*George had seen Hadley set off along the path to the cemetery. He’d been in his backyard measuring for a fence. He’d enjoyed building the one for Fern and it had got him thinking, why not build a fence in his own yard. The fence would keep out the neighbor’s dogs as well as wildlife from the forest. It would come in handy if he decided to get another dog. Which he was beginning to think he wanted to do. He and Fern could take their dogs for walks and on hikes together. The idea of that made him happy.
Happiness was a new state of being for George. As a child he had lived in a state of tension between nervous anticipation of bad things happening and sadness and impotent anger when they did. Years after the worst of the mourning for his family he’d arrived at a state of neutrality, not quite contentment, but close.
He’d taken pleasure from small things in his life. His work, his hobbies, being outside in nature.
But with Fern he’d found more. Real connection with another human being. He saw now how he’d organized his life to keep people at a distance, to make sure they could never hurt him again. And he understood what that had cost him. All because of Fern.
When he was finished with the measurements, he thought about going inside and working on his newest project. But it was such a nice night he decided to go for a walk. Okay, he really wanted to check on Hadley and make sure she was alright. It made him nervous when people went into the forest alone at night, even if it wasn’t yet dark.
He hadn’t gone a hundred yards when he met her. She was walking slowly, kicking at the occasional pinecone on the dirt path. Not wanting to startle her, he called out hello.
She glanced up quickly and he could see her eyes were sparkling with tears.
“Oh, hi George. How are you doing?”
“I’m fine. I saw you walk into the forest a while ago. It’s not safe to be out here alone at night.”
“You’re very sweet to worry but I’m fine. Or I will be. I think.” She blinked away her tears and smiled.
The bracelet on her arm caught his eye. “You’re wearing it.”
She followed his gaze. “Did you leave this under my welcome mat?”
“You seemed so sad that night we walked to the cemetery. I wanted to do something nice for you. My sister made it.”
“It was a wonderful surprise and I love it all the more now that I know it’s from you. And Susie.”
“She made a bunch of them to hand out at the Halloween party. That one was left over. I had it in my pocket the night…the night of the fire.” He was going to tell Hadley the whole story, but then his phone buzzed in his pocket, and he felt an instant dread. Was it the RCMP? Wanting to interview him again? Maybe they’d got the fingerprint results back. Of course, his would match. He’d used that tire iron to fix his tire.
But no. The message was from Fern.
“Are you home? I’m at your house and I need to talk. Something bad has happened.”
His mouth went dry, and his gut clenched. “I’ve got to go.”
And he ran.
*
One look at Fern’s puffy face and red eyes escalated George’s concern. “What happened? Are you okay?” He took her arm and drew her inside, Cooper following at her heels.
Fern looked up at him with a frailness that made him instinctively wrap his arms around her so she wouldn’t fall. She pressed her cheek against his chest and let out a breath that made her entire body shudder.
“The police just left my home. I found something in the garden today.”
He thought about all that digging she’d been doing. It had seemed strange, but he had never asked her about it. “What did you find?”
“This is going to be a long story. Maybe we should sit down?”
Cooper was already making himself at home, checking out all the smells in this new place, but he and Fern were still in the foyer, with his large frame blocking her view. He stepped aside.
“Oh!” Fern said at her gaze swept over his creations. They were displayed on two walls of bookshelves and covered his dining room table as well as the large coffee table by the sofa. “These are incredible, George. So intricate.”
She went to the more than nine-thousand-piece model of the Coliseum which held place of honor on his coffee table.
“I did warn you.” George knew it was a weird hobby for a grown man. What he didn’t know was what Fern would make of it now that she could see how obsessed he was. Gardening was her passion, but lots of people love to garden. It was an accepted thing. He doubted there were very many adults who filled their houses with completed Lego sets, who actually had dozens more sets in their basement. Most people would say it was a waste of time. And money. A lot of these sets were really expensive. The Coliseum had cost over six hundred dollars.
“I started after my family died. Mrs. G gave me my first set.” Funny how he’d forgotten that. She’d come to him after the funeral with a casserole and a Titanic Lego set. “I’ve watched you making models for some of our science experiments, and I’ve noticed you are very good with your hands. I thought you might enjoy putting this together.”
“Mrs. G does get around a lot in this town, doesn’t she?”
Fern made it sound like that wasn’t necessarily a good thing. “Well, in my case she was right. Building Legos takes a lot of concentration. It helped me forget what had happened, or at least put it out of my mind for a while. When I finished that set, I bought another, and then another. Now I spend most of my weekends and evenings doing Lego. TV shows and movies are so loud, and everything happens so fast. I’ve never liked them. I guess that makes me weird too.”
He was talking too much, but he figured he might as well be himself with Fern. Their relationship wouldn’t make any sense if he wasn’t.
“Nothing about you is weird George. You’re one of the nicest men I’ve ever met. But I wonder what you’ll think of me once I tell you who I really am and why I moved to Tangle Falls.”
He stared at her trying to make sense of what she’d said.
“Can we sit down?”
“Of course.” He should have said that sooner. He wasn’t used to visitors. “Would you like something to drink?”
“No. Just sit beside me.”
“Okay.” Usually being with Fern made him feel good, but he didn’t feel good now. He rubbed his wrist (he wondered if he would ever stop missing the friendship bracelet from his sister, it had fallen off years ago) and waited for her to talk. It took a few minutes but finally she did.
“My name wasn’t always Fern Sinclair. I was born Annabel Singleton. The house I just bought? I was born there.”
He turned his gaze to her, processing her words. He thought of how she’d gone to visit Odette’s grave shortly after moving to town. At the time it had seemed unusual, but it made sense now. “Odette was your mother.”
“Yes. I’m sorry I didn’t tell the truth from the beginning. I thought I could run from it. But that didn’t work very well for me. So now I’ll tell you everything. And it will be up to you whether you still want to be my friend. Are you ready?”
George nodded. He was ready. And when she was finished, he was going to be honest with her too.