“No regrets?”
She shook her head. “Not a one. How ’bout you? You sorry you’re retiring?”
“Semiretiring, and nope. No regrets. I figured if I work less, I can spend more time with the kids, and Linc can start to have a life. I worry about the boy, you know? He has no social life. A man his age should be going out with his buddies, have a girlfriend, enjoy his life. Have his own place. All of which he was doing before he took on the kids. That girl he was dating took one look at those three kids and split. I can’t remember the last time he did something for himself. It’s not right he has to spend his life cleaning up after his sister.”
“I’m sure he doesn’t see it that way.”
“No, he doesn’t, and more’s the pity. He’ll never meet a nice girl, have a family of his own. Settle down here in Wyndham Beach. Unfortunately, nice girls his age are at a premium in Wyndham Beach.”
“True enough. So how was dinner? What did Johanna make?” If he says Lamb Is for Lovers, I swear I will roll right off this lounge onto the deck.
“Some lamb thing.”
The corners of her mouth began to twitch. “Was it good?”
“I didn’t go back for seconds. I don’t really like lamb. Never buy it, never order it out.” He turned his head to look Liddy in the eye and said, “Johanna isn’t a very good cook, Liddy. And she’d given me the impression it was going to be a dinner-party-type thing and there’d be other people there.”
“Oh?” Liddy’s eyes widened innocently. “And there weren’t?”
“No. It was just me, and that made me uncomfortable.”
“Why’s that?”
“For one thing, she’s a little . . . obvious. And for another, I never really knew her very well, so I didn’t know what to talk about. I accepted the invitation because I thought it would be nice to see some people I might not have seen in a while. But”—he held his hands out, palms up—“it didn’t happen that way. No one else to talk to. But since she talks so much, all I really had to do was keep myself awake.”
“I thought someone said you used to date her in high school.”
“What? No.” He shook his head. “Nope. The only person I dated in high school was Doreen Rick.”
“I guess I misunderstood.” Ha. You’ve been busted, Johanna.
She tilted her head, listening. Was that the doorbell again?
“I don’t believe this. Twice in one morning?” Liddy got up. “Probably one of the girls. Emma or Maggie. You stay put, Tuck. I’ll be right back.”
Liddy went to the front door with a smile on her face, imagining Emma’s or Maggie’s face at finding Tuck having coffee on Liddy’s deck at just after nine on a Sunday morning. She’d let her friend speculate, but later she’d tell her the truth.
She opened the door and found herself face-to-face with Jim.
“Oh,” she said, genuinely surprised to see him. “Jim. I wasn’t expecting you.”
“I hope it’s not too early.” He held up an envelope. “I know you were waiting for this.”
“Is that what I think it is?”
He nodded. “Yup. All the paperwork you need. Duly signed and notarized. Just hand this to Gretchen. She’ll know what to do with it.” He passed it over. “As promised.”
“Thank you. This is great, Jim. Really, I can’t thank you enough.”
“You can thank me by offering me a cup of your always-delicious coffee, since I skipped breakfast to drive this over before you went to the shop.”
“Oh, of course. Come on in.” She smiled to herself as she led the way into the kitchen, which of course he knew. He’d grown up in this house and had lived most of his married life here.
He helped himself to a mug from the cupboard and poured his coffee as if he still lived there, which sent a spike of pique up her spine.
The envelope still in her hands, she said, “I was just having my coffee out on the deck.”
“I’d love to join you,” he said, opening the door. “I always loved Sunday mornings, when we’d have our first . . .” He stopped two steps out from the door. “Oh. I didn’t know you had company.”
“Jim, you know—”
“Yeah. Tuck Shelby.”
“Jim. Long time no see. How’ve you been?” Tuck said casually, as if it were the most natural thing in the world for him to be having coffee early on a Sunday morning with Jim’s ex-wife, on Jim’s ex-deck.
“Been fine. You?” Jim’s eyes narrowed as he tried to figure out what Tuck was doing there so early in the morning.
Heh. Let him wonder.
“Never better.” Tuck smiled.
Jim looked around as if not sure what to do. Sit at the table by himself, or on the third lounge, which was next to Tuck. He opted to stand, leaning against the deck rail, while he drank his coffee as if he couldn’t get it down quickly enough.
“How’re things at the bookstore?” Jim asked.
“Great,” she said brightly. “I’m so lucky we have a town full of readers who were hungry for the store to reopen after months without it. It might not always be as busy as we’ve been since we first opened, but so far, so good.” She held up crossed fingers.
“Great. I’m glad for you. That’s great.” He nodded and looked out over the yard—the yard, she recalled, where he’d watched her dig and plant and sweat, but never offered to help.
“So how’s the insurance business going?” Tuck asked. “I guess you kept a lot of clients from Wyndham Beach.”
“I did.” Jim paused, then added, “Though I noticed you didn’t renew any of your policies with me in June when they came up for renewal.”
Tuck shrugged. “Frank Liddell offered me lower rates.”
Jim looked about to say something, then apparently thought better of it. He finished his coffee and looked at Liddy as if seeing her for the first time.
“Well. I guess I’ll be heading out.” He pushed away from the railing and nodded at Tuck. “Tuck.”
Tuck nodded back. “Jim.”
“I’ll walk you out.” Liddy rose from the lounge.
“Don’t bother. I know the way.”
“Of course you do. I’ll walk you out anyway.” Liddy went into the kitchen behind Jim. He paused at the sink, as if about to rinse his mug, but she took it from his hands and placed it on the counter without saying a word.
At the front door, he paused. “So, you and Tuck . . . ?”
Liddy shrugged. “We had some things to talk about this morning.” As much as she had enjoyed his obvious discomfort, she relented. “He stopped over just before you got here.”
“He sure looked at home out on the deck.”
“Well, as I said, we had some things to talk about.”
“If you say so.” He opened the front door and stepped out onto the porch. “Hey, my doormat’s gone. Where’d it go?”
“Into the trash. Don’t take this personally, but I hated that thing.”
“I didn’t know. Why didn’t you tell me?”