Suddenly Psychic (Glimmer Lake #1)(61)

“Okay.” Just as Monica was hanging up, Robin spotted lights turning in to the driveway.

Austin’s old Jeep bounced around the circular driveway and came to a stop by the front door. He jumped out of the car, and Robin saw his expression. All the typical arrogance was stripped away. He was her boy again, not a boastful, half-grown man who thought his mom didn’t know her ass from her elbow.

A thousand memories flooded her.

Austin in her arms while her mom and Grandma Helen showed her how to breastfeed. A toddler bumping down the steps at Russell House, too impatient to wait for help down the stairs. Her little boy running across the lawn and down to the lake, bringing Grandma Helen a tiny bouquet of dandelions.

“Mom.” He looked like he was about to cry.

Robin opened her arms, and Austin nearly ran into them.

“I’m sorry I didn’t come back last summer.” He sniffed against her shoulder. “Grandma Helen asked me if I wanted to stay here and—”

“Buddy.” She hugged him tight. “She understood. It’s fine. You’re fine.”

“I called her last week.”

“Did you?” She kept her arms around him. Austin hadn’t hugged her like this since he was eleven. “That’s great. I bet she loved that.”

“Not really.” He sniffed. “She tried to be polite, but she mentioned a couple of times that she’d rather I wrote.”

“Well, she is kind of deaf.”

Austin let out a watery laugh. “I love you, Mom.”

“I love you too.”





Chapter 22





It was nearly midnight when Robin had a chance to sit with Helen again. The house was quiet, Mark had set up a temporary office in the old library, Emma and Austin had settled into rooms on the second floor, and Robin’s mom and dad were in the old master bedroom.

Robin sat next to Helen, holding her hand and listening to records spin.

“We love you so much,” Robin said softly. “So much. Did you know that? I hope we showed you enough. I know Grandfather Russell wasn’t a loving man, but I hope your kids and grandkids showed you how much we love you.”

The soft sound of a piano recording filled the room, and Robin paged through a box of old photographs Grace had brought to Helen’s room.

“Look at you,” she said softly. “What a stunner.”

Her grandmother’s eyes winked out at her from a black-and-white photograph. She was leaning against the hood of an old Packard in a pair of slim black pants and a button-down white shirt, one hand on her hip. “Look at you in those pants, Helen Moore. What a rebel you were.” Whose car was it? Would her mom recognize it? Could it have been Billy’s? There was no way of knowing.

“Billy Grimmer told me he’d walk through fire to see you smile,” Robin murmured. “Did you know that? Did he tell you that?”

Helen’s eyes flickered behind closed lids, as if she was dreaming. She’d woken for a few moments and eaten a little broth, but that was all she wanted.

“I guess I don’t have to explain that to you anymore,” Robin said. “Don’t have to worry about you thinking I’m crazy for seeing ghosts.

“Billy showed me your cabin,” Robin continued. “I haven’t gone in it yet. I’ll go back with Monica and Val. See what we can find.” She put the box of photographs on the dressing table next to the bed and noticed a cigar box under a pile of magazines.

“You take up smoking in your wild older years, Grandma?” She moved the magazines and books off the cigar box and opened it.

Letters. There were dozens of them. Robin opened one, expecting to see Uncle Raymond’s name, but that wasn’t the name she found. Her eyes went wide when she saw the signature.

Your man,

BG





“Holy shit.” Robin shuffled through the other letters. There were dozens of them, all written to HM from BG. “Grandma, where did you hide these?”

She must have gotten them out after she and Robin had talked the last time. Despite Grandma Helen saying she didn’t want to think about sad things, Billy Grimmer was clearly on her mind.

Robin sorted through the old cigar box, putting all the letters on one side and keepsakes and other miscellany on the other. Billy had written Helen dozens of love letters. There were also two pictures at the bottom of the box, along with a postcard, a dried flower, a ribbon, and two tickets to Casablanca.

The pictures were interesting. There was a picture of three boys, one of whom was Billy Grimmer. The other two she didn’t recognize, but they might have been his brothers. They were standing next to a giant saw blade in the woods. The second was a picture of Helen leaning against a tree by the river. The postcard was from Reno and only had Billy’s initials on the back. There was also a sketch of Billy smiling. From the style of drawing, Robin knew her grandmother had sketched it. The expression was happy. Intimate. Joyful. It was a smile between lovers.

Robin opened a few of the letters and skimmed. Some of them were flowery, but most were light and news filled, talking about what was happening with Billy’s family or what was happening at the dam. The cabin was mentioned more than once. It was the place they met on the weekends when Billy could manage to get away.

He called her his “best girl” and spoke often about when the dam was finished and where they would go. Billy was full of plans and promises. He wanted to save enough to buy a little farm “near a river where the light is clear.” He talked about Helen teaching painting and drawing classes. Talked about wanting “four or five kids” who looked just like her.