Lucy watched her grandmother moving around the kitchen—a woman who was kind and generous and loving—and felt a surge of protective outrage. There was one woman in Lucy’s life who loved her unconditionally, and it wasn’t her mother.
“Lucy, did you hear me? You need to talk to your grandmother and—”
“Mom, stop.” Years of tangled emotions and resentment fell away until all that remained was clarity and resolve. “Gran’s life is none of your business.”
“Of course it is! She’s my mother.”
“What does that mean to you, though? Because you’remymother, and when my entire life fell apart, you let your boyfriend throw me out with nowhere to go.”
“He owns the house, Lucy.”
“You’ve always chased men to take care of you. Including Jack Perkins. Do you remember him?” There was silence on the other end. “I met my sister, and she’s wonderful. But I didn’t get a chance to meet my father because he passed away. You’re selfish and you ruin lives.”
“He didn’t want us.”
Lucy closed her eyes briefly. “He was married, and you knew it. You don’t care who you hurt as long as you get what you want.”
“I don’t have to listen to this. I just wanted to see how you were doing and check on my mother.”
“Gran doesn’t need you to check on her. And her property is none of your business. I don’t know what she intends to do with the cottage because it’s also none ofmybusiness, but I do know you won’t be inheriting a single dime. There is nothing for you here in Maine.”
“Lucy Macauley, don’t you dare—”
“That includes me. Don’t contact either of us again, Iris.” She disconnected the call and set the phone on the table. Then she exhaled a long, shaky breath.
“I’m sorry, honey.”
Lucy looked up at her grandmother. “I’m sorry, too.”
“Maybe Iris was the trial I had to get through in order to have you.”
“So we could have each other.” Helen nodded, and tears filled Lucy’s eyes. “I’m going to miss you when I go to Miami, Gran.”
“I’ll miss you, too, but we’ll talk all the time. And I’ll come visit you for the holidays, since you might actually freeze to death here with how you are. And you can come in the summer, when the weather’s perfect here, to visit with me and Taylor. I’ll see you twice a year.”
“At least twice. I promise.”
“Good.” Gran slapped her hand on the table. “Now I’m going to make us some tea and we’re going to ride out the rest of the weather with a good jigsaw puzzle.”
Lucy cleared the table while her grandmother brewed the tea. She kept the sorted mail piles intact as she transferred them to the counter, and then did the same with the magazines she’d read and the ones to be read.
What would it be like to visit Wayward Harbor once a year? If she spent a week, it would be so full visiting Gran and Taylor. She’d visit Willow at the Scuttlebutt and stop by the Keel.
Would she even get to see Nick? Would each visit be like a snapshot of his life since she left? A girlfriend. A wife. His first child. Another child. Gray at his temples. Or maybe she wouldn’t even run into him, and Nick Slater would fade into a fond memory that resurfaced when she came back to Maine.
Her heart ached at the thought, but she refused to allow herself to cry. Gran’s heart also had to be aching right now, and Lucy didn’t want to make it worse. She would drink tea she didn’t really like, except for the warmth it spread through her, and do jigsaw puzzles while the storm raged outside.
* * *
Nick couldn’t stay away.
He pulled into the Keel’s parking lot the night after the storm and was lucky enough to find a spot his truck would fit in. Since he’d told himself if the lot was full and he had to park on the street, he’d just go home and send her a text with his news instead, he took it as a sign.
He’d see Lucy. He’d have a meal. And that would be enough to get him through until tomorrow. It wouldn’t take long for him to get used to not having her around. Hopefully. But he had good news and, rather than add to their rapidly growing text message thread, he decided to tell her in person.
And when he walked in, their eyes met and her face lit up, and he knew it was well worth what the meal was going to cost him.
“Hey, stranger,” she said when he’d grabbed a seat. It was the corner seat at the end and had the worst view of the television hung over the shelves in the center, so it was rarely used. It had the benefit of leaving three stools empty between him and the next guy.