An Invincible Summer (Wyndham Beach) Page 32

  “You’re preaching to the choir there.” Maggie smiled, recalling the surprise that had popped into her life recently. Definitely not a bad thing. “I’ll work out back here for you, see if I can make it look a little nicer. Not as good as a professional landscaper, but I can improve what’s here.”

  “That would be great, Mags, thank you. I won’t turn down help. You have such a great eye, I’m sure it will look fabulous when you’re finished. But are you sure you want to spend your time working here when you could be with your girls?”

  Maggie held up her tattooed left wrist. “Waves of the same sea, girlfriend.”

  “Ah, there is that.” Liddy started to hug Maggie just as Maggie’s pocket buzzed.

  Maggie took her phone from her pocket. “That’s my reminder I need to get going.”

  “Appointment?”

  “Sort of.” Maggie smiled. “I’m meeting Brett for coffee at Ground Me.”

  “Going public, are you? You know it’ll be all over town before noon.” Liddy lowered her voice to a stage whisper and mimicked a gossip. “You’ll never believe who I saw having coffee together this morning. Our chief of police and that nice widow, Maggie Flynn. You remember Maggie Lloyd, Ellen’s daughter? She grew up here, moved to Philadelphia, and married some hotshot lawyer. He died and she moved back, bought the Wakefield house. Didn’t she and the chief used to have a thing . . . or am I thinking of someone else?”

  Maggie laughed. “Well, people might as well get used to seeing us together.”

  “You and Brett are . . . what are you doing, anyway?”

  “We’ve been talking a lot lately. And there’s been a lot to talk about, what with me living here and Joe finding us. It’s like the past smacked us both in the face, and we’re trying to deal with that. We both know we want a relationship with Joe, so it’s only natural we have some sort of relationship with each other. We’ll see how it goes.”

  “You’re not thinking about . . .”

  “Right now, I’m trying not to think. I just want to take things day by day. I never dreamed our lives would play out this way. Now we share a son and a couple of grandchildren. We both want to know them and want them to be part of our lives. As for Brett—I’m leaving my options open.”

  “Wow. Just . . . wow.”

  “Like I said, day by day. I don’t feel any need to look beyond right now. Oh, except I invited Joe and his kids for Fourth of July. We’ll do the parade, then go back to the house for a cookout, fireworks at the park later.”

  “Don’t forget the carousel. Emma said Owen Harrison promised he’d be back in time to have it set up in the park for the kids. I’m not sure how she managed to talk him into it.”

  “Ha. It must have been Emma’s charm.”

  “Are you sure you’re ready to have everyone together so soon?”

  “The sooner the better. I figure it’s like ripping off a Band-Aid. One swipe and it’s done.”

  “Grace and Nat are okay with it?”

  “They’re both on board, and so far no one’s voiced any objections, so I’m taking that as a good sign. Even Grace is trying. I think she’ll be fine once she meets Joe.” She hoped Grace would be fine. Her daughter had promised to keep an open mind. “You’ll come over after the parade, right?”

  “Wild horses couldn’t keep me away. What can I bring?”

  Maggie’s phone rang, and she answered it. “Yes, I’m on my way. Five minutes. Order a coffee for me, a . . .” She laughed. “Right. Thanks for remembering. See you soon.”

  Liddy raised an eyebrow. “Tell me he remembers how you take your coffee.”

  “He does.”

  “That’s amazing. After all these years . . .”

  “Nah. It’s only since Sunday night. We had dinner with Joe.” Ignoring Liddy’s dropped jaw, Maggie grabbed her bag from the grass. “Gotta go. Talk to you later.” She stepped inside the shop. “Oh, and since you asked, bring potato salad. No one makes better.”

  “I was thinking more along the lines of margaritas.” Liddy was right behind her. “Chips and salsa. But wait. You had dinner with Joe and Brett and you didn’t tell me?”

  “I just did.”

  True to his word, Brett had her coffee, along with a cherry cheese danish, waiting for her when she entered the shop.

  “So what have you been up to since Sunday night?” he asked after she’d taken a few sips of coffee and a bite of her danish.

