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She disengaged and slapped his arm. “Stop. Or I’ll sic your wife on you.”
Phil’s face darkened. “Good luck doing that.”
Puzzled, she glanced at her dad. “Divorce,” he mouthed.
Her eyes widened. Why hadn’t she known this? Why hadn’t anyone told her?
“Oh, Phil, I’m sorry.”
Phil shrugged. “It was years ago. Ginny’s grown now, lives in Boston, near her mom, so it doesn’t really matter now. Pat moved to Boston after the divorce. Ginny is a doctor now. We see each other every couple of months when I make it up to Boston.”
There was pride in his voice when he mentioned his daughter, but she could detect a lingering pain about the divorce.
She gave him a hug. “Well, it’s good to see you.”
He squeezed her back. “Have you seen Stokey yet?”
She shook her head. “Is he here?”
“He wasn’t earlier,” said her dad.
“When I talked to him this morning he said that they’d be here around 2:30,” said Ethan.
She looked at Ethan. She’d thought that maybe he’d just met Phil, but clearly he knew all the members of the band. The unsettled feeling increased. “You know Stokey?”
Ethan shrugged. “We’ve played together with your dad and Phil a few times.”
She took a moment to absorb that piece of information, which added to all the others she’d had to take in since her arrival was perhaps the tipping point into an overwhelming sea of facts.
She looked up at the clock. It was already 2:45. She nodded toward it. “Well, he might be here already.”
“I’ll just go and check,” said her dad. “He’s supposed to bring an extra mike.”
“An extra mike?” Kate asked. “Just what are you planning?”
He winked at her. “It’s a surprise. You’ll see.”
She gave him a skeptical look. She’d had a few too many surprises since her arrival. She wasn’t sure she was ready for another one.
Three
The yard was awash in the noise of conversation, laughter, and children dodging and running in the area at the back. Some odd trees were shedding their leaves and one or two drifted in the sky like an aimless kite. Kate pulled her flannel shirt closer around her. A chill was starting to penetrate the late afternoon, signaling that fall was well and truly in place. She’d have to go and get a jacket or a sweater soon. The barbecue seemed to be on a hiatus. Those gathered had their fill and had settled down to their beers and wine. In the corner of the yard, sitting beside Tamzin, she spied Tom. She’d wanted to have a word with him since she’d left him with the plate of burgers, but they’d both been busy. She’d been grabbed by all her father’s friends, including Stokey, who’d hugged her with a force that she hadn’t expected. Cheryl, his wife had just laughed, punched him in the arm and told him that Kate wasn’t his teddy bear. She’d found that encounter and the others unsettling, a feeling not helped by the fact that she hadn’t had a chance to eat yet, at least nothing beyond a few potato chips and a carrot stick. In a way, the busyness had kept her mind at bay, and any need to worry about Ethan and his sudden appearance in her life. In her father’s life.
But now was her chance to talk to Tom. She made her way over to him and took the seat on the other side of him.
“Tom.”
He turned and looked at her. “Kate,” he said, mimicking her tone.
“The dining room set. What happened to it?”
He raised his brow. “Are you asking if a fairy came along and transformed it from an ugly, scratched, and broken old set to an amazing and beautifully crafted dining-room set, the answer is no.”
She narrowed her eyes. “Haha. No, I mean where did the old one go and the new one come from?”
He handed his plate off to Tamzin who was giving him an amused look and turned to face Kate, his arms crossed.
“The old one is where it should be. A dumpster, and is now probably ash somewhere.” He held out his hands for her inspection. “The new one came from these extremely talented hands.”
