She’d asked once and he said he’d tell her in time.
Maybe that time should be soon.
“I have,” she said. “And I was nervous then too. You’re right. It’s natural. Haveyoudone it?”
“I have,” he said, “but it’s been a while.”
“Let’s go in before your mother thinks I’m weak. Thanks for letting her know to give me a minute. I’m embarrassed enough as it is.”
Guess nothing got past her.
“She’ll understand. I know it’s early and she’s got a big breakfast she’ll put out, then we’ll chat some before everyone else gets here around noon.”
It was easier for his brothers to come over for a few hours for a meal than go to Boston with the kids. Since they had business to talk about, getting the three of them with his father together wasn’t always easy.
He opened the door in the garage to the mud room, then walked down the hall that opened to the back of the informal living area that was used the most. His parents hardly went on the second floor anymore. When he stayed, he was in the second primary that had a small kitchen in it.
There would have been more than enough separation for him and Nora to stay, but he was glad he hadn’t asked with the way she was feeling. Next time he’d consider it. Or maybe they could come here alone when his parents weren’t around.
“Nora,” his father said. “Glad you could make it.”
“Thank you for having me. I know it’s early in the morning.”
“We are all early risers,” Ethan said. “My mother included. It smells as if she is opening a bakery in here.”
“Nonsense,” his mother said. “Introduce us again. Though I remember you as a child.”
Which reminded him he’d thought she’d been here before, or maybe not. His parents didn’t always have the gatherings here at the house. Sometimes they did it at one of the hotels when they were getting bigger.
It was probably that.
“I don’t think I look the same. No more glasses, and I learned to tame my hair.” She was smiling and walked to his mother who gave his girlfriend a hug rather than a handshake. Nora returned it openly.
She was fine. He could see it. She just needed that moment and he had to remind himself that there were parts of her she’d worked hard on overcoming.
A life he knew nothing about but wanted to.
If she’d open up.
26
CALMING AND TERRIFYING
“Ethan seems so at ease around you,” Janet said hours later.
“I’m glad. I want him to be. I’ve been in relationships before where I didn’t feel that way.”
She hadn’t meant to say that aloud, but with Ethan out on the deck talking to his father and her beside his mother arranging the platters of snacks for the rest of the family to arrive soon, the truth slipped out before she could stop it.
Something about standing in a sun-warmed kitchen with the sea air drifting through open windows felt achingly normal. Beautifully, painfully normal and at ease. Just how Janet described Ethan.
As if this were her life.
As if she’d always belonged here.
The house was breathtaking, perched on the edge of the cliff with light glancing off every surface, but it wasn’t the luxury that struck her, it was the heart. The laughter that lingered in the walls. The easy affection between family members who knew how to love out loud. How to break away the part that shewas Ethan’s employee during the day, but his girlfriend on the weekend.
Janet Bond was open, funny, and effortlessly kind. She was everything Nora had spent her life craving in someone other than her mother to be around.
