Chapter 10
After finishing her lobster and bidding adieu to Polly, Hayley hiked back from the town park to the Mercedes. There she found Liddy leaning against the driver’s-side door. She appeared calm, serene, almost at peace.
Hayley approached her cautiously. “I hope you haven’t been waiting too long.”
“No, I’ve actually had a lovely time. I was entertained by two drunks at the bar, local lobstermen I presumed. They both had a strange odor about them, a mixture of bourbon and fish bait. Aside from that, they were quite amiable.”
“I’m sorry, Liddy, I know this whole weekend has been one big disappointment for you,” Hayley said.
“I’ve come to the realization that I am a victim of my own high expectations,” she said with a confirming nod.
“Come again?”
“I had a whole picture in my mind of how this weekend was going to be. I envisioned the three of us staying in a quaint, lovely cabin resplendent with charm,” she said wistfully. “And when we got there, I was just wishing for a bathroom indoors.”
“I agree Mona could have prepared us a little better about what to expect,” Hayley said, giving her that one.
“And then there was Jackson. After meeting him, I let my expectations once again get the best of me. In my mind, I cast him in the role of my handsome suitor, usually played in my dreams by George Clooney. This suave, down-to-earth, most perfect man, unattainable in reality, to be honest. And when he failed to live up to that image in my mind, it sent me into a tailspin,” Liddy said, chuckling at the absurdity of it all.
“Well, don’t beat yourself up,” Hayley said, smiling. “None of us knew Jackson was going to turn out to be a lying cad.”
“But do we really know that for sure? Actually, we know very little about him. He may have received an emergency call from Boston, and then had to rush back for all we know,” Liddy said, trying to convince herself.
“Yes, but he could’ve called or texted you to let you know,” Hayley said.
“I suppose. But I’m too tired to be mad anymore,” Liddy sighed. “I’m completely over it.”
Hayley decided not to mention that she had just seen Jackson Young down by the beach with Sue the bar owner. Liddy seemed to be in a good place right now, and she was not going to risk getting her worked up all over again.
Mona trudged up to them, scarfing down a lobster roll. She finished it off, and licked some mayonnaise off her fingertips. With her mouth half full, she said, “I’m going to catch a ride home with Corey. He went to go get his truck.”
“Fine. We’ll meet you back at the cabin,” Liddy said, pressing a button on her key to unlock the Mercedes.
“Hey, sorry you got stood up, Liddy. For what it’s worth, Corey got a weird vibe from that Jackson guy the other night at the bar so you probably dodged a bullet.”
“Well, tell Corey I appreciate his concern,” Liddy said, annoyed. “But I am highly skeptical that he has some reliable sixth sense about Jackson, a man he literally knows nothing about.”
“The guy stood you up,” Mona argued. “That proves Corey’s suspicions were dead-on.”
“We are not one hundred percent certain he stood me up on purpose. I was just saying to Hayley it is quite possible he was called away for some emergency . . .”
“He stood you up!” Mona insisted. “Corey and I saw him at the lobster bake with our own eyes!”
Liddy dropped her car keys and they clattered to the ground. “What?”
“He was heading down toward the beach alone,” Mona said.
“He was alone? Because when I saw him he was with—” Hayley stopped herself. The second the words spilled out of her mouth she desperately wanted to suck them back in, but it was too late.
Liddy whipped around. “You saw Jackson too?”
There was no denying it now.
Hayley nodded, pinching her nose and pursing her lips.
She knew a tsunami-size meltdown was about to hit.
And Liddy did not disappoint.
“How dare that two-faced revolting creep show his face after leaving me high and dry! I have never been so insulted, so publicly humiliated in all my life!”
She was spiraling fast.
Hayley knew she had to quickly intervene to minimize the damage.
“I wouldn’t go so far as to say you were publicly humiliated,” Hayley said, trying to calm the situation. “I mean, nobody in town even knows who you are, let alone that Jackson stood you up!”
“Why were you trying to keep this from me, Hayley? To protect him? How could you be more concerned with his emotional well-being than with mine?”
“All I was thinking about was your emotional well-being because I thought it was in your best interest to avoid this breakdown!”
“Breakdown? This isn’t a breakdown! Believe me, you will know when I’m actually having a breakdown! Now finish what you were saying!”
“What do you mean?”
“You said you saw him with someone! Who was it?”
“I don’t see how this helps . . .”
“Who was he with, Hayley?” Liddy demanded to know.
Hayley sighed. “Sue, the owner of the Starfish Lounge.”
“I thought she was a lesbian,” Liddy said, surprised.
“What made you think that?” Mona asked.
“Well, she seemed so smitten with me at the bar,” Liddy said dramatically. “Gay women love me.”
“I don’t think Sue is a lesbian,” Hayley said, before quickly adding, “But that doesn’t mean she’s involved with Jackson. In fact, when I saw them, they were arguing.”
“Well, I think there is one way to get to the bottom of this. Take me back to where you saw them,” Liddy said, bending down to pick up her car keys and pressing the button to lock the doors again.
“I don’t see how that’s going to solve anything . . .”
“I do. It will make me feel much better to get some closure on this horrible, disastrous day.”
“You told me you were over it,” Hayley said quietly.
“I was lying!” Liddy shouted.
While Mona waited by the Mercedes for Corey to arrive in his truck, Hayley reluctantly led Liddy back to the town park, passing a few stragglers chatting as the last of the vendors loaded up and drove away. When they reached the beach, there were no signs of anyone around. The tide was slowly coming in and the crashing waves were washing up close to the rocky shore where the sand ended.
The hippie couple who had fed Hayley her lobster dinner had packed up and gone as well.
Down the beach and around the bend, they spotted smoke rising from a fire.
Liddy gave Hayley a quick, knowing nod and marched down the beach with the firm belief she would find Jackson Young, possibly in the warm embrace of another woman.
At least that was probably the image playing on repeat in her mind.
Hayley plodded along, falling a distance behind Liddy as sand worked its way inside her shoes, making her more and more uncomfortable and causing her to slow her pace.
As she rounded the bend and caught up with Liddy, Hayley found her friend standing in the sand, frozen in place, staring at something.
Hayley followed her gaze over to the smoldering fire, the last tiny embers crackling and flying up into a cloud of smoke.
There was a body lying in the sand.
The head was turned slightly so Hayley was able to recognize the face.
It was Jackson Young.
And next to him, tipped over in the sand, was a pot, somehow knocked off the wire grate placed over the fire, the sand having absorbed the boiling water, as three lobsters, lucky enough to still be alive, crawled slowly back toward the ocean in a daring, desperate bid for freedom.