Lucy
The last thing she wanted was to involve anyone else in her business, but there was no way around it. She did not want her parents to know she was going to see Ella. And none of her friends had licenses. Eudora Shipman had given her a ride once before. It turned out she was willing to do it again.
When work ended, she texted her mom that she was staying late. Then she hurried out to the curb where Mrs. Shipman was already waiting. When Lucy slid into the passenger seat Alfred yipped and barked himself into a frenzy from the back, but it was Mrs. Shipman who looked worse. Lucy’s memory swung hard to the nail-biting drive home the last time, and she wondered if she’d made a huge mistake.
“You sure you’re okay with this, Mrs. Shipman?”
The old woman nodded hard, took a rattling breath, and put the car roughly in drive. “Here we go.”
The drive wasn’t deadly exactly, but there were moments.Mrs. Shipman was nervous, and it wasn’t just the sheen on her pale forehead or the death grip on the steering wheel. After a few hard stops and sharp turns, they swung onto Route 6 and things evened out in the slow lane. It was a snail’s pace, and there were some honks, but eventually they pulled up to Spaulding. Lucy let out her breath the moment Mrs. Shipman put the car in park. She hadn’t realized she’d been holding it.
“Thank you so much,” she told Mrs. Shipman.
“You are welcome.” She pulled a tissue from her oversized purse and dabbed her head, then reached for another. “Sorry, I get a little jumpy on the highway.”
“You did great,” Lucy told her. That seemed to help. “Do you want to come in?” It hadn’t occurred to her what to do with Mrs. Shipman once they got there. It was too hot to leave her in the car, and too rude, too. Plus, there was the matter of Alfred, who snarled when Lucy turned to look at him.
“It would be good to get out. Don’t worry. Alfred has a therapy dog vest, so they’ll let him in.”
Lucy could not imagine Alfred providing any sense of calm to anyone, but then it dawned on her: he did for Mrs. Shipman.
The three of them checked in at the front desk, and Mrs. Shipman settled into a chair in the waiting area. “We’ll be right here.”
“I won’t be long,” Lucy promised.
When she got to Ella’s room, Lucy hesitated in the doorway. All this time Ella had been trying to heal and her parents were wracked with worry and the daily commute back and forth, Lucy had been saddled with her own grief and worry. People’slives had been upended. With the pending lawsuit, lives were about to be upended even more. And if Lucy held the key to making something right out of all the wrong that had happened that summer, she needed to use it. Even if it meant upsetting her family in doing so.
She knocked lightly on the door and Ella looked up. “Lucy!” Her voice was still gravelly from lack of use, but her expression was bright.
“Hey there.” Lucy went and sat on the edge of the bed. “How’re you doing today?”
In the last week, color had returned to Ella’s cheeks, and clarity to her expression. She looked more and more like her old self and it made Lucy brave.
“I’m good,” Ella said, with some effort. “Mom and Dad?” She looked to the door.
Lucy shook her head. “It’s just me today. I got a ride, with a friend.” She winked. “Don’t tell Mom or Dad.”
Ella laughed softly and Lucy did, too. It felt good to share a sisterly secret again. “I came today because there’s something I need to know.” Lucy reached into her pocket. “Do you remember when I brought you that note from Jep?”
Ella turned to her side table, to the copy ofAnne of Green Gables. Lucy watched as she flipped through the book. There, in the middle, was the folded note from Jep.
“Love note–bookmark?” Lucy asked.
Ella winced. “I miss him.”
“That’s why I’m here.” She handed Ella the other half of the note, the part she’d torn from the bottom. “I’m sorry I kept thisfrom you. I didn’t know what it meant, and I was worried it would upset you.”
Heart in her throat, Lucy waited as Ella read the entirety of Jep’s message for the first time.
Ella’s eyes flicked over the message once more, then back at Lucy. Neither of them spoke.
Lucy cleared her throat. “Ella, does that mean what I think it does?”
Ella let out a long breath. She pulled the other half of the note from the pages of her book and lay both on her lap, one atop the other. Then she read the words aloud, slowly and sadly, “I-love-you-Ella. P.S. Please-don’t-tell.”
When she looked up again, Lucy had her answer. “You were the one driving the car that night.”
Ella did not cry. This time her voice did not waver. “Yes.”
