Someone Else’s Life(57)

Serena opened her mouth and then closed it. She took a breath and said, “I didn’t know how to approach you. Every time I got up the courage to tell you who I was, there’d either be too many people around or something would happen and I would lose my chance. So I started leaving you little gifts from your house on the lake. I thought that could be a way to ease into telling you who I am.”

“You’re the one who’s been leaving me all those things I lost years ago?” Annie walked to her. She hadn’t thought this woman could shock her further, but she’d been wrong. She’d thought she was losing her mind, somehow collecting things she’d lost over the years and bringing them here to Kauai. And all along it had been Serena?

“Yes.” Serena’s face was so hopeful that, for a moment, Annie really wanted to believe they were an innocent gesture of friendship. But no, these were not the actions of a stable person.

“And what do you mean ‘gifts’?” Annie took another step toward Serena. “Those were things you stole from me.”

“I didn’t steal them. You’d leave them lying around in the front yard, or dropped by your house. I wanted you to know I kept them because they meant something to me.” Serena lifted her head and gazed off, as if seeing the lake house. “You kept losing your gardening gloves. One day, you put them down by the driveway and ran in to answer the phone. I waited for you to come back out, but you didn’t. So I took them.” She shrugged. “I guess I wanted a piece of your life. Another time, your husband and son were coming back from the beach and they dropped Finn’s shirt in the road. Neither of them realized it and kept going. I picked it up, pretending that Johnny was still alive and this was his shirt. And one time, after taking Lili for a walk, you accidentally unsnapped her collar when you took off her harness. I was in the woods next to your house, and I saw the collar fall to the ground. I waited for you to come back and get it, but you never did.”

“What, you waded across the creek that separated my house from the woods and took it?” Annie’s face was incredulous.

“Yes.” Serena’s gaze landed on her. “See, we have the same mind.”

“No, no we don’t.” Annie’s brows rose as she shook her head.

“I’ve been leaving things for you because I wanted to remind you of our lake house. And also to thank you for—” Serena broke off and bit her lip.

Thank me for what? And “our” lake house? Annie couldn’t help wondering, but Serena didn’t elaborate.

“Did you like finding them?” The hopeful tone was back in Serena’s voice.

“No. I thought I was losing my mind.” Annie forced herself to take a careful breath. She needed to stay calm, to figure out what to do. “I can’t believe you were the one who’s been taking things from our house all this time. I thought I was so careless, always losing things.”

“I didn’t think you would notice. They were just little things, things I didn’t think you’d even remember.” Serena turned wide eyes on Annie, as if it were perfectly normal to go onto someone’s private property to take things that didn’t belong to her.

“You . . .” Annie was at a loss for words. “Wait, did you take my sunglasses?”

“Yes.” Serena’s face lit up, as if Annie had just complimented her, instead of accusing her of stealing her sunglasses right out of her purse. “It was so crowded at the shopping center for the Chinese New Year celebration that I was able to get up close to you. I was standing right behind you, and the sunglasses were just there in that outside pocket. I only took them because I could. I was going to put them back. But then you walked away before I could return them.”

“Then what were they doing in my bedroom?”

“I wanted to give them back to you.” Serena’s face was all guileless innocence, like a young child’s.

“Why didn’t you just hand them to me, instead of making me think I was losing my mind?” Annie’s voice rose.

“I . . .” Serena looked at her helplessly. “I didn’t know it was going to cause you to have a panic attack. I’m sorry.”

Annie buried her face into both of her hands. This couldn’t be happening. But at the same time, relief coursed through her, making her almost limp. She wasn’t losing her mind. Serena had been the one who’d been taking stuff from her and then leaving it for her to find. It was such a huge load off her, such a relief, knowing she hadn’t been the one doing things and not remembering them.

When she finally dropped her hands, she found Serena watching her curiously. Annie’s face heated with anger. “I really thought I was losing it, and all this time, it was you.”

Serena nodded. They stared at each other.

“How?” Annie finally said out loud. “How did you know we were in Kauai? And how did you even find us here?” She needed some answers.

Serena’s mouth worked, opening and closing before she finally confessed. “Just after the new year, I heard two women talking one day when I was up at the lake house. They were walking by your house, and I heard one say that you guys had just moved to Kauai. I couldn’t believe you were gone. That you sold the dream house and had left.” Her green eyes focused on Annie. “I don’t blame you, I guess, after what happened. I was shocked, though, at the time.”