On Sale Date: April 6, 2021
9780778361053
Trade Paperback
$16.99 USD
448 pages
CHAPTER 1
Tuesday, June 8
Today her daughter was returning for the summer. Mary
Langford gazed eagerly out at the street in front of her small bookstore,
looking for a glimpse of Autumn’s car and, when she saw nothing except a large
family going into the ice cream parlor at the end of the block, checked her
watch. Three-thirty. Autumn had called at lunchtime to say that she and the
kids were making good time. They probably wouldn’t be much longer.
“You’ve been quiet today,” Laurie commented from where she
sat behind the counter, straightening the pens, tape, stapler and bookmarks.
Mary turned from the large front window she’d recently
decorated with posters of the hottest new releases. “I worry when she’s on the
road for so long.”
“She’ll make it, and it’ll be great to see her and the kids.
They haven’t been back since Christmas, have they?”
“No.” She picked up the feather duster and began cleaning
shelves—a never-ending job at Beach Front Books, which she and Laurie owned as
50/50 partners. Autumn lived in Tampa, Florida, far enough away that it wasn’t
easy to get together when Taylor and Caden were in school. “And I doubt they’ll
come back for the holidays this year.” Fortunately, they were more consistent
about returning for the summer—except for last summer, of course, which was
understandable. Mary hoped she’d be able to count on that continuing, but with
the kids getting older, nothing was certain. Taylor had only one more year of
high school before heading off to college. Caden had two. Mary feared this
might be the last time, for a while, they’d all be together in Sable Beach.
“You could go visit them,” Laurie pointed out.
Autumn had invited her many times. Remembering the arguments
her refusal had sparked over the years caused Mary’s stomach to churn. She
wanted to go to Tampa, wanted to make it so that her daughter wouldn’t have to
do all the traveling. Autumn had been going through so much
lately. But the thought of venturing into unfamiliar territory filled Mary with
dread. Other than to go to Richmond occasionally, which was the closest big
city, she hadn’t left the sleepy Virginia Beach town she called home in
thirty-five years. “Yes, but you know me. This is the only place I feel safe.”
Laurie rocked back on the tall stool. “Well, if the fear
hasn’t gone away by now, I guess it’s not going to.”
“No. I don’t talk about it anymore, but the past is as real
to me now as it’s ever been.”
Although the store had been busy earlier, what with the
influx of tourists for the season, foot traffic had slowed. When that happened,
they often talked more than they worked. Beach Front Books wasn’t Laurie’s sole
source of income. Her husband, Christopher Conklin, was a talented artist. He
painted all kinds of seascapes, and while he wasn’t in any prestigious
galleries, he sold his paintings in a section they reserved for him in the
store as well as online.
But Mary, who’d never been married, had no other support.
Beach Front Books didn’t make a large profit, but no one loved the escape that
books provided more than she did, and the store garnered enough business that
she could eke out a living. That was all that mattered to her.
“Autumn gets so mad that I won’t go out and see the world.
Visit. Travel. That sort of thing,” she murmured, wishing she didn’t have the
scars and limitations that had, at times, put such a strain on their
relationship. “She keeps saying I’m too young to live like an old lady.”
“She has a point.”
Mary sighed. “I’m not young anymore.”
“What are you talking about? You’re nine years younger than
me. Fifty-four is not old.”
That was true, but she’d had to grow up far sooner than most
people. “I feel ancient.”
“Next year, you should go to Tampa, if they ask you.”
She shook her head. “I can’t.”
“Maybe you’ll prove that you can.”
Mary couldn’t help bristling. She didn’t like it when Laurie
pushed her. “No.”
“Autumn doesn’t understand, Mary. That’s what causes almost
every fight you have with her.”
“I know. And I feel bad about that. But there’s nothing I
can do.”
Laurie lowered her voice. “You could tell her the truth…”
“Absolutely not,” Mary snapped. “Why would I ever do that?”
“There are reasons. And you know it. We’ve talked about this
before,” Laurie said, remaining calm, as always. That was one of the many
things Mary liked about her—she was steady and patient, and that steadiness
somehow helped Mary cope when old feelings and memories began to resurface.
