Page 76 of Second Dance
“I’m not sure I care.” I paused, swiping a damp curl from her forehead. “Would you let me take you someplace for a few days? Could Grace stay with one of your friends?”
She hesitated for a second or two and I thought she might say no, but she didn’t. “Yes, any of my friends will take her. But you have to tell me where.”
“No, that won’t do at all. You have to be surprised.”
“I won’t know what to pack,” Gillian said, grinning.
“I’ll send you a list.”
“Okay, well, fine. Then, yes, I’ll let it be a surprise.”
We returned to the kids and the badminton game. Just as we approached, Grace tripped trying to hit the birdie and pitched forward into the sand. She rolled into a ball, laughing, sand clinging to her forehead and cheeks. Then, the way it does with kids, her laughter caught—and the other two collapsed beside her, helpless, as if they'd never stop.
This could be it. Our next chapter. The one I’d promised Mattie I would allow should the right woman come along.
I laced my fingers with Gillian’s. “I’ll pick you up in the morning. For now, can I talk you into staying for dinner?”
“Are you sure Sonya won’t mind?”
“No way. She loves the full house. Told me so just this morning.”
“All right, then. I accept.”
Later, gathered around our outside table, the five of us ate grilled hamburgers and Sonya’s delicious homemade fries as twilight pressed a lavender thumbprint across the sky.
After we’d finished, Sonya brought out the ingredients for s’mores. The kids let out a collective cheer at the sight of peanut butter cups and milk chocolate before we all gathered around the fire pit.
I smiled to myself, watching the different approaches to making the perfect s’more. Peter was meticulous with his, hovering his marshmallow inches from the flame, rotating clockwise until it was golden brown. Bella, impatient as always, shoved hers right into the blaze, where it promptly caught on fire. She squealed as she blew the flames out, leaving nothing but one charred marshmallow in its wake.
“Bella, you have to take time,” Peter said.
“I like them this way,” Bella said, with a haughty tilt of her chin. “I don’t have to do everything your way.”
“Yeah, obviously.” Peter laughed as he put his s’more together, choosing the peanut butter cup.
Bella, probably to be different than her brother, chose milk chocolate, squishing it all together between two graham crackers and taking a big bite. She grinned, crumbs on the sides of her mouth. “Oh yeah. It’s exactly how I wanted.”
Grace, who had not yet toasted her marshmallow, watched the siblings with a delighted smile on her face, seeming to enjoy their banter. Seeing her innocent joy in such a simple moment touched my heart. Having been one myself for much of my childhood, I knew that being an only child could be lonely at times.
Grace carefully put one on her skewer and darted it in and out of the flames, so that only one corner caught fire. Instead of putting the marshmallow between crackers, though, she simply popped it in her mouth, before roasting another.
“How about you?” I asked Gillian. “Peanut butter or chocolate?”
“I’d rather have another glass of wine.” Her green eyes glittered in the firelight. Above us, a few stars twinkled from an indigo sky.
Perhaps Gillian had seen my gaze lift upward, because she leaned closer to me, brushing her fingers over my arm. “I lovethis time of evening in the summers. The color of the sky at this hour—a purple blue that takes my breath away.”
“Indigo is the name of the color.” I rose up to grab the bottle of wine from the table. She’d told me the same thing all those years ago. We’d been at a concert in Central Park, and just after twilight the sky began to darken until it was that particular shade of blue. “Our color,” Gillian had whispered in my ear. “The color that will make me think of you. Wherever I see it.”
Now, the kids decided it was time to get in the hot tub and ran off to change back into their swimsuits. From inside the kitchen, I heard Sonya tell them to wash their sticky hands before they got into the water and that their suits were in the laundry room.
“Sonya’s a wonder,” Gillian said.
“We’re blessed to have her. She lost her husband a few years back, so she understands more than most about our situation.”
“I’m sorry to hear that.”
“Being at loose ends, she welcomed living with us on property. Her daughter and her grandchildren live here in Willet Cove, so she can see them anytime she wants. Sometimes she brings the kids over to swim in the pool. Bella’s really good with them.”
