The beach began to fill with people—friends, neighbors, former coworkers. Everyone was happy to come out and celebrate this no-nonsense woman who’d spent her years speaking truth and life into all of them.
Maggie sat under the tent in a white Adirondack chair, surrounded by pillows and covered with her afghan from inside. She greeted everyone with her trademark down-home love as if they were the only person in the world who mattered—because of course, in that moment, they were.
“You ready for this?”
Louisa followed Ally’s gaze to the yard, where Cody, his mom, and his sister had just appeared.
Her eyes locked on to his, and for a moment, she was paralyzed with desire. She missed him more than she should. He looked away and her heart sank. He was back to avoiding her. And it was all her fault.
She turned and found Maggie staring at her. The old woman held her gaze for several long seconds, and then she winked.
Louisa should warn her about all that had transpired lately. As Maggie’s health had worsened, Louisa found there wasn’t time for their usual heart-to-hearts. Maggie didn’t know Louisa and Cody were on a break. Louisa couldn’t have told her that even if she’d wanted to—she would’ve choked on the words.
She watched as Cody led his mom and sister down to where Maggie sat. Marley had certainly grown up and now looked a lot like an older version of Barbie’s little sister, Skipper. Her hair was much lighter than Cody’s, but she was as beautiful as he was handsome.
Louisa’s eyes drifted over to her own father, who’d sat up straighter and focused on the three newcomers with great interest—and was that worry knit across his brow?
She turned just in time to see her mother walking toward the house.
“I’m going to go help my mother,” Louisa told Ally. She strode off toward the cottage, doing her best to avoid Cody, as if that were possible.
“Hey.” He was at her side.
She stopped. It was painful to look at him. How had they gotten here, with the past burrowing its way between them once again? She hated it.
“I don’t know how to do this,” he said. “I’m not sure where we stand.”
“I know.” She rubbed her forehead. “I’m sorry.” Her eyes wandered past him and saw that Marissa and Marley were both watching them with the same interest and worry as her father. The thought turned her stomach.
All she really wanted to do was drag Cody away from the rest of the party and kiss him until the sun came up. Had they been fooling themselves all along? Had they been doomed from the start?
“Did you talk to your mom any more—about us?” she asked, not really wanting to know the answer.
“A little.”
“And?”
“She’ll be fine,” he said flippantly.
“She doesn’t want us together.”
“Lou, I told you she just needs some time.”
“Maybe,” Louisa said. “But our families despise each other. We may never fully understand why, but that’s the truth of it.”
“Well, they’ll have to get over it. The last two days without you nearly killed me.”
Louisa’s eyes drifted back to Marissa. How arrogant she’d been to think she could put everything and everyone back together. As if they were puzzle pieces that simply needed sorting. “I don’t think it’s as easy as that.”
“Can you let me make this decision? It’s my family we’re talking about.” There was agony in his voice, and he gripped her arms with both hands. “I don’t want to lose you again.”
“I don’t want to lose you either, but I know how important they are to you—and I really don’t want to be the reason you lose anyone else you love.” But she also really didn’t want to lose him.
His sigh was heavy, pronounced.
“Let’s just get through tonight and then figure things out.”
He didn’t respond.
She inched back. “Okay?”
His nod was barely detectable.
At that moment, her mother walked out of the house, carrying Maggie’s birthday cake, lit up with candles.
Louisa slipped her arms from his grasp, but his hand slid to hers and squeezed. She forced herself to smile, though she was sure that smile was punctuated with sadness, and then she walked over to Maggie’s seat of honor and joined the rest of them in singing “Happy Birthday.”
Cody stood, unmoving, his eyes glassed over and focused on only one thing—Louisa. And the pain of that sliced straight through her like the knife through Maggie’s last birthday cake.
CHAPTER THIRTY-NINE
CODY KNEW THIS WOULD HAPPEN.
His mother might be the only person in the world Louisa couldn’t charm. And that would drive her crazy. Of course she’d balk. Of course she’d run away. Of course she’d say that horrible thing about not wanting to take more family members away from him. She was Louisa—fixer of all people.
He glanced at his mom, who quickly averted her gaze. Anger rose within him. These people were adults—why weren’t they acting like it?
He watched as the crowd gathered around Maggie. Louisa sang heartily, doing an impressive job of acting like things were fine, but as the song came to a close, she looked his way, and he saw that sometimes, even she was good at pretending.
Maggie leaned forward and blew out her candles, and just as JoEllen whisked the cake away to be cut, the crowd dispersed and the old woman started coughing. Louisa was at her side with a bottle of water, which she opened and handed over, but Maggie seemed unable to stop long enough to take a drink.
He’d been around long enough to know now that these coughing fits could be brutal, and he imagined Maggie didn’t want to have one in front of her guests, but at this point, moving her wasn’t an option.
He made his way toward the beach where Maggie sat. Ally was trying to distract the crowd, but it was clear people were curious. How many of them knew about Maggie’s condition?
Cody caught Louisa’s eye just as the old woman drew in a difficult breath, and he saw the worry skitter across her face. He came in closer and took Maggie’s hand, while Louisa did the same on the other side.
“What do you need, Mags?” Louisa asked.
Maggie’s cough sputtered to a halt. “You two—” she clung to them both, struggling for breath—“together.”
The cough had subsided, but Maggie clung to her chest as if she were in pain. Her breathing turned labored. Louisa’s eyes flashed with fear. She raced off toward the house. Cody pulled out his phone and called 911. He gave the dispatcher their information and quickly hung up. By the time he’d finished the call, Louisa had returned with Maggie’s home oxygen tank. Cody put the mask over the old woman’s face. Behind them, the crowd had hushed.
“Just try to breathe,” he said quietly. He wrapped his fingers around her wrist and took her pulse, noticing that Maggie’s skin had gone pale. The siren in the distance gave him hope that they’d get her to the hospital in time, and the oxygen appeared to be helping, at least a little.
Ally had successfully moved the majority of the crowd away from them, but when he glanced up, he found Warren and JoEllen standing behind Louisa, and his mom and sister standing behind him.