Chapter 34 Lindy
Lindy
Lindy spent the morning in the living room at Innisfree making calls, phoning everyone from outside The Cove who’d been invited
to the anniversary party to tell them the party was off. People were disappointed, of course; concerned. She kept the calls
short, the information to a minimum: “My father’s not well, unfortunately.”
She and her mother had argued for half an hour last night about the party alone, Lindy saying it was too late to cancel the
food, the house cleaners, maybe they should try to go ahead? Maybe Tom could just say hello to everyone for ten minutes? Greta
and Tom could stand still and smile and be toasted with champagne? It would be terrible, Lindy said, not to celebrate the
anniversary at all, and so many people were planning to come.
But when her mother prevailed, Lindy found she was relieved.
It was impossible to think of putting on a smile for a hundred people, given everything.
She called Dorothy Severson, head of the SCPA committee this year, explained the situation, and asked, “Can we use the clubhouse Saturday night? I’d like to donate the food and invite everybody for a community party.
” Dorothy easily agreed and said she’d spread the word.
Lindy called the caterer about the change in plans, saying the clubhouse door was always unlocked so they could just go in, and the caterer said no problem, they’d take care of everything.
Lindy and her parents didn’t even need to be there; they could just mail a check for the final fifty percent next week.
“I’m so sorry about your dad,” said the caterer, and Lindy thanked her, swallowing back the tears that welled.
After hanging up, Lindy walked over to the clubhouse through the pretty morning and posted a sign on the bulletin board out
front saying that Tom and Greta Sanderson’s anniversary party was now a community celebration at the clubhouse. EVERYONE WELCOME! FABULOUS FOOD! BYOB! There was no point stating a reason. Hailey had admitted last night that she’d told Jack about her grandpa’s diagnosis, and
Jack surely would’ve told his grandma, Marjorie, when he went home. Between that and Lindy’s conversation with Dorothy this
morning, all of Summerland Cove would know by noon—about the party, Tom’s diagnosis, everything.
Honestly, Lindy realized as she walked along the sparkling blue cove back toward the yellow cottage and Innisfree, it was
little wonder Greta had wanted to keep the news to herself for as long as possible. To try to contain the shock. For Lindy,
having to process it at the same time as the rest of the neighborhood felt scathing, like her skin had been scrubbed raw.
As she passed the yellow cottage, Kate came running out. “Hey, what’s this I hear about your dad?” Dorothy Severson had evidently
called and told Kate everything, and now Kate hugged Lindy, wanting to know what she could do to help. For a second, Lindy
wondered how Kate could seem so carefree. Then she remembered that Kate had believed Lindy’s massive lie that David was on
his own camping up north.
“Hey, I thought you would’ve gone back to the farm,” Lindy said.
“Oh, no,” Kate said firmly. “I drove up this morning and grabbed three littles and hustled back here. We’re waiting for their Uncle David.
” Kate let out a small laugh. “And you can bet I’m going to give him a piece of my mind when he deigns to get here.
” Then she frowned and squinted, shielding her eyes from the sun.
“Worrying about him shortened my mother’s life, and it’s shortening mine right now, too. ”
“Oh!” Lindy said, surprised Kate would come right out and say that.
“Do you really think he’s okay? I mean, it’s been a long time since he went off by himself, and the other times were usually—”
Lindy cut her off. “I remember.” She couldn’t stand to think about the old days, when Kate had been drinking so much, when
David’s mother had tried so hard, so constantly, to keep everything together. Nor could she stand to think about him off with
Tiffany.
Even worse was to think—what if he wasn’t off with Tiffany?
She wished she could confide in her old friend. But it was clear that Kate was unstable enough when it came to David. Joining
Lindy in the land of betrayal and not-knowing-for-sure would likely unhinge her, send her down that slippery slope she’d traveled
before with alcohol—and now she had her kids here to look after. Lindy squeezed Kate’s elbow. “Listen, I’ve got to go, Kate.”
Now that Lindy had taken care of canceling the anniversary party, she was planning to head to Portland to talk with Noah and
try to save her daughter’s wedding. She simply could not let David ruin every last thing. “I’m sorry. Just . . . just don’t
worry, okay?”
Kate, still squinting under the shield of her hand, nodded, and Lindy hurried away, back toward Innisfree.
“Mom, I’m going to work it out with Noah,” Hailey said, sitting at the kitchen counter in a pink tank and striped pajama bottoms.
