And truly demoralizing.Because it meant justice would never be served. Jane would never be able to see herself for the villain she was, for themonstershe was.
But it’s enough that she’ll spend the rest of her life rotting in jail,Mia decided.Because at least there she won’t be able to ruin anyone’s life but her own.
“Goodbye, Mother.” She pushed up from the chair.
She had her hand on the door handle when Jane called to her back, “That’s it? You don’t want to—”
“Yes.” Mia cut her off as she gave her mother one final glance. “That’s it.”
As she stepped into the hall, she realized that trulywasit. She hadn’t just closed the door on her mother, she’d closed the door on her past life. On all the regret and shame that’d plagued her since she was seven years, on all the guilt and self-contempt that’d haunted her ever since her twenty-first birthday.
Squaring her shoulders, she lifted her chin and thought...I didn’t overdose my baby brother. I wasn’t the one to blame for his illness. I’m not responsible for what happened the night I turned twenty-one.
I’m not the murderer.
I’m not the monster.
I never have been.
It’s always been Mom.
People talked about feeling like a weight had been lifted. That didn’t do justice to the sensation of being relieved of a lifetime of self-loathing. Mia wouldn’t have been surprised to find herself floating up toward the ceiling like Charlie and Grandpa after gulping down the fizzy lifting drink inCharlie and the Chocolate Factory.
But, miraculously, her feet stayed on the ground. Which was good. Because that allowed her to turn and smile at Dixon. It felt astonishingly good to tell him, “She’s all yours.”
As she watched the police officer enter the room she’d just exited, Cami’s words from the night before came back to her.
“What will it change?”
Well, it turned out that finding out what Andy had wanted to tell her, what he’d written to her the last night of his life, changed...everything.
Chapter 28
Noon...
Romeo stood on Wayfarer Island’s crescent moon-shaped beach with the rest of the Deep Six crew. As always, the water was crystalline. The breeze was cool. And the sun was warm.
Paradise.
Except he was too keyed up to appreciate its decadence.
Any minute now Mia will land, and I still haven’t figured out what I’m going to say to her.HowI’m going to say it.
Which was a problem since he got the distinct impression their conversation was going to be the most important one of his life.
“Take a deep breath, brother.” Doc clapped a hand on his shoulder. “And then go drag Meat out of the surf before he eats any more waterweeds.”
Romeo frowned over at his partner. “It’s your turn.”
“Rock, paper, scissors you for it.”
But before they could see which one of them had the dubious job of coaxing Mason’s fat English bulldog out of the water, Olivia squealed, “Meat! Damnit! Stay out of the waterweeds! You’re just going to yack them up later!”
“Oh, good.” The toothpick in Doc’s mouth tilted up when he smiled. “Problem solved.”
Romeo watched as LT’s long-legged wife ran to the edge of the water, where Meatloaf—akaMeat—snuffled through the surf, looking for aquatic delicacies. Li’l Bastard, the Welsummer rooster who’d been a stowaway from a supply run to Key West, pecked at the sand next to Meat, going after the tiny crabs that dared to poke their telescoping eyes out to see what all the hubbub was about.
Everyone else on the beach chuckled when Meat gave Olivia his best juke move, starting one way before quickly changing directions, causing Olivia to curse his name and run after him. But Romeo didn’t join in their humor. He couldn’t.
