Page 13 of Forgotten Path
“Take it easy, man.”
Bodhi tipped his cup in salute, took a long swig of the cold, just this side of sweet beverage, and trudged back up the dusty road to Joel’s camper.
CHAPTEREIGHT
Judith was watering her garden when the mail carrier leaned over the fence and said, “Did you hear?”
She paused, the watering can hovering over her zinnias, and ground out a response. “I don’t know, Clara. Did I hear what?”
Oyster Point’s sole postal employee seemed to think her job entailed the delivery of gossip along with letters and packages. Clara always had the juicy scuttlebutt, but her nosiness irked Judith to no end.
“I was just at Saint Lou’s, and Marnie told me one of those monstrosities over in Emerald Estates, or whatever it’s called, sold for over two million dollars! Can you believe it? Two million dollars. I bet it’s a celebrity who bought it. An actor, I hope. Not a musician—they party too much.”
As if Clara would know about the partying habits of the rich and famous.
Judith sniffed. “Celebrity or not, you’d have to be a moron to buy a waterfront house on that brackish bay.”
“Now, Judith. That water comes right in from the Gulf of Mexico. It’s clean.”
“It stinks.”
Clara snorted. “Don’t let Louisa hear you saying that. Where do you think her razor clams come from?”
Judith waved her hand dismissively. “Regardless, there’s not a house on this coast worth that kind of money, and you know it. And if someone was going to build one, you can bet your sweet behind it wouldn’t be Fred Glazier. I mean, really.”
Clara sighed, no doubt relinquishing her dreams of delivering some Hollywood A-lister’s mail. “Yeah, you have a point. Do you remember his first business? He built that entire neighborhood with a drainage problem.”
“That was his second company,” she corrected. “The first one built the townhomes with the mold problem.”
“Oh, that’s right. Well, maybe he learned something from all his mistakes.”
“Yeah. He learned money doesn’t come with instructions and it’s easy enough to fool people with flashy finishes.”
Clara hooted and reached her arm over the gate. “Here. Looks like you got your electric bill and your social security check.”
Judith gritted her teeth as she walked to the fence to grab the envelopes. It ought to be a federal offense for a letter carrier to look at the return address on a person’s mail. Or at least to comment on it. Maybe if Clara didn’t spend so much time nosing through her mailbag, she’d finish her rounds before dinner time.
“Goodbye, Clara.”
A coughing fit came on, and she had to wait until it passed to return to her flower bed and resume her watering.
“Oh,” Clara said in a fake-casual voice that didn’t fool Judith for an instant. “I almost forgot. Marnie also said her dad’s getting worse. She has an appointment at that memory care facility over in Rooster Creek.”
Judith’s chest tightened. She kept her head bent and focused on the flowers’ vibrant orange and pink heads through the tears welling up in her eyes.
“Did you hear what I said, Judy? Deke’s not doing well.”
She threw her free hand behind her back but didn’t turn around. “I heard you, Clara.”
She waited for Clara’s footsteps to recede, then gingerly lowered herself to her knees and dug her fingers into the cool, crumbly soil. Deke was as good as gone. Once they locked him away in the memory care unit, it’d be a short, steep decline. She, Clara, and Louisa had seen it before. Too many times. Before long, they’d be the only three left from their small high school class still alive and kicking.
She gave herself another few seconds of wallowing before she pulled herself to her feet with a fair amount of effort, which resulted in another round of violent coughing that made her feel like her insides might turn outside. She’d better get her rear end in for a checkup the next time the clinic was open if she wanted to continue kicking.
CHAPTERNINE
When Bodhi reached the campsite, a white sedan was parked perpendicular to the Jeep. Felicia sat behind the wheel, the engine idling and her phone jammed up to her ear.
She gave Bodhi a wave, then held up one finger.
