Chapter 13
Three hours after she departed from the Eco-Lodge, Sophie’s mother, Celia, returned from her hike with Ruth, unlacing her boots as she asked Sophie what she’d missed while she was gone.
“Oh, I checked in the Millers, that couple from New Hampshire. They seem good. Oh, and there was a minor breakfast incident, but I cleaned everything up.” Sophie didn’t want to tell her mother she felt that life behind the desk at the Eco-Lodge was becoming endlessly mundane.
She missed researching, writing papers, and furthering her career.
She missed using her brain, even if she felt she didn’t deserve it just then.
Because of the fire. Because of what she’d done.
Because of what she hadn’t been able to stop.
“Your Aunt Ivy wants to have a dinner party tonight,” Celia said, stretching her arms over her head. “It’s a gorgeous day. We should enjoy it.”
“Okay. Is Ruth coming?” Sophie prayed her voice didn’t betray her interest.
“I don’t think so. Ruth went to town to do a little more research, I guess.
But she told me why she’s here longer than she initially planned.
Apparently, Bluebell is perfect for the novel she’s writing.
Something about a small town? Mysteries?
Secrets?” Celia laughed and padded past Sophie, distracted by something.
Before Sophie could ask another question, Celia was already on the phone with a repairman, explaining that there was something wrong with the staircase.
“The bottom one is slightly crooked,” she said.
“And we can’t have that, not with people going up and down the steps all day. I don’t want anyone to get hurt.”
Before Celia got off the phone, more guests arrived at the Eco-Lodge to check in, and Sophie dropped back into her work—reminding herself that her obsession with Ruth wasn’t healthy.
Hours later, after another employee took over the front desk at the Lodge, Sophie changed into a navy blue dress and went to her Aunt Ivy’s place for a family barbecue.
This is what my social life has been reduced to, she told herself, which she knew was a joke.
Last year, she’d hardly spent any time with her roommates and had instead devoted all her time to falling in love with Ethan. Look where that had gotten her.
When she arrived, Lily was sitting cross-legged at the back picnic table, sipping rosé slowly.
She smiled when Sophie appeared and got up to hug her.
Everything smelled of grilled meat and melting cheese, and Sophie’s mouth watered, a reminder that she’d skipped lunch.
In front of Lily, on the picnic table, were notes Lily was taking for what looked to be a research paper about the environmental effects of artificial intelligence. Sophie forced her eyes away.
“How was work?” Lily asked.
“Another day, another dollar,” Sophie said, then wrinkled her nose at how annoying she sounded.
Theo was at the grill, flipping burgers and chicken. A speaker played a family playlist, which Celia and Sophie had put together last summer. It reminded Sophie of happier times.
“Theo, that food yesterday was to die for,” Lily said as Sophie settled in beside her.
Theo laughed. “You should have told us you were coming. We could have made it really special. I’m sorry we couldn’t focus on you. Those investors…” He trailed off and grimaced.
“Yeah! Who are they?” Sophie asked, remembering their expensive-looking suits and their furtive glances.
“A bunch of idiots who think they’re better than everyone,” Theo said under his breath, right as Celia and Ivy walked out onto the back porch, carrying grocery bags.
“Are you talking about us?” Celia teased, laughing.
“I only say good things about the two of you,” Theo said.
“You better.” Ivy began removing things from the grocery bags: chips, guacamole, hummus, and pita bread.
“Speaking of,” Celia said. “I walked past the Caldweck house today. I forgot how enormous it is.”
“Oh yeah. Sir Caldweck was in the midst yesterday,” Theo said, rolling his eyes. “He and his son. One of them. I can’t ever distinguish who is who.”
“Ren was one of them, right?” Ivy asked.
“Ren and Quentin, I think,” Juliet said, striding out onto the porch with a bottle of wine under her arm.
“Terrible guys,” Celia affirmed.
“What took you past their place?” Theo asked.
“I was on a hike with one of our guests,” Celia explained.