  “Just trying to get things organized for the Fourth. I found horseshoes up on the garage loft, so I thought maybe we could play games if things seemed awkward. You know, get everyone up, break the ice if we needed to.” She hesitated before asking, “Are you going to have any of your kids this summer? Would you want me to include them?”

  “Jenna lives with Kayla, and they go to Kay’s mother’s on Martha’s Vineyard every year for the entire summer.” Brett rested a forearm on the table. “My oldest, Chloe, will be with Beth, her mother—my first wife—and her stepfather in Austin. Alexis, my fourteen-year-old, wants to come for the summer, though, and Holly, her mother—”

  “Wife number two,” Maggie interjected. Holly, the California surfer girl who was quite a bit younger than Brett. She wasn’t about to admit it, but Maggie had googled all three of his wives.

  “Right. Alexis always spends most of the summer here. She’s intrigued by the idea of a secret older brother. She wouldn’t miss this get-together for the world.”

  “You told her about the Fourth of July at my house?”

  Brett nodded. “We spoke last night, and she asked me what she could do here this summer, and that’s the first thing that came out of my mouth. Party at Maggie’s.”

  “Did she ask who I am?”

  “I told her you’re Joe’s mother. She’s processing all that. Alexis is really smart. She’ll figure it all out. I still need to come up with something for her to do while I’m working, though. There’s the beach. Emma said there will be classes at the art center, but that’s only for a few hours on Tuesday and Thursday. I can’t leave her alone in the house all day.”

  “Think she’ll miss the California life?”

  “Doubtful. She has very little interest in board surfing or windsurfing. She’s more of a bookworm. She likes biking and likes to go on hikes, but water sports, not so much.”

  “Maybe Alexis could babysit for Daisy while Natalie’s still here. She wanted to get involved with the renovation of the bookstore, since Grace and I are pitching in.”

  “I’ll ask her. She’ll be here next week.”

  “Great. Liddy’s planning on some nice changes. She’ll have a grand reopening once all the work’s completed.”

  “Does she need anyone to paint? I’m hell with a paintbrush.”

  Maggie laughed. “Yes, I seem to recall the hellish job you did on that first place we had in Seattle. We could have been evicted if the landlord had seen the mess you made before we got it all cleaned up.”

  “I made a mess of a lot of things back then. I know I can never say I’m sorry often enough to make up for any of it. Hindsight’s a bitch, isn’t it?”

  “You’ve apologized, Brett.” She was aware the older woman at the next table was listening and watching from the corner of her eye.

  “I was an asshole back then.” He lowered his voice. “I don’t know how you could have loved me, but you did. I screwed up your life, and I screwed up my own at the same time.”

  “Listen, there’s something I need to say to you. I didn’t intend to do this today, and certainly not here. But there are things you need to know, and I guess . . . well, I guess now is as good a time as any.” Maggie took a deep breath and whispered. “I’ve had a lot of time to think about things. A lot of time to look back and try to remember how things really were. Brett, I could have stood up to you. I could have defied my parents. I could have—I should have stood up for myself, and for our baby. But I didn’t. I let everyone else make that decision, because it was easier for me. And I made you the vil
lain, and I’ve played the victim ever since. I made you pay for the fact I didn’t have the courage I should have had.” Maggie swallowed hard. “So this apology is on me. I shouldn’t have put all the blame on you.”

  He started to speak, but she shook her head. “Ultimately, the choice had been mine.” Another hard swallow. “And yes, hindsight is a bitch. We can’t change what happened back then. But we can appreciate where we are now. Joe said he had a great life. He’s happy and successful, and he’s appreciative of the gift we gave his parents. Yes, at a cost to us, but still, things have worked out. I married a man who loved me. My girls are the light of my life. You have kids you love. Joe is back in our lives. I believe with all my heart that things happen the way they’re meant to.” She held his hand, tugged it a little closer, and leaned in. “We can’t go back, Brett, but we don’t have to be defined by things that happened thirty or forty years ago.”

  “Then why can’t we start over? Like start at the same place we started the first time around. I ask you out on a real date. You say yes.”

  “Do you remember our first date?”

