AllFreeNovel
Share Us
She looked over to him. “Sorry.”
“It’s habit.” He gave her a smile. They’d snuck away from Robin’s picnic on the Fourth of July, and AJ knew Robin wasn’t very happy with her because of that. AJ had shouldered a lot of displeasure over the years, and her therapist told her that sometimes she had to take care of herself first.
That was what she and Matt had been doing that night. They’d been taking care of their marriage. They’d gone to Mort’s and gotten lobster rolls to go. They’d found a patch of beach and watched the sun go down while they ate them. They’d talked a lot. About their relationship. About what they wanted from the other. About how they could keep working on building something they both wanted.
Then, since Lisa was watching Asher, and the boy was already asleep, Matt had called around until he’d found a hotel that had an available room, and they’d stayed a single night away from their son.
By the time Asher woke in the morning, AJ was there, as if she and Matt had come home when they hadn’t. She’d told him she didn’t need a whole lot more than that, but that she hated asking him about his day. She wanted more than that. She wanted real connections, with real conversations. She wanted a staycation with her amazing husband too, and she wanted him to make love to her the way he did when his daughter wasn’t in the next room over, and she wanted the two of them to continue to be “the two of them.”
“What’s going on with the turf install?” she asked, the question she should’ve asked the first time.
“It’s slow,” Matt said. He grinned at Asher and bounced the boy on his hip. “You’re slobbering, buddy. Did you tell Mama you’re getting another tooth?”
“Ice cream,” Lisa called, and AJ’s attention divided between checking out her son’s new tooth and helping her step-daughter bring in the melting frozen foods. She took Asher from Matt, who went to help his daughter, and the alone-time she had with Matt disintegrated.
Lisa was only the first of many people who started arriving, and after another half-hour, AJ stood in her kitchen with all of the assembled guests.
Robin, Mandie, and Jamie had come, of course. Jamie had been babysitting Asher more and more while AJ wrote her freelance articles. Alice had come alone, twin-less and Arthur-less. Eloise had brought the girls, and Amy had brought hers too.
Kristen had come with Theo, and he currently tried to sneak a sugar cookie that Jean swatted his hand away from. He chuckled, but Jean gave him a stern look. Reuben had come too, a rare afternoon away from the lighthouse—for Asher.
AJ’s heart filled with love.
Her father stood with Asher in his arms, and AJ said, “Dad, put him in his chair, okay?”
The doorbell rang, and Laurel entered a moment later, panic on her face. “I’m not too late, am I?” She saw them all assembled in the kitchen, and her fair face flushed. “Sorry. I couldn’t get back from Sanctuary. You would not believe how many people are trying to come to Diamond Island.”
“Aaron said he might close it,” Eloise said.
“Close the island?” Alice asked. “Can he do that?”
“He can if people are here without anywhere to stay,” Eloise said. “So if they have a room at Cliffside, they have to stay on Sanctuary.”
“Wow,” Robin said. “It’s that bad?”
“He can’t keep up with the needs,” Eloise said. “Manpower for safety, but also clean-up. Everyone here on Diamond makes a huge mess for the Parks Bureau.”
“Shad’s been talking about that too,” Kelli said, and she stood right next to AJ. She always had, and AJ reached over and took her hand. Shad hadn’t come, because he hadn’t been feeling well, and Kelli herself looked a little worn out.
AJ had been when she’d been in her first trimester, so she understood. She drew in a breath as her father snapped the last strap around Asher. “All right,” she said. “I think we’re ready to sing.”
She nodded to Matt, who lifted the single-layer chocolate cake she’d made for Asher. Kristen had baked a much bigger one for everyone else, but AJ wanted all the first-year pictures. Asher with cake all over his face. Asher going in with both fists. The pure joy of getting a whole cake to himself.
She looked around one more time, overcome with emotion, and realized that Clara wasn’t there. She hadn’t gotten terribly close to Clara over the past three months since she’d been living in the cove, but even Robin hadn’t become buddy-buddy with Clara.
Jean was the closest with her, as she’d known her for years and years now, and even then, Clara sometimes would barely say anything to Jean.
“Do you want to lead it, hon?” Matt asked. “Or do I just give him this and we go for it?”
AJ blinked and looked at her husband. “You have to light the candle. Then we’ll sing.”
He did that, and AJ started them out with, “Happy Birthday to you,” in a loud voice. She then let hers fall silent as everyone else picked up the song. Tears filled her eyes at all the voices, all the shining eyes looking at Asher, all the love she felt here in the house.
Her house.
Her house, with her husband and son.
AJ had gotten everything she wanted, and it hadn’t come easy. None of it would continue to be all that easy, as evidenced by her rote question from earlier. She wanted to keep working at her relationships, on herself, and at being a good wife and mother.
