“At least six offers a year, but I say no to every one of them.” He gestured to a barn a few hundred feet from the driveway. “That’s where I restore the boats.”
“By the way, Luke, this is Dara. Dara, meet Luke.”
“It’s so nice to meet you,” Luke said. “Oliver talks about you so much, I feel like we already know each other.”
“Same. Thank you for making him part of your morning meeting. He loves it.”
“We love having him.”
“I forgot to tell you, Dara, that Luke does incredible restoration work. He did Big Mac’s boats.”
“They’re gorgeous,” Dara said.
“Thanks. I enjoy the work and the satisfaction of seeing something old and broken brought back to life.”
She found that an apt metaphor for her current state of mind. “Thank you for having us tonight. I hope Oliver didn’t invite himself.”
Luke laughed. “Not at all. We’re thrilled to have some adult time. Our daughter, Lily, is on the move these days, and she runs us ragged.”
“I remember that stage,” Dara said wistfully.
“She’s keeping us hopping. Come in.” Luke led the way down a lighted sidewalk to the door. “You’re okay with dogs, right?”
“Yes, we have one,” Oliver said. “Ours is a yellow Lab named Maisy.”
“Oliver and Dara, meet Buddy and Lily. We should get him and Maisy together for a play date.”
“Maisy would love that,” Dara said.
When Luke bent to scoop the baby off the floor, she let out a screech of protest. “Now that she can get herself around, she doesn’t want anyone helping her.” Luke put her back down, and Lily crawled away at lightning speed.
“Holy crap, she’s fast,” Oliver said.
“We think she’s going to be an Olympic sprinter,” a gorgeous redheaded woman said as she joined them. “Hi, I’m Syd. It’s so lovely to meet you both.” She shook their hands and ushered them into a warm, cozy kitchen that was open to the family room, where Lily was playing with her toys. “Quick, she’s occupied, so let me get you something to drink.”
“We brought wine,” Oliver said, offering the bag containing bottles of red and white.
“Awesome, thank you. I have a bottle of Chardonnay open.”
“I’ll have that, please,” Dara said. “Olly will want the red.”
“Coming right up. Let’s go out to the deck. It’s a beautiful night.”
“I’ll get the princess down for the night and join you in a few,” Luke said.
“Bring her out to say good night to Mommy.”
“Will do.”
Dara and Oliver followed Sydney to a gorgeous outdoor space that had lights strung overhead and a fire pit in the corner.
“What an amazing deck,” Dara said while Sydney tended to food on the grill. “It’s right out of a magazine.”
Sydney gestured for them to help themselves to the cheese plate on the table. “Aw, thanks. I’m a decorator, and according to Luke, he never knows what he’s going to come home to. I’m always futzing with this place.”
“I can see why,” Dara said. Sydney’s warm, welcoming personality had put her immediately at ease. “It’s the most beautiful spot I’ve seen yet on the island, and that’s saying something.”
“Luke grew up here with his mom, and after she died, he had to really hustle to be able to keep the place. The taxes alone were killer. That’s how he got into restoring boats. It gave him a year-round income when the marina was closed for the off-season.”
“I’m glad he was able to hang on to it,” Oliver said. “It’s quite something.”
“You should’ve seen the bachelor pad I walked into when we first got back together,” Syd said, rolling her eyes. “Those windows there?” She pointed to the corner of the house. “They were a wall! How tragic is that?”
“Very tragic indeed,” Dara said, laughing.
“Is she telling you about my bachelor pad?” Luke asked when he came out with Lily. His eyes were alight with amusement and affection for his wife. “I was waiting for her to get here to tell me everything that was wrong with it.”
“He had beach chairs and a grill out here,” Sydney said. “You can’t make this stuff up.”
“And yet she loves me anyway,” Luke said, leaning in to give Lily to her mother.
Sydney hugged and kissed Lily. “Sleep tight, my sweet girl, and be good for Daddy. Say good night to our friends Oliver and Dara.”
“Nnnn,” Lily said.
“It’s a start,” Syd said, laughing. “Night-night, baby. Mama loves you.”
“Night, Lily,” Dara and Oliver said together.
“Be right back,” Luke said as he took the little one inside.
“He’s such a great dad,” Syd said. “He does bedtime every night.”
“I did, too,” Oliver said. “It was my favorite time of day with Lewis.”
“I’m so, so sorry you lost him,” Sydney said. “I wish there was something more I could say than that, but as I know all too well, there’s nothing anyone can say to take the pain away.”
“No, there isn’t,” Dara said. “And people just don’t understand. They think we ought to be ‘better’ by now.”
“I hate to tell you, but ‘better’ is going to be a lifetime effort.”
“I’ve begun to realize that.” It was, Dara thought, such a relief to speak to someone who understood. “I was very sorry to hear about what happened to you, too.”
“Thank you. It’s been a few years now, and the ache isn’t as sharp as it was at first, but it’s always there, a part of who I am now. I’m thinking all the time about what Max and Malena would be up to these days and what my husband, Seth, would be doing. All three of them were always on the move, so I like to think of them still like that, together in the afterlife.”
“That’s a nice way to think of them,” Dara said, dabbing at the tears that filled her eyes. “I’ve asked my late grandparents and Oliver’s to take care of Lewis until we get there. I’ve pictured them taking him on picnics and having him for sleepovers.”
“I’m sure they’re taking very good care of him.” Syd took Dara’s hand and gave it a squeeze. “I’m so glad Luke invited you over. I’ve been planning to come see you at the lighthouse.”
“I’m glad he invited us, too, even though I was worried about whether it was appropriate to bring our tragedy into your home, especially after what you’ve survived.”
“After I lost my family, I was supported by so many people. Some I’d known for years, and others came to me because they’d been where I was and knew how to help in a way my longtime friends and family didn’t. When I look back at that time, it’s the people who were strangers to me—then—who made the biggest impact. Since then, I try to pay that forward to people going through similar things, because I know how much it meant to me to have that support. My door is always open to you, Dara—and Oliver. If you’re having a bad day, come see me. I get it, and I’ll always be happy to listen, to talk, to hug you or whatever you need.”