  Brett groaned. “I was hoping you’d forgotten. That party at Moose Jorgensen’s. His parents were away for the weekend, his brother was home from college, and he brought a keg. The whole football team was there. I was the new guy, and all the other guys were drinking. Everyone got drunk and sloppy and sick. Okay, I didn’t get sick, but I’m pretty sure I wasn’t at my best.” He shook his head at the memory. “I could have kicked myself. Here I’d been in Wyndham Beach for two whole weeks and I’d snagged a date with the most beautiful girl in the entire school, and I got drunk. I’d been so nervous all day, thinking about you, I couldn’t eat. I drank one beer because besides wanting to fit in, I thought it would help me calm down, and when it didn’t, I drank the second. I’d never gotten drunk on two beers before or since. I was sure you’d never speak to me again.”

  “Aw, I was already a little bit in love with you, but your drunken solo rendition of ‘You Make Me Feel Like Dancing,’ followed by ‘Hotel California’—well, you had me from the opening line.”

  “What an idiot I was back then.” He rested his elbow on the table and his chin in the palm of his hand, and looked into her eyes, his fingers still laced with hers. “Even with that memory so fresh in your mind, would you like to go to dinner with me tonight?”

  “I’d love to.”

  “Wow. If I’d known it was going to be that easy, I’d have asked you out long ago.”

  “Timing is everything.” She disengaged his fingers from hers. “And speaking of time—tonight?”

  “How about seven? There’s a new place in Acushnet I hear is really special.”

  “Sounds perfect.” She picked up her bag and stood. “See you then.”

  “Ooh, fancy mama.” Natalie whistled when Maggie came into the kitchen. Daisy was still eating, and Grace was still at the bookstore plotting the renovation with Liddy. “You look like a woman who has a hot date.”

  “I do.” Maggie turned slowly. “What do you think? Too much? Too . . . anything?”

  Natalie looked her over from the top of her head to her shoes. The dress was one Maggie’d bought on sale before she’d left Pennsylvania. Sleeveless, deep red chiffon with a print in subtle shades of gold, it had a low ruffled neckline and tiny fabric-covered buttons down the front. It was light and summery, and the skirt fell just above her knees and had a flirty touch of swing, just enough to give it a little motion. With it she wore round gold earrings set with large citrines in the centers, gold bangles on her left arm, and a large ring of hammered gold on the middle finger of her right hand. She wore strappy gold-leather sandals and had a camel-colored cashmere wrap over her arm.

  “Too perfect. You’re gorgeous. Brett will fall in love with you all over again.” Natalie paused. “Assuming, of course, Brett is your date.”

  Maggie nodded. “Does it bother you I’m going out with him?”

  “Why would it bother me? Because of Dad? Or because of Joe?” Natalie shook her head. “Don’t answer, because it doesn’t matter either way. You deserve to have a good time and be happy. For as long as I can remember, you always made everything about Dad and Grace and me and Daisy. Now it’s your turn. And if you don’t mind me saying so, I think it’s romantic that you and Brett are going on a date.” She paused thoughtfully. “Unless of course it doesn’t work out again. Then maybe not so much.”

  Maggie gave her hair one last look, moving a strand here and a strand there. “You know I loved your father, don’t you?”

  “Of course I do. You two were great together.” Natalie grabbed a paper towel to sop up the milk Daisy’d spilled on the table. “But I think you loved Brett, too.”

  “I did.” Maggie took a deep breath. “Maybe I still do.”

  “No time like the present to find out. Mom, life’s too short.”

  “Oh, this from my daughter who has yet to turn thirty?”

  “I’m closing in on that big three-oh. Nine more weeks and I’ll be over the hill.”

  “Here’s a secret, sweetie. Every time you’ve made it up the hill, the hill moves. Thirty this year doesn’t seem so bad. So you start thinking the hill is really forty. Until you hit forty. And suddenly the hill is—”

  “Fifty. Yeah, I get it.” Natalie tilted her head in the direction of the front of the house. “I think I heard a car.”

  Maggie looked out the window, but it was Grace, not Brett, who pulled into the driveway. Moments later, she came in through the back door, a fat folder under her arm, and took one look at her mother. “Where’s the party?”