She’d refused Greta’s offer of coffee and wanted only a spoonful of vanilla gelato to take her prescription pill with, which
meant her headache was terrible. “You don’t need to go talk with him.”
Lindy, hating to see Hailey suffering, tried to keep her tone gentle. “Have you talked with him since what happened yesterday?”
Hailey rubbed her temple. “No.”
“He didn’t call you back?”
More rubbing; no meeting of the eyes. “I didn’t leave a message. I didn’t know what to say.”
Lindy sighed. She hated to think of leaving her parents even for the afternoon, but she had to hope that an apology from her could help smooth the road for Hailey and Noah to reconcile.
She also hoped to keep him from reporting Greta’s actions to the police.
“Okay, well, I’m going to drive down there and see him before he goes to work.
” She shot a look toward Greta, who was washing coffee cups at the sink. “Apologize on behalf of my mother.”
Greta turned, eyes sparking. “That young man was threatening your daughter. He shows signs of becoming abusive, if he isn’t
already. He does not deserve an apology.”
“Mother, that’s ridiculous. And you need to tell me where you hid that gun.”
“No.”
Lindy decided to pick her battles for now. She turned to Hailey. “Honey, what really happened yesterday? Was Noah threatening
you?”
“Excuse me,” Hailey said, averting her gaze. “I need to get back to bed.” She slid down from her stool and headed for the
stairs.
“I hope you feel better, honey,” Lindy called after her. “Need anything?”
“No, thanks, Mom.”
Lindy, fretting, watched her daughter disappear up the stairs. Would Hailey even tell her if something was amiss with Noah?
Probably not, because Hailey would no doubt believe that Lindy would be very disappointed if the wedding didn’t go forward.
Had Lindy gotten so caught up in the planning—and so excited to think of Hailey settled and secure—that she’d failed to see
other factors clearly? (Yes, Hailey had been getting stress-related migraines for a while, and cold feet were natural—but
was throwing up right after you’d seen yourself in your wedding gown, and again later that same day?)
“Mom,” she said to Greta. “You really believe he threatened her?” Lindy hated to think that her mother would’ve done and said what she had for no reason.
“Yes,” Greta said. “I do.”
“It’s just . . . hard to believe,” Lindy said, but she would be damned if she’d shove her daughter into marrying someone who wasn’t going to treat her well.
And Lindy truly did believe what she’d told Hailey yesterday in the car: Sometimes a path could be the exact right path—until suddenly it wasn’t.
Also, she hadn’t been able to help noticing, these past few days, how . . . heavy Hailey seemed in Noah’s presence, in contrast to how light and at ease she seemed in proximity to Jack Westfield. This had
been true even last night, when Hailey’d had a “killer” migraine and Jack had brought her home and said he was worried about
her. Even Lindy, who’d long thought of Jack as simply a smooth operator, had to admit he’d seemed sincere.
She didn’t want to think she could’ve been blind all this time, but, honestly, before this week, it had not even occurred
to her that Hailey could be marrying the wrong man. Maybe because Lindy had always been so sure she had married the right
one.
She sighed. “Okay, well, I’m going to go, Mom. I’m sorry to leave you and Dad, but I’ll be back as soon as I can. I just need
to get to the bottom of all this.” Now she found herself hoping that, if she could talk with Noah alone, she could find something
in his manner or words to reassure her that he was still the charming, kind young man she’d always thought him to be, that
the incident yesterday had all been a terrible mistake, that there was some good reason why he hadn’t stepped up to help search
for David—and that he knew how lucky he was to be marrying Hailey.
Greta frowned. “You be careful, honey.”
“He wasn’t the one with the gun,” Lindy said, then laughed to show she was teasing—even if she wasn’t, exactly. Greta smiled
weakly, and Lindy grabbed her purse and headed outside, the screen door banging shut behind her as she headed for the Volvo.
She lowered her sunglasses, put the car into gear, pulled out onto Summerland Cove Point Road, and headed for the world.
“To be honest, I feel sorry for you, Mrs. Kauffman,” Noah said.
They were standing just inside the door of his and Hailey’s apartment in the small, dingy kitchen.
Lindy had apologized for Greta’s behavior and invited him out for lunch, her treat, but he’d said he was about to leave for work, and he hadn’t invited her into the living room to sit down.
Lindy had never been to the apartment before and would’ve liked to see it, but his distant manner precluded asking.
“Because it’s obvious your mother is not in her right mind. ”