Clam Wake Read Online Free PDF

emptying the bag. “Wheh?”
    â€œAt the Webers,” Judith said. “Didn’t Auntie Vance tell you she had a ton of food waiting for us?”
    Renie swallowed. “Yes, but I thought it might be fun to eat at the Chowder House up on the hill above the dock. It is twelve thirty.”
    â€œWe can go there for dinner if you really want to eat out.”
    â€œNo, we can’t. The meeting’s at seven. We’d be rushed.”
    â€œTomorrow night, maybe,” Judith offered.
    â€œOkay. We could go into Langton instead. They have more restaurants. It’s always fun to shop in their little stores and boutiques. I always like to go to the Sun Store, where they . . . hey, I know that guy,” Renie said, nodding at the man Judith had seen get out of his SUV. “That’s . . . I forget.”
    Judith nodded. “I thought I recognized him, but I don’t remember his name.”
    â€œNeither do I. It’s Eddie or Edgar or something like that.”
    â€œThe only thing I remember about him is that he looked a little like my father,” Judith said. “Same height, same weight, glasses.”
    Renie smiled. “Uncle Donald was better-looking.”
    â€œTrue,” Judith agreed as the ferry bumped some of the pilings leading into the dock. “I suppose we should call on some of the people we actually know, like the Sedgewicks and the Friedmans. They should be able to tell us more about who’s for and who’s against this sewer line.”
    â€œI can’t figure out why anyone would be for it, especially if there are so many retirees living at Obsession Shores,” Renie said as the cars began to disembark. “Unless they’re all rich, that’s a pricey idea.”
    â€œWell . . .” Judith turned the ignition key. “We had a septic tank at one of our seedy rentals in the Thurlow district. They can cause problems. We had our share even though Dan and I lived there less than a year before we got evicted.”
    â€œHow many times were you kicked out during your ill-fated union with Dan? I forget, if only because he was such a jackass that he never let any of us visit while you spent nineteen years in exile from the rest of the family. The only house I saw was when Bill and I came out the night Dan died and listened to the rats partying inside the walls.”
    Judith didn’t answer right away, waiting her turn to get off of the ferry. Her marriage to Dan McMonigle wasn’t her favorite topic of conversation. She’d met him while she was already engaged to Joe. As a rookie cop, his first encounter with OD’ed teenagers had led to his own overdosing on Scotch in a nearby bar. The woman known to Judith as Herself—Vivian—had promptly hijacked Joe to Vegas. When Joe sobered up, he discovered he was married to the wrong woman. In what seemed like a gallant effort at the time, Dan offered to marry Judith despite the fact that she was carrying Joe’s baby. It didn’t take her long to realize that his chivalry had been motivated by his quest for a meal ticket. Dan had a severe allergy to work.
    â€œWe were evicted only three times,” Judith said as they followed the other vehicles up the hill and away from the dock. “Of course we actually lost the first house that we’d bought while Dan was still running The Meat & Mingle Café. You may recall he forgot he had to make regular mortgage payments. Not to mention that he got into trouble with the IRS after the café went under.”
    â€œIt all comes back to me now,” Renie murmured. “I have trouble remembering because I’ve spent so much time trying to forget what you went through all those years. I could only talk to you on the phone late at night after Dan went to sleep—or passed out.”
    â€œJust as well,” Judith said. “Joe’s marriage to Herself was equally miserable. She drank as