I stay a while longer, chatting with Dolly. We drink a second cup of tea. She tells me about her and Raymond, how they never wanted children, how they’ve enjoyed every second of their life together. I tell her about school and how much I dislike it. How I feel destined for a boring job and that maybe I shouldn’t even bother doing the podcast.
At that, she shakes her head in rebuke. “Do it. It’s not as if you can’t still work your tedious nine-to-five while you do the podcast. If you want this old lady’s advice, Ms. Blake Logan, here it is: Life is short. If I’d done what was expected of me, I wouldn’t have married Raymond. My parents weren’t thrilled with the idea—they worried he was trying to replace one Gallagher fiancée with another. But I knew he loved me forme, and I know I made the right decision. But there are also some things I didn’t do, and once you reach my age, you tend to look back and think, well, shit,thatwas a missed opportunity.”
I bite my lip, more affected than I thought I’d be by her words.
“You’re twenty-one. Your life is swimming with opportunities. Don’t squander them.”
I gulp down the lump in my throat. “I’ll try not to. And I appreciate you inviting me in and talking to me. You have no idea how much itmeans to me. With that said, I won’t take up any more of your time.”
If I leave now, I can make it back to the station in time to catch the five o’clock train. I could be in Hastings by midnight. This was a quick trip, but I don’t regret it. I got everything I was hoping for.
“Come back and visit anytime,” Dolly says, and we exchange phone numbers, because shedoeshave a phone, and email addresses, because she has one of those too.
As she walks me to the door, I promise to send her a link to our podcast on Darlie.
“Are you going to record a follow-up now that you know what happened?” she asks curiously.
I shake my head, which surprises her.
“But you solved your mystery.”
“Yeah, I did.” I shrug. “But I don’t think Darlie would want me to ruin the legend.”
“No,” her sister agrees. “She would not.”
“Which is why I’m going to keep this visit to myself. I don’t even plan on telling my podcasting partner. So…no. No follow-up. Let Darlie keep haunting Tahoe to her heart’s content.”
We say goodbye at the door, and I’m already pulling up a ride app as I descend the porch steps. I’m so focused on ordering the car and locking in the pickup spot that I don’t even notice him approaching.
Then I hear a mystified, “Blake?”
And I turn to find Wyatt standing there.
Chapter 56
BLAKE
WE STARE AT EACH OTHER, each of us shocked to see the other standing on this sidewalk. Wyatt is the last person I’d expect to find on a random residential street in Trenton, New Jersey, and it suddenly occurs to me that the only way he can be here is if he followed me.
I narrow my eyes at him. “How did you get this address?”
He looks confused, shaking his head. I notice he’s dressed nicer than usual, wearing a pair of dark pants and a hunter-green sweater that complements his eyes. And his hair is longer than the last time I saw him. The night he cried in my arms about our baby and—
I shove the thought aside, becausenope. I can’t go there right now.
“How didyouget this address?” he counters.
“From the Mercer County records office.”
“What the fuck? They just gave you Lorraine’s address? That seems unethical.”
“What?” I rub my temples. “Who’s Lorraine?”
“Lorraine Tanner. Cole’s mom?” Wyatt nods toward a house twodoors down from Dolly and Raymond’s.
“I’m sorry—Cole Tanner’s mother lives here?”
“Yes. Isn’t that why you’re here? You tracked me down?”
