Page 67 of The Summer Club

Cora followed his gaze, out over the tawny spill of dunes and down to the sea. It was the golden hour and even the hard words between them were softened by it. She did not want to forgive Tish for what she’d done; she would never understand it.

But Riptide had started with Charley, Tish, and Morty. And Tish had done so much for her only son over the years. Maybe that was why Charley was able to do so much for her over the years. Maybe it’s where his generosity was rooted. Maybe she shouldn’t fault him for it.

She went to where Charley sat and drew out the chair beside him. When she sat, she was level with his sad gaze, and that did something to her too. “Were you happy?” she asked.

“Happy?” Charley sat up straighter. “Aw, Cora. What’s this all about?”

She placed her hand on his. How small hers looked against his; those kind capable hands. “I need to know, so please tell me, Charley. Were you happy with your decision to leave medical school? To marry me?”

Charley’s eyes watered. He blinked. “Terribly happy. Every day since.”

She closed her eyes. How afraid she’d been to ask this question, all of their lives. But the need had never left her.

“What about you?” he asked, taking her hand in his. “I know I’m not the man you thought you’d marry.”

“Charley.”

“No, it’s true. We don’t speak of it. Ever. But let’s speak our truths. Can we, please?” His eyes were so full of love. And sadness. And something else: forgiveness, Cora decided.

He wanted them to forgive his mother. Just as he had forgiven Cora for not loving him back the way he loved her.

“The truth,” she said, feeling the swell of emotion rise up within her. Oh, the truth was complicated. Especially with the people you loved. Because Cora did love Charley. But in the beginning it had been different; in the beginning, her love was one tinged with relief and gratitude. With admiration and loyalty; but he knew, as did she, it may not have been the kind of love he’d held for her. The kind of love he deserved.

Cora loved his giant heart. The fact that he saw in her all the things her father had never seen and her mother was often too afraid to. Charley made her feel smart and capable and good. And worthy of the immense love he had to give. And somehow, over the course of a marriage, with all the ups and downs and triumphs and losses, Cora had come to love him. Not out of gratitude, as she had at first. But as a man. A strong, loyal, bighearted man who had so much to give to their kids; all three of them. “The truth is, you have always made me happy, Charley Darling. More than you can possibly believe. I may not have been good at showing it or saying so, but it’s true. From the first day you held the twins in the hospital and cried like a baby. I saw it: they became yours too that day. And every day since, that you’ve stayed by my side. Raising our kids. Supporting me. Encouraging my art, even though it didn’t pay the bills. Hell, sticking up for me to your own mother, to whom I know you feel so beholden. All while encouraging me to tolerate her, which I hated to hear but needed to; even that made me love and respect you more.”

Charley laughed softly. “She’s not easy, I know.”

“Neither am I.” Cora held her hand to Charley’s soft cheek. “We have made a life. This marriage, these kids, this house even… we have made a happy life together. And I will never stop loving you for that.”

Charley Darling, even for his big heart, was not known to her to cry. Outside of the days the twins and Sydney were born, he had not shed any tears in her presence. But now they spilled down his cheeks, both, and down his shirt in big, shameless drops. “Cora.”

He reached for her and she for him. And held each other tight.

Charley was asking her to do something that went against every fiber of her being; against a fairness she felt all three of their children were owed.

As he held her on the patio, Cora made a decision. She would do it, for him. It was the golden hour.

Andi

She couldn’t help it; Nate Becker was all she could think about. For the first time in years, Andi was thinking about someone outside her family. Outside of work and Molly’s school and what to make for dinner. She was thinking a lot about herself too, and if that made her selfish for the moment, so be it.

Since their night on the beach, all Andi wanted to do was be with Nate. At breakfast, she wondered how long until they’d meet up on the beach trail to go for a swim. When he went back to his place to shower, it was too long. When they went into town together to hit the bookstore or grab coffee, and he dropped her off to find a parking spot she held her breath until he rounded the corner. It was consuming and immature and absolutely teenage-like behavior. And she was going to wallow in it every sexy, summery second she could.

Molly was away for five days on the Vineyard and Andi missed her terribly. She worried how she was faring with George and Camilla. If George was taking good care of her; if she felt like second fiddle around his “true life partner.” She’d hoped for a distraction to help her through the first time Molly was away from her, and boy was she getting it.

But it wasn’t without its complications. If feeling like a teenager with a summer crush was the utmost summer escape, having to behave like one around her family was a buzzkill. “I don’t understand why you don’t want your family to know about us,” Nate said as they strolled down Main Street. “We’re not kids. We don’t need to sneak around.”

“Sneaking around is fun,” Andi countered. And it was. But not always. Lately, she’d found herself fibbing to her parents like she was a kid caught after curfew.

They stopped at Chatham Perk and Andi ordered two of her favorite: iced mocha lattes with fresh whipped cream.

“I feel like you’re trying to hide me,” Nate said, taking a deep sip of his latte. “And fatten me up! God, these things are good.”

Andi smiled. It had taken her exactly one visit to Chatham Perk to turn Nate on to the decadent iced drinks and already it was part of their routine.

“I’m not trying to do either,” she said. “But I am sorry. It feels weird having Molly away and now it feels weird dating—for the first time in almost twenty years—around my parents. It’s like they’re watching us.”

Nate laughed. “They are watching us. You live with them.” He took her hand as they walked up the sidewalk. “But there is a solution.”

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