In this instance, Laurie might also be right. Mary could
feel the past rising up from its deep slumber. Maybe it was time
to tell Autumn.
But there were just as many reasons not to—compelling
reasons. And the thought of revealing the past, seeing it all through her
daughter’s eyes, made Mary feel ill. “I can’t broach that subject right now,
not with what she’s been dealing with the past year and a half. Besides, it’s
been so long it’s almost as if it happened to someone else,” she said, mentally
shoving those dark years into the deepest recesses of her mind. “I want to stay
as far away from that subject as possible.”
Laurie didn’t call her out on the contradiction her
statement created. And Mary was glad. She couldn’t have explained how it could
be real and frightening and always present and yet she could feel oddly removed
from it at the same time.
“Except that it didn’t happen to someone
else,” Laurie responded sadly. “It happened to you.”
* * *
The scent of the ocean, more than anything else, told Autumn
she was home. She lowered her window as soon as she rolled into town and
breathed deeply, letting the salt air fill her lungs.
“What are you doing?” Taylor held her long brown hair in one
hand to keep it from whipping across her face as she looked over from the
passenger seat.
Autumn smiled, which was something she knew her children
hadn’t seen her do enough of lately. “Just getting a little air.”
“You hate it when I roll down my window,”
Caden grumbled from the backseat.
“I’m hoping I won’t be so irritable anymore.” For the past
eighteen months, Autumn had been mired in the nightmare that had overtaken her
life. She almost hadn’t come to Sable Beach because of it. But when her
children had each pleaded with her, separately, to ask if they could spend the
summer with “Mimi” like they used to, she knew they needed some normalcy in
their lives—needed to retain at least one of their parents. Her grief and
preoccupation with her husband’s disappearance had probably made them feel as
though she’d gone missing, too—at least the mother they’d known before. She hoped
by returning to the place that held so many wonderful memories for them all,
they’d be able to heal and reconnect.
It wasn’t as if she could do anything more for Nick, anyway.
That was the ugly reality. She’d exhausted every viable lead and still had no
idea where he was. If he was dead, she had to figure out a way to go on without
him for the sake of their children.
The second she spotted the bookstore, the nostalgia that
welled up—along with memories of a simpler, easier time—nearly brought her to
tears. When she was a little girl, she’d spent so many hours following her
mother through the narrow aisles of that quaint shop, which looked like
something from the crooked, narrow streets of Victorian London, dusting
bookshelves or reading in the nook her mother had created for her.
She’d spent just as much time at Beach Front Books when she
was a teenager, only then she was stocking shelves, ordering inventory, working
the register—and, again, reading, but this time sitting on the stool behind the
counter while waiting for her next customer.
God, it was good to be back. As hard as she could be on her
mother for her unreasonable fears and idiosyncrasies, she couldn’t wait to see
her. Until this moment, she hadn’t realized just how much she missed her
mother. So what if Mary was almost agoraphobic with her unwillingness to leave
her little bungalow a block away from the sea? She was always there, waiting to
welcome Autumn home. Maybe Autumn had never had a father, or the little brother
or sister she’d secretly longed for, but she was lucky enough to have the
enduring love of a good mother.
“There it is.” She pointed to the bookstore as she slowed to
look for a place to park.
“We’re not going to the beach house?” Caden asked, looking
up from whatever he’d been doing on his phone.
“Not right now. First, we’re stopping to see Mimi and Aunt
Laurie. Then we’ll take our stuff over to the house.”
A glance in the rearview mirror showed her his scowl. “I
hope it won’t be too late to go to the beach,” he said.
“I’m sure we can manage to get there before dark,” she
responded as she wedged her white Volvo SUV between a red convertible and a
gray sedan and grabbed her purse.
Taylor spoke, causing her to pause with her hand on the door
latch. “You already seem different.”
“In what way?” Autumn asked.
“Less uptight. Not so sad.”
“Coming here makes me happy,” she admitted.
“Then why were we going to skip it again?” Caden asked.
Autumn twisted around to look at him. “You know why.”
A pained expression claimed her daughter’s face. “Does this
mean you’re letting go?”
