Part 2 (2/2)
”She hasn't kicked back since Grandma got sick.” Sam could hear the worry in Jamie's voice. ”She runs herself ragged taking care of Evelyn, Zachary, and Jacob, when really, Mom, Brandon and Stacy could afford day care.”
”But she enjoys it, Jamie. Her grandchildren are her life.”
Jamie laughed, a bit too cynically. ”Then remind me not to have any children, because I don't want you becoming a glorified babysitter-”
”I want grandchildren. Lots of them. But you know I'm in no hurry. You also know that I like living my own life. I'm enjoying retirement,” she said emphatically, although she still missed teaching first and second graders. She just didn't want Jamie to know how much. ”And you know I'd do anything in the world for you. That includes babysitting. Of course, I'd rather have you raise your children the way I raised you. If I wanted to go somewhere, I took you along-”
”Unlike Aunt Gracie, who still doesn't go anywhere.”
”I promise. I'll try to get her to relax while we're here.”
”Don't let her make any lists.”
Sam smiled. ”She already has. Gracie and I are going antiquing tomorrow, right after I make breakfast for the three of us. She has bicycle rides planned, museum tickets bought, and beach days slotted in.”
”What about Aunt Caroline? Isn't she going antiquing with you?”
”She bowed out. Said she has an article to work on and thought she'd hole up in the cottage by herself to get it done and out of the way.”
”Have you asked her to stay in the States yet?”
”I have to figure out how to bring it up.”
”If you don't work up the nerve, she'll end up right back on a plane to England.”
”I know. I just don't want to make her uncomfortable. I don't want to make her feel guilty for living so far away from us.”
But she so wanted her sister to stay in the States. She adored Caroline. She'd idolized her when they were growing up, and now she wanted her closer than a phone call away.
Sam tried to stifle a yawn and then gave up. She snuggled her head into a comfortable position on the big down pillow, listening to Jamie talk about her latest research. Jamie was working on a master's degree in American history and was focusing on early American myths and legends, and though she was done with cla.s.ses for the summer, she was working hard on her thesis. When her daughter grew quiet, Sam asked, ”Are you still planning to come to the island for a few days?”
”Actually, that's what I called about. I've managed to rearrange my schedule, so I'm going to come next Monday. Will that work?”
”It'll work perfectly. And Cory is okay with you leaving?” Sam asked out of politeness, not because she cared what her daughter's snooty boyfriend thought.
”He wishes I would stay, but I wouldn't miss it.”
”I'd ask you to bring him along, but this is an all-girls' house and a girls' getaway.”
”He's so busy studying for the bar that about all we do together anymore is grab a cup of coffee close to his apartment-if he can squeeze me into his day.”
Jamie deserved so much more than a twenty-seven-year-old up-and-comer who yearned for a corner office in a tall building on Fifth Avenue. Cory was tall and tan and good-looking-a product of an Upper West Side New York upbringing. He thought Jamie's flat in Brooklyn was a shabby hole-in-the-wall. Truthfully, Sam felt the same way, but Jamie loved her apartment and the mishmash of treasures she'd found in one thrift shop after another. Sam knew, with all her heart, that she'd raised her daughter right. She'd make the right decision about Cory when the time came.
”Mom.” Jamie said, her voice soft, barely a whisper.
”What, hon?”
”I can't wait to see you.”
”Ditto,” Sam said. They disconnected, but as she burrowed down into the pillow again, she was kept awake counting worries instead of sheep. Something was troubling her daughter, but what? Why was Gracie so p.r.i.c.kly? And what on earth had possessed Caroline to suggest they buy the Misty Harbor Inn? It was such a ridiculous idea. Then again, she thought of all the wonderful dessert recipes she could try out on guests. At last she had something sweet to think about as she fell asleep.
Max trotted at Caroline's side the next afternoon, weaving in and out of hundreds of other tourists who strolled along Main Street's cobbled road, buying souvenirs, licking ice cream cones, and enjoying the azure blue sky and the hint of a breeze.
