2. Kate
From the deck of the Summer House, Kate watched a man in a black T-shirt unscrew the last bolt at the base of the wedding arch, impressed that the set company they’d hired really did work on Sunday morning.
The arch came down in two pieces—the curve of white flowers and lace, then the wooden structure itself. Another man in a baseball cap caught the entire thing before it hit the sand, and a woman working with him hooted loudly, the sound of their success drifting up over the dunes.
Closer to the house, two more men rolled up the dance floor in long pale strips. The lanterns were already gone, and the boardwalk aisle runner had been bagged and packed away.
Twelve hours ago, Tessa had floated down that boardwalk on the arm of a son she’d met only a few months earlier. Kate’s twin sister had glowed from dawn to the last dance, the happiest she’d ever been.
And now, a crew packed it all away…like it never happened.
Sometimes, Kate mused, it seemed like nothing ever stayed permanent. She’d battled that feeling when she’d gotten divorced, and again after Dad died, fighting it by digging her heels in at the chemistry lab at Cornell and holding on with a death grip.
Then the lab was yanked away, and the sense of impermanence and pending loss rose up and choked her again. At least she had the budding romance with Eli, a man who defined permanence.
And then…they faced the chasm of faith that all but assured this relationship was doomed.
Doomed.
Goodness, she was bleak. To shake off the feeling, she gazed into the Destin blue sky, glorious and clear and achingly perfect. It was nearly impossible to imagine a hurricane brewing in these same waters. Impossible to feel…doomed.
Although, on his way out, Eli warned her that the minute the wedding décor was down, he’d be installing hurricane shutters on the first floor, which would be the most vulnerable to a storm surge. He seemed calm, but his focus had moved to getting their world ready for the worst.
And hers had moved to the challenge she’d blithely accepted while in his arms last evening.
Prove it wasn’t real. Prove that God and Jesus and miracles and the Bible were just fairy tales and feel-good stories. That was the easy part. But what happened after she did that? Would she and Eli be—
Her thoughts stopped at the sound of the front door opening and her daughter’s voice floating in. Was Emma…singing?
Yes, indeed she was. After just one church service, which she’d popped out of bed to attend with Eli. Of course, Kate hid her dismay, watching Emma don a cotton maxi and a bit of makeup for her visit to church.
She’d agreed that Emma should go and see the friends she’d made when Eli took her to meet his church’s youth group. She’d even given her a hug and told her to have fun—then they both laughed because who went to church to have fun?
Well, from the sound of her seventeen-year-old’s off-key singing, Emma did.
“Mom!” She flew out the sliders to the deck, the pale blue sundress fluttering around her ankles. “You should have come.”
Kate wasn’t even sure how to react to that. “Oh? You enjoyed it.”
“So much. It’s not like any…mass or fancy service. The place looks like a high school auditorium and there’s no choir, but a cool band with two electric guitars, keyboards, drums, and this woman who sang like a bird. Chills, I tell you.”
“Did you—”
“Oh, and the lady next to me cried! Not bawling, but she kept wiping her eyes and I tell you, I get it. The pastor—super chill old guy. Well, not old. Your age. Anyway, he did this whole talk on forgiveness. Why it matters and how it changes you, not the person you forgive.” She dropped onto the sofa with a sigh.
“It really made me think about the volleyball team and how they need to be forgiven.”
The volleyball team that kicked her off the roster because she made a dumb mistake by sending compromising pictures to a guy?
“And Theo Hewitt deserves forgiveness.”
The guy who got the pictures and shared them?
Kate shot forward. “Why?” she demanded. “He should be sued and your teammates should be ashamed.”
Her smile faded. “But I’m just carrying around hate for them and that’s ruining me, not them. Jesus says—”
Kate held up her hand, a little embarrassed by her own reaction. “I get it, Emma. And that’s good and healthy. It’s just…a lot for me.”
Emma searched Kate’s face for a moment, then glanced over her shoulder as if expecting someone else.
“Eli told me you said you’d…look into it. Are you? Or were you just saying that to him?”
What she’d agreed to last night at the wedding was more of a dare in her eyes. He challenged her to disprove the “truth” of Christianity. At the time, it seemed like a sensible and science-based way to mend their relationship, which was currently broken by their polar-opposite positions on faith.
Looking at the glow in her daughter’s eyes, she realized with a thud that such investigating might do some damage to this budding little follower of God. But Emma would thank her someday…wouldn’t she?
Kate wasn’t sure anymore. In fact, she was downright confused.
