“Maggy’s a bright kid. She’ll understand,” Scott said.
“Hope so. Anyway, as my dad used to say, it’s Friday afternoon and the sun is officially over the yardarm. I think I’m more than ready for an adult beverage. Can I get you guys anything?”
“Let me go,” Ed said, half-standing.
“Tell you what, if you buy, I’ll fly,” Riley said.
“I’d love a beer,” Ed said.
“Make it two.” Scott handed her a twenty-dollar bill, and Riley made her way downstairs.
The main cabin was typically crowded for a Friday, and it seemed that most of the passengers had the same idea as Riley. She had two beers and a plastic cup of wine clutched in both hands and was about to return to her seat when she felt a tap on her shoulder.
“Riley!” The voice was all too familiar. Andrea Payne, aka Belle Isle Barbie.
“Hello, Andrea,” Riley said. She could feel her molars grinding already.
Andrea’s Botox-frozen face folded into an expression so sad it would have been comic in any other setting.
“Oh, my gosh,” she said, hugging Riley close, causing her to spill half an inch of wine on herself. “I guess you didn’t see me at the auction earlier. Graham and I decided at the last minute to bid on one of those building lots in the village. Can you believe we got ours for less than ten thousand? But my heart just went out to you, you poor thing, when I saw that you had to drop out of the bidding for your house. That must have been devastating. And then when it sold right after you left, for just over five hundred thousand! You were so, so close. I can’t even imagine how that must have felt.”
“It would have felt pretty shitty if I’d hung around to see it,” Riley agreed. She leaned in close. “But Andrea? Could you do me a favor?”
“Anything!” Andrea exclaimed.
“Could you kindly fuck off?”
Andrea’s eyes goggled. “I beg your pardon?”
Riley raised her voice so there could be no mistake about her sentiment.
“I said, fuck off!”
Heads turned. Riley smiled serenely and made her way back to the top deck.
* * *
Evelyn, Roo, and Maggy were waiting in the ferry parking lot.
“Did you get our house back?” Maggy asked, catching sight of her mother and bouncing up and down on the rear seat with Banks clutched tightly in her lap. “Can we go in tonight?”
Riley sat down and wrapped her arms around her daughter’s waist. “Honey, I’m so sorry. We just didn’t have enough money.”
Maggy lowered her head, but Riley could see her bottom lip was quivering, and her eyes welled up with tears. “It’s all right, Mom. I know you tried.”
“I did, sweetie. And Aunt Roo was so wonderful to help us out, but we just came up short.”
“Oh, Riley,” Roo said. “I don’t know what to say. That’s just dreadful.”
“Maybe the other person won’t really have enough to buy the house. Maybe they’ll back out,” Evelyn said hopefully.
“I don’t think so. All the bidders had to present proof of funds before they’d issue us a bidding number,” Riley said.
“Well, whoever it is that did buy it, we’ll never speak to them,” Roo said.
“They’ll be shunned on this island,” Evelyn agreed. “Totally shut out of book club, supper club, mahjong, bridge club, garden club…”
“And poker club,” Roo added. “We will make them rue the day they messed with the Nolan women.”
“And if they have kids,” Maggy said ominously, “I’ll…”
“You’ll be nice to them. We’ll all be nice to whoever buys Sand Dollar Lane,” Riley said firmly. “We had some wonderful family times there, and nobody can take that away from us. But it was just a house. We’ll get another house, and we’ll make new memories. Right?”
“Whatever.” Maggy crossed her eyes. “But I’m going over there tonight, and I’m cutting down my tire swing Dad put up for me. And you can’t stop me.”
“And when was the last time you got on that tire swing?” Riley asked.
“I don’t care. It’s mine. Dad made it for me, and I’m not gonna have some weird new kid using it.”
“All right,” Riley said, settling back on her seat. “Maybe you’ve got a point. And maybe while we’re over there cutting down your tire swing we’ll grab my staghorn fern by the back patio and dig up my David Austin rosebushes too.”
42
A week later, Maggy stuck her head in the library doorway. “Mom, Parrish is here. She said for me to tell you to put on your bathing suit on the double.”
Riley slammed down the lid of her laptop computer, not wanting her daughter to see what she’d been working on all morning. “When did you get back?”
“A little while ago. And yeah, I had some lunch, and yeah, I tested my blood. And no thanks, I don’t want to go hang out with you old ladies. I’m meeting the kids at the pool.”
“I guess that answers all my questions.” Riley stood up and stretched. She’d been sitting at the desk for what seemed like hours, scanning industry Web sites, making notes to herself, and looking for job listings. She was actually glad to have a diversion.
* * *
“We’re not going to the pool?” Riley asked, as Parrish turned her golf cart in the opposite direction of the country club.
“Too crowded. I dropped Ed off for his golf game this morning, and the parking lot at the club was already full. I could hear a million screaming brats, all of them intent on peeing in the shallow end. Anyway, I thought it would be fun to revisit our old stomping grounds.”
“The north end? Why do you wanna go there? It’s gonna be too depressing.”
“We haven’t been to the beach together all summer, and Fourth of July is next weekend,” Parrish said. “You can’t stay locked up inside forever. Come on, it’ll be fun. I packed the cooler with cold drinks and some snacks. We can park our chairs on the beach and take a walk and then come back and bust a chill.”
“Bust a chill?”
“That’s what David calls vegging out,” Parrish said. “He called this morning. He and Amanda are coming for the long weekend. It’s pathetic how excited I am at the prospect of seeing him.”
“Not pathetic at all. I think it’s sweet.”
Parrish pulled the cart into the small parking lot at the north end dune walkover. “I’ll get the cooler bag if you grab the chairs.”
They climbed the stairs to the boardwalk and paused at the landing to look out at the water. Turquoise waves rolled lazily into the shore, and a flock of seagulls swooped and dove over something on the water’s surface. Not a soul was in sight.
Riley inhaled deeply, closed her eyes, and took in the smell of the salt water and the faint scent of beach rosemary. The sun beat down on her head, and the soles of her feet in their flimsy flip-flops were superheated from the sunbaked decking.
“Man,” she said, breathing out. “I forget how amazing this is. Every winter, back in Raleigh, when it’s cold and gray and dreary, I wish I could be right back here, just soaking up all this sunshine. You were right. This is just what I needed.”