Emma talked Isabel into letting her stay overnight at Heart House with Sophia.
While Maggie took the children for ice cream before going to Heart House, Linda headed toward the Bay View Beach House to drop off Isabel and Penny.
She pulled up outside the beach house. The setting sun had turned the long glass windows of the front facade to gold.
“Come inside for a minute, Linda,” Isabel invited warmly. “I need to pack a small overnight bag for Emma. I won’t be long.”
“Thank you, Isabel.” Linda followed Isabel and Penny up the porch steps and into the cool, bright interior of the house.
She hadn’t been inside the Bay View Beach House since she was a teenager. The Wallaces had hosted her, Maggie, and Michael at the house in their last summer of high school. The bones of the place were exactly the same: the wide-open living area, the floor-to-ceiling glass facing the bay, the long pale wood floors. But the interior had been updated since then. There were now pale linens and soft sand-colored upholstery. A long modern dining table where the old one had stood. The art on the walls was new, a series of muted watercolors of the bay at different times of day.
It was beautiful. It still felt, somehow, like the Wallace house.
“Penny, why don’t you sit Linda down with a glass of lemonade while I run upstairs?” Isabel suggested. “I’ll only be five minutes.”
“Of course,” Penny agreed. “Linda, come and sit on the back porch. The view at this hour is breathtaking.”
Linda followed Penny through the open living area toward the back of the house. They had not made it halfway across the room when a deep voice came from a doorway off the main hall.
“Penny, did you happen to...” The voice cut itself short.
Linda turned.
Darius stood in the doorway. His eyes met hers across the long, open room, and the small warm pull Linda had been refusing to think about since the beach yesterday morning. And something fluttered in her stomach.
“Linda,” Darius said warmly. “Hello.”
“Hello, Darius,” Linda greeted, mustering every ounce of her composure. “Isabel just headed upstairs to pack a bag for Emma. She’s staying over at Heart House tonight with Sophia.”
“Is she really?” Darius’s whole face softened. “I bet Emma is going to enjoy that.”
Just then, Penny’s phone rang. “Excuse me, Linda, I have to take this.”
“That’s fine,” Linda told her.
“I’ll keep Linda company while Isabel is packing for Emma,” Darius told her.
“I can just sit out here and wait,” Linda said, feeling awkward. “I’m sure you have a lot to do.”
“No, I haven’t,” Darius told her. “Please take a seat.”
They sat and fell into a moment’s silence before Darius leaned forward.
“Linda,” Darius began, his voice quieter now, “I cannot thank you enough for what you did for Isabel and Emma today. Isabel has not looked so relaxed or excited about going out today in two years. Emma hasn’t had a sleepover invitation in even longer. You’ve made something happen for them today that I haven’t been able to make happen for either of them in three years of trying. I am genuinely grateful.”
The warmth in his voice landed in Linda’s heart before she had braced for it.
“Honestly, Darius,” Linda answered softly, “the pleasure was all ours. Isabel is lovely. Emma is a delight. They fit right in with the rest of us.”
“I would like to return the favor,” Darius offered.
“It is not necessary.” Linda shook her head.
“I insist.” Darius’s voice dropped, and he smiled, making her breath catch in her throat. “Let me take you to dinner.”
Linda blinked.
She looked at him. He was watching her with that quiet, steady attention she had felt on the beach yesterday, the same attention she had been refusing to think about for twenty-four hours.
