Page 47 of The Sandy Page Bookshop

Lucy

The last thing she wanted was to involve anyone else in her business, but there was no way around it. She did not want her parents to know she was going to see Ella. And none of her friends had licenses. Eudora Shipman had given her a ride once before. It turned out she was willing to do it again.

When work ended, she texted her mom that she was staying late.

Then she hurried out to the curb where Mrs. Shipman was already waiting.

When Lucy slid into the passenger seat Alfred yipped and barked himself into a frenzy from the back, but it was Mrs. Shipman who looked worse.

Lucy’s memory swung hard to the nail-biting drive home the last time, and she wondered if she’d made a huge mistake.

“You sure you’re okay with this, Mrs. Shipman?”

The old woman nodded hard, took a rattling breath, and put the car roughly in drive. “Here we go.”

The drive wasn’t deadly exactly, but there were moments.

Mrs. Shipman was nervous, and it wasn’t just the sheen on her pale forehead or the death grip on the steering wheel.

After a few hard stops and sharp turns, they swung onto Route 6 and things evened out in the slow lane.

It was a snail’s pace, and there were some honks, but eventually they pulled up to Spaulding.

Lucy let out her breath the moment Mrs. Shipman put the car in park.

She hadn’t realized she’d been holding it.

“Thank you so much,” she told Mrs. Shipman.

“You are welcome.” She pulled a tissue from her oversized purse and dabbed her head, then reached for another. “Sorry, I get a little jumpy on the highway.”

“You did great,” Lucy told her. That seemed to help. “Do you want to come in?” It hadn’t occurred to her what to do with Mrs. Shipman once they got there. It was too hot to leave her in the car, and too rude, too. Plus, there was the matter of Alfred, who snarled when Lucy turned to look at him.

“It would be good to get out. Don’t worry. Alfred has a therapy dog vest, so they’ll let him in.”

Lucy could not imagine Alfred providing any sense of calm to anyone, but then it dawned on her: he did for Mrs. Shipman.

The three of them checked in at the front desk, and Mrs. Shipman settled into a chair in the waiting area. “We’ll be right here.”

“I won’t be long,” Lucy promised.

When she got to Ella’s room, Lucy hesitated in the doorway.

All this time Ella had been trying to heal and her parents were wracked with worry and the daily commute back and forth, Lucy had been saddled with her own grief and worry.

People’s lives had been upended. With the pending lawsuit, lives were about to be upended even more.

And if Lucy held the key to making something right out of all the wrong that had happened that summer, she needed to use it.

Even if it meant upsetting her family in doing so.

She knocked lightly on the door and Ella looked up. “Lucy!” Her voice was still gravelly from lack of use, but her expression was bright.

“Hey there.” Lucy went and sat on the edge of the bed. “How’re you doing today?”

In the last week, color had returned to Ella’s cheeks, and clarity to her expression. She looked more and more like her old self and it made Lucy brave.

“I’m good,” Ella said, with some effort. “Mom and Dad?” She looked to the door.

Lucy shook her head. “It’s just me today. I got a ride, with a friend.” She winked. “Don’t tell Mom or Dad.”

Ella laughed softly and Lucy did, too. It felt good to share a sisterly secret again. “I came today because there’s something I need to know.” Lucy reached into her pocket. “Do you remember when I brought you that note from Jep?”

Ella turned to her side table, to the copy of Anne of Green Gables . Lucy watched as she flipped through the book. There, in the middle, was the folded note from Jep.

“Love note–bookmark?” Lucy asked.

Ella winced. “I miss him.”

“That’s why I’m here.” She handed Ella the other half of the note, the part she’d torn from the bottom. “I’m sorry I kept this from you. I didn’t know what it meant, and I was worried it would upset you.”

Heart in her throat, Lucy waited as Ella read the entirety of Jep’s message for the first time.

Ella’s eyes flicked over the message once more, then back at Lucy. Neither of them spoke.

Lucy cleared her throat. “Ella, does that mean what I think it does?”

Ella let out a long breath. She pulled the other half of the note from the pages of her book and lay both on her lap, one atop the other. Then she read the words aloud, slowly and sadly, “I-love-you-Ella. P.S. Please-don’t-tell.”

When she looked up again, Lucy had her answer. “You were the one driving the car that night.”

Ella did not cry. This time her voice did not waver. “Yes.”

“Jep took the blame for you.”

“He did?” Ella’s face crumpled.

“Mom and Dad don’t know. The police don’t know. Jep told everyone that he was the one driving.”

“Why?” Ella threw up her hands, her voice cracking. “Why would he?”

“To protect you.”

In one sudden motion, Ella flipped her covers back. She swung her legs over the side of the bed like she was going to run out of there.

“Wait!” Lucy stood, placing both hands on her sister’s shoulders, as if she could stop her.

Ella was stronger now, and she leaned into Lucy hard.

“Ella, wait. Listen. This is why I didn’t tell you.

” She pressed her forehead to her sister’s and held her.

“I will help you tell the truth. But this isn’t going to help. ”

Her eyes had filled with tears, but Ella was listening. Lucy felt her soften as she spoke.

“Is that why you keep saying you’re sorry?”

Between hiccups of tears, Ella nodded.

“Then let’s tell Mom and Dad the truth. I’ll help you, alright?”

