Secrets in Summer(52)

She squatted down in front of the girl. “Willow, my name is Darcy Cotterill. I live in the house on the other side of the hedge.”

Willow was still shaking too hard to speak.

“I’m not some weird voyeur. You can trust me.” Darcy hesitated. “I know your stepfather, Boyz Szweda.”

“Okay,” Willow whispered, still clutching herself tightly and shivering.

Darcy sat down on the grass next to Willow. “This is a very cool spot,” Darcy said. Soft grass beneath an ancient maple, with two of its roots veeing out, the trunk of the tree served as a backrest and concealed them from the view of anyone in the house, while the porch lamp provided enough light for Darcy to see Willow. “I’m a librarian,” she said. That should reassure the girl. Everyone thought librarians were helpful and bossy. “Here, at the Nantucket Atheneum. I live here year-round. So I know all about Logan.”

“Don’t tell my parents. Please. They would totally kill me.”

“I don’t know, Willow. I’ve got to think about that. But let’s go inside. I’ll make hot chocolate and we can talk.”

“Hot chocolate?” Willow drew back, suddenly looking like a normal teenager being offered something truly lame.

“Beats heroin every time.” Darcy stood, held out her hand, and breathed a sigh of relief when the girl took it. She pulled Willow up. “If you don’t want hot chocolate, we can just go in your house and talk for a while.”

Willow hung her head, as if ashamed to admit it: “I like hot chocolate.”

“Good. Let’s go. We can go along this funny path between my hedges and my neighbors’ house—there’s a family there this summer with three little boys.” She held Willow’s hand as they walked. “You might have met them. The Brueckners. They borrowed some milk from me.” Babble, babble, Darcy thought, but it was soothing her to talk and she hoped it was soothing Willow. “I have a cat. Do you like cats? His name is Muffler and he’s extremely vain.”

“I like cats.”

They came out into the narrow street, turned, and went into Darcy’s house.

“Come in the kitchen while I make the hot chocolate. If we’re both in the kitchen, Muffler will get curious and make a guest appearance. Be prepared. He will expect praise for his awesomeness.”

Willow smiled weakly. Darcy felt like she’d won the lottery.

“Sit down.” Darcy went to her cupboards and took out the tin of Hershey’s cocoa and the sugar bowl. She measured two cups of milk into a pan and began to mix the ingredients together.

Willow looked puzzled. “You’re not making Swiss Miss?”

“What? No. No, I like making it from scratch. It takes more time, and I have to stand here and stir, but the taste is worth it. Ah, I’ve got a bag of mini marshmallows, too.”

“How do you know my stepfather?”

Oh, boy. Darcy continued stirring, considering her answer. “I was married to him,” she admitted. She hoped Willow knew her stepfather had been married before.

“Wait, what? Okay, I’ve heard about you.” Willow relaxed in her chair. “Isn’t it odd that you live next to us?”

“I’ve lived here for three years. It was my grandmother’s house.”

“Does your grandmother live here, too?”

“No, she died a few years ago. It’s okay—she was in her eighties. She’d had a good life.”

“My grandmother, my mom’s mother, works in Vegas. We don’t see her very often. My mother doesn’t approve of her. My dad’s mother—my real dad—well, I’ve never met her. I don’t see my real dad much. I’m supposed to say my birth dad. He lives out west somewhere….”

“That’s kind of the way my parents are,” Darcy told her. “They got divorced a long time ago. My father got a new wife and moved to Florida and never gets in touch with me—”

“Really?” Willow brightened at Darcy’s words. “My birth dad doesn’t either. I mean, he never sends me a Christmas present or even a birthday card.”

Darcy carefully poured the hot chocolate into two mugs and added the mini marshmallows on top. She set one mug on the kitchen table in front of Willow and one mug across from the girl. She handed Willow a spoon and took one for herself.

“Careful,” Darcy said. “It might be too hot.”

“I like watching the marshmallows melt.”

“I do, too.”

Willow stirred her cocoa. “Swiss Miss has a packet of these really tiny marshmallows.”

“Cool.”

“Plus, it’s quicker than making it your way.”