Annie closed her eyes briefly. Serena had just said she’d been hospitalized—many times, from the sound of it. She sympathized, she really did. She told herself that was all the more reason why Serena couldn’t be trusted. But her traitorous heart murmured, You understand. You wanted to disappear too.
Before she could stop herself, Annie blurted out, “When I lost Lili, my mom, and then the business, I disappeared for a couple of weeks. I didn’t plan it. I just knew I had to get away or I was going to die.” She stopped, thinking about how she’d just needed to get away from her life. Needed to go somewhere where she didn’t have to deal with everything. She’d left a note for Brody and then gotten into her car and just driven away. She’d ended up somewhere on the Jersey shore, and had stayed in a motel on the beach with her phone turned off, not talking to anyone until she felt like herself again. That was when things with Brody had changed. He couldn’t understand why she’d had to go away, instead of letting him help her.
“Then you understand.” Serena’s voice was low.
There was that zing of connection again, of feeling like they understood each other. But what did that say about Annie, that she was so in tune with a stalker who’d been hospitalized many times?
The rain lashed against the windows, and Annie began to think it would never stop. They were stuck in this bubble of time together here in the Ohana, sharing terrible secrets. Annie’s text alert sounded, multiple times, but she didn’t look at the phone. She was close to finding out the real reason Serena was here, even as a shroud of dread dropped over her. Sam, Brody, her friends—they could all wait just for a few more minutes.
“Why would you come all the way here? What do you want from me?” Annie stared into Serena’s eyes.
Serena gazed back for a moment, and then she looked away.
“Tell me.” Annie’s voice hardened. “I want so much to believe you, but do you see how bad this all looks? Do you not see what you’ve done the past few years is wrong, even illegal?” Her eyes bored into the back of Serena’s head. “I’m going to ask you one more time. Why are you here?”
Serena’s chin wobbled, but then she squared her shoulders and met Annie’s gaze head-on, without flinching. “Because Finn is my son.”
35
Annie burst into hysterical laughter. It bubbled up from inside her and escaped in a loud bark. The more she tried to stop, the more she laughed, and soon she was crying and laughing at the same time. Serena watched her, confusion on her face.
When Annie could finally speak again, she said, “You’ve got to be kidding me. Finn is my son.” Her text alerts continued to ding, but her attention was on Serena.
“I know this sounds preposterous, but he’s my son. I have proof.” Serena’s face was so open and free of guile when she said this that for a moment Annie actually believed she was serious.
Annie let out another burst of laughter. “You’re so funny. You almost had me convinced there for a moment.” She had to laugh—the alternative was too scary to contemplate. There was no way Finn was Serena’s son. He’d come out of Annie’s body, for heaven’s sake. Was Serena really trying to make her feel like she had never given birth, hadn’t gone through all that pain and nine months of pregnancy? She was delusional; that was all there was to it.
“Annie, I’m serious. Please stop laughing. It’s not funny.”
Annie snorted. It was funny. Looking at Serena, she wondered why she’d ever thought the other woman could be dangerous. There was nothing dangerous about her. She was delusional, that was all. Right now, she looked like a little girl who’d just been told she couldn’t have what she wanted.
“Listen to me.” Serena reached out to grasp Annie’s arm. “Finn is my son, not yours.”
Annie stared at the hand on her arm, dumbfounded. What had happened to their evening? How had they gotten from forming a new, close friendship to this woman telling her Annie’s son was hers?
“I know you think what I did is creepy. I know it. But I couldn’t help watching you. I needed to, as much as I needed air. It was like”—Serena let go of Annie’s arm and moved her hand in the air, searching for the right word—“a necessity, like if I didn’t do it, I would die. At first, it was just a need to see the life that I was supposed to live. But one day, I saw Finn playing in the backyard, and I really saw him for the first time. And that’s when I suspected. I went home and did my research and . . .” Serena stopped, her mouth open, like she was reliving whatever she’d found. “I couldn’t believe it. I was right. And with my suspicions confirmed, I amped up my surveillance.”
“Your ‘surveillance.’” Annie made air quotes. “Of us. Me and Finn and Brody.”
“Yes.” Serena nodded vigorously, as if happy that Annie got it. “I had to be sure, one hundred percent sure, before I could do anything about what I suspected. I studied you all, this perfect family that was supposed to be mine. I admit”—here she gave Annie an embarrassed smile—“I became obsessed. I couldn’t stop watching you. I came to know you so well, your routines and the ways you reacted to things, that I felt like I knew you. Like you were a friend.”
“That’s why you knew so much about us.” Annie shook her head, unable to believe that they’d never had any idea this woman had been watching them so closely. Yes, she’d felt eyes looking at her and gotten uneasy a few times, but it never went beyond that. They had been so careless.
“I lost my job again.” Serena glanced at Annie and then looked away. “But this time, I couldn’t blame my bosses. I spent so much time watching you that I didn’t have time for a paltry thing like work. And when I was fired, I decided I didn’t need to work anymore. My father had left me well enough off that, if I was careful, I probably wouldn’t need to work again. Besides, this was more important. This was my entire life.”
“Did you ever stop to think that this wasn’t right?” Annie kept her voice level, even though she wanted to yell and scream.
“Maybe.” Serena shrugged. “Sometimes, a little voice would say, You can’t do this. Spying on someone isn’t right. But I pushed that aside because I had to find my son. It’s what any good mother would do.”
“This goes so far beyond being a good mother.” Why was she trying to reason with a woman who obviously didn’t have any reason?
Serena continued talking, as if she hadn’t heard her. “And at night, when I’d think to myself, You’re obsessed with them. Your doctors wouldn’t like it if they knew, I just told my mind to shut up. The doctors don’t know everything. If I told them what I suspected, they’d definitely lock me up. And I was fine now. I wasn’t depressed anymore. I had a reason for living! And the fact that I’m aware it’s bad to be watching you tells me right there that I don’t need to be locked up. I’m not a stalker. I’m just watching a life that should have been mine. And looking after my son from afar.”
“He’s not your son.” Annie had had enough. “Finn came out of my body. I was there. Brody was there. Finn was there. You weren’t.”