Cathryn Parry - The Long Way Home

Natalie wiped her palms against her already damp raincoat. She knew what this treatment was about: her father’s involvement with Maureen’s brother Bruce, and what had happened that last summer he was in town. Part of Natalie was dying to ask about him. She would never do that, though. As far as she knew, Bruce Cole had never come home, not once, and was never likely to again. She remembered how much it had hurt Maureen when he left.

Maureen’s gaze traveled up and down Natalie’s body. She had the curl to her lips of a former “in girl” judging and dismissing an “out girl.” Natalie felt deflated, well aware of every physical flaw she had.

“Nope,” Maureen drawled. “Your name doesn’t ring a bell. I didn’t go to school with any of Asa Kimball’s kids.”

She said “Asa Kimball” as if the words tasted bitter. And then she turned away.

Natalie nodded. She understood why Maureen was acting this way. Indirectly, her father had made Maureen’s life hell. Lawyers in general had made Maureen’s life hell.

Bruce’s life, too.

But Natalie wasn’t that kind of lawyer and never would be. She saw herself as a helper, not an adversary. Her father, and his father before him, and for all she knew, his father before that, had run the family firm in the traditional way, which had, in her opinion, often caused problems. Years of standing on the sidelines, watching and observing, had convinced her she could make a place for herself, that she had a unique talent to contribute.

Natalie may not have been one to speak to people much, but she noticed things about people, and that was important, too. Maybe it was time to take a chance on the new style she envisioned. She had always thought that if given the opportunity, she could make a difference.

Natalie cleared her throat and approached Maureen again. “I know it was a long time ago, but you and I were...friends, actually—at least I thought so—your senior year in high school.”

Maureen’s lips pressed together, as if she was reliving the hell of being a popular girl who was suddenly ostracized by her peers. Natalie had seen it happen firsthand.

Hopefully Maureen would understand that her intentions weren’t harsh. “We had study hall together on Fridays, final period,” Natalie said. “I always looked forward to it. I...drove you to the bus station once in the fall.” Remember?

For a split second, she looked bludgeoned and she abruptly sat on the nearest pew. And Natalie felt guilty. She hadn’t wanted to use that particular memory, but it was the incident Maureen was most likely to recall. Maureen had planned to run away to visit Bruce, who was in his first year as a midshipman at the U.S. Naval Academy in Annapolis, Maryland. Natalie had never forgotten that day for many reasons, the most important of which was that it was the second most daring thing she had ever done.

“You were nice to me,” Maureen finally said, albeit grudgingly. “Not too many people were nice to me that year.”

“At least they talked to you,” Natalie said with a joking tone. “I was always so shy.”

Maureen cocked her head and studied her. “You look pretty.” Her voice was softer, as if she was starting to warm up. “You cut your hair. It flatters you.”

By reflex, Natalie touched her head. “Thanks. I found a really great stylist when I lived in Boston.”

“You lived in Boston?” Maureen actually seemed interested.

“I went to law school there. And then afterward, I had a clerkship.”

Maureen squinted.

“It’s...a job I had, at the Federal courthouse on the waterfront. I clerked for a judge there.”

Maureen smirked. “And now you’re back to work with your father on small-time wills and real estate closings.” Her laughter was unkind, all trace of the former softness now gone.

Natalie smiled gently, refusing to take the bait. “It’s always been my dream to go solo.”

Maureen’s eyebrows rose. “So the old man is retiring?”

“Not...yet anyway.” Therein was the crux of her dilemma. Natalie fiddled with the button on her coat. Her father wanted to sell the law firm and retire to Florida by the end of summer. She wanted him to pass control to her and take a cut of her future earnings, but he didn’t believe she had the ability to make future earnings.

This mission with Maureen was part of Natalie’s plan to establish a bottom line for the summer, to prove to him she could.

And if she couldn’t, well...

There was no couldn’t. The law firm had been in her family for five generations, and she wanted to be part of that link, too. If she didn’t stay and fight for her connection to that legacy, then it would be lost forever.

She would make a go of it here. And Maureen could help her, at the same time that she helped Maureen.

Natalie smiled and looked Maureen in the eyes. “If I can’t convince my dad to keep the law office in the family, then he’ll sell to a big firm from Portsmouth or Concord. If that happens, then they’ll make his place into a satellite location to theirs.”

With lawyers who wouldn’t know anybody in town. Not personally, anyway. Outside attorneys wouldn’t be likely to float a loan for legal work for a small business starting out, or to spring a local’s miscreant son from the drunk tank at the beach on a Saturday night. Her father’s firm did, often without charge. As a local businesswoman, Maureen would understand the implications.

Maureen leaned against the pew and chewed her bottom lip, thinking. Then she rubbed her hands over her face, and Natalie couldn’t hear what she said.

“...such a big problem...the wedding...” was all Natalie caught.

And then Maureen moved her hands away from her mouth, and stared at her, waiting for Natalie to reply.

