How to Keep a Secret

Lauren glanced at the blue and purple hydrangeas stuffed into the pretty rustic jug she’d found at the Goodwill store when she’d been helping her mother clear out her life.

She heard Mack’s feet on the stairs and a moment later she appeared in the doorway. Her hair was windblown and streaked from the sun, the pink streaks long gone.

“Are you busy?” She was out of breath. “Can you come?”

Lauren was on her feet in an instant. “Is something wrong?”

“Nothing’s wrong. Scott wants to take us sailing. There is something important he wants to say to us both.”

Her heart lurched like the deck of a ship in a storm. He was leaving. What else could he possibly want to say to them both? Ever since her mother had told her he no longer wanted to buy The Captain’s House, she’d been waiting for this moment. If he wanted them on the boat to tell them something, then presumably he wanted to remind them both what a sea creature he was. How he needed the ocean to survive.

Could she be sympathetic to that a second time, especially now that Mack had started to build a relationship with him?

“He wants to talk to us right now?” He’d taken her at her word and given her space, although whenever they saw each other it was as if the rest of the world disappeared.

“Yes. We were going out anyway, but he said he wants you there. He drove me here. He’s outside in the pickup.”

Lauren reached for her keys and her phone, reminding herself that she’d handled everything life had thrown at her up to this point and she’d handle this, too. Whatever “this” was. Please don’t let Scott be leaving. “I’ll send a text to Grams to let her know we’ll both be late tonight.”

“Where is Grams?”

“With Alice.”

“Again?” Mack raised her eyebrows. “How is that going?”

“She’s seen her a few times. I think it’s going okay. I haven’t asked for the details. Grams will tell me if she wants to.”

“So they’re BFFs again?”

“I wouldn’t go that far, but there’s hope.” And hope, Lauren thought, kept life moving. Hope that things would improve, that sadness would pass, that you’d live feeling you’d love and live. Hope that the few fragile threads of this new life won’t be snapped before they can strengthen. She grabbed a sweater and sunscreen. “Let’s go.”

“What would you have done if you were Grams?”

“I don’t know.” Lauren locked the door of the Sail Loft. “I don’t suppose any of us really knows what we’d do until we’re actually in that position ourselves. It’s pretty easy to judge from the outside, but not so easy when it’s your life.”

She knew many people would have judged Scott for not wanting to embrace fatherhood, but she’d understood. She’d understood him. It was one of the reasons she hadn’t wanted to divulge the identity of her baby’s father. She’d wanted to protect him from the judgment and speculation that would surely have followed.

But what if he walked away now? How would she react this time?

He’d won his daughter’s heart. Would she be able to forgive him if he broke it?

Mack waited while Lauren dropped the keys into her purse. “I know she broke the girlfriend code, but I kind of like Alice.”

“I do, too. And so does your grandmother. That’s why it’s hard.”

They walked to the road together and Mack sprang into the pickup.

Lauren followed more slowly, noticing the way Scott tugged at Mack’s hat, teasing her. They argued all the way to the marina, over whether she should be allowed to take the boat out without him, about whether he should get another dog to keep Captain company.

“A puppy would be good.”

Scott raised an eyebrow. “Are you going to take responsibility for this puppy?”

Lauren found herself analyzing everything he said. Would he be making jokes like that if he was thinking of moving on? Mack had been spending plenty of time with him and had even slept over on the boat once or twice.

It had made Lauren feel a little strange and she hated herself for feeling that way because she knew how much Mack loved the water. And it was obvious she loved Scott, too. And that was good, wasn’t it? She couldn’t blame her daughter for wanting to spend time with him, or Scott for wanting to spend time with his daughter. She was pleased. So why did she also feel slightly sick?

Was it because part of her was always a little worried Scott might decide he’d had enough and move on again? Or was she turning into one of those mothers who couldn’t bear having their children leave them?