Page 114 of Lemon Crush

“Samantha Retta is the theme.”

We all went still.

“A memorial car?” Rick’s face lost some of its judgment, but he still looked skeptical. “I’ve seen it done, but…”

“Our girl was worried no one would go for it because it wasn’t punny or weird, which is why she hasn’t said anything. But I’m telling you now, it resonates.”

I looked at Kingston doubtfully. “The other day you said they’d already done enough to honor her.”

“Check your email and you’ll know why I changed my mind.”

I pulled out my phone and Rick moved closer while Chick frowned at his own cell, muttering to himself.

“She’s not going to like this, but I think the image needs a soundtrack. You’ll only understand if you hear it for yourself.”

He raised his head long enough to glare at Kingston. “I know you’ll try to record this,” he said, tipping his head at the camera on the table, “but if you don’t get her approval prior to final edits, I have enough money to sic an army of lawyers on you for the rest of your natural life.”

I opened the image attachment and waited for it to download to my phone.

“This is a phone message to August,” Chick said. “She saved it but didn’t let anyone hear it until I got here.”

The bar noise muted as I focused on the sound of Sam’s familiar voice.

“I had the greatest idea, sweetheart. Don’t say no until you hear me out. I’m sitting at a coffee shop in Lesa, thinking about how much both of my wonderful daughters would love it here. And about my last conversation with you. I hate it when we argue.”

They’d fought before she left?

I barely noticed Rick taking my phone out of my hand.

“But as much as you worry about my heart, I worry about yours. I miss hearing you laugh and watching you take on the world. Life doesn’t end after forty, and a few bumps in the road doesn’t mean you give up. Some of my best memories happened much, much later in my life. Even a few of the racier ones.”

Kingston made a sound beside me. Not quite a laugh.

“Speaking of racy, this is where my crazy idea comes in. I want us to enter Gene’s Lemony race together. Check out the website. Right on the first page it says, ‘All it takes is a cheap car, cool friends and one weekend.’ Wade can find us that car. And if he can’t, we can always use Jiminy. Do you remember those Herbie movies? He was born for something like this.”

I felt a few eyes gauging my reaction to that.

“And don’t talk to me about being a heart patient.If I can fly off to Italy, I can drive in circles for a few hours. Say yes, and I promise I’ll take sticking around more seriously.”

Her laughter echoed through the icehouse like a happy memory.“I mean that, even if you do make good on your threat to run away and start fresh in Maine. I’d follow you there anyway and be as happy collecting seashells along the Atlantic as I am in the Gulf. As long as you’re okay, I’ll be okay.”

There was a crackle of static when she paused. “I wish you would answer your phone when your mother is calling from another country and knows you never leave the house. I’ll try again tomorrow after my ferry trip and nag you until you agree. Please think about it. If you say no to everything, you’ll miss…everything. You are my sunshine and I love you a bushel and a peck. Ciao, bambina.”

“Damn.” It was Dalton who broke the silence at the table. Was hecrying? He’d never even met Sam. “It’s like, a last request and shit. You’ve got to do it now, right?”

Not one of us disagreed.

Rick cleared his throat. “Hell.” He stared at my phone for a long moment before sliding it to me, pulling out his own and standing up. “I’ll tell Gene we’re wrapping the car. He’ll deal with it.”

Kingston grabbed his camera and got up too. “And I’ll call Dad. See how he’s doing with that boat August asked for.” He walked out through the open overhead door, head down, expression closed.

I couldn’t look at the image on my phone yet. Finding out what Augusthadn’tshared with me was a bitter pill to swallow.

She’d saved that voicemail all this time and never mentioned it until now. Until we’d already agreed to race Jiminy. Until Chick had shown up.

I wasn’t proud of the jealousy I was feeling, but I wanted to bethe one she turned to and shared her secrets with. Hell, I’d settle for being in the top three.

I hadn’t known she’d been thinking of leaving before Sam died. Chick had offered her a place in California, but before that, according to that message, she’d been considering running away to Maine.

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