My stomach twists again and I bite my bottom lip.
No, luggage first. Then I’ll read it.
I head back outside to my luggage waiting in the trunk.
When I packed my bags, I wasn’t sure how long I’d be staying, so I brought enough stuff to last a month. Just in case I need to do more here than take a good, long look at my property and figure out what to do with it.
Too bad I’m not a light packer.
I’m a material girl, okay?
It takes me three trips. By the time I’ve lugged the third bulging roller bag up the old staircase to my room, I’m sweating.
I’m a runner, so I don’t lift much, and it shows.
This is way more intense than the workouts my personal trainer puts me through back home.
I leave the remaining luggage by the back door and don’t bother locking it as I head into the living room again. It’s not like I’m worried about anyone breaking in.
We’re in the middle of nowhere.
Reasonably close to Bar Harbor but tucked back and secluded from the main tourist rush which is tapering off around this time. Just twenty or so miles northwest of the rocky shore that starts in Acadia National Park, but it might as well be on another planet.
It’s the kind of place you visit to escape.
Right now, I’m not feeling it, though.
With the steady breeze and the isolation, I keep hearing noises upstairs.
Footsteps, almost, and even though I know it’s just my imagination running wild, it has me on edge.
Or does the letter just have me so worried I’m hallucinating? Is that a thing?
Deep breath, Gigi.
I’ve never been one to shy away from the important stuff.
But this letter is pure dread.
Probably because I never imagined how many dark secrets were swirling around this family until Ethan’s whole drama arc played out.
No more putting it off, though.
The lawyer released it for a reason once I told her I’d be making a trip up here. But even when Jackie Wilkes turned it over with her usual stern, polite lawyerly smile, I didn’t dare open it.
Not there in her posh office on those nice chairs that came straight from an Instagram photo.
Not when I could stall and put it off until I’m alone and vulnerable.
Idiot, a little voice in the back of my head whispers.
It’s not wrong.
Now that I’m here, I’m out of excuses.
Time to put on my big girl pants and read.
Whatever he’ll throw at me, I’m ready.
