Chapter 23
Twenty-Three
They took the first ferry off the island on a cool October Wednesday morning, with Dan’s car riding on the cargo deck. He’d personally watched as they loaded the cars around it to make sure there’d be no dings or dents.
“Everything settled to your satisfaction?” Kara asked when he joined her at the bow.
“Just barely. A pickup truck got a little too close for my comfort.”
“I hope you gave the driver a piece of your mind.”
“I certainly did.”
She gazed at the rugged coastline of the island that’d come to mean so much to her. “I never could’ve imagined what I’d find there when I first came to Gansett.”
“Same.” He put his arm around her. “I didn’t expect to meet the woman of my dreams there. That’s for sure.”
Kara leaned her head on his shoulder.
“Are you warm enough?”
“The cold air feels good.”
“I forget you’re a Mainer at heart.”
“Not anymore. I’m a Rhode Islander now.”
“Me, too, with a part of me always in SoCal.”
“I’m looking forward to seeing your life out there.”
“I can’t wait to bring you there.”
“I’m sorry about Maine. Maybe someday I’ll be ready to go back there, but today is not that day.”
“No need to apologize. I totally get it.”
“There’re a few other people there I’d like you to meet. Eventually.”
“I’m sure we’ll get there at some point. When you’re ready. In the meantime, we have much to look forward to.”
“We sure do.”
Hours later, in a Boston hotel, Dan applied gel to his hair and prepared himself to meet the most important person in Kara’s life. He wanted Bertha to love him. He needed Bertha to love him. What if she took one look at him and said, Nah, not for my Kara.
What then?
Mothers—and grandmothers—tended to like him.
Wouldn’t it be just his luck that the most important grandmother ever didn’t?
Kara knocked on the bathroom door. “You almost ready? We’ve got to go.”
Because Bertha had gone fishing that morning, the driver he’d hired was bringing her right to the North End restaurant. She’d come back to the hotel with them to spend the night in the room next door that he’d already checked her into.
He opened the door and was immediately stopped short by Kara in a black wrap dress and heels.
Smiling, she waved a hand in front of his face. “Earth to Dan. Come in, Dan.”
“You look…” He shook his head and went to her, resting his hands on her hips. “Just when I think you can’t get more beautiful, look at you.”
“This old thing?”
“The first night we went out, you told me you owned one dress.”
“Now I own a couple more.”
“And you didn’t warn me?”
“What fun would that’ve been?”
He leaned his forehead on hers and simply breathed her in. “What if Bertha doesn’t like me?”
“What? There’s no way she won’t like you. She already loves you because you love me so much.”
“Yeah?”
“Yeah. Nothing to worry about. I swear. She’s your second-biggest fan.”
“Who’s first?”
“No one you know.”
As she turned away from him, he gave her a light spank that had her laughing over her shoulder.
He loved when she laughed.
They took an Uber to the restaurant and got there a minute before Bertha rolled up in a black Mercedes sedan.
Kara was giddy with excitement as she opened the door and helped her grandmother out of the back seat and into her arms.
They hugged for five full joyful minutes.
Dan thanked the driver and said they’d see him tomorrow to take Bertha back to Maine.
When Kara and Bertha finally pulled apart, they were both laughing and wiping away tears. Bertha was about five foot five, with curly white hair, a sun-weathered face, bright blue eyes and an impish grin.
“Bertha Lively, meet Dan Torrington. Dan, my BFF and grandmother, Bertha.”
When she held out her arms to him, Dan was relieved to hug her back.
“You’re even more handsome than you are in pictures.”
“Thank you, ma’am.”
“Call me Bertha. Please.”
“I will. Thanks.”
“And don’t be all polite with me. We’re going to be family. Let’s keep it real, eh?”
Dan was instantly in love with her. “You got it.”
“I’m starving, and I need a Manhattan.”
“Let’s get the woman a Manhattan.” He held out an arm to each of them. “Shall we?”
“We absolutely shall,” Bertha said.
The evening would go down as one of the best of Kara’s life.
Her two favorite people in the whole world were hitting it off like they’d always known each other.
Dan had been so adorable earlier worrying about whether Bertha would like him.
It was so rare to see him as anything other than fully confident.
His vulnerability had touched her deeply.
When he said he wanted to make her happy, he meant it.
She would never doubt that.
As she listened to him talk and laugh with Bertha, she realized once again how lucky she was that things with Matt had ended, even if she’d never agree with how or why.
Matt had spent time with Bertha, but he’d never “gotten her” the way Dan had in less than half an hour.
He appreciated the gritty, earthy humor that made Kara’s mother cringe.
Every time Judith cringed, Kara loved Bertha more than she already did.
“I want to know everything there is to know about lobster fishing,” Dan told her over after-dinner drinks.
“That’ll take much longer than one dinner, right, Kara?”
“That’s right. It’s far more complicated than you can believe.”
“Do you still love it?” he asked.
“I really do, or I wouldn’t still be doing it. Don’t really need the money. I’m a frugal person and have socked away what I need for the home stretch. But I have no idea what I’d do with myself if I didn’t work every day.”
“Seven days a week?”
“I take Sundays off these days, but I do go out the other six days during the season.”
“Are you bored in the off-season?”