“Of Dad? Of course she’s letting go,” Caden answered, the
hard edge to his voice suggesting he considered the question to be a stupid
one. “Dad’s dead.”
“Don’t say that!” Taylor snapped. “We don’t know it’s true.
He could be coming back.”
“It’s been eighteen months, Tay,” Caden responded. “He
would’ve come back by now if he could.”
“Stop it, both of you.” Autumn didn’t want them getting into
an argument right before they saw her mother. They were at each other’s throats
so often lately; it drove her crazy to constantly have to play referee. But she
could hardly blame them. They’d lost their father, and they didn’t know how or
why. And she had no explanation. “Life’s been hard enough lately,” she added.
“Let’s not make it any harder.”
“Then you tell her,” Caden said. “Dad’s
dead, and we have to move on. Right? Isn’t that the truth? Go ahead and say
it—you are letting go.”
Was she? Is that what this trip signified? If not, how much
longer should she hold on? And would holding on be best for them? She couldn’t
imagine her kids would want to spend another eighteen months swallowed up by
grief and consumed with seeking answers they may never find. Taylor was
seventeen, going to be a senior and starting to investigate colleges. Caden was
only a year behind her. Surely, they would prefer to look forward and not back.
Regardless, Autumn wasn’t sure she could continue
to search, not like she had. She was exhausted—mentally and physically. She’d
put everything she had into the past year and a half, and it hadn’t made a damn
bit of difference. That was the most disheartening part of it.
“I’m continuing to hold out hope,” she said, even though
everyone she’d talked to, including the FBI, insisted her husband must be dead.
It was difficult to see the idyllic, two-parent upbringing she was trying to
give her kids—something she’d never had herself—fall apart that quickly and
easily, and the heartbreak, loneliness and frustration of looking for Nick,
with no results, created such a downward spiral for her. She knew it had been
just as painful for her children. That was why maybe she should let
go—to provide the best quality of life for them as possible.
“What does that mean? Are you going to keep
looking for him?” Caden pressed. “Is that how you’re going to spend the
summer?”
He could tell something had changed, that coming here
signified a difference, and he wanted to reach the bottom line. But Autumn
wasn’t ready to admit that she’d failed. Not with as many times as she’d tried
to comfort them by promising she’d have answers eventually.
She opened her mouth to try to explain what she was thinking
in the gentlest possible way when she spotted her mother. Mary had come out of
the store and was waving at them.
“There’s your grandmother,” she said.
Thankfully, her children let the conversation lapse and got
out of the car.
“Hi, Mimi.” With his long strides, Caden reached Mary first.
Although he wasn’t yet fully grown, he was already six-one. And Taylor was five
foot ten. They were both tall, like their father.
Mary gave each of the kids a big hug and exclaimed about how
grown-up they both were and how excited she was to see them before turning to
Autumn.
“You’ve lost weight,” she murmured gently, a hint of worry
belying her smile before they embraced.
“I’m okay, Mom.” Autumn could smell a hint of the bookstore
on Mary’s clothes and realized that was another scent she’d never forget. It
represented her childhood and all the great stories she’d read growing up.
She’d once hoped to read every book in the store. She hadn’t quite made it,
thanks to new releases and fluctuating inventory, but she’d read more books
than most people. She still considered books to be a big part of her life.
“It’s good to be home.”
“Laurie’s dying to see you. Let’s go in and say hello,” Mary
said and held the door.
As soon as the bell sounded, Laurie hurried out from behind
the register. “There you are! It’s a good thing you came when you did. I was
afraid it would drive your mother crazy waiting for you. She’s been so anxious
for you to arrive. We both have.”
Taylor allowed her aunt to give her an exuberant squeeze.
“I’m glad we got to come this year. Where’s Uncle Chris?”
“Probably on the beach somewhere, painting. You know how he
is once the weather warms up—just like a child, eager to get outdoors.”
They took a few minutes to visit the small section of the
store dedicated to Christopher’s work so they could admire his latest
paintings. Autumn was especially enamored with one he’d done of the bookstore
that portrayed a child out front, hanging on to her mother with one hand and
carrying a stack of books with the other. That child could’ve been her once
upon a time. She almost wondered if his memory of her had inspired it, which
was why she decided, if that painting didn’t sell before she left, she’d buy it
herself and take it back to Tampa.
