“It appears that your mom’s car went off the road, probably the day she disappeared. The car wasn’t visible from the road, submerged as it was, and there was never a reason to search that lake since it wasn’t on the route she was supposed to have taken the night she disappeared.”
“My dad ...” Charlotte whispered as a strange buzzing sensation built in her head. She looked down at her hands and saw them shaking violently in her lap.
“A deputy is with him now,” Deputy Ainsbury said. “I do have some photos of her effects I can show you, in case you recognize anything. We can’t release them to you until the official investigation has been completed, but there’s no sign of foul play. We believe this was just a tragic accident.”
Charlotte watched numbly as Deputy Ainsbury placed several large color photographs on the table in front of her. She saw her mom’s purse, along with a series of photos showing its contents. The missing overnight bag was there, too, the one her dad had mentioned. In the photos of its contents, she saw two partially degraded bikinis and a bottle of sunblock.
Her mom had been on her way to that tropical island after all.
“It’s only a weekend bag,” Marin said. “She was coming back.”
Vaguely, Charlotte heard the deputy telling her that her dad was on his way, but she couldn’t focus on anything but the photos in front of her. Charlotte’s chest ached, and her eyes were overflowing with tears.
Her mom was dead. All this time, she’d been in a lake on the outskirts of town. What had she been doing on that road? Was she on her way to the airport?
Tragic accident,the deputy said.
She was coming back,Marin said.
Charlotte saw herself swimming through that lake yesterday, passing above the submerged car where her mom lay dead and forgotten. Her stomach clenched painfully, and she almost threw up right there in the conference room.
“Would you and your girlfriend like something to drink while you wait for your dad to arrive? Coffee? Water? Soda?” Deputy Ainsbury asked.
Girlfriend.
“I need some air.” Charlotte lurched to her feet, swaying slightly before Marin caught her.
“Of course,” Marin said. “Let’s wait outside.”
Charlotte let Marin lead her into the bright sunshine outside the sheriff’s building. Her dad was on his way. He couldn’t meet Marin like this. He couldn’t hear that Charlotte had a girlfriend today of all days. How obvious had she and Marin been since they entered the station? How obvious had they been for the past month? Did her dad already know?
Dideveryonein town know?
Charlotte was spiraling, and she just ... couldn’t do this. “You should go home,” she whispered. “Before my dad gets here.”
“What? Why?”
“That deputy called you my girlfriend.”
Marin blinked at her. “That’swhy you rushed out of the station so fast?”
Even in Charlotte’s slightly hysterical state, she heard the hurt in Marin’s voice. Charlotte had just found out her mother was dead. It was a big fucking deal. Momentous. Charlotte should be leaning on Marin in her time of crisis.
Instead, Charlotte was fixating on the way the deputy had called Marin her girlfriend. This was all wrong, and she knew it. She also knew this washerproblem, not Marin’s. Charlotte needed to get her shit together so she could be the girlfriend Marin deserved, but ... she needed to do this next part alone. Tears coursed over her cheeks. “I ...”
“Charlotte, talk to me.”
“My dad’s going to be here soon,” she sobbed, “and I can’t have him see us looking like ... like girlfriends. I just lost my mom. What if I lose him, too, when he finds out I’m not straight? I don’t know if I can take it.”
“Okay.”
“I know I promised you that I’d eventually be ready, but I just ... I’m so scared ...”
“This isn’t the right time to have this conversation,” Marin said, sounding as calm as Charlotte was hysterical. “You’ve just had a shock,and I totally understand why you don’t want your dad to find out about us this way, so yes, I’ll go. Text me when you get home, and I’ll come over?”
“Yes. Please, just take my car. I’ll get a ride with my dad.” Desperation twisted in Charlotte’s stomach. She needed Marin to leavenow. Before her dad got here.
Her mom was dead, and Charlotte just couldn’t ... she just couldn’t ...
