Page 44 of Patio Lanterns (The Blue Canoe Cottage #1)

Robin

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The sign hung in the front window. A sad reminder that Lake Whippoorwill would soon wake up to the news that it was without its beloved general store. Without its beloved general store proprietor.

Robin unlocked the door and led the way for the contingent of supporters that followed her inside—Rick, Dove, and Lark, carrying a sleeping Nova on her shoulder. Even Mutt Lange tagged along, immediately picking up on the scent that led him on a detour to the dog food aisle.

She flicked on the lights, and the overhead fluorescents kicked on like illuminated dominos reaching to the back of the store. It was eerily quiet and gloomily empty knowing that while everything appeared exactly as it had the day before, the place would never be the same.

Rick put his arm around Robin and gave her shoulder a gentle squeeze. “You okay?”

“I guess I never realized how much this store meant to me.” Her eyes stung with tears that had yet to fall. “Now I look around, and all I see are memories of summertimes past.”

Robin wandered down the aisle of canned goods and instant foods. It was a strange feeling now that Mrs. C was gone. Time had stopped in the store, as if the shelves were lined with preserved artifacts in a museum display.

“I feel awful that we called her Creepy Crawley,” Dove said. “She was a nice old lady. Scary, but nice.”

“By the way, she knew all along about us kids thinking she was a witch, and it didn’t seem to bother her.” The thought made Robin smile.

Stirred by nostalgia, she continued on a pilgrimage to make sense of what had happened, revisiting the past, mourning what little she’d come to know about Mrs. C.

The police hadn’t indicated where she died or had been found, leaving Robin to wonder if she had expired there in the store, like inventory past its best before date.

Nah, it had probably happened at home. But where was home for Mrs. C? Did anyone know? Robin had only worked up to asking her first name, leaving the mystery of where she lived to join the hundreds of unanswered questions swimming around in her head.

“I always loved the look of this old brass cash register,” Lark said at the counter. “Can’t believe she still used it.”

Robin smiled. “I told her she should swap it out for a POS system. But she just stared at me like there was a branch growing out of my head.”

“You know, I really thought you were just putting me on about working here.”

“It’s true,” she said. “I bartered a job with Mrs. C to pay for Mom’s party.”

“Wow, Rob, I’m impressed,” Dove told her.

Robin shrugged. “I told you guys I was going to find a way to do it.”

“I have to admit, I really underestimated you,” Lark said.

“Nah, you had every reason to have your doubts. Truthfully, the reason the delivery truck never showed up was because I wrote the wrong date on my order form.” She sighed.

“So, all the party lights and pigs in a blanket I ordered for yesterday’s party should be arriving on a five-tonne truck later today. ”

“Ahem,” Rick cleared his throat. “On-time delivery or not, the evening was a huge success.”

“Thanks to our neighbours,” she said, rolling her eyes.

“No, it’s thanks to you,” he said. “The Stanhopes, the Koskies… they were all talking about how you managed to rally everyone together at the eleventh hour. What did I tell you? Resourcefulness is your superpower.”

Robin met his appreciative gaze with a smile.

Dove jumped in. “And don’t forget that amazing speech you gave about Mom and Dad, and about Lake Whippoorwill not being for sale,” she added. “I mean, that was one for the ages.”

Lark broke down in tears. “I’m so sorry, Robin. I know I’ve been hard on you. And this whole thing with Rick…” she huffed with disdain, waving a hand in his general direction, “has really thrown me for a loop. But the truth is, I envy you.”

Robin could’ve been knocked over with a feather. “ You envy me ?”

“I hate to admit it, but even your May-December relationship is something I’m a bit envious of—other than the ridiculous age gap,” Lark scoffed as she sniffled. “But once again, you’re letting your heart lead instead of your head. I’ve always admired that about you.”

“Lark? Are you feeling okay?” Robin asked. “Maybe you should sit down.”

“You’ve never been afraid to go your own way, even if you have no idea where you’ll end up,” Lark continued. “Even if it’s sleeping in a van at a truck stop in the middle of nowhere.”

Robin shrugged. “Only on occasion.”

“I wish I could be more like that instead of needing to know exactly where I’m going, and precisely how long it’ll take to get there. Trust me, it’s not nearly as fun moving only in one straight line.”

Dove leaned on the counter and studied Lark’s face. “Okay, who are you, and what have you done with our sister?”

