A: Yeah. All good, considering this scary storm.
S: We’ll be fine. I hope. LOL
A: Haha
S: Text me if you need anything
A: Okay.
“Are you going to make me leave?” Serena’s question had Annie looking up from her phone. Serena was now seated at the breakfast bar, as if staking her claim. Annie hovered by the couch close enough that she could reach out and grab Serena if she needed.
“Yes. But first you need to tell me why you followed us to Kauai. What you meant when you said that I owe you.”
“But . . .” Serena twisted her fingers together. “I thought we were going to be friends. You were going to show me around Kauai. Take me to places to eat.”
“Really? You think I’m going to be friends with someone who’s been stalking me all these years?”
“I wasn’t. I was just . . . watching you. Watching what my life should have been.” Serena looked close to tears. “I thought you understood. After everything I’ve been through. Losing Johnny, not knowing if I’m to blame. I just want my son back.”
Her eyes pleaded at Annie to understand, and despite herself, Annie could feel her heart relenting slightly. The thing was, she did understand, at least partly. She’d never stalk someone the way Serena had, but all the other things . . . Annie got it. The loneliness, self-blame, that feeling of wanting to disappear . . .
Serena’s eyes filled with tears. “Danny was so mean when we broke up. He kept saying there was something wrong with me, that I needed help. I think he blamed me for Johnny’s death.”
Annie looked up. Was Serena now trying to play on Annie’s sympathy to let her back into her life, even after everything she’d done? And what was wrong with Annie that she was contemplating how she could explain to Brody that she’d decided to be friends with their stalker? Hey, honey, I know she’s been watching us for years, and taking things from me and followed us here, but guess what? We’re now best friends! Yeah, that’d go over so well with Brody and her family. They’d be telling her she had lost it. And maybe she had.
But look at her. Annie’s heart couldn’t help giving a sympathetic bump when she saw the pitiful expression on Serena’s face. Annie brought her hands up on either side of her own head and closed her eyes. What was wrong with her? How could she feel sorry for this woman?
“Annie, please.” As if sensing that Annie was softening, Serena went in for the kill. “You promised me you’d take me to Hamura’s. I really want to go with you. You said we could take Marley and Finn hiking on Sleeping Giant. This island has so much to offer, and I want to explore that with you, like we planned.” She slipped off the stool and put a hand on Annie’s forearm. “I need you, Annie. Please?”
Annie groaned into her hands. Serena seemed to know just how to get to her. Because all her life, she’d been brought up to keep her word. Her mom had drummed it into all three daughters not to promise to do something if they couldn’t do it. And Annie had promised to show Serena Kauai.
She dropped her hands and opened her eyes. Serena was looking at her, eyes wide, making Annie’s resolve to stay firm slip. Annie’s mom would understand if she didn’t follow through on this promise, right? After all, this woman had been lying to her the whole time.
33
Laptop ANNIE file
I know you’re a dependable person like me. I see it in your actions, the way you take care of everyone around you. It’s been drummed into me since I was little that if I say I’m going to do something, I have to follow through and finish whatever I committed to. Even if it’s hard and I don’t want to. That’s one lesson I learned from my mother when I was five.
I had just started kindergarten and told my mother I wanted to take gymnastics because every girl in my class was doing it. I pestered her about it. I wouldn’t stop talking about it. She didn’t want to take me, said she was busy, and I didn’t need gymnastics. But I wanted it so bad that she finally relented. She signed me up, bought me the black leotard, and off I went to gymnastics class.
But I hated it. I couldn’t do a cartwheel to save my life, I was scared stiff of the balance beam, clinging to it and crying my eyes out. I didn’t want to jump on the horse or bounce around on the trampoline like the other kids. They even made us swing from a rope and drop into a pit of foam blocks. I was so scared I spent most of the forty-five-minute class crying.
You’d think my mother would have just let me quit and gotten some money back after only one class, but no. She made me finish the semester. Every Monday, she would drag me screaming into the car to gymnastics, ignoring my cries. Because she said I wanted it and she’d spent good money getting me to the class. So I was going to stick it out and follow through on my commitment.
And ever since then, I don’t back down from a challenge or take the easy way out like some people and quit. Which is why I’m not about to give up on reaching my goal because I’m scared or I don’t know how to go about doing it. Especially if you won’t cooperate and give me what I want. I will complete my mission even if I have to hurt you to make you give me what is mine.
34
Annie hardened her heart and stared at Serena. She was getting to the bottom of this once and for all. She wouldn’t let Serena’s sad story sway her until she’d heard the whole truth. “Either you tell me right now why you’re here and what you want from me, or I’m throwing you out, flood and storm and all.”
“I will. I came here to tell you the truth. And to ask you for help. But you need to let me tell you in my own way.” Serena took a step toward Annie. “Can we please just sit on the couch again with our wine, like we were doing before? I promise to tell you everything.”
Annie hesitated, then nodded. If pretending to have that same cozy camaraderie from earlier would help Serena finally tell the truth, Annie was all for it. She wondered if Brody had called the police. If at any moment, the police were going to be pounding on the door. She needed Serena to tell her everything before that happened.
Marley accompanied her back to the couch, where he kept looking back and forth between Annie and Serena. She reached out to reassure him that everything was okay. Picking up her wineglass from the coffee table, where she’d abandoned it, she took a fortifying gulp and then looked at Serena expectantly.
Serena sat on the opposite end of the couch, then turned so she was fully facing her. “When Johnny died, I spiraled. I tried to kill myself, but no one knew, not even Danny, because I couldn’t go through with it. As much as I wanted to die, I just couldn’t do it.”
Annie steeled her heart. She would not let her emotions get in the way until she heard the whole story.
“After a while, Danny suggested that I check myself into a psych hospital. I agreed. I don’t know why. I guess I just needed the rest. And surprisingly, I enjoyed being there.”
Annie’s brows rose. “I thought you didn’t believe in therapy, like me?”
“I don’t consider those hospital stays ‘therapy.’ It was more like a vacation from my life, where someone else could take over and I didn’t have to deal with everything that makes life so hard to live.” Serena smiled. “I liked being there. I liked that the doctors and staff cared. That someone cared about me and would take care of everything. When things got tough, even after Danny left, I’d check myself in. It was a nice break from my life. From all the horrible things that happened to me.”