”I'm so glad the two of you dragged me away from the article I was working on,” Caroline said to Sam and Gracie, who'd insisted she join them for a jaunt through antique stores. ”Just remind me to get it finished tonight. My deadline's a week away, but I'd like to send it off so I can spend time with you.”
Gracious oaks arched above the brick sidewalk, and dappled sunlight filtered down onto the sisters as they walked. Caroline breathed in the sea air and took in the sights and sounds around them.
”Working late at night is the only thing I haven't missed since I retired,” Sam said. She wore a flowing, calf-length white skirt, a poppy-pink T-s.h.i.+rt, and a necklace made of gleaming pearl-white seash.e.l.ls. ”I do miss my first and second graders. Still, I'm glad I retired. If I hadn't, right now I'd be teaching a summer school cla.s.s and wis.h.i.+ng I was at the beach. And I definitely wouldn't be with the two of you.”
”No doubt you'll be tired of us long before the first week of our vacation's gone by,” Gracie said, turning off of Main onto Center. The shops on this street were housed in small, quaint old buildings, brick and wood with large paned windows. They were headed toward India Street, where there was an antique store Gracie wanted to check out.
”I'd never get tired of the two of you,” Sam said, the sun s.h.i.+ning on her smile. ”Listening to you bicker makes me feel like a kid all over again.”
”And being here makes me feel like a kid all over again,” Gracie said pausing at the window of a stationery store. Gracie seemed taken with a set of letterpressed cards, but all Caroline could see was really expensive paper. Who sent handwritten notes these days anyway? She sighed, and they moved on. Max watched, transfixed, as Sam licked a drip on her ice cream cone that threatened to spill over.
”Wouldn't it be amazing to live here?” Caroline said, drinking in the scents of hydrangeas and fresh sea air.
”You'd never leave your cottage. You love living in Chipping Campden.”
Caroline smiled as a little boy rode past them on a red two-wheeler. His parents followed several steps behind. ”I've been thinking of giving it up.”
Sam stopped so quickly she might have run into an invisible brick wall. Gracie's steps slowed and finally she turned to stare at Caroline. ”But . . . you love that place.”
”I do,” Caroline said, already feeling a lump building in her throat and tears welling up in her eyes, ”but it's never going to be mine, not really. Every time I've talked with the owners about buying it, they give me the same old song and dance and say 'Someday . . . maybe.'” Caroline shrugged. ”I'm tired of waiting for someday to come.”
”Are you serious?” Sam wanted to believe it, but she knew her sister too well.
”I think so. For the first time in my life, I feel like settling down.” Caroline couldn't miss the roll of Gracie's eyes. ”I know you don't believe me,” Caroline said, nudging Gracie's arm, ”but it's true. I've felt that urge more and more since Mom pa.s.sed away.”
Sam leaned over a picket fence to inhale the heady perfume of a delicate white rose. She turned toward Caroline, looking a touch troubled. ”Are you coming back to the States?”
”You should come back to Maine,” Gracie said. ”Not that I can imagine you living there again, after all the times you used to tell me that when you grew up you were going to split, leaving humdrum old Maine behind.”
”Maine's beautiful, but, no, I don't think I'll be going back there.”
”There's a town house for sale down the street from mine,” Sam said, smiling again. ”The housing prices in Upstate New York are the lowest they've been in ages.”
”Whoa! Slow down!” Caroline said. ”Right now, nothing's settled. I might go to Annapolis, at least for a little while. George's boat building business is doing well, and he has a small yacht he said I could live in until I find something permanent.”
Sam gave Gracie a meaningful look.
”Oh, stop it. George is just a friend. Always has been, always will be.”
”If you say so,” Sam said, her eyebrows raised.
”Could you really live on a boat?” Gracie asked. ”Wouldn't you feel cramped?”
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