The Guest Cottage (21 page)

Trevor went to the door. With his hand on the knob, he turned back to Jonah. “One last question regarding the whole thing about you liking the girl. Have your parents talked to you about birth control?”

Jonah rolled his eyes. “Of course they have. Man, you’re demented. Go away.” He turned away to hide a grin.

Trevor left Jonah’s room and walked down the hall to his temporary office.
I’m the man,
he thought,
I’m the man.

As Trevor was checking his email, his cell phone rang.

“We’re on our way!” cooed a familiar female voice.

Trevor froze. The circuits of his brain crashed. Frantically, a luminescent arrow like a computer cursor zipped around inside his head trying to locate the name of the person speaking. A primitive warning system prevented him from asking who was calling and what they were talking about.

“Tell Leo we’re bringing him a huge set of medieval Legos so he and Cassidy can build a walled castle.”

Cassidy.
With that, his brain rebooted and he understood what was going on. Cassidy, a four-year-old girl who attended Leo’s preschool and was Leo’s best friend, was coming to the island to visit, brought by her mother, Candace. Way back in May, when people were still consoling Trevor and Leo, Trevor had suggested to Candace that she bring Cassidy for a visit. He had foreseen a summer of being alone in a house on the island with his boy and he knew that Cassidy always made Leo smile. It had been a brilliant idea, back then, before he met Sophie.

“Trevor? Can you hear me? I’m not sure this connection is working.”

Trevor cleared his throat. There was nothing for it but to go through with it. He had made the date with her; they had confirmed it before he left. “Candace!” He tried to put enthusiasm into his voice. “I can hear you. Great. Leo will be mad crazy to see Cassidy. Are you coming on a ferry or flying from Hyannis?”

“We arrive on the four-thirty fast ferry.”

“I’ll be there to pick you up. But listen, Candace, the house has gotten kind of full. The other family is here, too, you know. They’re nice. But it’s kind of a circus.”

“Sounds like fun,” Candace said. She was as cheerful as she was pretty, Trevor remembered. “See you soon. Huggies.” She giggled her trademark giggle because her daughter still used the word for a brand of diapers whenever she wanted to be cuddled.

Trevor hung up the phone and collapsed in his chair in front of his computer. All this
information—the
date and time of the Halls’ arrival—was right there on his monitor, on the calendar he hadn’t bothered to look at recently. He had the oddest sense of behaving unfaithfully to both Candace and Sophie even though he hadn’t slept with or even kissed either one of them. Back in his bachelor days he had been known to date two or three women at the same time. Candace Hall was a single mom and a rock-star friend. She was widowed, too. Her husband had been killed in Iraq. She had loved her husband. There was no way Trevor could really explain to Candace how his loss was nothing compared to hers. She was an artist, specializing in delicate watercolors, and she’d never been to the island before. Even though she was drop-dead gorgeous, with long brown hair and a willowy figure, Trevor thought of Candace only as a friend. And Leo adored Cassidy.

Everything was going to be fine. Why was he getting so stressed? Why did he want so desperately to assure Sophie there was nothing romantic between him and Candace? Why did he think Sophie would even care? All this was doing his head in.

Downstairs in the music room, Leo was sitting on Sophie’s lap, practicing piano. Trevor leaned against the hall door, quietly watching. Leo’s focus was absolute. He had a habit of biting his top lip as he played. It made him look slightly deranged. Sophie was wearing a sundress he hadn’t seen before, a lime green that accentuated her tan and made her blond hair shimmer with silver. The arch of her wrist when she showed Leo a chord was delicate and elegant. Her instructions to his son were almost whispered, so lightly spoken Trevor couldn’t hear the words, but he caught the music of her voice.

Was he in love with her? It wasn’t simply that she was being gentle with his son. Lots of women had been nice to Leo. If he was honest with himself, he knew that he wanted to make love to her. He wanted to buy a big house and move in with her and Lacey and Jonah and make everything all right.
Oh my God.
He was a madman.

Sophie noticed Trevor standing there with his mouth open. “Your son is amazing.”

Leo spotted Trevor. “Did you hear me, Daddy? I played ‘Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star’ and I didn’t make a mistake.”

“I heard, buddy. You really are getting good.” He hesitated. “Want to play the song you play at night? I’ll bet Sophie would like to hear it.”

Leo shook his head, slid off Sophie’s lap, and skipped to Trevor. “Can we get a piano at home?”

