Chapter 34
As promised, Leah called Augie as soon as she left Hyla. Augie sat at her desk but immediately closed her computer, focusing
on Leah’s every word.
Leah said Teuta hadn’t been surprised to see them. Zami had told her about everything that had happened at the luau. She was
expecting them. She already had everything prepared. Leah said Teuta was struggling not to cry as she started talking.
“Augie, you won’t believe it, it makes so much sense now,” Leah said.
Leah told Augie everything: how Teuta explained she’d been twenty-one that summer, bartending almost every night. She was
also closing each night, which meant she was often at The Manor until three or four a.m., cleaning up. She remembered that
summer, all the hockey boys. As the new owner, Joshua Mike was also there every evening, commanding the bar. That night in
August started like any other, Teuta said, but as it got later, the hockey boys and Joshua Mike were getting crazier than
usual. Joshua Mike had ordered bottle service and extra shots to celebrate the end of their training.
“She said she felt guilty for serving them underage, but Joshua Mike told her to turn a blind eye. She did say she refused to give them to-go drinks at the end of the night.” Leah swallowed.
“Because, Augie, she heard them talking about the speedboat. She heard Joshua Mike convincing them to go, saying he would take them out.”
Leah started talking rapidly: Once Joshua Mike paid and left, Teuta continued on as normal. But a few hours later, when she
was leaving around four a.m., the sky still dark, she saw Joshua Mike in the parking lot. Teuta said she’d always remember
how wild he looked. He was wearing a marina-branded sweatshirt and shorts—not what he’d had on earlier—and he was ghost white
and limping. She saw him stuff something in the trash can before he got in his car. It was so odd that after he left, she
went to look at it.
“What?” Augie leaned forward. “What was it?”
“His clothes. Augie, they were soaking wet. He had to have been on the boat.”
“Why didn’t she say anything?” Augie suddenly pictured Teuta at twenty-one, hiding in her car, watching Joshua Mike in the
dark.
“It’s like with Trey.” Leah softened. “Joshua Mike tracked her down the next day. He knew she’d heard them talking, but he
wanted her to know that he’d left the bar when Trey did. Then he gave her cash. He called it a tip. A fifty-thousand-dollar tip.” Leah sighed. “We should have known no one wins that much from a scratch card.”
Augie felt a flash of cold. She pictured the bulletin board.
“He had to have been the one driving, Augie. He probably got thrown from the boat, walked back, and said nothing.”
Augie still felt lost as Leah said she and her parents were going to talk to their lawyer.
“Will she, will Teuta get in trouble?”
“No. It’s been so long, I don’t think anything will happen legally.
But this”—Leah paused, the silence filled with her emotion—“this is more than I could have hoped for. I never expected . . . all these years later . . . I can’t even be mad at her.
You should have seen her, Augie, I’d never seen someone so upset.
She kept apologizing over and over, saying she was ready to pay for everything.
But you know, Aug, I’m so relieved at this point, I’m not angry.
I’m angry at everything that happened, but not at her.
She was our age then. He had all that power. ”
Augie understood. She knew now there were certain emotions that didn’t make sense, instincts that didn’t derive from formulas
or expectations.
“She wants to see you,” Leah said. “But, Aug, I have to go. I’m about to meet up with my mom. I love you.”
“I love you, too.”
Augie hung up, silent, and stared down at her phone. Then, before she lost her nerve, she walked straight out the front door
and headed to Hyla.