Page 58 of The Magic We Made

“Then you weren’t paying attention.” He’s pushed himself away from my car as well. “I was here that day you couldn’t find Violet—” He nods as I look surprised. “Yeah, I knew your cat. She used to sneak over onto my deck all the time to sleep in the sun.”

“No.” The mere mention of Violet has caused my heart to shrink as if someone had wrapped their fingers around it and started squeezing. “No, she didn’t.”

“Yes, she did. She was an old cat, and all she wanted to do inher retirement was sleep, so she’d chase the sun around all day, looking for warm spots to take a nap, and several of those spots were on my deck.”

“I...” How was this possible? How had this been happening and I never noticed? “I don’t believe it.”

“Why would I make it up? I told you, I’m a cat whisperer. All those times you came out into your yard calling to her because you couldn’t find her... she was at my place. I’d pick her up and shoo her back to your yard so you wouldn’t worry.”

I feel the tight grip on my heart loosening a tiny bit. “I didn’t know that.”

“How would you? You were inside, online with your patients. I know because I’d see that little sign you put up on your front door—the one that says,Quiet Please, In Session—for the UPS guys and the mailman so they wouldn’t knock and disturb you. That’s why I never came over and introduced myself. I realize that was a mistake now.”

I feel as if I’ve slipped into an alternate reality, where down is up and up is down. This happens sometimes, especially when I’m talking to patients who are convinced that payday loans aren’t inherently predatory.

“And I saw you chase after both the UPS guys and the mailman at Christmastime with tip envelopes,” he goes on, “to thank them for being so accommodating—”

“You know I work from home,” I say, “and it never occurred to you to get your muffler fixed?”

He looks blank. “My muffler?”

“Your truck is so loud!” I cry. “My patients hear iteverytime, even through my earbuds! They think I live next door to a racetrack. But it’s not a racetrack... it’syou!”

He frowns. “See, this is the kind of thing that, if you’d told me before, I’d happily—”

“I shouldn’tneedto tell you! Anyone with common sense should know it!”

“Oh, yeah?” Even though it’s dark, I see a sudden gleam in his eyes. “Do you thinkyouknow everything that’s going on in your own neighborhood?”

“Absolutely.”

“Okay. Then what about that time you were walking around your yard calling to Violet, and she didn’t come, and didn’t come, and it was getting dark, and you kept calling and calling for her in a voice that sounded like your heart was breaking—”

I frown. “I don’t remember that.”

“Of course you don’t, because I didn’t let it go on for very long. Violet was always at my place, so I’d pick her up and put her over onto your property so you’d find her. That’s when I’d almost always see Dr. Dick standing out there, weeding, or pruning, or whatever. He’dseeme with Violet in my handsevery time, and he would have had to have been deaf not to hear you calling for her. But he didn’t say a word to you. Not a fucking word. He’d just glare at me and keep on weeding, and let you keep calling and calling until the cat finally roamed into your line of sight. That guy was a dick, Frankie. Heisa dick.”

Even though I agree, it’s a little galling to hear it from Ash Merit.

Before I can say anything, though, he adds, “God knows I had to come out here more than I wanted to because he was always doing stuff to annoy my tenants—”

Now he’s gone too far. Richardisa dick but he was always kind to Summer People, even if it was only because he viewed them as potential patients. “Likewhat?”

“Like cutting the cables to my speakers!” Ash gestures back to his house. “Twice!If he’d just asked me, I’d have been fine with dismantling the outdoor music speakers. But he never asked. He just cut them! Do you know how much those cables cost?”

“Oh my God,” I say. Now I’m laughing again—but at the same time, I also want to cry. “That wasn’t Richard. That wasme!”

Ash stares. “You? You’re the one who cut my cables?”

“Yes! Who has outdoor speakers at a lake house, anyway? You’re supposed to listen to the sound of the lake and the birds and other wildlife. Other people live here, you know, and they may not want to listen to your truck’s noisy muffleror‘Margaritaville’ on repeat all day and all night—”

Ash is still staring at me, stupefied, as I pace in front of him. Even Daisy, back in the living room, is watching me. I can see the shadow of her head move in the yellow square of light on my lawn, following my every step.

“So yeah,” I go on, recklessly. “I cut your speaker cables, and I’d do it again! Especially because you never evenlookedat my binder—”

“What binder?”

I stop pacing and stand in front of him, lifting my chin so I can look him in the eye as I say with a calm I do not feel, “The binder I gave Rochelle to give to you—the one I found today stashed in a drawer in your kitchen. The one that has all the information about living in West Harbor in it so I wouldn’t have to answer your dumb tenants’ dumb questions anymore!”