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ChapterOne
When Claire entered the Sunrise Cove Inn on New Year’s Eve, the first thing she saw was Wes Sheridan on one knee. He raised a small velvet-linedbox, his eyes glistening from the light of the Christmas tree in the foyer and presented a gorgeous engagement ring to all three of his daughters— Lola, Christine, and Susan.
“What do you think?” he said softly. “Will she like it?”
Claire was captivated. Wes Sheridan was her uncle, a man who’d lived alone for decades after the death of his wife, Anna. The fact that he’d found love again with Beatrice was beyond anyone’s wildest dreams. Just last summer, he’d moved out of the Sheridan House and in with Beatrice, choosing to build a new era rather than subscribe to the rules of his previous one. He was in his seventies with early onset dementia, yet nothing had slowed him down.
“Oh, Dad.” Susan took the jewelry box and inspected the ring. “It’s perfect.”
Wes returned to his feet and smiled sheepishly, as though he were a child who’d just presented his school project. “It took me months to decide on the ring,” he explained.
“You should have asked us for help!” Susan scolded him as Lola and Christine nodded.
“You three have wonderful taste,” Wes began. “But I wanted to pick it out myself. It felt more special that way.”
Lola’s eyes lifted toward Claire’s in the doorway. “What do you think, Claire?” She tilted her head toward the ring.
Claire was slightly early for the New Year’s Eve party. In her arms were heaps of flowers she’d brought from the flower shop, which she’d owned and operated for decades. Her plan was to decorate the Sunrise Cove Bistro before the guests arrived. She hadn’t imagined she’d walk into such a tremendously poignant moment.
“I’m so sorry for interrupting,” Claire stammered.
“Don’t you worry about that.” Uncle Wes smiled warmly and beckoned for Claire to come closer.
Claire placed the flowers on the front desk of the inn and peered at the diamond ring, which had been exquisitely cut. Uncle Wes explained it was vintage, made in 1917 for a man whose fiancée had nearly died on theTitanicas a girl. He’d wanted a ring that captured the fantastical reality of her life. “She never thought she should have survived,” Wes explained as he pocketed the jewelry box. “And she never was able to be convinced otherwise, despite living until she was one hundred and two years old.”
“When are you going to ask Beatrice?” Claire asked.
“Around midnight,” Uncle Wes said. “I don’t want to do it in front of everyone. Beatrice isn’t the kind of gal who wants an audience for something so intimate. Besides. Who knows? She might say no.” He stuttered slightly as though he was genuinely nervous.
“Why would she say no to you, Dad?” Lola teased. “You have a perfect life together.”
The front door burst open, bringing a gush of chilly air and two more Sheridan women— Amanda, who was so pregnant that she had a slight waddle, and Audrey, who carried her two-and-a-half-year-old son, Max. The girls were dressed immaculately: Audrey in a little black dress with a fur coat over it and Amanda in a riveting, sparkly dress. Both wore bright red lipstick, and their dark curls cascaded down their backs.
“Grandpa!” Audrey exclaimed. “What do you have there?”
Wes’s eyes sparkled knowingly as he passed the jewelry box to his granddaughters. Claire remained captivated, her heart in her throat. A very long time ago, her husband, Russel, had gotten down on one knee and asked her to pledge his life to her. It had felt like a moment frozen in time: his eyes glistening from the fading sunset over the Vineyard Sound, Claire’s skin dry from swimming all day, their entire lives stretching out in front of them.
More and more of the Montgomery and Sheridan family members breezed through the doors of the Sunrise Cove. In the chaos, Claire stepped away to decorate the bistro with flowers, taking special care along the bar top and in the corners. Zach, Christine’s husband and the chef of the bistro, stepped out from the kitchen to say hello, drying his hands on his apron.
“You’re working hard,” he said.
“I just want the place to look nice,” Claire said. “I hope you’re not cooking all night?”
“Everything is prepped,” Zach assured her. “I’ll be taking off these chef whites here in a second.”
Claire beamed and gestured toward the crowd in the foyer. “Did you hear? Wes is going to propose.”
Zach shook his head. “Imagine starting over at that age?”
Claire chuckled. “It gives me hope, in a way. He’s thirty years older than I am. There’s still so much life to live.”
Just then, Charlotte broke through the crowd in the foyer and hurried down toward the bistro, her arms outstretched.
“There you are! I thought I told you to wait for me at the flower shop so I could help?” Charlotte wrapped her arms around Claire. “You’re too impatient for your own good.”
Claire closed her eyes and allowed herself a moment of joy in the arms of her best friend and sister, Charlotte. At the end of summer, Charlotte moved west to Orcas Island with her fiancé, Everett. Claire had begun to feel them drifting apart despite weekly phone calls and daily texting. Charlotte was falling in love with a new island and gorgeous, different views, leaving Claire alone on Martha’s Vineyard to tend to their parents and the flower shop. Even her daughters, Gail and Abby, had gone to university off the island.
The truth was that it had been the loneliest few months of Claire’s life. But she hadn’t admitted it to anyone yet. She was in denial, thinking it would probably change soon. That everything would get better.
