Page 47 of Her Favorite Fumble
“But I think you might be my sister,” Taylor said, and from the way she dropped the napkin and exhaled, Lucy knew that was what she’d come to say.
But she couldn’t be done talking. All she’d done was bury Lucy in questions she may never get answers to.
“What was his name?” she asked, because that, at least, she should know.
“John Perkins, but he was a junior, so everybody called him Jack.”
Jack Perkins.It didn’t ring any bells. She couldn’t remember either her mother or grandmother ever saying the name.
“I was born in Rhode Island,” Lucy said quietly. “There’s no father on my birth certificate, and Iris said I didn’t need one and refused to say more.”
“I remember once, when I was a teenager, my mom and I came here—well, it was her aunt’s then—and I was super bored. You and Willow were getting snacks to take to the beach, and I wanted to go. Willow’s younger than me, but we used to hang out sometimes because it’s not a big town, you know? But my mom—she was so angry and dragged me out of there. Said I had stuff to do at home.”
When she paused, Lucy knew she should say something. But her mind was spinning and her heart ached, and there didn’t seem to be any words left inside of her.
“There’s been a weird vibe since you came to town,” Taylor said, and that was something Lucy could agree with. “More sneaky gossip than usual. At first I thought it was because of that whole thing in Las Vegas, but my mom’s been… Well, she’s been angry again.”
“Do you have a photo of her on your phone?” Lucy didn’t know why it mattered, but Taylor pulled up a photo of a dark-haired woman taken at some kind of cookout. Sure enough, it was the judgy woman from the Keel. “Oh, yeah. She doesnotlike me. At least now I know why, I guess.”
“I’m so sorry to just spring this on you.” Tears glittered in Taylor’s eyes. “It’s just been so hard knowing you’re in Wayward Harbor, and then I saw you sitting in the window. It was a little spur-of-the-moment.”
“It’s a lot,” Lucy said in the understatement of the year. “But I’m glad you told me. It’s explains a lot about how I haven’t found this warm and welcoming small town so warm and welcoming.”
“I don’t think that many people know, actually. Your mom—I’m sorry, but your mom made a lot of wives and girlfriends angry, if you know what I mean.”
Lucy knew exactly what she meant, and it didn’t surprise her to hear it. But she wasn’t going to trash her own mother to a stranger, so she kept her mouth shut.
Taylor dug in her purse and pulled out an old receipt and a pen. After scrawling her number on it, she slid it over to Lucy. “I’d love to talk more after you’ve had some time to process things. I’ll be honest—my mom would lose her mind if she knew I was doing this, but…it’s about me. And you. If you want to know for sure, I think we can do the DNA thing really easily through the mail, but I’d just really like to have a sister.”
A tear slid over Lucy’s cheek as she stared into eyes that were hazel instead of blue, but still looked similar to hers. “I think I’d like that, too.”
Taylor picked up her coffee and left without saying another word. Lucy had lost her appetite for the scone, but she picked up Taylor’s number. After taking a photo with her phone to ensure she couldn’t lose it, she tucked the receipt into her notebook.
Willow, who was busy putting a fresh batch of cookies into the pastry case, must have heard it all because concern was written all over her face. “Are you okay?”
“Not really,” she said. “I need to go.”
“I’m here if you need me.”
During the entire drive back to the cottage, the only thought pounding through her brain was that her grandmotherhadto know.
She knew Helen was on her cruise, and she glanced at the list of her planned excursions on the fridge as she walked to the couch. Maybe she wouldn’t be able to get hold of her. If not, she wouldn’t leave a voicemail because it would only worry Gran. She’d try a video call, and if Helen picked up, good. If not, she’d have to wait.
She got lucky, though. Her grandmother was smiling when she accepted the call, but as soon as she registered Lucy’s face on her screen, the smile faded. “Honey, what’s wrong? Did something happen?”
“I had coffee with mysistertoday.”
Helen was speechless for a few seconds, her lips parted, but she rallied quickly. “Okay, honey. Just let me find a quiet bench and dig my ear things out of my bag.”
Lucy usually would have smiled at the use of “ear things” but she didn’t have it in her at the moment. She just waited silently while Helen found a relatively private spot and located her AirPods. In hindsight, blindsiding her grandmother with this call hadn’t been a great idea, but she hadn’t thought to text her and ask for a return call when she was alone. Even if she had, Helen probably would have ended up on the same bench, worried and unable to wait.
“Did Taylor tell you?” Helen asked once her AirPods were connected.
“Yes, Taylor told me. And I got my entire life turned upside down at a haunted scone shop because nobody elseevertold me. Not Iris. Not Nick. And not you. I was literally the only person in this town who didn’t know.”
“Actually, Iris is literally theonlyperson who knowsanythingfor sure. Even I don’t know the truth of it, though I suspected. There were rumors, of course, but were they true or, as Iris told me, was Kim just bent out of shape because she chose to believe the rumors?” She paused, her eyes sad. “Of course, the older Taylor got and the older you got, the more it looked like Kim was bent out of shape because she was right and her husband actually got Iris pregnant.”
“Why didn’t you tell me?”
