Thinking about what Avery was saying, Cassie forgot to push in the clutch as she shifted gears, and the vehicle balked and jerked. Flustered, she steered onto the berm as the car jolted to a halt.

  “Sorry, I’ll be fine, it’s just the whole stick-shift thing,” she explained in response to Avery’s questioning expression. “So...you weren’t real worried about this professor?”

  Avery shrugged. “He was an older jerk. I’ve been around them before. No big deal.”

  Cassie rolled down the car window, thinking. Her surroundings came back into her awareness: the brackish scent of water from the swamp beside them, the chirp of birds, the rush of wind as cars sped by.

  “Hey, your phone is blowing up,” Avery said.

  Cassie turned away from the window, took the phone from Avery’s hand and studied the additional messages. She just needed to call Evan, get it over with, so she did. She hated that she was anticipating talking to him with any kind of pleasure. She wanted to be mad at him, but she kept getting sidetracked by her heart. “What’s going on?” she asked, hearing the brusqueness in her own voice.

  “Why haven’t you been answering? Where are you?” He said something to someone in the background.

  “Shopping for doll supplies,” she said warily, and glancing over at Avery, switched the phone to speaker. “With Avery. Why, what’s up? You’re on speaker, by the way.”

  “I didn’t know where you were. Don’t do that to me!”

  What did it mean, this urgent, repeated calling? Was it loving care and concern, like a romantic partner might feel?

  Or, what was more likely, was it him being a cop?

  Oliver spoke in the background, his voice distinctly slurred. “He’s been freaking out. You witnessed a crime, you’re at risk, yada, yada, yada.”

  “Oliver, geez!” Avery spoke up, sounding disgusted. “Of course your dad is worried about her. It only makes sense, if she witnessed a crime. Have a heart.”

  “I do have a heart. I gave him beer.” Oliver laughed at his own joke. “Come on and party with us. Both of you.”

  “I don’t know about that,” Cassie said, “but we’re on our way back to Pleasant Shores.” She ended the call and glanced over at Avery. “They sound out of control.”

  “They do. And not in a good way.” Avery frowned. “It’s three o’clock. I’m pretty sure Oliver works tonight at five.”

  “And I’m pretty sure Evan shouldn’t be drinking. Let’s go.” Carefully, she steered the car out onto the road and headed toward Pleasant Shores. “And on the way, you can tell me exactly what happened with creepy Professor Halofax.”

  CHAPTER EIGHTEEN

  EVAN SAT WITH his son on the back deck of his cottage. Drinking beer, which wasn’t good, but they were bonding for the first time since Oliver had arrived in town.

  The air was soft with salty, beachy humidity, and a breeze rustled through the long-needled pines. A lonely seagull flew overhead. Out on the bay, two fishing boats were barely visible, but the sound of their motors came clearly across the water.

  Evan had only had two beers, nothing to a guy of his size. He was enjoying his son’s company, another first, and it was because of his old friend, alcohol.

  Dimly, he recognized it as the kind of stinkin’ thinkin’ derided in AA meetings. Knew that his excuses—being upset about Cassie not returning his calls, being angry that the Minestown Police weren’t doing more with the professor tip—wouldn’t hold water.

  On some level he recognized that he was thumbing his nose at his duties and responsibilities. He felt entitled to drink, and that was bad, a slippery slope he’d fallen down before.

  He could lose everything. And now everything included not only his job, and Oliver, but also Cassie.

  Cassie. The fear that she’d gone missing had pounded a big, rusty stake through the middle of his chest.

  When he’d come out onto the deck and seen Oliver with the cooler of beer beside him, he should have immediately called his sponsor. Given his emotional state, he should have left the scene or poured every one of those beers out.

  But Oliver had held out a can to him, and beneath his son’s cocky grin, Evan had seen the little boy Oliver had been. He’d seen the insecurity, the do you love me, Dad?