The familiar panic crept over Natalie that she’d missed something essential, that she’d be found out. And she’d been careful to stand face-to-face with Maureen so she could lip-read what she couldn’t hear.

You communicate so poorly, her parents had always told her.

No one wanted a hard-of-hearing lawyer. Natalie knew it made them uncomfortable. It made them think she was either a snob or incompetent when she missed something important.

Sometimes both.

“I’m...sorry,” Natalie said carefully. “Could you please repeat what you just said?”

Maureen’s scowl deepened. Natalie got a bad feeling, as if Maureen was holding her response against her.

“Do you still have any ill-feelings toward my brother Bruce?” Maureen demanded bluntly.

“What? No! I never blamed him.” On the contrary, Natalie had always thought she understood him better than most people did. “I knew your brother once—I talked to him, and I...”

She felt her face flushing. She could never tell Maureen about that night. She had never discussed it with anyone, even when she should have.

She was fiddling with her buttons again, and Maureen was staring in curiosity.

Oh, why not admit she’d had a crush on him? It was so long ago, surely it couldn’t hurt. Most likely Bruce was married anyway, making beautiful babies and saving the world somewhere as a navy pilot or intelligence officer, something heroic and swashbuckling and passionately emotional, like he was.

“I had a huge crush on him, truth be told.” Natalie laughed, but knew it came out strangled. “Me and about a hundred other girls in town.”

“A hundred other girls in town turned their backs on him after what happened,” Maureen said flatly.

Yes. Yes, they had. “But I didn’t,” Natalie said softly. “I was loyal to you, remember?” Maybe because Natalie was the only person in town who knew the truth about how Bruce had felt and what he’d done after the accident that had killed his best friend. “I saw what this town did to you, and I stayed by your side. I talked to you after all your cheerleader and student council friends turned their backs.”

“You must really want my business.” Maureen’s voice was hard and bitter.

It’s not her fault. Maureen had been a sheltered kid who’d gone through a tough year that had changed her life. But the most important thing was that Maureen had overcome the trauma. She was a functioning member of the community. From her father, Natalie knew Maureen had built herself up from a single mom with few prospects into a successful real estate agent specializing in the million-dollar beach homes along the waterfront. It must not have been easy to compete at that level, and was certainly not a job for the fainthearted.

Natalie, especially, could respect that.

“It’s not that I want your business,” Natalie said. “Take your business wherever you please, as far as I’m concerned. What I came for is to let you know I’m back, and I’m not leaving. This is my town, too, and I love it. I...think I can do good here, if you’ll let me help.”

Maureen shifted in her seat and stared at her. Twirling the tape measure between her fingers, over and over, as if she was taking Natalie’s measure.

Natalie stood straighter. Go ahead. I’m not the same shy kid who left town after high school. I’m a whole new person now and I want you to know it.

“All right.” Maureen lowered the tape measure. “My brother is coming home at the end of next month for my wedding. It will help me if you stop by and say hello to him. I think he’d like to see a friendly face.”

“I...he’s coming home?” Natalie raised her gaze and blinked into Maureen’s eyes.

This, she had never expected.

“If it goes well with him and you’re able to help,” Maureen said, “then I’ll consider bringing some business to your firm.”

For a moment Natalie couldn’t speak. Had she heard this right? “I would like that very much.”

She should be happy. She had almost won.

And yet...

Her hands began to shake.

The one night she had spent with Bruce was his last one in town. He’d never spoken to anyone other than his family again. Nobody knew why. Not even Natalie. It was a complete mystery to her, because Bruce had told her his plans that night, and they certainly hadn’t been to simply disappear.

He had meant to help before he left. Everybody had loved and relied on Bruce Cole, once upon a time. He’d been the natural leader of the kids their age, the center of all that had been fun and good. And then he had left town and suddenly, everybody hated him. It became cool to blame him, and his younger sister—who’d really had nothing to do with any of it—had suffered the brunt of the fallout.

What would he say when he saw Natalie? What would she say?

“Bruce Cole made sure he kept his plum spot at the U.S. Naval Academy,” she’d heard people grumble. That was the perception—that when it came down to it, Bruce Cole was a heartless bastard. A guy who used people for his own ends and then escaped the consequences of his actions.

But Natalie knew he hadn’t been involved in the accident. And back then, when she should have spoken up, she’d kept silent instead. To save herself from getting into trouble.

How many people got the chance to fix their mistakes?

“I...would love to see your brother when he comes home,” she breathed.

Her hands shook harder now. Maureen stared. Natalie was afraid Maureen could see how much she was affected by Bruce’s memory, still in an awed state of mixed puppy-love and sympathy that was...silly, really. She was an attorney, for heaven’s sake. The daughter of the man who’d been hired, once upon a time, to depose Bruce for a lawsuit in civil court.

Maureen bent and picked up the bridal veil her mother had brought, and placed it on her head. With the delicate white lace softening her face, covering the harsh lines her bitterness had given her, Natalie could see the beautiful, innocent girl Maureen had been, back when Bruce had been home to protect her.