Fortunately, she had the money. As a corporate attorney,
Nick had always done well financially. After the first few years of their
marriage, which he spent finishing school, they’d rarely had to scrimp. But it
was what he’d inherited when his father passed away that’d really set them up.
After Sergey’s death, Autumn had quit working as a loan officer for a local
bank and, for the past ten years, had focused on her family, her home,
gardening and cooking. Her financial situation was also one of the reasons she
rejected the idea that Nick might’ve left her for another woman, a possibility
that had been suggested to her many, many times. Why would he leave his
children, too, and walk away without a cent? Sure, they’d had their struggles,
especially in recent years, when his work seemed to take more and more of his
time and attention, but neither of them had ever mentioned separating.
“This is amazing,” she exclaimed as she continued to study
the little girl in the painting. “I love Chris’s work.”
“The last original he donated to charity went for six
thousand dollars,” Laurie announced proudly.
“Who bought it?” Autumn asked. If whoever it was lived in
Sable Beach, chances were good she’d know him or her.
“Mike Vanderbilt, over at The Daily Catch. He was drunk when
he got into a bidding war for it, and now it’s hanging in his restaurant. I
think he’s glad to have it, but I imagine he also sees it as a reminder not to
raise his paddle when he’s been drinking.”
They all laughed to think of the barrel-chested and
good-natured Mike letting alcohol bring out his competitive nature.
“His wife must be doing well, then,” Autumn said. “She’s
still in remission?”
Laurie shot Mary a surprised glance, and it was Mary who
answered. “I’m afraid not. She was when he bought that painting, but they
received word just a couple of months ago that Beth’s breast cancer has come
back.”
“Oh no,” Autumn cried. Everyone knew the owners of The Daily
Catch. They did a lot for the community. And it was her favorite restaurant.
When she was home, she ate there all the time. “What’s her prognosis?”
“Not good. That’s why Quinn has moved home from that little
town in upstate New York. He helps his father with the restaurant these days.
I’m sure he’s also here to spend time with his mother before…well, before he
has to say goodbye to her for good.”
“Quinn’s home?” Autumn said. She wasn’t expecting that; the
mention of his name knocked her a little off-kilter. When he was a senior and
she was a junior, she’d given him her virginity in the elaborate tree house
that was in his backyard, even though he hadn’t been nearly as interested in
being with her as she was him. And then he’d broken her heart by getting back
together with his girlfriend, the same woman he married five years later. “So
his wife and kids are here now, too?”
“No, he doesn’t have any kids,” Laurie said, chiming in
again. “And he and Sarah—what was her maiden name?”
“Vizii,” Autumn supplied.
“Yes. Vizii. They divorced almost two years ago. You didn’t
know?”
“How would I?” She’d seen nothing about it on social media,
but then, Quinn had never been on social media, and she’d never been able to
find Sarah, either—not that she’d checked recently because she hadn’t. “I
haven’t seen him since he was working as a lifeguard at the beach after his
first year of college and he had to swim out and save me from drowning.” She
didn’t add that she’d faked the whole episode just to get his attention. She
was mortified about that now and cringed at how obvious it must’ve been to him.
“I’m surprised the gossip didn’t reach you all the way down
in Tampa,” Laurie said. “For a while, it was about the only thing anyone around
here could talk about.”
But who would tell her? Her mother wasn’t much for gossip,
which was ironic, considering she’d lived in Sable Beach for so long. The town
where Autumn had been raised took talking about their friends and neighbors to
a whole new level.
“Why would his divorce be such big news?” she asked. Besides
being one of the most popular boys in school, Quinn had been handsome, athletic
and at the top of his class—undoubtedly one of Sable Beach’s finest. But still.
Divorce was so commonplace it was hardly remarkable anymore. And Quinn was
thirty-nine. He’d been gone from this place—except for when he visited his
folks—for twenty-one years. How could what was going on in his life be such a
hot topic?
Laurie tilted her head toward Taylor and Caden in such a way
that Autumn understood she was hesitant to speak in front of them. “There were
some…extenuating circumstances. Have your mother tell you about it later.”
