Page 17 of Summer Reading

“Dad and Stephanie are on a trip to Europe at the moment,” I said.

“Stephanie?” Stuart looked confused. It hit me then that he was a friend from way back when my parents were still married.

“Stephanie is Dad’s second wife and Tyler’s mom,” I said. “She’s also my stepmother, and I adore her.” Why did I feel compelled to add that? As if this could get anymore awkward.

“Is Lisa, I mean is your mother, I’m sorry, is she...?” Stuart looked aggrieved, and it took me a moment to realize he was asking if my mom was dead.

“My mom is fine,” I assured him. “Living large in Boston, happy as can be.”

“So your parents got divorced?” he asked. He sounded shocked.

“Yes.” I couldn’t even look at Tyler. I decided to steer the conversation in another direction, anydirection. “I take it you’ve been away from the Vineyard for a while.”

He nodded. “I left the Vineyard after my wife, Jeanie, passed away.” His voice was wistful and he glanced back at his boat. “I couldn’t bear to be here without her, so I moved down to Florida, and I’ve been there for the past twenty-three years.”

“I’m so sorry for your loss,” I said.

“Me, too,” Tyler added.

I felt a flash of pride that he could put our own familial weirdness aside to acknowledge Stuart’s pain. My brother had layers.

“Thank you both,” Stuart said.

He pushed the baseball cap back on his head, revealing a fringe of gray hair around an otherwise bald head. He was tall and lean, with deep brown skin and arms that were roped with muscle. He wore a T-shirt, cargo shorts, and old-school boat shoes with no socks. He looked like a man who was most at home either on or adjacent to the water.

“What brought you back here?” I asked.

“Business,” he said. “And I missed it. There’s no place like the Vineyard. Besides, I thought being here would bring Jeanie back to me a little, so I bought the Tangled Vine Inn.”

“Oh, I love that place,” I said. “My grandmother used to take me to afternoon tea there every Saturday.Some of my best memories were spent on that patio. I didn’t realize it was still open.”

“It wasn’t for a long time. I’m trying to scrape off the neglect and rehabilitate it. Say, you don’t happen to know a caterer who specializes in appetizers, do you?” he asked. “I’m trying to infuse some life into the Friday nights with a happy hour, but my dining room chef can’t manage both that and dinner.”

“Seriously?” I asked. I felt my heart rate increase. If I could score a job, I could make some scratch and possibly avoid hitting up my dad for a loan, which would go a long way to making me feel like less of a loser. “I’m actually a chef.”

He blinked at me as if he thought I was joking. I realized I was going to have to do a hard sell.

“I’m summering here to keep an eye on this guy while the parents are away, but I was recently one of the head chefs at the Comstock in Brookline.”

“You’re not there anymore?” he asked.

“No,” I said. I didn’t elaborate. No need for him to know that I was passed over for a promotion. I felt Tyler’s laser-like gaze on the side of my face. I ignored him. “Family duty first and all.”

Stuart nodded. I had a feeling he wasn’t completely sold on hiring a perfect stranger with no credentials. Go figure.

“Not to be all braggy or anything, but I was writtenup in several Boston magazines as one of the thirty under thirty to watch.”

He studied me, considering. I was going to have to go all in.

“Tell you what,” I said. “I’ll cater your happy hour pro bono, and if you hate it, you don’t have to pay me.”

His eyebrows lifted and he started to protest.

“No, I mean it,” I said. There was a tiny voice inside of me screaming,Shut up, shut up, shut up!I wasn’t listening. “If you’re happy with the happy hour, you can reimburse me for the food and my time, and if you’re not, we part ways with no hard feelings.”

Stuart was silent. My heart was pounding in my chest. I almost called it off. What was I thinking? The only way I could afford to pay for the food was if I raided the money Dad had given me to feed Tyler and myself. If I blew this, we’d be eating butter noodles and popcorn until the parents got back. I must be insane.

But if I pulled it off, I stood a chance of having a job. And, oh, I wanted to be working so badly.

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