Moondust Lake by Davis Bunn

Author:Davis Bunn
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Kensington
Published: 2018-10-03T16:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER 18

Buddy’s meeting with his team went better than he could possibly have hoped. There was a singular satisfaction to their wanting to go wherever he chose, and even more for their willingness to wait until he could offer specifics. Their lack of explicit questions said it all. They trusted him.

He left the café and headed home. Carey had spent years hidden in plain view. She was adept at showing the world a blank mask, and revealing only the segment of herself that the viewer might find pleasing. To discuss her inner world with a total stranger, well . . . Buddy pulled up in front of his town house filled with dread over what waited him inside his own front door.

Instead, Carey greeted him with a smile and a wave at the phone she held. He heard her say, “That’s right. The front and back doors need new locks, and I want your man to check all the windows as well. Yes, I’ll meet him with the documents you mentioned. That’s fine. I’ll be there.” She cut the connection, walked over, kissed him on the cheek, and announced, “She’s nice.”

“Who, Kimberly?”

“Of course. Who else have you brought home for me to meet, other than the dark-haired vixen from down the lane? Come to think of it, they do look quite a lot alike.”

Buddy walked into his bedroom and began shedding clothes. “Not inside where it counts most.”

She stepped into the hallway to grant him privacy, but kept the door open so they could talk. “How did it go with Pop?”

“About like you’d expect. He raged. I talked. He threatened. I left.”

“I’m sorry, Buddy. You deserve better.”

“So does my team.” He slipped into jeans and a sweatshirt, then dumped his satchel on the bed. “I’m going away. A retreat center north of here. Not long. Just for a couple of nights.”

“Where did you hear about it?”

“From Kimberly.” He waited for a rejoinder, but the hall had gone silent. Buddy ventured, “How did it go with you?”

“I’m not ready to talk about it.”

“Sure.”

“Maybe someday. But not yet.”

“I understand.”

“But it was nice. No, not nice.”

Buddy zipped the satchel shut, grabbed his jacket, and came out to where his sister leaned on the wall. “Important?”

“Very.”

“I’m glad.” He kissed the spot where her temple met her hairline. “The place is yours.”

* * *

Moondust Lake fronted the ridgeline separating it from Miramar Bay. The retreat center contained a chapel and meeting halls and a string of cabins, each with a broad veranda overlooking the still waters. The springtime forest stretched out verdant and dotted with early blossoms. The world was so silent Buddy could hear the ocean’s distant murmur.

The main house rose on the lake’s opposite shore, a massive structure built to model a log cabin. Only this one was three stories tall and rimmed by a porch larger than Buddy’s entire home. The actor had built it after his second heart attack, and in his will he had turned it into central California’s first hospice center.

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