“I want to hear,” Caden protested.
“Why? We don’t even know him.” Taylor jumped in before
Autumn could respond, then Caden snapped at her to shut up and they started
arguing again.
“Don’t make Mimi regret inviting us.” Autumn rolled her eyes
to show how weary she was of this behavior.
“Should we go over and get you settled in?” Mary asked. “Laurie
offered to close the store tonight, so I’m free to start dinner while you
unpack.”
“Sure,” Autumn said. Once Caden and Taylor got to the beach,
maybe they’d mellow out and fall into the same companionable rhythm they
usually achieved when they came to Sable Beach.
Her mother’s house seemed the same, except that its shingle
siding was now white instead of green. It had needed a fresh coat of paint, and
the white looked clean and crisp. But as much as she loved the update, Autumn
was relieved to find that nothing else had changed. Visiting Mary was like
going back in time. Not many people could do that twenty years after they’d
left home.
Because it was such a small cottage, Caden had to sleep on
the couch, Taylor took Autumn’s old room next to Mary’s, and the three of them
shared the only bathroom, which was off the hallway. Autumn slept above the
detached garage, where she had her own bed and bath, thanks to Nick. Because
he’d typically had to work when she brought the kids, he’d never spent more than
a few days at a time in Sable Beach. That had caused more than a few arguments
over the years, so she’d readily agreed when he’d insisted they have their own
space for when he did come. She’d thought it might mean he’d accompany them
more often, or stay a little longer when he did. It made no difference in the
end, but he was the one who’d hired an architect to create the plans to finish
off the top of the garage, even though it had been Autumn who’d picked out the
finishes and colors.
A wave of melancholy washed over her as she left the kids
with her mother to get settled in at the main house, let herself into the
garage and climbed the narrow stairs at the back to the apartment, where she’d
be living for the next few months, by herself. As often as she’d been here over
the years, it felt strange to know that Nick would not be visiting. At times,
she was still so lost without him.
“Where are you?” she whispered as she walked around,
touching the things he’d touched. She’d come for Christmas without him, but she
and Taylor had shared her old room in the house. They could do that for a week
or so but not for three months—not without wanting to turn around and head
straight home.
She stopped in front of the dresser, where her mother had
put a picture of her family. She’d known her husband was getting involved in
something secretive, that a friend who was with the FBI had recruited him for
his knowledge of Ukraine. Because his parents had emigrated from there, he’d
known the language, was familiar with the customs and still had a few relatives
in the country. That made him useful in what had become a very troubled region.
Although he couldn’t tell her exactly what he was doing for
the government, she guessed he was working in counterterrorism, probably trying
to infiltrate various radical groups. She’d read that the FBI sometimes used
civilians who were particularly adept with computers, or had some specific
knowledge or ability, to assist them.
Maybe he’d become a full-fledged spy, and whoever was on the
other side had discovered his activities. The FBI claimed they hadn’t sent him
to Ukraine to begin with, but she’d discovered that he’d flown into Kyiv before
disappearing and had no idea why he’d go there if not at their request. If he
wanted to reacquaint himself with his uncle and cousins, he would’ve told her.
Besides, the family he had there claimed they hadn’t heard from him. She’d
traveled halfway across the world to speak to them face-to-face—not that the
long, tiring trip had accomplished anything.
She lifted her suitcase onto the bed and was unpacking her
clothes when her mother came up. “The kids would like to go to the beach before
we have dinner, but I told them I’d rather they not go alone.”
“Mom, they’re sixteen and seventeen,” she said. “Kids that
age go to the beach by themselves all the time.”
“Still. I don’t mind walking down with them.”
That was her mother’s polite way of saying she was afraid
they wouldn’t be safe and felt the need to watch over them. Mary had always
been overprotective. But Autumn managed not to say anything. What would it hurt
for their Mimi to walk down to the water with them? There was no need to
transfer the suffocation she’d felt to her children, especially because they’d
had to put up with so much less of it. “Okay.”
“Would you like us to wait for you?”
“No, I’ll find you in a few minutes.”