Home.
The thought of leaving this house and this woman and her kids dropped deep in Trevor’s stomach like lead. “Sure. But guess what? Cassidy is arriving this afternoon.”

Leo jumped up and down with excitement, much more like the happy kid he’d been before Tallulah’s death. Out of the corner of his eye, Trevor saw Sophie stand up.

“Sophie, can we talk a minute, about arrangements?” He picked up his wiggling boy and walked off, dumping Leo on the sofa. “I had forgotten one of Leo’s best friends, Cassidy, and her mother, Candace, are arriving this afternoon to stay for a few days.”

“How fabulous! This is terrific, Trevor.” Sophie seemed genuinely happy at his announcement.

“It is? Why is it terrific?”

“Well, you know Jeanette, Zack’s mother, is arriving this afternoon, too. This way, she’ll see that you’ve got—” Sophie glanced meaningfully at Leo, indicating that she was watching her words—“a female friend. So she won’t think that I’m your, um, ‘special’ female friend.” She blushed as she spoke.

Did it actually make Sophie happy not to be his,
um, “special” female friend
? Trevor wanted to go stick his head in a bucket. “I suppose we need to work out how to deal with extra meals…” He was hopeless.

“Don’t worry about that. I’ll take Jeanette and the kids out to a restaurant tonight so you can have a special time here with Candace and Cassidy. Then you can take your group out tomorrow night. Jeanette is a great cook, and I’m sure the rest of the meals we can take care of together.”

“You don’t have to take your group out to dinner,” Trevor began, his brain creaking along rustily. “Restaurants here are expensive.”

“Once in a while won’t kill us,” Sophie told him. “And it will be nice for you and your friends to have the house to yourselves.”

Leo was bouncing all around the room in excitement. Trevor could hardly hear himself think. “About sleeping arrangements—”

“Jeanette is going to sleep in the other twin bed in Lacey’s room.”

Trevor thought out loud. “Cassidy can sleep in the other twin bed in Leo’s room. And Candace—”

“Hey, honey, it’s none of my business where Candace sleeps.” Sophie grinned at him, a twinkle in her eyes.

Trevor wanted to shake her. “Candace is going to sleep on the fold-out bed in the family room. She’s a widow. Her husband was killed in Iraq.”

Sophie looked dismayed. “I’m so sorry. I didn’t realize.”

Trevor was instantly riddled with guilt for making Sophie feel foolish. With Tallulah, everything had been so clear and simple, the train going along a track. With Sophie, Trevor felt like a Labrador puppy chasing after a Thoroughbred jumper. She seemed to fly effortlessly over the fences of their relationship while he ran too fast, banging his head into the posts.

“I think all the towels and linens are clean,” Sophie mused. “But perhaps I’d better make a run through the house, especially since Jeanette is coming.”

“I’ll go to the grocery store and stock up on staples and necessities for all of us for this week,” offered Trevor, nearly fainting with relief because he’d come up with an intelligent idea.

“I’m concerned about Jeanette coming,” Sophie confessed. “I’ve got to tell her—gosh, have I even told you? Zack and I are definitely getting a divorce. His mother likes me, but that doesn’t mean she won’t give me a hard time when she’s here.”

“Tell me if there’s anything I can do to help,” Trevor offered.

“Thanks, Trevor, I will.” She gave him a grateful smile and headed up the stairs to check the linens.

Sophie had cautioned her children not to bring up any mention of divorce, or the rift between Zack and their mother, to Grandma when she first arrived.

“This is Grandma’s first time to Nantucket, and I’d like her to enjoy the town and see it in all its charm. After you kids go to bed tonight I’ll sit down and explain about the divorce. Tomorrow you can take all the time you want talking to her about your father or me or the future or whatever.”

“Can we take her to the beach?” asked Lacey.

Sophie had laughed with relief. “Of course.”

When Jeanette arrived on the fast ferry, they spotted her at once in the crowd walking down the ramp to the dock. Jeanette looked like a very short, very round version of Zack, with beautiful blue eyes and blond hair streaked with white. She hugged her grandchildren and hugged Sophie, too, squeezing them against her ample bosom. She was their warmhearted grandmother and everyone was delighted to be immersed in her vanilla-cookie scent.