  In that moment, given where Oliver was in life, given what kind of father Evan had been, or hadn’t been, there had been no choice to make. He’d taken the beer, cracked it open.

  They’d drunk beer and looked at their phones and talked a little. Finally reached Cassie and Avery and talked to them. Drank some more. That was all, but it was a start at connecting.

  Next door Cassie pulled up and jolted to a halt in Josh’s car. She and Avery climbed out, carrying shopping bags. Avery waved; Cassie didn’t.

  Fitted, frayed jeans and sneakers made her look like a kid. The white sweater that was falling off her shoulder, revealing a tantalizing glimpse of skin, reminded him that she was all woman.

  He shouldn’t be thinking about either thing, really. He glanced over at Oliver, who was grabbing another beer.

  Father-worry pushed at him, mingling with shame. What was he doing? Why had he thought that drinking with Oliver was a good thing to do? If Cassie had been here, she’d have set him straight. In her presence he wanted to be better than he was.

  Cassie and Avery disappeared into Victory Cottage and then, minutes later, came out the back door.

  “Over here,” Oliver called. “Come have a drink.”

  Avery marched over, hands on hips. “You have to work in two hours,” she said to Oliver.

  Evan winced. He should be the one doing the scolding, not Avery. Instead, he’d encouraged the drinking.

  Which was right on par for him. He was a bad father. He was an alcoholic. He didn’t deserve to have either Cassie or Oliver in his life.

  Cassie frowned at Evan. “I didn’t think you drank.”

  “Made an exception for my son,” he said, cracking open another one. He shouldn’t, but this was his last chance before going back on the wagon. Just one more.

  More stinkin’ thinkin’, and he knew it. Before he could get deeper into it, he stood and dumped the contents of the can off the edge of the deck, regret burning in his throat.

  “Come on,” Avery said to Oliver. “I’ll make you some coffee at my place.”

  Evan watched as Avery led Oliver off.

  Cassie leaned back against the railing. “You okay?”

  He tossed the empty can into the trash, where it clanked against others. Too many others. “I shouldn’t have been drinking, but it was a good chance to connect with Oliver.”

  Her eyebrows drew together as she studied him, and more shame washed over him. Cassie knew. She’d had an alcoholic father. “I know what you’re thinking. I need to go to a meeting tonight. Get back on track.”

  “I hope you do,” she said, and her tense expression softened. “Hey, I need to talk to you about something.”

  His heart leaped, against his own will. Did she want to talk about them, their relationship, her feelings toward him? Which he shouldn’t want, but he did.

  “Did you know Avery went to Price?” she asked.

  It took him a minute to shift gears. “No, I didn’t,” he said slowly.

  “And she knew Professor Halofax.”

  “What?” He stared at her, trying to understand. “Avery knew him? Did she have any insight into what he’s like?”

  “Yeah.” Cassie pushed off from the railing and paced the deck. “She did. In fact, she said he bothered her. Stalked her, even. Evan, I’m wondering if she’s the young woman Josh didn’t want to look for, the reason he decided to back off from the case.”

  Evan felt dead sober now. “That would be insane. What are the odds that you’d move in, and the girl who was involved in Josh’s case would move in right next door? In Pleasant Shores, which has no connection whatsoever with Price University.”

  “Right, it doesn’t make any sense. Except that a lot of people from this region go to Price. I did. Avery did. And a lot of people from other parts of the state vacation here.” She paced. “Evan, she recognized his name right away. She had him for a theater class, to meet her arts requirement, and she went to see him during his office hours, once, to get help with a paper. After that, she said, he wouldn’t leave her alone.”

  He pressed his fingers to his temples, his mind working on the puzzle, trying to figure out all the connections.

  “If it’s true, if the professor is Josh’s client and he was looking for Avery, I’m worried about her safety,” she said. “And...and mine, to be honest. If this guy got so outraged that he was willing to shoot and kill Josh...” Her voice broke.

