Autumn by the Sea by Melissa Tagg

Author:Melissa Tagg
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Melissa Tagg

It might be him. Could be. The hair was the right color, the eyes.

Sydney stared at the man they’d found behind a grouping of log cabins, wielding a leaf blower, wearing a puffy cobalt vest and fingerless gloves, his cheeks ruddy from the morning’s cold.

It could be him. John Pettinger. JP. Her father.

If this man was an older version of the one in the photo and if the one in the photo really was her father . . .

“Oh, I definitely remember those two. That was my first summer as a counselor. A good experience, obviously. I’m still here.” He stared at the Polaroid Maggie had handed him once they’d explained why they were here, a picture Sydney had retrieved from one of the scrapbooks she’d gone through last week. It showed Diana and CarleeAnn near to the same age as they were in the missing photo she’d taken from CarleeAnn’s hospital room. In this one, the two teenage girls were sitting on Maggie’s front porch, skinny arms draped over each other’s shoulders.

Mr. Pettinger handed the Polaroid back to Maggie. “I have to admit, after twenty-plus years working with young people, most of the names and faces tend to blur after a while. But there’s some you just don’t forget.”

If the man noticed the way Sydney’s gaze hadn’t moved from his face, he didn’t let on. Were John Pettinger’s eyes a little wider set than the teenager in CarleeAnn’s photo? And just how much did she trust her memory of that picture? She’d certainly studied it plenty in the days after that hospital visit, but that was years ago.

If only Micah would message or call one of these days to tell her he’d found it. She’d texted him yesterday to check in, but the exchange had been brief. She’d reminded him about the photo, but his response hadn’t exactly been a jolt of assurance. Yeah, I’m keeping an eye out.

Only when she finally tore her scrutiny away from John Pettinger did she realize Maggie was looking at her, clearly waiting for Sydney to follow up with a question. But how to approach what could potentially be an incredibly awkward subject. Did you more than know one of these girls? Is there any chance . . .

“Were you pretty good friends with Diana and CarleeAnn?” A gust of wind sent curled leaves skittering off the pile he’d been forming before they arrived.

“Oh, well, sure. All the counselors tended to hang out together when we weren’t with campers, especially on weekends when the camp emptied out.”

Okay, apparently she was going to have to get more specific. “Did you keep in touch with either of them after that summer?” Chilled air scuffed her cheeks and she burrowed her chin into the burnt-orange-and-white-striped scarf she’d borrowed from an overflowing basket in Maggie’s entryway closet. Together with Neil’s bulky coat, they went far in warding off the morning cold.

But not the nerves grating her in this moment, edgy and muddled. She didn’t know what to feel right now.

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