“Oh my goodness, Jonah! You’ve gotten so tall! And look at you, Lacey. You’re so pretty. Goodness, Sophie, I don’t believe I’ve ever seen your hair so long. It quite becomes you. And you’re all so tanned.” Jeanette laughed and laughed with pleasure.

That was the way Jeanette saw the world, Sophie remembered. It was as if she saw only the good and let the bad fade away. No comment about hoping they used sunblock or they’d get skin cancer, like Sophie’s own mother would make. No subtle, derisory remark about Sophie’s hair looking like it needed a good trim or at least a good brushing. Jeanette had looked at publicity brochures about the island on her way over but unlike Sophie’s mother, she had not made a list of must-sees but simply surrendered herself to her family’s decisions.

“Let me have your bag, Grandma,” Jonah said.

“Oh, dear, it’s so heavy, but then you’re such a nice big man it will probably be as light as air to you.”

Sophie watched with concealed amusement as Jonah took the pink, kitty- and puppy-covered duffel bag from his grandmother and hung it over his shoulder.

It was too late to go to the beach, and Sophie knew Jeanette would be enchanted by the historic town, so for an hour or so the foursome strolled around, Lacey holding Jeanette’s hand and Jonah slumping along with his hands in his pockets next to Sophie.

“I’d like to get myself a Nantucket T-shirt before I leave,” Jeanette said.

“How long can you stay?” Sophie asked, hoping she didn’t sound as if she were really inquiring,
how soon do you leave?

“Not long, I’m afraid. Hubcorp is undergoing yet again another merger, and that means I have employees to shuffle around. Let’s talk about something else!”

They ended up at the Brotherhood of Thieves, a well-known restaurant in a historic building. Tonight, instead of sitting inside the cozy brick dining room, they chose to sit out on the patio at the back. Sophie had suspected that conversation might be difficult as they all tried to avoid the tattletale remark Jonah had made about Sophie kissing a strange man, but Jeanette chattered away happily, seeming as fond of her daughter-in-law as she always was.

After dinner they walked toward Children’s Beach, where Sophie had managed to find a parking place. It was still light out, so they all went down to Brant Point to show Jeanette the lighthouse and the Coast Guard station. When they finally climbed into the car and began the drive to the house, the kids and Jeanette, too, were yawning from all the fresh air.

Back at the guest cottage, they piled out of the car and into the house, Lacey tugging on her grandmother’s hand. “You’re going to sleep in my bedroom, Grandma. I’ve got two twin beds. This house is awesome. Wait till you see my shell collection.”

Sophie had tried to time their arrival back at the house before Leo went to bed so that everyone could meet everyone else and no one would be surprised in the morning to see a strange face. As Jonah and Lacey ushered their grandmother upstairs, Sophie followed the sounds out to the patio.

In the illumination from the patio lights, she saw Leo and a pretty little girl constructing a castle out of Legos. At the round wooden table, Trevor sat with a beer in his hand. Across from him, in what had always been Sophie’s chair, sat Kate Middleton. Of course it wasn’t really Kate Middleton, but it might as well have been: a beautiful young woman with long brown hair wearing khaki shorts and a pink collared T-shirt.

It took Sophie a moment to catch her breath. She wasn’t expecting the sudden rush of emotion—dear Lord in heaven, could it actually be jealousy?—that paralyzed her when she saw the brunette and Trevor sitting there as if they were a couple. She couldn’t speak.

“Hey,” said Trevor. “There you are. Did the kids’ grandmother get in okay?”

“Uh-huh,” Sophie choked out. She cleared her throat. “They’re showing Grandma the house. Jeanette will be down soon.”

“Great. Sophie, this is Candace. And that’s Cassidy, over there creating Camelot with Leo.”

Sophie took a few steps and extended her hand to the lovely brunette. “Hi.”

“Hello, Sophie.” Candace’s voice oozed with ownership. “Why don’t you sit down and join us for a while?”

Why don’t I pick up a chair and bash you over the head for a while?
thought Sophie, both horrified at her thoughts and insulted to be invited to sit at what was, at least for two months, her own table.

“Thanks,” she forced herself to say politely. “I’ve got to have a serious talk with the children’s grandmother, so I think we’ll go seclude ourselves in the library—if that’s all right with you, Trevor.”

When Jeanette came back down the stairs, Jonah and Lacey took her out onto the patio to meet the others and for a while everyone chatted pleasantly. Then Sophie decided she had delayed long enough.