“Jep.” Ella squeezed Lucy’s arm with her fingers. “I-want-Jep.” She sank back down onto her bed.

“I’ll get him,” Lucy promised. This time Ella let Lucy slide her legs back under the covers. “But first I’m going to tell Mom and Dad. They need to know. Okay?”

Ella slumped against her pillows and nodded. She looked like a broken little bird again.

Lucy could not tell her sister about the lawsuit. Not today. The note had already been too much.

“Don’t worry. Mom and Dad won’t be mad. Maybe this is good. Maybe they’ll let Jep come visit you now.” Even as she said these things, Lucy could not help but wonder. Their parents would not be mad. But they’d be gutted.

When her sister finally settled, Lucy kissed her on the cheek and smoothed the hair from her face. “Get some rest. I’ll be back tomorrow.”

“With Jep?” Ella sat up.

“I’ll do my best,” Lucy told her, glancing back at the door. She didn’t want to risk upsetting Ella any more, but she couldn’t keep Eudora waiting longer, either.

To her relief, Ella sank back against her pillows again. “Jep,” she said. “Promise.”

“Promise.”

Ella had no way of knowing Jep had been banned from Spaulding, at her parents’ insistence. Lucy doubted that what she was about to tell them would change their minds. Still, a promise between sisters was a promise.

As she hurried down the hall to Mrs. Shipman, Lucy had an urgent list ahead of her. At the top, always, was Ella.

It was a quiet ride back to Chatham. “Is your sister doing well?” Mrs. Shipman asked.

“Yes, thank you,” Lucy replied. “She’ll be even better tomorrow.”

After Mrs. Shipman dropped her back at the bookstore, Lucy rode home as fast as she could. Inside the house was cool and dark, a welcome respite to the beads of perspiration on her face.

“Mom? Dad?” she called. No one answered. Before she went to find them, Lucy ran upstairs to Ella’s bedroom. She found what she needed tucked away in the jewelry box.

Back downstairs the kitchen was empty, but there were signs of dinner preparations underway. Lucy found them outside, on the patio, the grill smoking and her father sitting in a patio chair with a beer. Lucy could not remember the last time she’d seen him enjoy one.

“Hey,” she said, stepping outside to join them.

“Oh good, you’re back in time for supper!” Her mother came over and kissed her cheek. “You worked late today.”

Her father looked up. “Steaks for dinner,” he said, happily.

Lucy took a seat opposite her father at the patio table. “There’s something I have to tell you guys.”

“How was work?” her mother asked, lifting the lid of the grill to inspect the meat.

“Mom, can you come sit with us?” Lucy asked.

Her father set his bottle down. “What’s wrong?” His senses had been sharpened by the accident, able to cut through minutiae like a blade. “Tell me.”

“Lucy?” Her mother joined them, looking worried.

“It’s about the accident,” Lucy began.

Both her parents’ faces went dark. The accident was a topic they avoided. “What about it?”

“Jep wasn’t the one driving.”

“What?” Her mother shook her head, as if Lucy was speaking a language she did not understand.

But her father did. “Nonsense. Of course he drove. He drank, and then he drove.”

“No, Dad. He didn’t.”

“Then who did?” her mother asked. And then it dawned on her what Lucy was trying to say. “Not Ella.”

“Yes, Mom. Ella. I went to see her today.” She looked between her parents. “I’m sorry I didn’t tell you, but I had to ask her alone.”

“No!” Her father pounded the patio table with his fist. “The police report says so. The lawyers say so.” He stood up. “Even Jep Parsons said he did.”

In the face of her father’s rage, Lucy swallowed. She had to tell the truth. “Did Ella say he did?”

“Honey, your sister has a traumatic brain injury. Whatever she said to you today, she’s mistaken. Or confused.”

Lucy shook her head. “She’s not confused, Mom. She remembers that night and she’s able to talk now.”

“Then why hasn’t she told us?” her father asked.

“It never occurred to her to tell us who was driving because she thought we already knew.” Lucy turned to her mother. “That’s why she keeps saying she’s sorry. She’s sorry because she’s the one who crashed the car.”

Her parents went still.

“I went to Parsons’s Garage and looked at the Mustang,” Lucy admitted.

“You did what?” her father said.

“I needed to see it for myself. And I found this, on the floor of the car.” Lucy reached into her pocket and handed her mother Ella’s broken gold bracelet.

“Her graduation bracelet.”

“It was under the steering wheel. On the driver’s-side floor.” Lucy looked between her parents. “She’ll tell you herself, when you see her tomorrow.”

“Only because she’s trying to protect that boyfriend!”

“No, Dad. He’s been the one protecting her. Jep knew if she was given a DUI she’d have a record. He didn’t want her to lose her scholarship or her spot at Tufts. Don’t you see?”

Her father sat down.

“This can’t be true.” Lucy’s mother pressed the bracelet to her heart. “How can this be true?”

“I’m sorry,” Lucy told them. She sat beside her father, wrung out by the words. “I didn’t want to worry you with this until I was sure. You have to call off the lawsuit. It’s not right.”

“What is right anymore?” Lucy’s father cradled his hands in his head.

The truth was out, but somehow it felt worse. The three of them sat at the table, the acrid smoke of the grill filling the silence between them.