Page 83 of Summer with the Single Dad

The shower was the only place she’d ever been allowed to cry at home as a child. Not that her mother gave her permission to cry there. But it was the only place her mother wouldn’t catch her doing it.

By the time she wrapped herself up in two big, white towels, the squeeze of her ribs wasn’t as tight and she could breathe deep enough that no fuzzy black spots clouded her vision.

She was just pulling on her pajama bottoms when the front door opened and closed and the house filled with the sounds of little girls hopped up on sugar and excitement.

The pain in her chest returned as she walked over to the door and made sure it was closed, then turned the lock.

She was a failure. A fraud, and a former physician who froze. This bright and beautiful family didn’t deserve her drama and pain. They didn’t deserve anything but rainbows, sunshine, puppies, and unicorns.

Even if the trailer didn’t arrive tomorrow, she would leave.

She was too much for their world, and she knew it.

So she finished getting her pajamas on and crawled under the covers, allowing herself one more night in this beautiful home filled with love and people she didn’t deserve. Before tomorrow when she would take her drama and pain, and leave for good.

CHAPTER SEVENTEEN

She didn’t meet him for a run Saturday morning.

He even went so far as to knock on her bedroom door, but she didn’t answer.

Her shoes were still in the foyer though. So she wasn’t pulling her earlier shit where she left for a run earlier. Unless she was and just set her alarm for three in the morning.

Something happened at the funfair yesterday that triggered Justine in a way Bennett couldn’t figure out.

She froze when Barnacle choked and then when Bennett called “bullshit” on her response and probed further, she shut down completely and vanished.

He wanted to chase after her, but he had his kids there and still needed to complete his volunteer shift. He heard through the grapevine that she drove Keturah Katz home. So that gave him some level of comfort that she wasn’t entirely alone. Keturah was a wily old bird who could coax a confession out of anybody.

He even thought about going to Keturah’s house and asking what Justine said, but he thought better of it. People told Keturah things, but she rarely told anybody anything. She had her ear to the ground about all the goings-on on the island, but she wasn’t one to gossip. She was known as The Island Ear. She knew everything and everyone, was a phenomenal listener, and could also be trusted to keep a secret and take it to her grave. And if Keturah didn’t know something, chances are Hugh Tapper—the local potter—did. Between those two, nothing happened on the island without them knowing. Unlike Jolene Dandy, who was known as The Island Mouth. The woman barely knew how to take a breath, let alone listen, unless it was to hear more gossip. And often that gossip held more hyperbole than fact.

Saturday morning, Bennett found himself alone at the kitchen counter after his run, sipping coffee and scowling. What the hell was going on with Justine?

She was so hot and cold.

When she was hot, holy hell was she hot. She was someone he could see himself falling for—if he wasn’t already—and starting a life with. Which was an outrageous idea, considering it’d been a week since her arrival. But when she was cold, it was like an atmospheric river followed her around, raining down despair and grief in golf-ball-sized hail pellets. And sometimes, it felt like he could end up scorched and frostbitten within the same hour based on how quickly she shifted.

He sipped his coffee, relishing the quiet, but also worried about it. It was officially the first day of summer vacation, and Emme and Aya vowed last night that they were going to sleep in.

He tuned into the sounds of the house, willing Justine to make a noise in her room—which was his room. But he heard nothing. Nothing besides Aya’s soft snoring, since she liked to sleep with her door slightly open.

His phone pinged with a work email, and he opened it.

Hello.

We are very interested in renting your restaurant for our wedding and reception. We would also like cabin five as a place to get ready for the wedding and for the wedding night. We understand that this may come as an odd request as you appear to not offer weddings as per your website, but we are hoping you may make an exception. This place, and cabin five, are where we first spent the weekend together. This is where we realized we wanted to spend our lives together. It is very special to us and we would love for you to help make our special day even more special by granting this request.

We are also expecting our first child in four months, so we hope to be able to get married before that happens. Ideally, we would like to get married in the next three weeks if possible. Money isn’t really a problem. So please come up with a number you deem appropriate for the rental of the restaurant, meals for fifty, cabin rental for five nights, an open bar, and any other incidentals. We will be on the island today actually, and hope to meet with you to discuss details in person. We are catching the 10 a.m. ferry.

Thank you very much for your time and consideration and we look forward to working with you and celebrating the happiest day of our lives in your beautiful venue.

Sincerely,

Tad and Ashli

Just like Jerry Maguire had her at “Hello,” these people had Bennett at “Money isn’t really a problem.” He should have been embarrassed about how big the dollar signs probably were in his eyes, but he also didn’t care.

Yeah, it would be a feat to pull off, and they’d have to close down the pub and restaurant to the public. But if they factored in their loss of revenue and charged this wedding accordingly, they could make a buttload of money. Staff would totally stay on and work the wedding, especially if they added on an eighteen percent gratuity right away. The big concern was whether they could get cabin five ready in time.

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