With a nod, her mother turned to leave but paused before
descending the stairs. “It can’t be easy for you to stay out here, knowing that
Nick won’t be coming. Would you rather we make other arrangements, like we did
at Christmas? Have you stay in the house with us?”
Unless Nick suddenly showed up, she’d have to brave it at
some point, wouldn’t she? It might as well be now. “No. There’s not enough
room. Taylor and I both need our space.”
“If you’re sure.”
“Mom?”
She looked up. “Yes?”
“Before you go, tell me what Laurie was referring to at the
bookshop.”
“About…”
“Quinn and Sarah,” she said.
“Oh. No one really knows exactly what happened,” her mother
said.
“There must’ve been a story circulating.” And she was eager
to focus on something besides her own troubles for a change. She could see
Nick’s rain boots in the corner of the room and knew there would probably come
a time—in the not-too-distant future—when she would have to make the difficult
decision about what to do with them.
She couldn’t even imagine that. But she had a whole houseful
of his belongings in Tampa, and if he didn’t come back, she’d have to decide
what to do with all of it. Should she box it up and put it in storage?
Stubbornly continue to wait? And if so, for how long?
Her mother seemed as reluctant as ever to repeat gossip, but
she must’ve understood that what’d happened to Quinn might create a good
distraction, because she finally relented. “Sarah claims he was having an
affair, which caused her to fly into a jealous rage and stab him.”
This was not what Autumn had expected. “Did you say stab him?”
Her mother frowned. “I’m afraid so.”
“But…he must be okay. Laurie said he was here, helping his
father run the restaurant.”
“She didn’t hit anything vital, thank goodness. But I heard
he spent a few days in the hospital, so his wounds weren’t superficial,
either.”
Autumn whistled as she imagined how bad their marriage
must’ve been for something like that to happen. “I thought they’d be happy
together. They dated for so long before they got married. It’s not as if they
didn’t know each other well.” She sank onto the bed next to her suitcase. “Did
he admit to cheating?”
“Not that I know of.”
“But you think he did—cheat, I mean.”
“I wouldn’t be surprised. Something had to
have made her react so violently.”
Mary never gave the benefit of the doubt to a man. Autumn
had noticed this before and assumed her father was to blame. Although Mary
refused to talk about the past—went rigid as soon as Autumn mentioned her
father—there were times, more of them as she got older, when she found herself
wondering who he was and what he was like. Before Nick went missing, she’d told
her mother that she was tempted to try to look him up, and Mary had been so
appalled—that Autumn would have any interest in him when he was such a “bad
person”—that she’d dropped the idea.
It was something she thought she might like to revisit,
though. Times had changed. Nowadays, a simple DNA test could possibly tell her
a great deal. And there were moments when she felt she should be allowed to
fill in those blanks.
But she hated to proceed without her mother’s blessing. She
owed Mary a degree of loyalty for being the parent who’d stuck with her.
Finished unpacking, she put her empty suitcase in the closet
while trying to ignore Nick’s snorkel gear, which was also in there, changed
into her bathing suit and cover-up, slipped on her flip-flops and grabbed her
beach bag. She was on her way down the stairs when she heard her phone buzz
with an incoming call.
Assuming it would be her mother or one of her children,
wondering what was taking her so long, she dug it out of her bag so that she
could answer. But according to Caller ID, the person attempting to reach her
wasn’t a member of the family. It was Lyaksandro Olynyk, the Ukrainian private
investigator she’d hired to look for Nick.
It was seven hours later in that part of the world. Why
would he be calling her in the middle of the night?
Excerpted from The Bookstore on the Beach by
Brenda Novak, Copyright © 2021 by Brenda Novak, Inc. Published by MIRA Books.
Brenda Novak, a New York Times and USA Today bestselling author, has penned over sixty novels. She is a five-time nominee for the RITA Award and has won the National Reader's Choice, the Bookseller's Best, the Bookbuyer's Best, and many other awards. She also runs Brenda Novak for the Cure, a charity to raise money for diabetes research (her youngest son has this disease). To date, she’s raised $2.5 million. For more about Brenda, please visit www.brendanovak.com.
TWITTER: @Brenda_Novak
FB: @BrendaNovakAuthor
Insta: @authorbrendanovak
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