Read Online Strawberries in the Sea by Elisabeth Ogilvie - Free Book Online Page A

or will be by August.
    â€œ. . . Mrs. Fleming?” It was the blond girl, serious and polite. “Are you all right? ”
    â€œOf course,” she said crossly. “Is there a short cut to the store or do I have to go down across the field?”
    They were all in a hurry to tell her about the lane turning into a path to the store. She felt she’d upset them and was sorry. None of them was Phyllis, even if she turned out to be a Phyllis in time.
    â€œThanks very much,” she said to them at the foot of the overgrown lawn.
    â€œOh, that’s all right,” young Holly assured her handsomely.
    Almost to the store Rosa realized she hadn’t had a chance to wash up after her work, or even comb the twigs and leaves out of her hair. Well, too late now.
    Only Mark Bennett was in the store, a solid dark man with graying temples. He was working at his desk in the post office section, and looked out at her with a preoccupied stare.
    â€œJude Webster wants you to call him. You know his number?”
    â€œYes.” Not Con. Still hoping for miracles, she jeered.
    â€œDial one first,” Bennett said. He tapped his pencil, still gazing at her through the little window, but as if he were thinking of something else.
    Thirty-five miles away the telephone was ringing in Jude’s kitchen. Jude answered, grave and moderate, and when she said, “Hi, Jude,” Bennett’s swivel chair creaked. He walked through the store and went outside and down the wharf. She could see him going away through the long shed and then out into the sunlight, where he disappeared down the ladder to the lobster car.
    â€œNow whatever possessed you to do a fool thing like that, Ro?” Jude asked with asperity.
    â€œLike what? . . . Damn it, I just felt like it, that’s all! Everybody else is doing what they feel like, so I thought I’d try it for a change.”
    â€œWell, it was a fool thing—”
    â€œYou’ve already said that. Funny, whenever I do anything it’s always a fool thing. Maybe I should sit in a closet with my face to the wall for the rest of my life, so I don’t do any more fool things.”
    â€œNow hold on, Ro,” Jude said. “Come on down off your high horse. This is costing you money, so stop talking and listen. Con called me up yesterday morning all in a sweat because you and the boat were both gone in thick o’ fog. He thought maybe Edwin might know something, when he saw the car there the night before.”
    So he’d driven by, maybe intending to come in till he saw Edwin was there.
    â€œAre you still there, Ro? You hear what I said?”
    â€œSure!” she said belligerently.
    â€œNo, you didn’t. Anybody mentions that feller’s name, you go into a trance. Listen, I had to tell him where you are. I couldn’t do anything different, he was all for getting the Coast Guard out.”
    â€œWell, I’m here, anyway. I came out through fog thick as dungeon and hit the Harbor Ledge buoy bang on the nose. What do you think of that for navigation?”
    â€œYou’re a chip off the old block. How is everything?”
    She tried for enthusiasm. “The house is nice and dry, Jude. And it’s so quiet out here I’ve been sleeping like a pig and trying not to eat like one.” Her chuckle was fairly successful. “I think I’m going to have a great summer. Oh, I started cleaning the toilet this morning. The Wylies left everything pretty good, but I don’t think they ever shoveled that place out. What are you snickering at?”
    â€œNothing, Ro, nothing at all. Well, I dunno what’ll happen about the boat. You told me yourself it was still his to use, and you’ve gone and taken her and a load of traps besides. He was some mad. He sounded feather-white.”
    â€œProbably he was, to think I wasn’t drowned and the boat wrecked, and him having all that insurance to play with. That