  “Mom has a date for dinner. With Brett,” Natalie spoke up before Maggie had a chance to open her mouth. “I think it’s pretty cool. And doesn’t she look fab?”

  “She does. I mean, Mom, you do. Look fab, that is.” Grace set her folder on the counter.

  “That’s all you’re going to say?” Maggie watched her daughter’s face for a sign of disapproval but didn’t find one.

  Grace shrugged. “Inevitable.”

  “How’d your meeting with the Meehans go?” Natalie asked.

  “They loved my ideas, and they’re totally on board. Hired me on the spot.” Grace turned to her mother. “Have you met the Meehans? They own Ground Me and a couple of other shops in town. Dress Me Up. Dazzle Me. You get the Me connection, right? Anyway, they were talking to Liddy, and she was telling them how I was working on a website for the bookshop, and they mentioned they were looking for someone to do something for them. They called. I looked up what they already had. Lackluster, to say the least. They own all the shops on the Stroll, so in addition to working up something for each of the shops, I mentioned they might want to merchandise the Stroll separately. You know, in addition to the individual shops, and link everything together. I drew up some samples and met with them for a ‘brief’ meeting this afternoon. Lasted three and a half hours, but I left with a contract and a check in my hand.”

  “Fabulous! Congratulations!” Maggie gave her a hug, and Natalie followed suit.

  “Yeah, it’s pretty cool. I’m thinking I might want to do more of this. It’s fun and creative.” Grace looked very pleased with herself. “I never realized I was so creative. If I get enough clients, maybe I’ll forgo the law and just do fun stuff.”

  “I’d hang on to the law degree,” Maggie said. “You worked hard for it.”

  “You have a point.” Grace turned to Natalie. “What did you have for dinner, and are there any leftovers?”

  “Daisy and I had takeout eggplant stacks from Jim’s and potato wedges. I just put it all away. And there’s salad on the top shelf of the fridge.”

  “Great. Thanks.” Grace stood in front of the open refrigerator door while she decided what to take out first.

  “Oh. Knock on the front door. I’ll get it.” Natalie flew out of the room.

  “You do look fabulous, Mom. I hope you have a good time.” Grace put the container of eggplant on the cou
nter and opened the cupboard for a plate.

  “Thank you, Grace.” There was more Maggie would have said—such as, Why the sudden change of heart?—but the voices from the front hall drew closer. She turned as Natalie came into the kitchen with Brett close behind. He held a huge bouquet of summer flowers.

  “Oh my.” She gasped and held out her arms. “Come to Mama.” She held the flowers to her chest. “All my summer favorites. They’re gorgeous, Brett. Thank you so much.”

  “You’re welcome.” He looked mildly uncomfortable, with both her daughters standing there watching and her granddaughter staring at him. He said hello to Grace and hi to Daisy, who continued to stare.

  “Mom, let me take those flowers and put them in water for you.” Natalie reached out, and Maggie handed them over.

  “Thanks, sweetie. We’ll see you all later.” Maggie grabbed her clutch bag off the table in the foyer on their way out.

  Brett stopped at the passenger door and opened it. Maggie got in and began to fasten her seat belt. Before he closed the door, he looked down at her. “You look beautiful. You were beautiful when you were younger, but now you’re spectacular.”

  Her stunned “Thank you” was lost in the sound of the door slamming.

  Brett walked around the front of the car and slid in behind the wheel. He started the car and pulled into the driveway to turn around.

  “What?” he asked. “You look like you have something to say.”

  “You caught me off guard.” She tilted her head in his direction.

  “Why, ’cause I said how beautiful you are?” Brett shrugged. “You are. You take my breath away. You always did.” He drove toward the center of town as if he’d stated an accepted fact that was not noteworthy. “And I do find you even more beautiful and more sexy than you were when you were fifteen or nineteen or twenty-four.” He smiled. “I can’t remember you being uncomfortable at a compliment.”

  “I’m not uncomfortable. I’m just . . . surprised, that’s all.”

  “Why? Didn’t you look in the mirror at some point tonight? Check to make sure your hair wasn’t sticking up in the air or that you had both earrings in? Nothing green hiding between your front teeth?”