Someone Else’s Life(7)

Annie was so deep in her own thoughts that she didn’t see what happened next. But suddenly, the woman with the floppy hat let out a shout and sprang up off her blanket.

“Watch it!” she yelled so loudly that Finn froze in his tracks. The woman brushed angrily at the sand clinging to her body. “Look what you did.”

Annie ran to them. “What happened?”

“I didn’t do anything.” Finn stared up at her, his face blank as he reached for Annie’s hand.

The woman turned and locked eyes with Annie from beneath her hat. And even though Annie couldn’t really see her face, something niggled in her mind. A memory appeared briefly and then disappeared like loose sand through a sieve. Before she could figure out what was making her senses stand at attention, the woman looked away, stuffed her things into a large tote, and without another word stalked toward the vast expanse of grass that led to the villas of a hotel behind the beach. Annie stared after her, her mind racing.

Finn tugged on her hand. “Mommy? My tummy hurts.”

“What?” Annie looked down at him, confused. He’d been fine just a minute ago.

He placed a hand on his stomach. “It feels funny.” His forehead was scrunched.

“What’s the matter?” Annie placed a hand on his forehead, although she had no idea what she was checking for. It just seemed like a motherly thing to do.

Finn started to answer, but the little girl he’d been playing with called out to him from the water’s edge. He looked at her and then up at Annie, his indecision clear.

Annie stooped down in front of him. “Do you have to throw up? Poop?”

He bit his lip and shook his head. The little girl was now calling Finn’s name. His face cleared and he said, “I’m fine now. I’m going to go play.”

“You’re sure?” Annie stood, her forehead crinkling.

Finn nodded and then ran to the water. She watched him for a moment, then turned to walk back to her chair. But something shiny in the sand caught her eye. She reached down and picked up a bracelet, sparkly black and silver beads strung on elastic with a fake rhinestone turtle charm, much like the ones they sold in all the ABC stores around Hawaii. She twirled it in her hand, remembering a similar bracelet Brody had given her when she gave birth to Finn. They’d always joked that Annie didn’t like jewelry—she’d rather have the cheap bracelets and necklaces from those tourist-oriented stores than real diamonds and fancy jewelry. Brody had bought a bracelet just like this one on their last trip to Kauai and given it to her in the hospital. She’d loved it, wearing it every day until, one day, it disappeared. She hadn’t thought about it in years. But this one looked just like the one she’d lost, down to the turtle charm.

Pocketing the bracelet out of sentimentality, she walked to her chair. Sinking down, she looked back in the direction the woman, no longer in view, had gone. Annie searched her mind, trying to place her. Why did she look so familiar? And why had she run away when she saw Annie?





5


When she and Finn got back from the beach after picking up eggs, her father was waiting in the driveway, looking up at the sky. Annie studied him as they got out of the car. Living in Kauai agreed with him. He was tanned, his body wiry from working in the garden and all the outdoor activities he did with Sam and Cam. He was in his seventies but easily looked to be in his early sixties. She only wished she knew how to talk to him.

“Storm coming. Tomorrow, I think.” He untangled himself from Finn, who had wrapped his sandy body around his grandfather as soon as he got out of the car.

Annie looked up and realized he was right. The sky had darkened, when just a while ago, it had been sunny and bright at the beach. But she’d realized Kauai in February was like this: you never knew when it would rain. It would suddenly hit, and just as suddenly, the rain would disappear and the sun shine again.

“Nothing new.” Annie shrugged.

“This different. Big storm. I feel it.” There was a frown on his face.

Annie dismissed his warning, but the next day, she realized he was right. It had started raining about an hour after lunch and was steadily coming down harder, pinging against the Ohana’s roof. There was something ominous in the air, a gloomy feeling that made her uneasy. She paced inside the Ohana, unsettled and restless.

The rain suddenly increased, pattering down so hard that it made her jump. She almost dropped the wineglass in her hand and had to use her other hand to steady it. Taking a sip of the wine to calm her heart, she yelped when the doorbell suddenly rang.

Chiding herself for being so jumpy, she placed the glass on the breakfast bar and went to the door. As soon as she opened it, she knew she shouldn’t have answered. She’d watched too many episodes of Criminal Minds in the past, where the unsuspecting homeowner opens the door to an innocent-looking person holding a wounded animal, and then bam! The homeowner is dead. But this was Kauai, the sleepy Garden Island, for heaven’s sake. Nothing bad happens in paradise, right? It was just her imagination in overdrive.

Besides, the woman standing at the door of the Ohana didn’t look like a criminal. She had shoulder-length dark red hair and was soaking wet. She blinked to get the rain out of her piercing green eyes and pushed her damp curls away from her face as the rain pelted down behind her.

“Can I help you?” Annie’s voice came out with a tremor, and she clenched her hands together. She was home alone. Brody had gone to work at Lihue Airport, and Finn was at the main house with her father, Sam, and Cam.