Page 46 of Summer Light on Nantucket

“I didn’t know you were interested in catering.”

“I’m not,” Holly responded casually. “I want to check out this Roland guy she’s dating.”

“You want to check out the guy your grandmother is dating? How oldareyou?”

Holly shrugged. “Somebodyhas to watch out for her. I’ve talked it over with Teddy. We always hang out at her house, so it’s natural for us to be around. And Grandmother is naïve. She hasn’t dated a new man for probablyeons.She owns a huge house on Nantucket, probably worth ten or twenty million. We don’t want anyone marrying her for her money.”

“I’m speechless,” Blythe said.

“Actually,” Holly politely pointed out, “you’ve just spoken. Two words. Three since it took two words to make ‘I’m.’ ”

Blythe laughed. “You’re getting way too smart. And so sophisticated. To think your grandmother is naïve! Really! Does she know you think that?”

“I don’t think so. She just thinks we like to be around her, and that’s true. We do.”

No one had ever given Blythe advice on how to deal with this situation. She turned the problem over in her mind. “Celeste isn’t senile, Holly. She’s intelligent and capable and she has full use of her senses. It’s sweet of you to look after her, but I don’t think you need toworry.”

“Sometimes her hand wobbles,” Holly said.

“Sometimesmyhand wobbles,” Blythe countered.

“Only after you’ve played tennis,” Holly said.

Blythe gasped. “Oh, give me strength. Don’t tell me you’re inspectingme,too.”

“Not as much now.” Holly sounded as calm as if she were counting to ten. “When you and Dad divorced you had some difficult moments.”

Blythe bit her tongue.Difficult moments!

“Gotta go!” Holly rushed past her mother. “Love you!” she yelled as she raced down the front steps.

The front door slammed again. The sound of voices came from the front hall and then a clatter, which would be Teddy dropping his tennis racket, and then Teddy and his summer friend Azey—his real name was Adam, but he was an identical twin, so one boy was called Azey and one Beezy—stormed into the kitchen.

Teddy had blood on his face and on his white tennis shirt. Both boys were red-faced and breathing hard.

Blythe held herself back. She knew if she fell to her knees and hugged Teddy, he would be mortified.

“What happened?” she asked. Did he fall on the tennis court? Did he get hit by a ball?

“I was in a fight,” Teddy said. He stood in front of her with clenched fists and a recalcitrant expression.

Blythe almost sat right down on the floor. “You got into afight?” She’d have been less surprised if Teddy had been bitten by a shark.

Azey explained. “Jack Winchester was making fun of Scarlett’s glasses.”

“And?” Blythe prompted.

“And,” her son burst out, “she already has to wear braces, and Jack was calling her Cyborg and Android and Terminator, and she was crying and I told him to stop, and he didn’t, so I shoved him away from her and he hit me and the tennis pro banned us both from the yacht club for two days.”

“Wow.” Blythe didn’t know whether to praise him or scold him. She gestured toward the table. “Thank you. Azey, sit down. Teddy, you, too. You need to cool off and catch your breath. I’ll give you both a glass of lemonade.”

The boys sat, still radiating an almost visible energy.

Ladies and Gentlemen,Blythe thought,the dreaded testosterone has arrived.

“It wasn’t a real fight, Mom,” Teddy declared.

“Yeah,” Azey cut in. “Jack was all up in Scarlett’s face and Teddy pushed Jack and Jack slugged Teddy in the face and then Scarlett kicked Jack in the leg.” Azey met Teddy’s eyes. “She’s sick, man!”

---