“I did say I’d keep an open mind and do some basic research.”
“Way to go, Mom. I really think you should come to church. It’s not what you think.
Oh, I almost forgot!” She bounced up again, wired with enthusiasm.
“Amanda and Riley are coming to our beach and setting up a volleyball net. They’re sophomores and want to try out for varsity, so I’m going to coach them. ”
Wait…what? “Who are Amanda and Riley?”
“Girls from my youth group. They don’t live far from here.”
Her youth group?
“Actually, it was Amanda’s mom next to me in tears.” She gave a little chuckle. “Such a sweetie. Anyway, they aren’t staying or anything, just an hour of practice. Right here on the beach. I better go change.”
She blew a kiss and disappeared in a blur of joy, leaving Kate to sit in sudden silence with a slack jaw and a worried heart.
“She liked it.” Eli stepped out on the deck, holding a coffee cup that he raised toward her. “Can I get you one?”
She shook her head, staring at the tall, salt-and-pepper-haired man with his close-cropped beard and powder blue eyes.
He wore a short-sleeve button-down shirt and khakis, exactly as he frequently dressed for work as an architect, but there was something different about him this morning.
He didn’t have his usual peaceful expression—especially since he’d just been to church.
“Yes, apparently, she did like it,” Kate replied, keeping everything neutral. “Did you?”
“Oh, yeah, it’s a great church but…” He came out and tipped his head to the empty sofa seat next to her.
“Of course, sit down.” She scooched over. “What’s wrong?”
Eli closed his eyes for a second and sipped the coffee, then dropped his head back. “Where’s Jonah?”
The non sequitur threw her. “I’m not sure. He went somewhere with Atlas. Something about taking him to the park. I guess it’s his only day off. Vivien left to go to Peter’s house and I haven’t seen Meredith. Maybe she went with Jonah? Why?”
“I need him. We have so much to do to get ready for a hurricane,” he said.
“Have you counted the windows in this house? Yes, we have protection of the first floor, and thank God I bought two generators, but I wasn’t expecting a storm this big on our first hurricane season.
Foolish on my part. The Gulf has been hit a lot lately, and it makes sense that it’s our turn. ”
“I’m here to help.”
“I need Jonah’s muscles.”
She slid him a look. “He’s very busy with school and the new job at the restaurant.”
“I know, but these are extenuating circumstances.”
For a moment, she didn’t respond, searching his face and trying to figure out this side of Eli she’d yet to see. Where was his level-headedness and that nearly preternatural ability to not let life cause anxiety?
“I’m sorry,” he whispered, catching her gaze. “I am so distracted. Yes, your daughter loved her first church service. She’s made friends and loved the message and sang ‘In Christ Alone’ all the way home.”
She shifted, a little uncomfortable with the report. Had he forgotten who and what she was? Was he that distracted?
“But I didn’t sing,” he added, not in tune with her discomfort. “I just thought about roofs and generators and sandbags. The model at Lakeside is so vulnerable, and so’s the entire construction site. We have to evacuate, have a plan, prepare for the worst, and hope for the best.”
She watched him go through his litany, his blue eyes narrowing, the faint line between his brows deepening.
“I hate to add to your worry list,” she said, “but my mother sort of casually mentioned she is not going back to Ithaca for this storm. Doesn’t want to miss a hurricane.”
“She’s always up for an adventure,” he said. “Maggie’s staying, too, even though Crista, Anthony, and Nolie are headed up to Atlanta. But they are taking the dog, so that’s one less soul to worry about.”
“And you’re not worried about Maggie and my mom? They’re darn near eighty.”
“We won’t leave them here,” he assured her. “Peter’s working the sheriff’s office to find an inland rental, maybe in Freeport or Rock Hill. They’ll come with us.”
They sat for a few seconds, both of them looking at the beach. Out beyond the cleanup crew, two boys were dragging a kayak toward the surf. The Gulf was glass.
“Everyone will be safe,” Eli said quietly, as much to himself as to her. “I promise that.”
She put a hand on his arm, feeling the warm sun on his skin and the strength of the muscles underneath. “I know that,” she said quietly.
She’d seen him in action enough to know he was protective down to his last strand of DNA, and a natural leader.
“Can I change the subject?” she asked after a beat.
“Please.”
“I’ve been thinking about your challenge.”
He regarded her with a skeptical lift of his brows. “Don’t tell me. You changed your mind, think it is ridiculous, and you and Emma are heading off tomorrow to avoid the storm?”