Someone Else’s Life(53)

“Why are you here?” Annie backed away from Serena with Marley at her side. She aimed for the direction of the front door. “Why are you really here?”

“I told you, my car broke down.” Serena swiveled, her eyes following Annie’s progress.

Marley stood in front of Annie, as if providing a shield. “But you didn’t pick this street by accident, did you?”

“No.” Serena shook her head. “I knew you lived here. I wanted to meet you in person finally. And I’m so glad I did.” She offered a tentative smile, and Annie blinked at her in disbelief.

“Why? How?” Annie was having trouble keeping up. She wondered whether Serena had mental issues. Could she have schizophrenia? Bipolar? Annie didn’t know the proper terms or what the symptoms were, but this wasn’t the woman she’d bonded with over the past few hours.

“Don’t be scared, Annie.” Once again, Serena read her mind. “I’m not here to hurt you. I mean, not the way you’re probably imagining right now.” She smiled dead into Annie’s eyes, which only made Annie more apprehensive.

Cold fear poured through Annie, even as she struggled to remember the connection they’d made today. How could things have turned around like this so quickly? This was bad. Really bad. “Tell me right now how you know who I am.” She had backed up almost to the front door. “I know they didn’t give you our names when we made the offer on the house. How the hell did you find me here on Kauai?”

“Annie, Annie.” Serena stood and started pacing again, causing Marley’s ears to prick up in alert. “I thought you were so smart. We didn’t know your names, but I knew where you lived. Remember? That was supposed to be my address.”

Annie’s eyes widened as something finally dawned on her. “You’ve been watching us. Back in New York. You’ve been stalking us, haven’t you?” Her feelings of eyes following her when they’d first moved to the lake house had been correct. It wasn’t paranoia. It was Serena.

Serena stopped and turned. “No, Annie. I wasn’t stalking you. I’d never do that.” There was a beseeching look in her eyes. “At first I only went back to the house because I was so sad to lose it. Do you have any idea what it’s like to lose all your dreams just like that?”

She snapped her fingers, the loud crack making Annie jump.

“I do, Serena. Remember?” Despite her resolve to leave earlier, Annie now wanted to hear what Serena had to say.

“I was so sad. I couldn’t believe that my dream life was gone. So I went back and parked across the street. I only wanted to see the house again, to say goodbye to it and to the life I thought I would live. But then you walked out of the house with Lili. In her pink harness and leash. She was so sweet and exactly the kind of dog I would have gotten if I lived there.”

“That’s how you know about the pink harness.” It was all making a terrible kind of sense now. Annie’s instincts hadn’t been wrong—someone had been watching them this whole time.

Serena continued as if she hadn’t spoken. “I couldn’t stop watching you two. You were living the life I wanted. I got out of the car and pretended to be a neighbor taking a walk. I waited until you were coming back to the house to walk toward you, and I even said hi to you.” Her mouth turned up in a small smile as her eyes got a faraway look, as if picturing the scene in her mind. “It was winter, so I was all wrapped up in a scarf and hat. Lili barked at me once, but she quieted down as soon as you told her to relax.”

Annie couldn’t take her eyes off Serena. “That was four years ago. I don’t understand. What . . .” She sputtered, as a memory came to her. “Did you drive a white car?”

“Yes.” Serena’s eyebrows rose in pleasant surprise.

“You used to park across the street and just sit there for a while. Brody and I wondered who it was. We even made a joke that someone was casing our house.” Annie brought her hands to her face.

“I would never steal from you. What do you think I am, a burglar?” Serena’s lower lip pouted. “I only wanted to see the house at first, but then I got hooked on watching you. I’d go back every week. Sometimes I’d park in the beach parking lot. Sometimes I’d park farther away and walk back. I tried to go when there were people around: after school when the buses let the kids out, weekends. I blended in with the neighbors.”

“I’ve seen you before.” Annie stared hard at Serena and realized why she’d looked so familiar. Not because she’d seen her at Lydgate Park Beach here in Kauai. But because she’d seen her around the neighborhood at their lake house. She’d thought she was one of the neighbors, someone she never really paid attention to.

“Yes.” Serena’s face lit up, as if she were glad Annie remembered her.

“How long?” Annie wanted to ask how long she’d been doing this but couldn’t get the rest of the words out.

“How long what?” Serena tilted her head, as if contemplating the question. “How long have I been watching you?”

Annie nodded, still not able to form coherent thoughts. This couldn’t be happening.

“I guess four years.” Serena shrugged carelessly, as if discussing how long they’d been friends rather than how long she’d been stalking Annie. “I didn’t mean to. But every time I went to the house and saw you, I’d think, That’s my life. When I saw you working in the flower garden in front, I’d think, That was supposed to be my garden. I wouldn’t have put roses in. I would have made it a butterfly garden with native plants for the butterflies and bees. Only echinacea, blazing stars, black-eyed Susans. I’d sit in my car and plan what the garden should look like. You don’t know what restraint it took for me not to tell you to pull out those roses.”