Accidental Happiness by Jean Reynolds Page Page A

biting today.
    “Like I said, we’ve moved so much. I haven’t gotten around to changing them. Good thing, huh?”
    “Pretty lucky,” Gina said. “Okay, I’ll let these two off at Lane’s, then I’ll meet you at the boat.”
    “Go ahead and park,” Lane said. “Angel and I can walk to the house. We might even stop and get an ice cream at the Ship’s Store.”
    Lane had a natural way with Angel. But what about Gina? Could she be trusted? Benjamin had loved her, relied on her. Hell, he married her, which had surprised Reese from the beginning. That was almost enough. But not quite. Reese sensed something off-center about her. She had all that baggage from her childhood, but hell, who didn’t? The real problem came from the notion that she didn’t seem to care much for Angel.
    A breeze stirred the air. Halyards on the sailboats responded, clinked against the aluminum masts like wind chimes, dozens of them at once.
    “I could use a shower,” Reese said, feeling the salt air thick on her skin. “Should I bathe on the boat or go up to the marina showers?”
    “Either way,” Gina told her. “The water pressure’s a little better up at the guest showers. It just depends how lazy I am on any given day.”
    “I’ll go to the marina, then. I need to throw in a load of clothes at the laundry up there anyway.” After the catharsis of their luncheon, Reese had felt things go cold with Gina. She wanted to minimize girlfriend time as much as possible.
    “I’ve got quarters on the boat if you need some,” Gina offered.
    “I’ve got plenty.”
    Marina living reminded Reese of apartment life. Temporary. Angel would need more soon. Maybe she needed more already. Reese watched her little girl walking away with Lane. They were making plans for Angel’s birthday picnic.
    “I’ll check on you in a few minutes,” Reese called out. Angel gave her a slight wave, unconcerned about her mother’s plans.
    “What am I going to do?” Reese mumbled to herself, watching the two of them walk away.
    As she leaned into the trunk to find what she needed for the night, she saw Gina glance over. Reese realized she’d spoken out loud. Gina continued locking up the car, didn’t say anything. Reese tried to read the other woman’s expression, but came up blank.
    “The security code on my dock is 1282,” Gina offered after a moment. “It’s easier to walk to the boat from here than swim.” Gina was smiling. It took Reese a second to get the joke. She wondered how much bite lay behind it.
    “Don’t worry about me. Just keep your pistols in the drawer, cowgirl,” Reese volleyed. She felt a smile settling in at the corners of her mouth. Maybe, just maybe, she and Benjamin’s widow would find some middle ground.
    “See you at the boat,” Gina called out as she headed toward the docks. The marina lights exposed her, made her look vulnerable, lovely somehow, amid the surrounding shadows that hung over the marsh and the water. Reese felt secondhand next to Ben’s widow.
    She did a last survey of the trunk of her car, examined the contents of her life to date. She’d taken out only what she and Angel needed. She saw the manila folder tucked in at the side of the trunk. The two things inside would get her through this nightmare. She wouldn’t need them just yet, but knowing they were there gave her piece of mind.
    She picked out a change of clothes for both of them, toothbrushes and shampoo. No need to clutter the small living space on the boat with any more than that. Besides, the more she took out, the more she would risk revealing herself. Lane had been through her things earlier, when she brought clothes to the hospital, but it wasn’t likely that she’d gone rifling through the folder with all her papers.
    Lane came the closest to Reese’s idea of a confidante, but there wasn’t enough trust there yet. Not enough history. She’d have to wait before she let anyone else into the complicated world she shared with her