Page 92 of The Summer We Started Over

“Can you imagine staying on the island?” Jeff asked.

“Oh, Jeff,” Eddie said. “I’m afraid.”

Jeff set his coffee on the table between them. He reached over and took her hand. “Can you leave the barn for a while? I want to show you something.”

Eddie walked with him to his truck, her heart pounding.

She knew he was taking her to Tom Nevers Head, to see his house.

The traffic was congested at the rotary, with lines streaming down Old South Road and Milestone Road in both lanes. Once they were near the turn to Tom Nevers Head, the road cleared and they were in a lane of lush green grass and the glossy jade of tupelo trees. Eddie hadn’t seen all the new houses and roads in this area. The landscapers had been careful to leave the mature trees and bushes, so the houses were set back in their own private forests. She caught glimpses of handsome new houses, small, large, and huge, behind the trees and shrubbery.

Jeff went down a dirt road and arrived at a house. Two-story, gray shingled, with a chimney at one end and a cupola at the top, it was perfect New England architecture.

“You have a cupola,” Eddie said.

“Yeah. Come see.”

Jeff led her through the patchy grass, up the steps to the front door, and into the house, which was finished inside with hardwood floors and six-over-six windows. They went up the stairs to the second floor,and up another, steeper set of stairs. The top step widened to become the floor of the small, six-sided space with a floor large enough to sit on and walls tall enough to stand by, and six windows.

“Jeff!” Eddie was breathless. “You can see the ocean from here!”

He nodded. “Nice, right? I looked at architectural designs and chose this one because it would make a perfect hideout for a kid.”

Eddie turned away from him, pierced through with longing and regret. She composed herself. “Show me the rest of the house.”

“Sure.” Jeff started down the steep steps. “You have to go down backward.”

Back on the second floor, Eddie strolled through the three bedrooms and two bathrooms.

“Look at all the closets!” She sighed.

The primary bedroom had a fireplace with an elegant carved wooden surround and a marble mantel.

“Does the fireplace work?” she asked.

“It does.”

Jeff stood behind her. She could feel his breath on her neck. Every cell of her being longed for him. He put his hands on her shoulders. She leaned back against him. He wrapped his arms around her and held her tight.

She knew she belonged here, in this house, with Jeff. Her very soul was at home here.

She thought of Bobby, and she pulled away.

“Jeff…please.” Tears streamed down her face. “I do want this. I love you. I love this house. But, my God, we would be taking such a risk.” She wiped her cheeks with her hands. “I need to think of Bobby.”

Jeff said simply, “Bobby could live with us.”

—

Nantucket Blues was busy. Janny and Barrett were both waiting on customers until five, when Janny took off and customers disappeared for drinks and dinner.

Barrett walked around her shop, putting things where they belonged. She went to the back room to open a new shipment of hair accessories.

She heard her door open. She smoothed her hair and went to the front counter. “May I help you?”

“Just looking,” the man said.

Her new customer was tall, lean, and good-looking. He wore board shorts, a Kansas City Chiefs baseball cap backward over curly dark hair, and a short-sleeved shirt in a gaudy Hawaiian flower print. He wore a heavy gold link bracelet on one wrist and what seemed to be a Rolex on the other. He kept his hands in his pockets and constantly jiggled the change, at the same time whistling tunelessly. He didn’t have a tan, so he didn’t look like a summer person. She couldn’t figure him out.

---