Fireflies in the Field by Elizabeth Bromke

Author:Elizabeth Bromke [Bromke, Elizabeth]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Elizabeth Bromke

17

Megan

The four of them were in sun-bleached Adirondack chairs on a lower deck off of the Village. The warm sand taunted Megan. She’d love to wander off with her ice cream cone at her lips and Brian’s hand in hers as they pushed through the beach and to the water, sinking in the surf together as the sun set.

But it wasn’t a double date. Or a single date.

It was a doom’s date.

“There might be a problem.” A hardness etched itself across Michael’s face. He looked nothing like Amelia’s boyfriend and everything like a lawyer. An upset lawyer with bad news.

The double scoop of vanilla in Megan’s hand started to drip down into the ridges of the waffle cone.

Still under the misbelief that his bad news didn’t pertain to her, she licked away the sweet melted cream and flicked a glance to Amelia, who frowned in return.

“What is it?” Megan asked.

Amelia added, “Is it about Dad?”

Stunned at the word, Megan swallowed. She was sick of this poorly conceived search for a man who abandoned his daughters and his wife. She was sick of Amelia’s obsession with it and her unwillingness to see how painful it was to dredge up those old memories.

For Megan, the word Dad, the name Wendell was synonymous with some of the darkest days of her life. The days she turned from sweet baby of the family to left-behind middle child. The days Nora’s already scarce cuddles and attention evaporated, leaving Megan high and dry. And yet all those cuddles and all that attention would quickly turn up anew in a different locale—baby Clara’s bassinet.

And there was no Daddy to fill the void of the already scarce cuddles and attention. No more walks on the beach, digging for twisty little shells and colorful beach rocks. No more off-the-cuff lessons about the differences between freshwater life and sea life or what it was like to grow up in a lighthouse or how much he loved Megan and her sisters.

A sob crawled up Megan’s throat and she set her jaw, ignoring Amelia’s question as best as she could.

Her appetite for dessert left her, and her hand lowered to her lap, the ice cream cone towering precariously as the sun crept downwards, dragging with it the heat of the late afternoon. The muggy air picked away at her treat, mottling the chunky mounds and forcing Megan to pad her fist with napkins, which Brian kept pushing her way, one by one like an ER nurse shoving gauze at the operating surgeon. Moments ticked by in slow measure as Michael answered.

In fact, the lawyer’s bad news had nothing to do with Wendell. No, sirree. Nothing at all.

“The town council called an emergency meeting last night. I guess your proposal landed squarely on the mayor’s desk, and the mayor was… well, he was none too pleased.”

“What are you talking about? None too pleased with a new business?” It was Brian who responded, defensive and instantly irate.

Michael held up a hand. “They post videos from each session on their webpage.

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