“Senseless.”
“She drives us all crazy,” Kara said, laughing.
“I honestly don’t know what to do with myself. You can only clean a small house so many times and reorganize the closets. I also check all the traps and do a lot of maintenance during the winter.”
“She brings the traps into the house to work on them.”
Dan’s eyes widened. “Isn’t that…”
“Fragrant?” Kara asked.
“Yeah, that.”
“They stink,” Kara said bluntly, “but Bertha is smell blind. She literally can’t smell it anymore.”
“When you spend your life working with bait and lobster and the scents of the sea, it stops registering after a while.”
“Not for the rest of us,” Kara said with a saucy grin.
“Believe me, I know, but my arthritis doesn’t like the cold, so I bring ’em inside and whip ’em into shape in front of a roaring fire.”
“Which does wonders for the smell,” Kara added.
“I think you might be the coolest person I’ve ever met,” Dan said to Bertha. “After Kara, of course.”
“Of course,” Bertha said, smiling. “She’s the coolest. And what I do is nothing compared to your important work.”
“What you do is so much harder than anything I’ve ever done. If we get to Maine one of these days, will you take me out on the boat and show me everything?”
“I’d love to.”
“I’ll look forward to that.”
Since it was an unseasonably warm evening and Bertha said she’d been sitting all day and would like to walk, they made their way to the hotel, with Dan carrying Bertha’s small overnight bag and with a lady on each arm.
“I want to tell you something, young man.”
“I’m listening.”
“I’ve waited a long time for my Kara to find someone worthy of her. Even though I despised the way it happened, I was so relieved that she was no longer with what’s-his-name.”
Dan grunted out a laugh. “The way it happened was unforgivable.”
“Indeed, and I’ve told them both that. But now that I’ve met you, I see once again how everything happens for a reason. As bad as that was, it was leading my Kara to you, to exactly the person she belongs with, and I couldn’t be happier for both of you.”
“That means everything to us,” Dan said.
“I know it does, and I was reserving judgment until I met you in person.”
“Because of the way Kara speaks of you, I knew how important tonight was.”
“He was nervous about meeting you,” Kara said.
“Good. He should’ve been. I’m the only one whose opinion matters to her.”
“That’s right,” Kara said, laughing. “Thank God you passed the test.”
“No kidding,” Dan said.
“I want to tell you kids something else that you might not want to hear.”
“What’s that?” Kara asked.
“I won’t come to the wedding.”
“Why not?” Dan asked, feeling disappointed for Kara.
“Because it’s smack in the middle of the season, and I can’t be gone that long, even for you.”
“We could fly you over,” Dan said.
“I don’t fly.”
“Like ever?”
“Like ever.”
“Oh. Is it okay to ask why not?”
“My parents were killed in a plane crash when I was thirteen. I’ve never been on a plane, and I never will be.”
“I’m so sorry. That must’ve been awful.”
“Worst thing to ever happen to me until I lost my sweet husband far too soon.”
“Don’t worry about the wedding, Bertha,” Kara said. “You’ve been there for me my entire life, and if anyone understands your schedule during the season, it’s me. You’ll be with me in spirit.”
“I absolutely will be. Thank you for understanding.”
“I do understand. It was a big deal for you to come to Boston, and we appreciate it.”
“That was my pleasure, sweetheart. I needed to meet this man of yours!”
Back at the hotel, they walked Bertha to her door.
She kissed them both good night. “Thank you for the most wonderful evening.”
“It was our pleasure,” Dan said.
“Text me if you need anything,” Kara said as she stole one more hug from her grandmother.
“I’ll be fine.” Bertha took hold of Dan’s hand and looked up at him with the start of tears. “It does my heart good to know that you’ll take care of my girl when I’m gone.”
“You’re not going anywhere,” he said.
“How I wish that were true, but we both know better. Kara and I have shared a very special bond her whole life, and all that time, I’ve worried that I made a huge mistake by letting her make me her very best friend, knowing she’d have to live most of her life without me.
But I feel better knowing she’ll have you as her new best friend. ”
“I’ll never let her down.”
“I know you won’t, and that’ll make this old lady sleep better at night.”
They made breakfast plans, hugged her and waited until she was inside her room to walk to theirs next door.
Dan used the key card and held the door for Kara as she went in ahead of him.
“So that’s my Bertha.”
“She’s delightful.”
“I’m glad you think so.”
“Anyone would think so.”
“Matt didn’t really get my bond with her.”
“Matt’s a dipshit. This is a well-documented fact.”
Kara cracked up. “Tell me how you really feel?”
“I just did. He wasn’t worthy of you. Anyone who loves you should understand how special Bertha is to you and how much a part of you she is.”
“My own parents never understood why I preferred her to them.”
“Really? They didn’t?”
“Burn.”
“Don’t get me wrong. I like your parents. But I love Bertha.”
“I know. I could tell, and that makes me love you even more than I already did.”
He put his arms around her and held her close. “Is that right?”
“That is right.”
“How do you plan to demonstrate this extra love for me you’ve discovered?”
She began to unbutton his shirt.
He gave her a scandalized look. “Not with your grandmother right next door.”
“Shut up, Counselor.”
“I’m shutting up now.”