Page 94 of The Summer We Started Over

“As I said, it’s important.”

“I promise that if she comes into the shop, I’ll give her your card and tell her you stopped in asking about her. Will you be on the island long?”

“I’m staying at the White Elephant,” he said, mentioning an upscale hotel. “I’ll be here as long as I have to.”

“Okay, then,” Barrett said. “If I see her, I’ll tell her.”

John Henderson looked as if he were going to cry.

“And I’ll pass the word along. I’ll tell other shopkeepers to look for her.”

“That’s very kind,” John Henderson said. “Thank you.”

—

In large letters, Eddie wrote:Make your own dinner. Sandwiches inside.She stuck it to the refrigerator with magnets. She asked Bobby to help her by putting the magnets on the bottom of the sign. He liked trying them in different configurations and shapes, and that kept him busy while Eddie set a light dinner out for her and Bobby and Dove.

Bobby finished with his magnet art and sat at the table long enough to eat a cheese sandwich and seedless grapes. Dove slowly ate some of her tuna salad.

Barrett called. “Is Dinah there?”

“Out on the porch, talking with Dad. Why?”

“I think I met her stalker today.”

Bobby accidentally knocked his glass of milk over.

“Bare—we’re eating dinner. Tell me when you get home.” As she talked, Eddie picked up a dish towel and mopped up the milk.

“I’m sowwy,” Bobby said.

“That’s okay,” Dove told her son. “I knock things over sometimes, too, don’t I?”

“Me, too,” Eddie said as she poured Bobby another glass of milk.She could see how Dove was struggling to sit up in her chair, and her heart ached.

Eddie really wanted a nice cold beer or a glass of dry white wine, but she didn’t want to drink around Dove. She could tell that Dove was tiring, and soon she helped Dove upstairs to undress and slip into bed.

Afterward, Eddie took Bobby’s hand and led him outside to run off his energy while she organized and closed the Book Barn. The sun was dropping behind cotton ball clouds, making every color imaginable streak the sky.

The horse came to the fence and nickered at them. Bobby climbed on a rail and reached over to scratch her nose.

“Why is she named Duchess?” Bobby asked.

“Because she acts like she thinks she’s royalty.”

Her explanation seemed to make sense to Bobby. Eddie moved close to the boy, ready to catch him if he fell off the rail. The evening light made the child’s face glow. His perfect skin. His bright eyes. His quick smile.

She could love this little boy. Maybe she already did. Could she love him enough to accept whatever pain that love might bring?

“What would you name the horse?” she asked Bobby.

“Duchess is a good name,” Bobby said at once. “Because she’s so bossy and she acts like she’s better than everyone else.”

The horse snorted, tossed her head, and raced to the other end of the field.

—

It was almost dark when Eddie took Bobby into the house for a quick bath and a bedtime story. Dove was still slumbering, her face as fragile and innocent as a little girl’s. Bobby fell asleep the moment his head hit the pillow, a talent Eddie envied. She tucked the covers around him, turned off the light, and quietly left the room.

---