In This Town

Using the back of her hand, Tori brushed her long bangs aside. “Not you, too.”

“Me, too, what?”

“You’ve joined the Layne Brigade,” Tori said, tossing silverware into the bin with a loud clang. “Bad enough she sent Nora over here to fetch me like I’m some sort of disobedient child, now you’re waving at me from the front seat of the bandwagon? For God’s sake, don’t drink the Kool-Aid, people. Fight the power.”

She wasn’t surprised Celeste knew about Layne’s important meeting. Layne probably called her, too. Or else Nora had swung by the kitchen to tell Celeste Tori was being stubborn.

Nora always had been a little tattletale.

Celeste pressed the tips of her forefingers against her temples as if seeking inner peace or warding off a headache. “Times like this make me wonder if you and Layne will ever outgrow your sibling rivalry.”

“She started it.”

Layne always started it with her judgmental attitude, bossiness and overinflated sense of superiority. As if she had some sort of holy light shining down on her just because she was the firstborn.

Celeste shifted out of the way of a customer, smiled and greeted him before edging closer to Tori and lowering her voice. “I’m officially giving you the time off. Now go be with your sisters.”

Tori didn’t want to leave, didn’t want to fall into line just because Layne demanded it. “Thanks, but I’d rather finish my shift.”

She gathered the crumpled napkins and empty containers of creamer and tossed them into the bin. But she felt Celeste watching her, studying her. It was annoying. Unnerving.

Not that she’d ever let anyone see even the slightest hint of nerves, of doubts. People saw only what she allowed. Her thoughts, her feelings were her own until she decided to share them.

“Patty,” Celeste said to the other waitress as she walked past, “could you cover Tori’s tables? She has a family emergency.”

“Sure thing. Here,” she said to Tori, “I’ll take that back for you.”

But when Patty took a hold of the bin, Tori’s fingers tightened. A subtle tug-of-war ensued, causing the dishes to clank together. Patty’s eyes flashed and she yanked hard. Tori’s grip slipped. She stumbled back, bumping into the table with enough force to knock it against a chair.

With a triumphant grin, Patty tossed her head and walked away.

Tori straightened and stepped toward Patty’s retreating back, ready to…well…she wasn’t sure what exactly but she was afraid it included her lunging at the older woman and taking her down in a headlock.

Knowing Tori all too well, Celeste blocked her path. “Let’s go to my office. We can discuss—”

“There’s nothing to discuss.” Fighting her building temper, Tori smoothed her skirt over her hips, tugged down the hem. “I’m not leaving.”

Celeste raised her eyebrows. “My office. Now.”

Damn. Celeste rarely used that no-nonsense tone with anybody, let alone Tori, which only made it that much more effective when she did resort to it.

Aware that they’d drawn several curious glances, Tori forced her lips up into her patented coy smile and sauntered across the dining room. Kept her movements graceful and unhurried even when she reached the empty hallway.

At the end of the hall, she entered the office. Weak sunlight filtered in through the two narrow windows, casting shadows on the dark carpet. Framed photographs of Tori and her sisters, along with one of their father, Tim, and Celeste decorated the wall to her left. Several smaller ones, all of Tori’s son, Brandon, ranging from newborn to last year’s school picture, were scattered on the bookshelf to the right. A huge, ugly cherry desk that had belonged to Celeste’s grandfather took up more than its fair share of space, along with a three-drawer metal filing cabinet and two wooden chairs.

Walking in, Celeste flipped on the overhead lights then shut the door.

Tori crossed her arms. “I cannot believe you played the boss card on me.”

Okay, so technically Celeste was her boss. But in addition to that, she was also her father’s girlfriend and before that she’d been her mother’s best friend. Celeste had been one of the few people who’d seen something valuable in Valerie Sullivan.

And in Tori.

Celeste loved her without expectation, without judgment. Some days Tori thought she was the only person who did.

“I do whatever it takes,” Celeste said as she sat behind the desk. “You know that.”

She did. Tori admired her for it and for what she’d made of her life. Celeste had her own successful business, one she’d built by herself from the ground up. The only thing Tori didn’t understand was why Celeste gave her heart to men whose only real love, their obsession, was the sea.

Maybe it was in her blood. Her grandmother had married a fisherman, and her mother eloped with a navy petty officer, only to be left alone when he chose the sea over his young wife and baby daughter. At nineteen, Celeste lost her fiancé when the fishing boat he’d been on had gone down during a Nor’easter.

And now, for the past eight years, she’d been in a relationship with Tori’s father, another fisherman who always, always, chose the call of the ocean over her. Just as he’d done with his wife and daughters.

Which proved that no man was worth giving your time, your attention and most especially your heart to.

“Sit down,” Celeste said, gesturing to the chair in front of the desk, “and tell me what’s going on with you.”

Tori plopped onto the chair. “Nothing’s going on. Since when is wanting to cover my own shift, my full shift, a crime?”

“Honey, you were fighting a woman twice your age over dirty dishes.”

“Patty’s stronger than she looks. Those water aerobics are really working.”

“I’m sure they are.” Opening a drawer to her right, Celeste pulled out a bag of mini chocolate bars. Tori didn’t think it was a coincidence Celeste’s stash of candy and the loaded handgun she kept for protection were housed in the same space.

No one touched Celeste’s chocolates without permission.

“What’s wrong?” she asked, taking three candies from the bag before sliding it toward Tori.

Her voice was kind, worry clear in her brown eyes. It reminded Tori of when she’d sat in this very same chair as a scared, pregnant teenager. Only they knew Celeste was the first person she’d told. The person who’d held her as she’d cried, more terrified than she’d ever been in her life. So afraid of disappointing her family, of Greg turning his back on her, of being responsible—completely, totally, fully responsible—for the life growing inside her.

Humiliated and angry that she’d ended up just like her mother.

“What’s the point of my going?” Tori asked, unable to stop the words from spilling out. “No matter what evidence they found or new theory Layne has, it won’t change anything.”

She wanted to move forward and forget the past. Not rehash it.

“Don’t you want to know what happened?” Celeste asked quietly. “Don’t you want to know the truth?”

Tori didn’t believe in the truth. It was too easily manipulated, too easily hidden. She should know. Her own life was nothing but smoke and mirrors, shifting and reflecting what she wanted people to see. Giving them only what she wanted them to have.

“The truth is that Dale York killed Mom. And now he’s dead. What else is there?”

She didn’t expect a real answer but the look on Celeste’s face told her the older woman was keeping something from her. See? Everyone lied. Everyone kept secrets. Even someone as good and honest as Celeste.

“What’s going on?” Tori asked, her fingers aching from gripping the arms of the chair so tightly.

Unwrapping a candy, Celeste glanced around as if someone was going to suddenly materialize out of thin air to overhear their conversation. “I think Layne might be in trouble.”