“Oh, for crying out . . .” Grace called Nat’s cell phone. “Clean it up. I’ve got your kid here.”
“We’re coming down.” Natalie stood and pulled Chris up with her. He climbed down the ladder, then waited at the bottom for Nat.
“I found a pretty shell,” Daisy called. “I’m going to find one for Nana.”
“Stay right around there, sweetie. No closer to the water, okay?” Natalie turned to Grace. “What’s going on?”
“Just a heads-up. Mom invited Chris and Emma for dinner, and there’s no controlling the uncontrollable.” She pointed to Daisy, then turned to Chris. “Within the space of two minutes, she told Mom and me that Chris makes you guys blueberry pancakes every Sunday morning and brings dinner on Friday nights.”
Chris laughed. “That’s our girl.”
“So just decide what you’re going to say. And now I’m heading back to the house because I’m freezing. That wind coming across the bay is cold.”
“Thanks, Gracie. We’ll bring Daisy back,” Natalie said. “We’ve got it covered.”
Grace nodded and headed toward home.
Dinner went surprisingly smoothly, with Chris taking the lead at the beginning of the meal, announcing he and Natalie had been seeing each other, but explaining they’d been trying to keep it quiet because he didn’t want the distraction of the press or gossip magazines bothering Natalie.
“For myself, I don’t care. I’m used to it. But Natalie is not, and we don’t want Daisy’s life disrupted.” He turned to his mother. “Do you remember when that reporter tracked you down a few years ago? He followed you around, took pictures of the house.”
“I couldn’t leave home without someone trailing behind me. Though why anyone would have wanted to take pictures of me . . .” Emma shrugged.
“You’re the mother of a superstar,” Grace said. “There was a market for those pictures because fans want to know everything. Where he grew up, where he went to school . . .”
Emma bit her bottom lip. “So what does this mean, exactly? You’re ‘seeing’ each other?”
“It means we’re dating, Mom.” Chris added, “Exclusively.”
“Really? You and Natalie?”
“Yup.” Chris draped an arm around the back of Natalie’s chair. “Me and Nat.”
“Why, that’s . . .” Emma scrambled for a word. “It’s wonderful. I couldn’t be happier.”
Emma turned to Maggie. “I told you he had a girlfriend. I had no idea it was someone I already love like a daughter. Why . . .”
Grace cleared her throat and looked at her mother.
“Now, Em.” Maggie placed a hand on Emma’s arm, and Grace suspected she may have given Emma a tap with her foot under the table. “Let’s not get ahead of ourselves. I think it’s wonderful Natalie and Chris are dating, but let’s give them some room to find their way through this. After all, they’ve been friends for so long, this is uncharted territory for them. Am I right, Natalie?”
“That’s it exactly, Mom. Thank you.”
“Well, we can still be happy they’re . . . whatever it is they’re doing.” Emma looked across the table. “Together.”
“Yes. Absolutely.” Chris stood. “Be happy Nat and I are together. I brought a bottle of champagne so we could drink a toast—to all of us.”
Natalie produced the bottle and handed it to Chris, who opened it. He poured the wine into everyone’s glass except Daisy’s, who was busy counting the flowers on her napkin.
After dinner, Chris suggested he, Natalie, and Grace walk down to Dusty’s for a beer or two. Grace could tell her mother and Emma were happy to be left alone to discuss Chris’s announcement and what it might mean for the future, and to plan, no doubt, a wedding that might never happen.
Dusty’s Pub was the only true old-time tavern in Wyndham Beach. It had a long polished wood bar with a long mirror behind it and rows of liquor in front of it. It was dimly lit, and had several booths bearing the initials of the countless men and women who’d sat there over the ages. A few round tables seated four in the back, and off to one side there was a pool table, on the other, a dartboard. A modest-size television hanging over one end of the bar was set only to sports—and only to a Bruins, Patriots, Red Sox, or Celtics game. If none of their teams were playing live, they reran championship games their teams had won in the past.
Chris greeted several of the men seated at the bar, then looked around for a table or a booth, but they were all occupied.
“We can sit at the bar until a table or a booth frees up.” Grace pointed to three stools at the end of the bar.
After a friendly chat with the bartender, Chris ordered beers for the three of them. After they were served, they clicked the necks of their bottles together, and they each took a drink.
“So that went well, right?” Chris said. “My mom, your mom—they’re good with us dating.”
“I think they may be too good.” Grace chose her words carefully. “Just don’t let them push you to . . . you know, move your relationship to a place you’re not ready to go.”
“I’m not worried about it.” Chris nudged Natalie with his shoulder. “You worried?”
“If you’re okay, I’m okay,” Natalie said.
“Relax, Gracie. We know where we’re headed,” Chris told her, his voice low, his eyes first on Grace, then on Natalie. “We have a master plan.”
Grace covered her ears. “Well, don’t tell me. That way I never have to lie when Mom starts grilling me.”
“You know I don’t worry about you. It’s Daisy.”
“I told you: she’s a spill machine. Something happens, or she overhears things, she’s gonna talk about it,” Grace said.
Chris laughed. “Oh, yeah, she’s tough, but we have a great time together. I couldn’t love her more if she were my own.”
“I’m happy to hear it, Chris. She deserves . . .” Grace bit her lip. She was about to say a father who loves her. Would he be that father for her?
Chris got off his stool and placed one arm around Natalie, the other around Grace. “She does deserve. And she’ll have everything she deserves, Grace, I promise you. I don’t want you to worry that we’ll be this happy family pod for a while, and then I’ll leave, and Daisy will be hurt. That isn’t going to happen. I would never let things go this far if I didn’t know for sure where we were headed.”
“I wasn’t going to say—”
“You didn’t have to. Trust me. Trust Natalie. We know what we’re doing.” He turned and kissed Natalie on the cheek. “Right, babe?”
“Right.” Natalie touched his face.
“You guys are sickening.” Grace rolled her eyes, and they laughed.
“Oh, before I forget, would you happen to have a phone number for Linc Shelby?” Chris asked casually.
Maybe a little too casually, Grace thought. “I have it. Sure.” She found her phone in her purse, read off Linc’s number, and watched Chris save it in his phone.