It wasn’t until the night before the clambake that I finally saw Grey again. Len had gone to her apartment to swap out her clothing and visit Mallory. She insisted on going alone, given Mallory’s distaste for me. The only way she’d forced me into agreeing was that she promised to be less than an hour and would text me every ten minutes. Excessive, but effective.

I had the rental to myself for a while, but quickly, a knock to the front door changed that.

The second I pulled the door open, I knew something was different. Grey’s face looked almost excited.

“What’s happened?” I asked, trying to contain the thoughts running through my mind and manage my expectations.

“The warrant came through, and they finished going through the footage,” he said.

My heart stopped for a second before I forced myself to push forward.

“They found something?” I asked.

A grin spread across his face.

“We got him.”

23. Lenny

23

LENNY

My parents, Calvin, and Eloise all sat at a table I spotted as I walked up. The smell of the clambake filled the air, mixing with the salt of the nearby sea. My stomach growled just thinking about it.

A flash stunned me for a second, and I blinked away the brightness from my eyes, realizing a Briarport Chronicle journalist was snapping photos of everyone entering the event.

I gave a smile to the journalist, and they nodded back.

Where was Stone?

We agreed to meet at the festival, but I didn’t see him anywhere. He promised to come, which meant he’d be there. There wasn’t a single doubt in my mind.

I walked over to join my family—the last time we’d been together was the dinner I’d run off from.

“Lenore,” my mother called. “Eloise was just telling us some of the names they’re considering for the baby.”

My sister-in-law smiled warmly at me, one of her hands resting on her tiny bump.

A tiny sting of sadness brushed against my heart, the feeling of having that same bump only a distant memory, but I was also overjoyed for her.

“Lenore is on that list, right?” I joked.

Laugh through the pain. 

It was the only way I would survive. Push through, make the best of the situation. I didn’t deserve to continue to live in misery.

My brother laughed while Eloise punched him lovingly in the arm before giving me a gentle smile.

“I think Lenore would make a fantastic middle name,” she said and raised her brows toward my brother.

He scowled back at first, but eventually, her gave her a smile, which I knew meant she’d won that battle.

We talked and caught up on the past few weeks as people filtered in. Volunteers cooked, and some came by with bowls of melted butter to prepare for the clambake itself.