Elenie’s smile softened. She suddenly seemed less assured and slightly surprised. “That would be very kind. See what they say and, if you can, I’d love to join you.”
Leah thought about explaining her run-in with The Tank but the noise level around them swelled like oncoming traffic and the school group flocked to the librarian, ignoring Leah completely and drowning Elenie in questions and excitement.
“I’m so sorry—I have to get back to work. It was great to meet you!” With a grin, Elenie allowed herself to be dragged away to a carpeted area in the corner and Leah was left hovering by the S–Z shelf in the Crime section.
That evening, she relayed the story to Hazel on their drive to book club, including her first meeting with The Tank.
“I don’t like it. This situation needs monitoring, Leah,” Hazel declared with a purse of her lips. “Make sure you keep your pepper spray in your bag and let’s see what Jackson has to say once he’s back.”
The thought of him brought a glow to Leah’s face, despite the context, and it didn’t go unnoticed. The old lady soon prized more from her than she’d planned to reveal, although Leah kept the more salacious details to herself.
“You deserve good things.” Hazel laid a soft hand over hers. “And so does he. Jackson hasn’t had it easy.”
Leah pictured him, tense and defensive, in the company of his parents. “He’s convinced he’ll only ever be second-best to his brother. It’s half of what makes him so prickly.”
Hazel huffed. “They always found Dominic the easier child. He was smart and biddable. It made them lazy and complacent parents. When Jackson started struggling at school, they thought he was just being difficult. It was Atherton who suspected he was dyslexic. Esther and I looked up everything we could find on thesubject. She was forever ringing them to discuss articles we’d read, types of testing we’d found.”
“I don’t think he knows any of that.”
“It became a constant bone of contention between Alistair and Esther. He thought she was interfering.”
“So they left him to struggle? Feeling stupid at school and even more stupid at home, rather than listening to someone who was trying to help?” Leah’s hands clenched tighter around the wheel, her eyebrows pinching with disgust. “He missed out on all those years of knowing Esther, having her support, because they thought they knew better.”
“There were other factors, too. Relationships, even within families, are complicated, sweetie. And the past has a long reach.”
Hazel’s measured reply was ambiguous but gave Leah the perfect lead-in to the diary entries she was struggling to get out of her mind.
“Do you remember Esther’s parents having a special anniversary party in 1972?” Leah asked.
Hazel gazed out of the window and all Leah could see when she glanced over was the old lady’s profile. “Yes. Yes, I do.”
“In her diary, it didn’t sound like Esther wanted to go.”
“No, we knew it was likely to be deathly dull.” Hazel chuckled but there was little humor in it. “She was annoyed because Atherton wasn’t invited.”
“So did you end up going?”
“We had to—Esther’s father wouldn’t let her get out of it and she roped me in for moral support.” Hazel plucked a piece of lint from her skirt. “We planned to stay for the first part and then leave as soon as possible. Escape the tedium, even if we couldn’t escape entirely.”
“Was Dickie there?”
“Yes, darling. He was—drunk and obnoxious, as usual.”
“Did your plan work?” Leah’s nudge was a careful one. She didn’t want Hazel to clam up now.
The lines deepened on her friend’s brow. Mixed emotions, all of them stormy, warred within her eyes. “We split up to make a less noticeable getaway—her out through the doors onto the terrace and into the garden, me via the library. We nearly got away with it.”
Hazel trailed off, less of her existing inside the car at that moment than back in the past. Leah couldn’t bring herself to break the silence; she didn’t know what to say.
The turn into Cassidy Stone’s road came frustratingly soon. She would have cursed the compact size of Pine Springs but she wasn’t entirely sure she was ready for the next part of Hazel’s story. And Hazel seemed even less ready to tell it.
Chapter 38
Leah
A sandy-haired guy, with a dimpled grin and thighs like a racehorse, had Cassie in a bearhug on the doorstep of her house when they pulled up outside. His chin rested on the top of her head.
“Holy moly,” Leah breathed without meaning to.
