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“I hope he hasn’t crumpled your hopes or your heart just yet,” Tracey said. “He’s just been so lost since Tara died. They had a whole lot of love between them. She was off the island for the day, driving back up from Traverse City. When news of the car accident reached the island, as many people that could close down their shops did, and then after the funeral, everyone came together to eat, to drink, to exchange stories about Tara...A beautiful celebration of life.”
Cindy turned her eyes toward the table. “She was my very best friend. For a long time, I didn’t know how to handle life without her. To tell you the truth, I still wake up and think I want to call her. It’s the same with Mom.”
“All these people who leave us behind,” Elise breathed. “And we’re just left to pick up the pieces.”
“And hopefully treat one another as well as we can,” Tracey said.
“If Wayne is really willing to walk out on you like that, then he just isn’t ready for love,” Cindy affirmed.
Elise pressed her tongue into the side of her cheek, and then added, “There’s another thing. This man I know in California came to visit me, pretty spontaneously.”
Tracey’s eyes widened. “Who is this guy? Wait. Is this the handsome man someone talked about? Staying at another of our bed and breakfasts?”
“I suppose so,” Elise said. “Unfortunately, after Wayne had decided not to answer my text messages and then send me a flippant excuse why he couldn’t hang out, Wayne stumbled into Matt and I at the Pink Pony. I thought I was going to melt right there on the spot.”
“No! Oh, that’s so awkward,” Tracey said.
“I know,” Elise breathed. “And Wayne looked through me like I didn’t exist.”
“What happened to Matt? Do you see potential there?” Cindy asked.
Elise shook her head hurriedly. “No. Not a chance. And I did something I should have done a long time ago. I told him that I wasn’t interested. He was pretty mad and he stooped pretty low afterward. Insulted me and accused me of being in love with Wayne.”
Tracey laughed outright. “Men always go as low as they can, don’t they?”
“I have found that to be true,” Elise agreed. “I don’t know why I’ve ever given them the benefit of the doubt.”
“Can’t live with them. Could definitely live without them,” Cindy said. “Sometimes I look at Fred and I think—really? This is the man I pledged my life to? Even Tara was a bit miffed by it when I decided on Fred.”
“It’s why I pledged a long time ago not to marry,” Tracey said, already finishing off the rest of her Bloody Mary. “All I need is my daughter, my little house, and a cocktail or two to get me through.”
“That sounds about right,” Elise said, grinning broadly.
**
ONCE THEY RETURNEDto the island, Cindy suggested the three of them return to her house on the hill, “To chat more, meet my daughter Megan—who just got the most ridiculous tattoo, God bless her, and watch the rain fall from the back porch.” Since Cindy had always been the colder of the two sisters, Elise found that warmth, now reflected in her eyes, to be one of the more beautiful things she had ever witnessed.
The ferry ride back was much more boisterous than it had been on the way to Mackinaw City. Tracey teased the handsome dockhand upfront, while Cindy and Elise laughed in the back. As they headed off the ferry, the grey clouds grew heavier, like a thick blanket overhead, and Elise thanked her lucky stars for having the offering of a warm home back at Cindy’s. She really didn’t feel like sitting in her room alone.
On Cindy’s back porch, Tracey called her own daughter, Emma, to come and hang out with Cindy, Elise, and Megan. Cindy busied herself in the cellar, bringing up fancy bottles of wine and occasionally pausing outside the study to report funny things that had happened that day to her husband. In Elise’s mind, Fred’s responses were never appropriate. He never laughed loud enough or asked questions.A little bit like Sean.
As the girls talked on into the night, Elise was mesmerized with the love between all of them. Emma and Megan were both beautiful with the slightest similarities to Penny, although she didn’t mention it. Clearly, they were best friends, having grown up on the island as cousins. These days, Megan lived in one of the old buildings on Main, an apartment over the top of one of the fudge shops, and worked as many hours as she could, making and selling the fudge.
“We both tried living on the fudge for a while, but that didn’t work out for bikini season,” Emma said with a laugh.
Both Emma and Megan had obviously heard a great deal about Elise and turned to her curiously, both asking questions about her life back in California.
“You work in television?” Megan breathed with excitement.
“I do! Sometimes, at least,” Elise offered. “It’s not as glamorous as it seems. It’s a lot of arguing about plot points with people you sometimes don’t really like.”
“You’ll have to show Megan a little bit of what you know,” Cindy said. “She’s always had an interest in writing.”
Megan blushed. “I thought about going to college for it, but it seemed a little silly, you know? And so, so far from home.”
I wonder if I’d been raised here, would I have been afraid to ever leave?
Did Mom sense that, too?
