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“I don’t remember that,” he murmured.“I’ve seen the pictures though.”
She nodded, and they climbed the long, wide steps to the porch.“It has pillars.”
“Daddy would’ve liked that,” Conrad said, looking up toward the high roof overhead.“He loved pillars.”
Cass was suddenly glad they’d arrived early, because she now realized that her son needed this time to see the house the way she did.To talk about his father and how he would’ve fit here.And how he didn’t.
“Yes,” she said.“Daddy loved pillars on houses.”She released his hand to tap in the code to unlock the door, and when it disengaged, she opened the door and gave it a little push.She indicated he should go first.Smiling, she said, “Go on.It’s just a house.”
She was hoping she could make it a home by herself, a task she hadn’t done since college when she’d taken her half of a dorm room and made it as cozy as possible.Her space.Her comfort zone.Her happy place.
She wanted this beach house to be that too, and she hoped Conrad could feel it.
He took a step and then paused.“Wait,” he said.He pulled his phone out of his pocket.“I told the girls I’d record it for them.”He tapped and nodded.“Okay, ready.You narrate it for us, Mama.Show us your new house.”He brightened, and Cass put a big smile on her face too.
He loved film and electronics, and she hoped he’d be happy in his career major of digital art, photography, and film.So far, he had been.
“All right,” she said.“This is the entryway.The foyer, some people call it, but I think that’s stuffy.”She grinned and indicated the painting of a great blue whale she’d purchased.“I put a whale here to welcome everyone to the beach respite, because whales are representative of compassion and solitude, and they possess knowledge of both life and death.”Her throat tightened, and her eyes met Conrad’s.“Your daddy loved whales,” Cass said, not caring that her tone pitched up.“Once he retired, we were going to go on a whale-watching trip.We never did get to, but maybe the four of us could go together one day.”
“Five,” Conrad said.“Sariah has Robbie now.”
Cass wiped her blasted right eye, which always got weepier than the left.“Yes,” she said, smiling fully into his phone again.“The five of us.”
She didn’t know if Jane would have a special someone by the time the whale-watching trip happened.Perhaps Conrad would too.
And Cass might could even bring Harrison…if they were still together.
A couple of hours later,she said, “That’s everything that stays here.Now we just have to get the rest of this over to Harrison’s and we’ll unload there.”
“I have pizza too,” he said, and Cass gave him a grateful smile.She hadn’t hugged him hello when he’d arrived.He hadn’t touched her.They’d told no one of their hamburger date from three nights ago, and she hadn’t shown her text conversations with the man to anyone either.
“I’m starving.”Conrad jumped down from the back of the truck.“Pizza sounds great.”
“I brought chocolate chip banana bread,” Bea said.“It won’t be as good as Bessie’s, but it’s not bad.”
“It’s fantastic,” Grant said, wrapping his arm around Bea’s waist.They grinned at one another, and Cass turned away before they started kissing.
“I’ll drive,” she said.Everyone loaded up and went down the street three houses, where Cass’s larger items and extra storage bins would be stored until the beach house was truly finished.She saw no point in unloading it at her place, hauling it upstairs, and then having to move it all when the flooring for the bedrooms up there finally arrived.The railings had also come out yesterday for a recall, and Cass now didn’t know how long it would be before she could really move in.Hopefully before Supper Club.
She reminded herself that she could host a catered dinner on the back patio without rugs and cabinets in the bedrooms upstairs.
At Harrison’s, the unloading commenced, but she soon found herself alone with him in the garage.As she glanced around, he came to her side.
“They’re all inside,” he said quietly.His hand slid down her arm to hers.“Eating.”
She squeezed his hand.“Thank you for getting food.”
“It was part of the plan, right?”He grinned at her, and Cass had the overwhelming urge to kiss him right there in his garage.With her son and her best friend only a couple dozen feet away, behind closed doors.
His eyes melted into hers, and neither of them moved.
“When can I see you again?”he asked, the perfect thing to say.Cass wanted to feel beautiful and desired.She wanted to feel like this handsome man couldn’t wait to be alone with her again.
“I’m not sure,” she murmured.“Conrad and I are going to be unpacking what we can, and then hitting the beach.Doing some of the touristy things…” She let her words hang there, because she couldn’t commit to anything right now.
Harrison nodded and released her hand.“All right.I can be patient.”He didn’t sound happy about it, but Cass liked that too.He moved to go up the ramp to the truck, but he stopped and turned back to her.“Where did you decide to stay?”
Cass swallowed and tucked her hands in her shorts pockets.“Bea’s,” she said.“Honey, she has real beds.”She took a couple of steps to him and put one hand against his chest.“You don’t, and I’m an old lady.I can’t be getting up and down off the floor and a four-inch air mattress.”She grinned up at him, and his stoic expression finally cracked.