“Think about it,” Lark said. “As the oldest in the Pecking Order, I had the most responsibility and expectation on my shoulders. Be on your best behaviour. Get good grades. Make Mom and Dad proud. Subconsciously, I was conditioned to be confident, but cautious. Strive to achieve yet mitigate risk along the way. I expect it of myself and from others. That’s probably why I tend to come off as a bit overbearing from time to time. ”

“Only from time to time?” Dove lobbed a glance over at Robin, already biting her tongue from the “bit overbearing” part.

“But Robin, you always had much more freedom than Dove and me, and you also got away with far more than we did,” Lark said.

“That’s simply not true,” Robin protested.

Dove shrugged. “Actually, Rob, it kinda is.”

Thanks a lot, Switzerland. “It’s not like I never got shit for anything. Mom and Dad read me the riot act plenty of times, including after my letter to Aidan as you both enjoy recalling rather fondly.”

Lark continued. “I’m just saying, as the youngest, you had the opportunity and the appetite for taking chances. You’ve always embraced risk.”

Robin’s eyebrows fell. “And you’ve always reminded me how foolish that is.”

“Maybe because it pisses me off that you had it figured out before I did,” she said. “Less planning and more living is how to discover what you really want.”

“You have no idea what that means,” Robin said, a ball of emotion rising in her throat. “All I ever wanted was for you to respect that this is my life, and I should get to choose the way I live it.”

Tears began to track down Lark’s cheeks. “And all I’ve been trying to do is to hold things together the way Mom would’ve wanted. But now everything’s falling apart.”

“What are you talking about?” Dove asked.

“Nothing’s falling apart, not even after the huge mess I made last night,” Robin assured Lark. “We’ll keep finding a way to work through stuff like we always have. We got you, sis.”

“And you’ve got us,” Dove said. “We’ve got each other. We’re golden.”

Lark sniffled. “What you guys don’t get is that I’ve been dealing with more than you know. More than I can handle.”

“Like what?” Dove asked.

“Philip and I have separated,” she admitted. “Maybe I was being na?ve, but I really never imagined my marriage would become another statistic.”

“Whoa,” Dove exclaimed. Robin feigned shock, acting as if she too was startled by the news that Lark had finally left the asshole who put the Phil in philanderer.

“It’s knocked me off my axis, to be honest, along with everything else I’ve been dealing with.

I’ve been on anti-depressants since I had postpartum.

And now, with Mom dying barely two years after Dad, and being her executor and handling the estate stuff and having to decide what to do about the cottage, it’s been a lot,” Lark gulped.

“And lately, I’m not sure I even want to practice medicine anymore. ”

Robin was stunned by the enormity of Lark’s confession. “But you’ve worked so hard to become a doctor.”

“You would not believe the amount of bureaucracy in healthcare these days. I’m tired and burnt out, and it’s made me wonder why the hell I ever chose this career in the first place.”

“Well, you always were good at science,” Robin reminded her.

“See what I mean? Another straight line,” Lark said “I took the first path in front of me, and it led me to becoming a doctor before I even stopped to question if that’s what I genuinely wanted. The same thing with marrying Philip.”

“Phil was never the right path for you,” Dove told her. “We all knew that guy was nothing but a dead-end street.”

“Would’ve been nice if someone had mentioned that to me before he put a ring on my finger,” Lark snarled.

“Pretty sure someone did,” Robin said, the words falling out before she censored herself. “Aidan tried to stop your wedding. You didn’t talk to him for years afterwards.”

“He did?” Dove asked, stunned.

Lark’s head whipped around. “How do you know about that? Did he tell you?”

Robin tap-danced around having to answer. “Look, all that really matters is that you and Aidan patched things up, and you’re back to being besties again, am I right?”

Lark exhaled a sigh. “Yeah.”

“I’m sorry, Lark,” Robin said. “I haven’t exactly made things easier for you this week, but it does explain why you’ve been such a bitch on wheels.”

Lark snickered. “I’m sorry too. And I promise, I’ll try harder to back off and let you do your own thing. I just don’t want to see you getting hurt, that’s all.”

“I’m a big girl.” Robin opened her arms and wrapped them around Lark, squashing Nova between them, who rubbed her eyes and yawned.

Dove embraced both of her sisters at once. “Hey, I want in on this sister sandwich too.”

They huddled together and shed a few more tears together.

There really was nothing like the warmth and solace of a family hug, especially when it came with a side of honesty and forgiveness.

Surrounded in the Pelletier Pecking Order’s circle of love, Robin was grateful that even though their lifelong bond might be tried and certainly tested, their connection to one another remained true.