“They better be nice things he’s saying,” Faith says as we remove our coats. Albert takes them and hangs them on the coat rack with the others.
Albert, dressed as the Big Bad Wolf, puts his hand around his wife’s waist and drags her close. Faith is quite a few years younger than him. I’d put her in her early forties, whereas Albert is closer to his sixties.
“If I take your picture, will you say cheese?” Albert asks.
I shake my head and grin. “Go ahead. I’ve heard them all.” Albert slaps me on the shoulder and laughs.
“Come on, let me introduce you to everyone,” Faith says to Kira, and I give her a reassuring nod.
Albert grabs a beer from the fridge, cracks it open, and hands it to me. “Have you met, Trevor? He’s a local boat builder. Owns the Dorey shop down on Bluenose Drive.”
I tip my beer to my mouth and follow him into the main room, where he introduces me to his friends, who are all dressed up for the occasion. There’s food laid out, and I glance at Kira as she nibbles on a sandwich. Great, now I’m picturing her nibbling on my cheese stick.
Not the time to be remembering that, dude.
Once everyone finds out Kira is Gram’s granddaughter, they all begin to share stories. I turn my attention to Trevor, since I love boats, and take in the cardboard box he’s wearing, shaped like a dory.
He tells me about the dories he’s made at his shop, and how he’s now building schooners and has classes twice a year.
“You’ll have to stop by. I’ll show you what I’m working on. You’re going to love the jigs and patterns that are over a hundred years old,” Trevor says.
“I would love that. Finding the time might be hard, though.”
Albert puts his hand on my shoulder. “Gotta enjoy the small things, son,” he says, and my gaze flies to his as my heart leaps. He’s never called me son before. Shit, my own father doesn’t even call me son. In a weird sort of way, I like Albert calling me that.
“You’re right,” I say. “Are the classes full?” I ask.
“I can always squeeze in one more,” he says, and I note the way Kira keeps casting glances my way. I mingle with a few more people and eventually make my way to where she’s sitting. I grab a sandwich from the tray, and overhear Faith ask about the studio. Kira shifts uncomfortably, her body language showcasing her discomfort. She’s an easy read, at least to me, and obviously doesn’t want to discuss Gram’s studio, whatever that might be.
“Drink refill?” I ask when I see that Kira’s punch is almost gone.
She gives me a smile full of appreciation and hands the mug over. “Thanks.”
I put the ladle into the punch and ask, “Anyone else?”
I fill a few more mugs and hand them back just as Amber and her friends come up from downstairs to grab more pop and chips. Then disappear as quickly as they appeared.
“Your daughter is adorable,” Kira says to Faith.
Faith smiles. “Thanks. She’s a good kid. We wanted more, but it wasn’t in the cards. So we let Amber fill the house with her friends.”
“That’s nice.”
“I bet you can’t wait to have children of your own.” She claps her hands together. “Oh how Margaret would have loved great grandkids.”
“No,” she says quickly. “Kids aren’t in my future.”
“Oh,” Faith says, as surprised as I am by her fast answer. She was so good with Amber, I thought for sure she would want kids of her own someday. Interesting.
“I’m an only child, too,” Kira says, glancing at the school picture of Amber on the wall, her look is wistful, and it seems like her thoughts are a million miles away. As they often are.
“Did you want siblings growing up?” Faith asks.
A long pause, and then she casts me a glance. “I did. But it looks like I have a lot of brothers and sisters now, at Gram’s B&B.” Beer bottle dangling from my fingertips, I note the smooth way she switched gears, lightening the conversation. I’m not sure why she thought she wasn’t good at small talk.
Faith laughs, and her gaze slides to me, as I take a pull from my bottle. “Is that how it is over there?” She arches a brow, skepticism all over her face when she says, “Everyone treating you like a sister?”
I nearly choke on my drink, and a bright pink flush crawls up Kira’s neck. “Ah…” she says.
“She fits right in,” I say, coming to her rescue. “The guys wouldn’t let her out of the house without a coat. They even started a coat fund, but Kira found one in the closet.”
“That’s not the only fund they’ve started,” Faith says.
“What are you talking about?” Kira asks.
“Over at the Anchor. They have a pickle jar and are collecting tips to save the place.”
“I saw that jar when I was having lunch with Ralph and Mindy.”
“They’re going to need a lot of tips,” I add.
Faith opens her mouth like she’s going to say more, but Albert pipes in. “You signed up for the pumpkin regatta tomorrow?” he asks me.
“What’s a pumpkin regatta?” Kira asks.
“Lordy, girl, you don’t know? Then you have to sign up.”
“Ah…” she says. “What does it involve?”
“We all head out to Fancy Lake Provincial Park, and Pumpkins from Howard Dill’s farm are carved out for us to race in them. Dill grows the biggest pumpkins in Nova Scotia. Some are over one-thousand pounds.”
“That’s insane,” Kira says.
“Years ago, Martha Stewart was supposed to race, but her plane got fogged in at the Maine airport.”
“Wow, and while that sounds…interesting, I don’t really like being in the water.”
“Good thing you have Nate here, then,” Albert says, as he tosses his arm over my shoulder, not an easy task with the big block of plastic cheese around my body. “He can’t get enough of the open sea. But this isn’t a very big lake, and it’s all supervised by the fire department. You can go as partners. Faith and I team up. Of course, you two don’t stand a chance at beating us. We’re the town’s champions three years running.”
“Well, that sounds like a challenge,” I say. “What do you say, Kira?”
She crinkles that cute little nose of hers, and her painted on whiskers wiggle. “Can I think about it?”
I nod, and she stifles a yawn. I glance at my watch. “Well if we do go tomorrow, we’re going to want to beat you guys, so we’d better get a good night’s sleep.”