Heroes Are My Weakness(67)

He gazed from her bare legs to the mess she’d strewn on the floor. “Another break-in?”

She started to tell him about the mermaid chair, but his eyes were back on her legs again, and being the only person wearing a towel put her at a disadvantage. “I’ll have poached quail eggs and fresh mango juice. If it’s not too much trouble.”

“Drop that towel, and I’ll throw in champagne.”

“Tempting.” She made her way toward her bedroom. “But since I might be pregnant, I shouldn’t drink.”

He gave a long sigh. “And with those chilling words, the raging fire in his loins vanished.”


WHILE THEO WROTE IN THE studio, Annie photographed the mermaid chair from every angle. As soon as she got to Harp House, she’d e-mail the photos to Koons’s Manhattan dealer. If this really was a Koons, selling it would cover her debts and then some.

She zipped her backpack, her thoughts drifting toward the man closed up in the studio.

“You are one gorgeous creature.”

Even though it wasn’t true, it was nice to hear.


SHE’D GOTTEN IN THE HABIT of checking the fairy house every day, and now a seagull feather swung from a pair of sticks to make a delicate hammock. As Annie took in the new addition, she thought about Livia’s “free secret” drawing. The crude blob at the end of the outstretched arm of the standing adult figure hadn’t been a mistake at all. It was a gun. And the body on the ground? The red smear on the chest wasn’t a flower or a heart. It was blood. Livia had drawn her father’s killing.

The back door opened and Lisa stepped out. She spotted Annie and waved, then headed for the muddy SUV parked in front of the garage. Annie braced herself as she went inside.

The kitchen smelled of toast, and Jaycie wore her all-too-frequent anxious expression. “Please don’t tell Theo that Lisa came up here. You know how he is.”

“Theo’s not going to fire you, Jaycie. I guarantee it.”

Jaycie turned toward the sink, speaking softly. “I saw him leave for the cottage this morning.”

Annie wasn’t going to talk about Theo. What could she say? That she might be pregnant with his child? A onetime occurrence.

Do you really believe that? Dilly said, with a tsk-tsk.

Our Annie’s becoming a bit of a slut. Peter, her former hero, had turned on her.

Now who’s the bully? Leo said. Watch the name-calling, pal. He spoke with his habitual sneer, but still . . .

She didn’t know what was happening in her head. And with Jaycie standing in front of her, now wasn’t the time to sort it out. “I heard how your husband died,” she said.

Jaycie hobbled over to the table and sank into a chair, not looking at her. “And now you think I’m a horrible person.”

“I don’t know what to think. I wish you’d told me.”

“I don’t like to talk about it.”

“I get that. But we’re friends. If I’d known, I’d have understood from the beginning why Livia is mute.”

Jaycie flinched. “I don’t know for sure that’s why.”

“Stop it, Jaycie. I’ve done some research on mutism.”

Jaycie pressed her face into her hands. “You can’t imagine what it’s like knowing how badly you’ve hurt the child you love so much.”

Annie couldn’t endure her unhappiness, and she backed off. “You weren’t under any obligation to tell me.”

Jaycie gazed up at her. “I’m . . . not good at friendships. There weren’t a lot of girls my age when I was growing up. And I didn’t want anybody to know how bad things were with my dad, so I shut out everybody who tried to get too close. Even Lisa . . . She’s my oldest friend, but we don’t talk much about anything personal. Sometimes I think the only reason she comes up here is to check things out for Cynthia.”

The idea of Lisa as Cynthia’s mole was something Annie hadn’t considered.

Jaycie rubbed her leg. “I liked being with Regan because she never asked questions. But she was so much smarter than me, and she lived in a different world.”

Annie recalled Jaycie as a background figure that summer, someone she might not have remembered if it hadn’t been for what happened in the cave.

“I could have ended up in prison,” Jaycie said. “Every night I thank God that Booker Rose heard me screaming and ran to the house in time to see everything through the window.” She closed her eyes, then opened them again. “Ned was drunk. He came toward me waving his gun, threatening me. Livia was playing on the floor. She started to cry, but Ned didn’t care. He put the gun right to my head. I don’t think he would have shot me. He just wanted me to understand who was boss. But I couldn’t stand hearing Livia cry, and I grabbed his arm, and . . . It was terrible. He looked so shocked when the gun went off, like he couldn’t believe he wasn’t in charge anymore.”

“Oh, Jaycie . . .”

“I’ve never known how to talk to Livia about it. Whenever I tried, she struggled to get away, so I stopped trying, hoping she’d forget.”

“She needs to talk to a therapist,” Annie said gently.

“How am I supposed to manage that? It’s not like we have one here on the island, and even if I could get her to the mainland for appointments, I can’t afford it.” She looked defeated, older than her years. “The only person she’s really connected with since it happened is you.”