.”
“You never remarried?” June asked, watching him, her heart aching for him and his son.
“No,” Holt said simply. He took a sip of coffee, then continued. “I raised my son. And then, until they moved to New York, I helped raise my grandson.”
“Tyler is a great kid,” June said.
Holt nodded. His expression darkened briefly. “All thanks to Rad. Tyler’s mother did to him what Lillian did to Rad. ” Holt said.
June’s chest tightened. “Oh, Holt, I’m so sorry.”
“It seems to have been a pattern,” Holt said quietly. “A painful one.”
June’s eyebrows lifted as a realization clicked. “I just realized,” June said softly. “The two of you both lost your wives to divorce.”
Holt’s eyes lifted to hers, and something in his gaze softened, not with romance, but with understanding.
“And you and Willa lost yours to tragedy,” Holt pointed out.
June swallowed. Her throat felt tight. She thought of Trevor, of the way grief changed the air in a room. She thought of other losses she did not say out loud.
“Life is strange,” June said quietly.
“Very,” Holt agreed.
He glanced at his watch, and his eyebrows shot up. “Goodness,” Holt said. “Look at the time.”
June blinked and checked her watch as well. They had been at the diner for nearly two hours.
She couldn’t believe it. It felt like they’d only just sat down.
They paid and walked back outside.
The sunlight was brighter now. The air warmer. And the world was louder as the day was in full swing.
Holt opened the passenger door for her again, and June slid inside. She felt calmer than she had in days, and that frightened her a little. Because she hadn’t expected Holt’s presence to steady her the way it did.
As they drove back toward Sandpiper Shores, June’s mind returned to the case like a tide returning to shore. The note, the rush crush, the missing car, and Victoria’s name burning through it all.
They reached the police station mid-morning, and the parking lot was fuller now. June felt the old tension return to her shoulders as they parked.
Holt shut off the engine and glanced at her.
“Remember, we can’t say a word about this to anyone,” Holt warned.
“I won’t,” June assured him.
“I think we keep any discussion of this outside of the police station,” Holt suggested.
“I agree,” June confirmed.
They stepped out and walked toward the entrance. June had barely made it to the first step when a voice cut across the air, smooth and sweet and sharp underneath.
“Well, hello, Holt and… June,” Victoria said. “Have the two of you been on a road trip?”
June’s shoulders stiffened instantly as she turned toward the woman.
Victoria stood near the entrance as if she belonged there, dressed perfectly, hair flawless, sunglasses perched on her head. She wore a smile that didn’t reach her eyes.
June forced her own expression to remain neutral, but her pulse quickened. She felt Holt’s body shift beside her, subtle but immediate, like a door closing.
Holt’s tone stayed polite. “We were going over the accident that Lacey Peltz had yesterday,” Holt said.
June watched Victoria’s brows lift, and there was no expression in the woman’s eyes.
“Oh,” Victoria said. “What happened?”
“You didn’t hear about it?” June asked, and she kept her voice calm, though she wanted to test Victoria’s reaction.
Victoria shrugged as if it meant nothing. “I don’t bother with the twins,” Victoria said lightly.
June felt her stomach tighten. Even for Victoria, that was cold.
Victoria turned her attention fully to Holt, ignoring June as if she were a piece of furniture.
“Could I have a word with you, Holt, darling?” Victoria asked.
June’s eyebrows rose slightly, but she said nothing.
Holt’s expression didn’t change, but June saw the tension in his jaw.
“What is it you want, Victoria?” Holt’s voice was flat, and his eyes narrowed.
“I would prefer privacy to talk to you,” Victoria said, and her gaze flicked pointedly toward June; the look made her skin prickle.
June turned slightly toward Holt. She gave him a tight smile that she hoped looked professional and composed.
“I need to go and see if there is anything I have to do at the veterinary office,” June told him. “I’ll be back in a little while to help with what we discussed.”
Victoria’s lips curved, and the smile was almost pleasant with her eyes brimming with victory.
“Please take your time,” Victoria drawled. “Holt won’t be needing your help for a while.”
June felt heat flare behind her eyes, but she refused to give Victoria the satisfaction of seeing it. She nodded once, stiff-backed, and walked away.
Behind her, she could still feel Victoria’s gaze like a hand pressing between her shoulder blades.
And as June crossed the road to walk to the vet clinic, one thought beat against her ribs harder than all the others.
If Victoria had paid to crush Clive’s car, then Victoria was not just a jealous ex-wife with a sharp tongue.
Victoria was someone who erased problems.
And June had the sinking feeling that Victoria had just decided June might be a problem too.