They scanned the area, staying close as they navigated the crowd. It took almost an hour to cover the two blocks of walkways. They searched every ride, every souvenir store. They checked Tully’s Pizza, Scoops, and the Seascore Arcade.
Now they nearly reached the end of the boardwalk fronting the carnival, and Ethan’s look-alike was nowhere to be seen.
“I’m tired,” Zoey whined. It was way past her bedtime and she’d been a trouper.
Josh scooped her up. “We’re almost done, sweetheart.”
Zoey’s arms noodled around his neck as she sagged against his shoulder.
The crowd was thin on the boardwalk, and Maggie could easily see the man wasn’t up ahead. Her stomach filled with lead even as her steps slowed. “He must’ve left.” She glanced down at Zoey, whose eyes were already closed. “I should get her home and to bed.”
“I’ll come over so we can talk.”
“All right.”
Maggie poured two glasses of lemonade in the kitchen while Josh put Zoey to bed in the room Brad and Becky had fixed up for her.They’d purchased the cottage two years ago, and now that Zoey was old enough, she occasionally spent the night. Maggie was so lonely when she was gone, but it was important that Zoey had time with her grandparents. They loved her so much and she was the only piece of Ethan they had left.
Maggie returned the pitcher to the stainless-steel refrigerator. The home, an original ranch, was built on stilts and offered free (at least for her) beach views and sunrises. Her in-laws had spent nearly a year renovating the place, and Maggie loved the cheerful décor they’d chosen. Lots of white, accented with coastal colors: blue subway tiles, aqua throw pillows, sea-green rugs. The overall effect was calming and happy.
Maggie could use a little of both right now.
As she moved into the living room, the floor creaked on the other side of the house. Zoey had been asleep before they made it to the car. Her eyelids hadn’t so much as fluttered as Josh carried her in.
Josh. It had been sweet of him to rush right over when she called. But that was Josh. She’d always been able to count on him. And after tonight he probably thought she was crazy. Maybe she was. A few years ago her therapist, Miss Allison, had assured her that seeing a lost loved one in a crowd wasn’t unusual.
But August 7 would mark five years since Ethan’s passing. Surely she hadn’t conjured up his twin after all this time. She’d come such a long way from that pathetic puddle on her kitchen floor. She was stronger now. She’d come here to spend the summer, to spread her husband’s ashes, to get on with her life—not to resurrect the past.
But she had to make sense of this. She had to believe she hadn’t simply imagined Ethan’s face. She’d gotten a good, if quick, glimpseof the man. She reviewed that moment in her mind for the dozenth time, and once again her memory presented Ethan’s look-alike. Maybe a younger version of him, now that she thought about it.
Josh entered the room and sank beside her on the sofa. “She’s out like a light.”
“She was tuckered. It’s been a long day.”
He took a sip of lemonade and settled against the sofa back, his eyes trained on her.
She shifted under his steady appraisal. The funnel cake she’d eaten earlier sat in her stomach like an anchor, and her nerves were shot from an emotional roller coaster she hadn’t purchased tickets for.
With that long, quiet perusal Josh was no doubt seeing much deeper than the surface. She glowered at him. “I wasn’t imagining it.”
“I didn’t say you were.”
“He looked just like Ethan.”
“I believe you.”
“Do you? Because the way you’re staring at me right now says otherwise.”
“I’m just concerned about you. I don’t like seeing you so shaken.”
“Well, how am I supposed to feel when I spy my dead husband and then he completely disappears?”Again.Tears sprang up and she didn’t want to cry. Tears felt helpless. She wanted to be mad. Mad felt like control and darn it, she wanted some control.
He faced her, setting one arm across the sofa back. His hand dropped onto her shoulder. “Let’s talk about this. Tell me about when you first saw him.”
More of the anger faded as she fell into his denim-blue eyes. Josh wasn’t her enemy. He was the furthest thing from that. “Zoey was on the kiddie-car ride and I was trying to take a picture of her. Just asshe glanced up, he walked into the frame. I did a double take. It was Ethan. His high cheekbones, his deep-set eyes, his chiseled jawline. He was thinner, maybe... more like how he was built when he was younger before he filled in some. And maybe younger-looking in the face too, but it happened so fast.”
“They say everyone has a twin. Maybe you just saw Ethan’s?”
“Right here in Seabrook? Where he grew up? What are the chances of that?”
