“You need to go. Now.” Annie’s breath came in shallow gasps, and she was having a hard time getting air into her lungs. She’d invited a stalker into her home. She turned the knob of the front door and swung it open. But a strong gust of wind slapped the door back toward Annie, hitting her before it slammed shut. She slumped against the door, catching her breath as she watched Serena stop in front of her. The storm apparently didn’t want them to leave. Hysterical laughter bubbled up inside Annie, and she swallowed hard, trying to tamp it down. This wasn’t funny. At all.
“I’m sorry.” Serena now had a sorrowful look on her face, reaching her hands out as if asking for forgiveness. “I didn’t mean any harm. That’s why I took so long to reach out to you. I wasn’t going to ever, but then—” She broke off.
“I don’t care what your reasons are. Do you see it’s not normal to watch people?” Annie clutched her phone, knowing she should try Sam or Brody again.
“I just wanted . . . I don’t know.” Serena tittered, and the mania Annie had glimpsed before was loud and clear this time. “And then when we met, and I was so surprised how much I like you . . . I thought we could be friends.”
Her voice trailed off and Annie could see she was fighting tears. One eye on Serena, Annie dialed Brody’s number, but it went right to voice mail. She tried her father’s landline, and again, it went straight to voice mail. What was going on? Why was no one answering their phone? She decided to text Brody again, hoping he had cell service, wherever he was. She typed fast, her thumbs flying, needing him to pick up on the urgency of her message. She was so intent on punching out the letters that she didn’t realize Serena had walked over to her until she felt her breath on her arm as she leaned in to peer at Annie’s phone.
“Who are you texting? Brody?”
Annie hated how familiar her husband’s name sounded on Serena’s lips, as if she really knew him. But she guessed Serena did know Brody. She knew them all. She snatched the phone away from Serena’s eyes and held it against her chest. “None of your business. Please, just go and we can forget all this. I’m sure the storm will stop soon.”
As if to say differently, a loud gust of wind howled, making the windows shake, sounding like they were in the midst of a hurricane.
“I’m not a stalker. Why would you write that?” Serena pointed at Annie’s phone, where Annie had written in all capitals: COME HOME NOW. THIS WOMAN HAS BEEN STALKING US. She must have seen what Annie wrote before Annie pulled the phone away.
“Yes, you are, and I want you out now!” Annie’s voice rose to a feverish pitch.
“No. I’m not going to leave like this. You need to listen to me. I need your help.” Serena gestured out the window. “And look, the flooding is getting worse. I can’t go out in that.”
Her eyes pleaded even as her voice took on a desperate tone. She wrung her hands together and started pacing again, muttering under her breath, “This wasn’t how this was supposed to happen. This wasn’t how it was going to be. What do I do? How can I fix it? I need to fix this.”
Annie stared, fixated, until Serena looked up, the fire in her eyes still burning like embers.
“You stole my house, my life, from me. You can’t kick me out now. You’re the only person who can give me what I need. You have to help me.”
“No, I don’t.” Annie glanced at her phone, but Brody still hadn’t answered.
“Yes, you do.” Serena’s tone changed and she was suddenly pleading. She brought her hands together in front of her, as if praying. “You owe me.”
30
They stared at each other for a moment, and then Annie came to life and grabbed Serena by the upper arm. She pulled her to the front door, but Serena resisted and a tug of war ensued.
“Annie, stop. You have to listen to me,” Serena pleaded as she tried to dig her heels into the ground.
Annie fought with the front door as lightning flashed, and for a moment, she wondered whether she’d somehow entered a horror movie. She finally twisted the knob open. A crack of thunder boomed as she yanked open the door, and then they both stopped, staring out at the storm. The water had definitely risen. It was now up to the underside of the cars in the driveway, and in the backyard, the water was already coming up over the canal, and onto the bottom of the three steep steps that led from the canal up to their backyard. Before Annie could react, Serena tore herself out of Annie’s grip and ran into the Ohana. Marley reacted and sprinted after her as Serena went screaming into the bathroom and slammed the door.
The wind whistled and rain blew into the Ohana, soaking Annie. She quickly shut the door and looked toward where Serena had barricaded herself in the bathroom. Marley stood outside the door, barking at it. Annie couldn’t decide what to do. Should she take Marley and leave now? But did she really want to leave Serena in their home by herself?
Annie’s phone dinged and she looked down.
B: Finally got a signal. What’s going on? Who’s been stalking us? What are you talking about?
A: Serena! She’s been watching us.
B: What? You’re not making sense. Watching us where?
A: In New York! At our lake house. She thinks we stole her house away from her.
B: Wait. What? We stole whose house? Are you okay?
Growling in frustration, Annie dialed Brody’s cell and he picked up immediately.
“Are you okay?” Brody’s voice came through, broken up by static and dead air.
“I’m fine. But the house. Our house. The lake.” The words rushed from Annie as she struggled to make sense. “The people who asked for a third extension. It was her. Her and her fiancé, who left before the wedding.”
“What? Who’s getting married?”
“Oh my god, Brody. Pay attention. Serena.”
“Serena’s getting married?” Brody shouted over the static.
“No! She was. But he left her. She thinks we stole her house.”
“We didn’t steal a house. What’re you talking about?”
“You’re breaking up. I can barely hear you.” Annie was trying not to shout because she didn’t want Serena to know, but it was hard to hear Brody over the roar of the storm and the bad connection. She needed him to understand and to tell her what to do. “She thinks we stole their house. They were the buyers who lost the house when we bid on it.”
There was silence, and when Brody spoke again, Annie knew he’d finally made the connection. “What the fuck? How did she even find us? What’s she doing in Kauai? How did she end up with you?”
“I don’t know! I don’t know what’s going on. You need to come home. Now. She’s barricaded herself in the bathroom and she won’t leave. She says she needs me to understand something.” Annie ran a hand through her hair, which was wet from the brief time she’d had the door open. “Oh, and her baby died.”
“What? What baby?” Brody yelled.
“Just come home! I’ll explain when you get here.” Annie threw a look at the bathroom door, where Marley was sitting still, staring at it and growling. She should have listened to Marley when Serena had first stepped foot in the Ohana. He knew Annie shouldn’t have let her in.