Lily wasn’t due to arrive for another two hours. I’d initially felt confident I’d done a good job of getting her to question who Ash really was and hoped she might leave town immediately because of it. Just in case, I’d come up with another plan, and before handing Ash the beer yesterday, I’d poured the rest of my bottle of Benadryl into it. With that amount of medicine, he’d sleep late, and when Lily arrived, I’d tell her he’d changed his mind and didn’t want to see her again after all. I’d tell him the same thing about her. But then he’d slipped out, and after some light detective work, I figured out he’d poured his drink into my potted plant. Almost wishing I’d dosed him with my clonazepam instead, I knew I’d now have to improvise and find another way to get Lily to leave.

I still couldn’t believe Ash had sneaked out like that, and then had the audacity to accuse me of suffocating him, when the only thing I’d done was care for him since he’d come home, put him first, as I always had. He deserved the iciest of shoulders for his actions, plus a reminder of how much he needed me. I’d make him grovel a little, but I already knew I’d forgive him. He wasn’t himself, and I understood why, but I wouldn’t have him hurt me like that again.

I unlocked the garage and went inside, taking in the familiar scent of polish and sawdust, all of it steadying my nerves. Most of the wood I’d found the last time I’d gone to the beach was twisted and gnarled, things I’d turn into fruit bowls and key rings, maybe a small sculpture or two, and a few of the pieces were ideal for candleholders. I’d transform another log by cutting it into discs and burning pictures of pine cones and trees into them. Once polished, they’d become sets of coasters, which always did well at Drift. Tourists were willing to pay as much as fifty bucks for a set, half of which Barbara gave me, and they took no time at all to make. My sculptures could fetch as much as four hundred, depending on size and intricacy. One of them, an eagle, had gone for double, and if I started selling online, I’d get all the cash.