Lighthouse Road (Cedar Cove #1)(76)
By God, she’d prove it. Not to her daughters but herself. Dan had left some evidence; he must have. It was right here in this room—where else could it be? After years of reading mysteries, she should’ve thought of this sooner. The evidence she sought was probably something ordinary, something right in front of her eyes. Something tangible…Proof that Dan was living with another woman.
She banged open the sliding closet door and jerked a shirt free of its hanger. The force of her rage left the wire hanger swinging like a pendulum. She checked the pocket, tossed the shirt aside and reached for another one.
Nothing.
He’d been too smart for her, or so he thought, destroying all the evidence. But Grace wouldn’t be foiled, not this time.
The second shirt joined the first one on the carpet. Soon the floor was heaped with Dan’s clothes. Her shoulders heaving, she grabbed as many as her arms could carry and hauled them through the house, dumping everything at the front door. Staring at the heap, she unlocked the dead bolt and threw open the door with a fury that made it crash against the opposite wall. Then, standing on the top step, she flung her husband’s clothes into the night. Trip after trip, she repeated the action, until his half of the closet had been stripped bare and every bit of clothing Dan owned was sprawled across the porch and the sidewalk.
Then, nearly tripping over her cotton nightgown, she kicked a dress shirt on the top step, and sent it soaring into the darkness. A pair of work pants went next as she got caught up in a frenzy of kicking, hurling his clothes one piece at a time.
Sobbing now, she sank onto the porch step and covered her face with both hands.
“Dan!” she screamed. “Where are you? WHERE ARE YOU?”
Only silence answered. Her rage hadn’t brought him back, nor had her love. All that was left were her tears. The emotion poured out of her until she was spent and weak.
Wiping the tears from her face, she staggered back into the house, not bothering to lock the door. If someone wanted to break in and kill her, she’d welcome death. It was better than this nightmare that had become her life, better than having to walk into an empty house every night and acknowledge that the man she’d loved no longer wanted to be with her.
What was it Dan had told her? His idea of hell was spending the last thirty-five years living with her. Right to her face he’d said such a thing, not caring how that made her feel. Not caring that his words were as brutal as any weapon.
“I hate you…” she whispered as she crawled back into the bed. “Oh, God, I hate you.” Curling into a fetal position, she began sobbing again, until there were no tears anymore.
Grace woke at first light. She didn’t move, but remained in the same curled-up position, her knees tucked against her stomach. The memory of the night before flooded her mind. She’d been like a wild woman, purging her life of Daniel Sherman.
A sound came from the front room. Dan? It’d be just like him to appear now, she thought wryly. Just like that bastard to show up and behave as if there was nothing out of the ordinary.
“Mom? Are you all right?”
“Mom?”
Maryellen and Kelly. Dear God, not her daughters. Grace didn’t want them to find her like this.
Maryellen stepped into the bedroom, and sobbing openly, Grace covered her eyes.
“Mom…” Maryellen leaned forward, and wrapping her arms around her, pressed her cheek against Grace’s hair. “It’s all right. Don’t cry, Mom, please don’t cry.”
Grace’s eyes burned, and even after sleeping for what must have been several hours, she felt as though she hadn’t rested a single moment.
“What happened?” Kelly begged. “Tell us what happened.”
Grace didn’t know how to explain that the clothes strewn across the front yard had been the result of a temper tantrum. “Why are you here?” she asked instead.
“Mrs. Vessey phoned,” Maryellen explained. “She woke up and saw all Dad’s clothes outside and was worried about you.”
“Oh.”
“Did you hear from Dad?” Kelly pressed, and it killed Grace to hear the eagerness in her child’s voice. With all her heart, Kelly believed that Dan loved them all. Soon, any time now, he’d return with a perfectly logical explanation of where he’d been and why.
“Do you know where Dad is?” Maryellen asked gently.
“No.”
“Daddy…where…are…you?” Kelly raged. She started to sob.
Grace didn’t have any answers for her daughter. All she could say for sure, as she caught a glimpse of gold on the other side of the room, was that when Dan had left, he hadn’t bothered to take his wedding band with him.
Justine couldn’t concentrate on banking. Already she’d made two mistakes and it was only eleven o’clock. This was not the way she wanted to start her work week. The problem had to do with her class reunion. The planning committee had gotten together Friday night for an informal dinner and discussion. Everything had been set in motion weeks earlier and the reunion was less than a month away.
Justine had never intended to get this involved. She blamed Lana Rothchild for being so eager to enlist her help. And she blamed her mother for encouraging her. Before she could back out, Lana had her collecting the money and paying the bills. At the last meeting, Justine discovered she was also expected to be part of the decorating committee. Now it would be impossible not to attend.