Page 35 of A Secret Chance
“It’s a special day,” Charlotte said.
“You’re right,” Lauren said.
“What?” Charlotte yelled. The chainsaw carving competition had just started and the sisters’ voices were competing with the ear-splitting buzzing of the saws. They walked away from the flying sawdust and headed toward the ice sculpture display.
“Thank you,” Lauren said. She looked around the busy festival and saw many familiar faces, but thankfully, none of them belonged to Baxter. “It looks like the entire town took the day off.” She took a sip of her coffee and felt her shoulders relax. The snow had stopped falling and for the first time in weeks, the sun peeked out from behind the thick layer of cloud cover. Small fires were scattered around the parking lot and Charlotte and Lauren sidled up to one of them to warm their legs.
“You’re welcome,” Charlotte said. “I’m sorry for being so hard on you, but I know better than anyone the damage that can happen when you put your work ahead of everyone – even yourself.”
“I know,” Lauren sighed. “I’ve been so wrapped up in this case. And the whole Baxter Brock thing has thrown me for a loop.”
Charlotte glanced around and then whispered. “Are you going to tell him?”
Lauren’s eyes widened and then she also glanced around, checking to see if anyone was within earshot. “No,” she said.
Charlotte turned to face her. “No? Why?”
Lauren glanced around again. “Why would I? I mean, he doesn’t know who I am. I’ve thought about it long and hard, Char. It just doesn’t make sense to kick that hornet’s nest.”
Charlotte opened her mouth as if to say something but closed it and tightened her lips.
“What?” Lauren hissed.
“I thought you said that you felt something when you saw—”
Lauren reached and gripped her sister’s forearm, she shook her head, a silent motion telling her to shut up. Charlotte turned her head to see the bleached blond duo, Carrie and Stacy, approaching from behind.
Carrie shot Lauren a dirty look and then whispered something to her sister. The two of them cackled, butted out their cigarettes, and then headed into the community center.
“Don’t they get cold?” Lauren pulled down her hat as she watched to ensure that their nemeses were long gone before speaking. The sisters had been wearing pleather jackets, both unzipped, exposing their sun-damaged chests to the cold air.
“You don’t get cold when you’ve got ice in your veins,” Charlotte said. “What were you saying before?”
“I wasn’t saying anything.” Lauren wanted to get off the subject of Baxter Caldwell.
“No, you were saying that you felt something for him,” Charlotte prodded.
Lauren shook her head; she knew her sister wasn’t going to let it go. “I felt something for him when I didn’t know who he was.” She glanced around. “And what am I going to say,” she whispered. “Hey, remember me? The cleaning lady that you banged nine, no ten years ago?”
“You could.”
“And then what? Oh, have you met my daughter? How old is she?” Lauren raised her voice and pretended to be in a conversation with Baxter. “Oh, she just turned nine.” She returned to her regular tone. “He would put the pieces together.”
“Would that be so bad?” Charlotte’s voice was abnormally soft.
Lauren’s face flushed red. She couldn’t believe that her sister actually thought she should tell Baxter about their love child. “Yes,” Lauren hissed. “Nothing good would come out of that conversation. And I probably wouldn’t be able to keep working on the case. Nope.” As Lauren spoke the words out loud, she confirmed what she had been thinking all week. Telling Baxter Caldwell that Tabitha was his daughter was out of the question.
“You’re probably right,” Charlotte said. She finished her coffee, pulled off the plastic lid and tossed the paper cup into the fire.
“It’s a smaller carbon footprint if you just recycle that.” Lauren pointed to the cup that was quickly burning up in the fire.
“The fire was already going, and if you think about all the gas that it would take to get this to the recycling depot...” Charlotte didn’t finish her sentence.
Lauren didn’t have the energy to fight her sister on the issue. “Actually, I’m just glad that you didn’t throw it in the garbage.”
Charlotte smiled and shrugged, then her face became serious again. “I’ll drop it. I promise. But don’t you think that it’s weird, after all these years, he shows up here and you’re on the case. I mean, that’s kind of crazy.”
“You know that I don’t believe in that stuff.” Lauren finished her coffee. “It’s just a coincidence.”