Alarm bells sounded in Sophie’s mind. Ruth had wanted to walk past the Caldweck mansion.
Sophie remembered how Ruth had said there were “bad people in Bluebell Cove.” But what had led her to the mansion?
Perhaps her story about a novel was just that: a bit of fiction.
Perhaps she was secretly writing an article about the sinister people in Bluebell Cove.
Perhaps she was doing exactly what Celia and Sophie had done three years ago—attempting to set the world to right.
Jealousy made Sophie’s throat swell.
“It wasn’t a very good trail,” Celia stated. “I tried to convince Ruth to do something else, but she was committed to taking that route. Maybe I can show her something better later.”
“Who knows how long she’ll stay?” Juliet said. “The girls are convinced she's an international spy or something.”
Although Sophie’s stomach felt crushed with annoyance, she forced herself to laugh along with Lily.
“We don’t think she’s a spy, exactly,” Lily explained. “We’re just curious about her.”
“We all are,” Celia said, tilting her head. Celia’s eyes met Sophie’s for the briefest of moments, before she sprang up again to help Ivy with the salad.
Soon enough, their conversation shifted to other things.
Theo had secured funding for the new menu, thankfully, and Ivy and Lily had had a prosperous morning at the flower shop.
Elliot was away on business, but Ivy expected him back later that night.
“Maybe we’ll all still be together to welcome him,” she said dreamily.
Sophie still remembered how dark and alienated Ivy had been during the first summer she and her mother spent in Bluebell Cove. It was remarkable to watch her aunt’s heart melt.
People really could change, Sophie knew.
But as she ate her grilled chicken and listened to her family’s bubbling conversation, Sophie was reminded again of all she hadn’t been able to tell them over the past two months: not about her breakup, nor about dropping out of school (unofficially), nor about the fire.
She felt like an exposed nerve. The fact that Lily knew it all was more than frightening.
What if Lily decided that Sophie needed help?
What if she decided to spill the beans to her mother, who would then spill those very same beans to Celia? Sophie shuddered and set down her fork.
“What’s up, lady?” Juliet smiled at her from across the picnic table, swirling her rosé in her glass.
“Nothing,” Sophie said.
“She’s just thinking her genius thesis thoughts,” Celia said proudly. “I’ve been dying to read over your notes all summer, but you’ve kept them a secret. How much longer, honey?”
“Just a little bit longer,” Sophie said, offering her mother a smile.
Later that night, after a gorgeous dinner at Ivy’s and a few good, creative conversations with her family members, Sophie walked home with her mother and found a letter waiting for her on the table in the foyer.
It was from Oregon state. Directly beneath it were letters for her stepbrother and stepsister about their upcoming dental exams, something innocuous that called attention to how serious Sophie’s letter was.
Before Celia could see the sinister envelope, Sophie snuck it into her pocket and scrambled upstairs to read it. Her heart pounded.
It had been nearly two months since the forest fire that had nearly claimed Sophie’s life.
But the long arm of the law never forgot a thing, she knew.
Her hands shaking, she tore open the envelope and read a letter from the court, demanding that she appear to discuss the fire that had broken out in mid-April.
Sophie’s thoughts scrambled to make sense of this.
Aloud, she muttered, “I need a lawyer? Do I really need a lawyer?”
For the first time, Sophie wondered if she should contact Ethan and see how he was handling this.
The cops certainly had his name. He’d been the one to drop her off at the hospital, after all.
If she remembered correctly, he hadn’t been the one to light the fire.
That had been Lizzie—Lizzie with her so-called incredible Girl Scout skills and her “understanding” of how fires worked.
But could Sophie really pin the full blame on Lizzie just because she’d been the one to officially light the match?
Ethan and Freddy had been trying and failing to light the thing for a while before Lizzie popped up to help.
And what had Sophie been doing during that time? Standing there like a fool, waiting for something bad to happen. Now, her life was over.