  He slid an arm around her shoulder, tugged her toward him. He wasn’t worth much, but he could share his strength, comfort and protect her. “Does Halofax know where Avery is?”

  “She doesn’t think so. She broke off all communication with him.”

  “But if he’s a faculty member, wouldn’t he have access to her home address? Or else a way to get it? If he knew someone in the registrar’s office, say.” He shook his head. “I don’t like it. I don’t like it one bit.”

  “I don’t, either.” She stepped away from him and looked out over the bay. Her lips trembled a little, and his heart nearly broke. She was afraid and trying not to show it. His hands itched to comfort her, but he squeezed them into fists instead.

  The best comfort would be a solution to the problem. Getting this jerk behind bars. His chest burned to think of a man who would harass a young college student, who would shoot an unarmed man in his home, in front of his sister.

  “I’m giving one more call to Minestown and another to the Price campus police,” he said. “I’ll share this information and see what they say.”

  “Good.”

  And he didn’t add: if there was no result, he was going after the guy himself. What he wasn’t going to do was inform Cassie, because he couldn’t put her at risk.

  “I’ll take care of it,” he said, standing, his resolve strengthening as he looked at Cassie, so brave and yet so vulnerable. There was no way he would allow her to be hurt. Somehow, someway, he’d get the evidence that would put this loser behind bars. So he couldn’t hurt anyone else.

  And as for himself, he needed to keep his distance, because look what he’d just been doing: drinking in the middle of the afternoon. Which dialed his days of sobriety back to zero.

  He was a bad bet for any woman, and he needed to remember that. But especially for Cassie, who’d known too much pain, part of it stemming from her alcoholic father, and part from the loss of her brother.

  Even though what he really wanted to do was to pull her into his arms.

  * * *

  ON SATURDAY MORNING Avery walked down toward the bike path that ran along the bay, her pace slowing with every step.

  She really, really didn’t want to meet up with her baby’s father. Didn’t want him involved in her life at all.

  But when he’d texted, asking her to meet, she’d paused in the act of saying no. Talking to Oliver about his father, realizing that Evan had supported his son from a distance, she’d started to wonder: Could she get some child support out of Mike?

  Of course, that would mean she had to tell him she was pregnant. How would he react to that? Would he even believe her, or believe that he was the father?

  Telling Mike the truth could create a big mess she wasn’t sure she was ready to deal with.

  She saw his subcompact pull into the parking area where they’d agreed to meet, and her stomach lurched. She’d once been drawn to him, and then she’d been angry. Now she was curious to see what he wanted. She’d figured he’d moved on to the next girl, hoped he had. Really hoped this wasn’t something like “let’s get back together.”

  He got out of the car, slammed the door and looked around.

  Seeing him, she felt the same way she’d felt when she’d visited her primary school, right before she’d left for college, when she’d seen the colorful hallways and heard the excited yells of kids on the playground. It was a warm, slightly sad remembrance of a good time when life was a lot less complicated.

  Simple fun. She and Mike had had that together. Even though it hadn’t lasted, he’d been her first real boyfriend. Her first time, too.

  But she needed to focus on now, be practical, sensible, impersonal. Ignore the mushy emotions she’d felt for Mike during their brief time together.

  “Hey,” she called.

  He walked toward her, and they met on the path. Would he hug her? Would she allow it?

  She was disappointed in herself that she kind of wanted him to hug her. But after all, they’d shared the most intense thing a man and woman could share. It had meant something to her, even if it hadn’t meant the same thing to him.

  It made sense that she’d have all the feelings. He was the father of the child growing inside her. Whatever his flaws, they’d made something together, someone, who was going to be amazing.

  And, she scolded herself, her feelings for Mike couldn’t have been all that serious, since she was having feelings for Oliver now. Boy, did she know how to pick them.

  She stuck out a hand to shake his and preclude the hug she still wanted a little. “How have you been?” she asked before registering the frown on his face.

  “Not good.” He gave her a limp-fish handshake. “Can you call off your new boyfriend, let him know we’re not together?”

