CHAPTER 73
She stayed in Cedar Grove as long as she could, but by Sunday afternoon, Tracy could not put off the inevitable any longer. She needed to get back to Seattle. Back to her job. She and Dan stood on his porch, Dan’s arms wrapped around her. His kiss lingered. When their lips parted, Dan said, “I don’t know who’s going to miss you more, me or them.” Rex and Sherlock sat beside them, looking forlorn.
Tracy punched him lightly in the chest. “It better be you.”
He released her and she rubbed the bony knob atop Rex’s head, now free of the plastic cone. The vet said he’d be as good as new. Not to be forgotten, Sherlock nuzzled her hand for attention. “Don’t worry, I’m not going to forget either of you,” she said. “I’ll be coming back to visit, and you can come see me in Seattle, although you’re going to have to wait until I get a house with a yard. And Roger’s not going to be too happy about the two of you.” She could only imagine her cat’s reaction when more than two hundred eighty-five pounds of dog invaded his sanctuary.
During the days she had spent convalescing in Dan’s home, Dan had never asked what their future held, whether she might consider staying. But as she’d told Parker House in the hospital, sometimes she couldn’t help but imagine the Cedar Grove she’d known, even when she tried not to. It was a part of her. Still, she and Dan both knew that they had separate lives and that neither could be immediately disrupted. Tracy had a job to do, and Dan had made a life again in Cedar Grove. He had Sherlock and Rex to care for. His criminal defense practice also looked like it was about to explode due to the notoriety brought by his defense of Edmund House, as well as the aftermath.
Dan and the two dogs walked Tracy to her car. “Call me when you get home,” he said, and it felt good to have someone care enough to worry about her.
She put her hands on his chest. “Thanks for understanding, Dan.”
“Take your time. We’ll be here when you’re ready, me and the boys. Just keep swinging that sledgehammer.”
She waved as she backed down the driveway into the street, then again as she drove away, wiping a tear from her cheek. When Tracy reached the freeway entrance, she passed it, no longer anxious to leave, and instead turned right and drove into Cedar Grove. The downtown area looked better in the sunshine. Everything always did. It seemed more vibrant, the buildings not as dilapidated. People walked the streets and cars were parked in front of the storefronts. Maybe the mayor would succeed. Maybe he’d revitalize the old town. Maybe he’d even get a developer to finish Cascadia and make Cedar Grove a vacation destination. It had once been a place of great joy and comfort for a young girl and her sister. Maybe it could be again.
Tracy passed the single-story homes with kids in snow clothes playing in the yards, the remnants of their snowmen almost completely melted. Farther out of town, she came to the larger homes on the bigger plots of land, the ones with rooflines protruding above manicured hedges. She slowed as she approached the largest hedge, hesitating only briefly before she drove between a gap in the hedge framed by two stone pillars and up the driveway.
She parked in front of the carriage house and walked to where the weeping willow had once stood like a majestic guardian of the property. Sarah used to climb the braids and pretend the grass was an alligator-infested swamp. She’d dangle above the lawn, crying out to Tracy to rescue her from their snatching jaws and razor-sharp teeth.
Help! Help me, Tracy. The alligators are going to eat me.
Tracy would step carefully along the path to the stone closest to the tree, lean out over the lawn, and stretch out her hand.
I can’t reach, Sarah would say, fully enveloped in her fantasy.
Swing, Tracy would reply. Swing to me.
And Sarah would start to move her legs and body to get the braids to swing. Their fingers would brush. On the next pass, they would touch. Finally, she’d be close enough for Tracy to grasp her hand, and their fingers would intertwine. Now let go, Tracy would say.
I’m scared.
Don’t be afraid, Tracy would say. I’m not going to let anything happen to you. And Sarah would let go, allowing Tracy to pull her baby sister to safety.
The front door of the house pulled open behind her. Tracy turned. A woman and two young girls stood on the porch. Tracy guessed the girls’ ages to be twelve and eight. “I thought it was you,” the woman said. “I recognized you from your picture in the newspaper and on the news.”
“I’m sorry to intrude.”
“That’s okay. I heard you used to live here.”
Tracy looked to the two girls. “Yes, with my sister.”
“It sounded so horrible,” the woman said. “What happened. I’m so sorry.”
Tracy looked to the older sister. “Do you slide down the staircase banister?”
The girl grinned and raised her eyes up at her mother. Her sister laughed.
“Would you like to come in?” the woman said. “Take a look around? The house must hold a lot of memories for you.”
Tracy considered what had been her home. That was exactly the reason she’d driven out to the property, to begin the process of reminiscing about the good times her family had shared there, instead of the bad. She smiled again at the two sisters. They were now whispering mischievously. “I think I’m okay,” she said. “I think I’m going to be okay.”