Fisher's Light(43)

He slams the door closed, takes his plate to the small table in the corner of the room and sits down. He then proceeds to take a few bites of his sandwich, chewing as slowly as possible just to piss me off. Right when I’m about to snatch that damn sandwich from his hand and chuck it across the room, he finally starts talking again.

“That girl has had it pretty rough the last year. You up and left and it damn near tore her in two. Ellie and I had to practically drag her out of bed just to get her to take a shower and eat. Then, she’d crawl right back in that bed and not come out for days.”

His words tear me in two, but I know I need to hear them. I’d punished myself with visions of what Lucy went through after what I did to her, but hearing it all laid out for me and finding out it was much worse is torture.

“On top of that, your daddy kept showing up, telling her he knew it was only a matter of time before you came to your senses and kicked her to the curb and that you lasted a lot longer than he thought you would. Girl’s heart was already broken and he had to go and ruin her pride on top of it. Should have sent that little shit off to the military when he was a boy,” Trip mutters under his breath. “Right when she starts coming around, getting out of that damn bedroom, learning to be happy again, f*cking pipe bursts at the inn and floods the place. Leaked clean through the floor to the ceiling downstairs until the whole thing almost caved in. It was a bigger job than I could handle, and we had to call in a lot of professionals from the mainland to redo everything. New plumbing, new ceiling and floors and all new pipes and bathroom fixtures. Thirteen bathrooms that all needed replaced. It was a big job, took a lot of money. More money than was in her bank account, including the lump sum you sent her during the divorce that she refused to touch. Seeing as I own the majority of Fisher’s Bank and Trust, I went behind her back and took that money out and used it. Boy, that girl sure came to life after that. I’ve never heard her scream so loud or swear so much.”

He pauses to chuckle, shaking his head while he sits there, probably remembering when it happened. I can imagine it perfectly in my head, especially after the talking to she gave me on the beach earlier, and I almost laugh myself until I remember that I wasn’t there when I should have been. It should have been me helping her when something went wrong at the inn. The fact that my money helped is no consolation; it just makes me feel worse. I never wanted her to feel like the money I’d made could fix everything or that she couldn’t do something on her own without my help. It pains me to know that she didn’t want to touch that money and the choice was taken out of her hands. I can only imagine how much that would have hurt her already bruised pride.

“That doesn’t explain the monthly deposits she mentioned. Where in the hell did those come from?”

Trip shrugs and goes back to his sandwich. “I might have said some things to your mother right after you left. You know, just throwing out how the girl was struggling and how she refused to accept anything from me. Might want to check with her.”

I narrow my eyes at him, but he ignores me, finishing off his meal and taking his plate to the sink to wash it. He absolutely knows more than he’s letting on, but he gave me enough information for now. Time to move on to the next responsible party.



“I can’t believe you’ve been back on the island for two weeks and this is the first I’m seeing you.”

I kiss my mother on the cheek and she slides her hand through the crook of my arm, leading me into the front sitting room of my parent’s home. We sit down together on the love seat and I turn to face her.

“I know, and I’m sorry. I’ve just been really busy. I meant to stop by right when I got into town, but things got a little crazy with work,” I explain.

“I saw the new sign on the front of the Lobster Bucket this morning, it’s beautiful,” she beams, reaching over to pat my hand.

I took Lucy’s advice and tried to figure out a way to make amends with the people whose businesses I f*cked up the night of my meltdown. The windows I smashed had long since been repaired, so it’s not like I could fix those, but I could at least do something else to show my appreciation for the support they’ve always given me and to apologize for what I did. I’ve spent the last two weeks making brand new wooden signs for each of the three businesses, as well as new benches for the front of their shops that have the names of the businesses carved into the backs of them. I’ve worked nonstop, only stopping to sleep and eat when my shoulder and arm gave out on me, but it was worth it. Delivering the gifts personally and talking to the owners, people who have been in my life since birth, was as rewarding as making it thirteen months without a drop of alcohol. We talked, I apologized and explained to them what I was going through at the time and they each forgave me easily and welcomed me back into their establishments. It was a step in the right direction and it made me feel good about myself for the first time in a long time.