  She tilted her head to one side, trying to process how he might have learned about Oliver. “I don’t have a new boyfriend.”

  “The professor,” he said impatiently. “Halofax? He’s been hassling me to tell him where you’re living, saying you and he just had a little disagreement. He’s weird and he scares me.”

  “Me, too.” She frowned, turned and started walking along the path, gesturing for Mike to join her. “And he’s not my new boyfriend. What has he been saying?”

  “He’s stopped short of threatening me, but just. He’s weird. He’s come to my house, and my mom actually told me to come talk to you.”

  “Please don’t tell him where I am. He kinda stalked me.”

  “Oh, geez.” Mike rolled his eyes. “I wish we never... Look, Avery, I’m sorry about what happened, but I didn’t know it was going to turn into all this.”

  A couple of bikes whizzed past them. A family of three knelt beside the water, the baby staring at a bucket of bay water the dad had brought over. She shouted and splashed it, making both parents laugh.

  The scene shot a small, painful arrow into Avery’s heart. That father liked his baby and his wife, from the looks of things. That couple was happy together. That baby would grow up with both parents.

  She put a hand protectively over her belly. Mike was a coward, insensitive, and the baby would be better off without him.

  Someday she’d have to tell him, though; the baby would need to know he or she had a father. That was something Avery’s mom had made clear, and Avery knew it was true. “Look,” she said, “I’m not asking you for anything, but...” She looked out toward the bay. How to say it?

  She looked back toward Mike, and a movement caught her eye. A white sedan, moving slowly along where they were walking. The man behind the wheel was... “It’s him!” Without thinking, she pulled Mike off the boardwalk and into the sand that led to the bay.

  “Who?”

  “Halofax! At least, I think it is.”

  “Where?”

  She pointed, but the car sped up and drove away.

  Shoving aside the strange fear that seeing her creepy former professor created in her, Avery stepped away from Mike and faced him, hands on hips. “Did Halofax follow you here?”

  Mike shrugged. “I don’t know. I don’t even remember what kind of car he has.”

  She blew out a breath. “If he’s been bugging you about where I am, wouldn’t it make sense that you’d look in your rearview mirror every now and then to make sure he wasn’t following you?” Which wasn’t fair, and she knew it.

  “Like I said, I didn’t know sleeping with you was going to make such a mess. I would never have done it if I’d known.”

  “Thanks a lot.” What a dodo. The baby would for sure be better off without him. “Look, I don’t want Halofax in my life, or you, either, for that matter. If he’s bothering you, call the police.”

  She’d report this possible sighting herself, maybe, or at least tell Evan about it. Between the sighting and what Mike had said, and Cassie’s having him on a list of questionable guys from the university, she was getting uneasy about her former professor and what he might do.

  CHAPTER NINETEEN

  SATURDAY EVAN HAD worked the early shift. On his way home, midafternoon, he stopped by the hardware store where Cassie and the teenagers were scheduled to do a work session in the back room.

  She’d told him she didn’t need him to come, but on top of what had happened yesterday, taking his first drink in fifteen years—and his last, he told himself firmly—he felt like a loser. He could at least fulfill his responsibilities to help out with the at-risk teens, the way he’d told Bisky and William he was going to.

  Only when he got there, he realized his important male influence wasn’t that important at all.

  Isaac Roberts, who ran the hardware store, was back there, talking with a group of about eight teenagers. A bald man whom Evan belatedly recognized as Kirk James, Mary Rhoades’s sometimes boyfriend, was kneeling beside a small stack of wood, discussing it with one of the teen boys.

  Cassie had her laptop open, and she and a couple of the kids were studying it and laughing.

  Cassie was like a flower, gathering all the honeybees around her. Even Ace leaned against her, accepting treats and pats from the kids.

  Evan felt a primitive urge to wade in there and claim her, let everyone know he was the guy who’d brought her here, who’d known her since she was a kid. Let them know she was his.

 

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