Chapter 7
“There it is,” Slim Jackson said as Gansett Island came into view, and he experienced the usual feeling of homecoming after being away from his favorite place.
They’d spent a rare summer week off-island in Bryn Mawr to celebrate Erin’s parents on their anniversary, but it was good to be home. “You got this, babe?”
“Uh, I think so.”
“You’re ready. All those touch-and-go landings you did in Florida last winter were getting you ready for this.
” She’d piloted this entire flight, from takeoff in Philadelphia straight through to the approach to Gansett.
He was sitting in the right-side seat, acting as her copilot, not that she needed one.
His love was a natural with all the sensibilities of a seasoned pilot, and he’d never been prouder of any student than he was of her.
“Talk me through it, will you?”
“Nope.”
She took her eyes off the “road” long enough to glance at him in surprise. “Nope?”
“You don’t need my help. You know what you’re doing.”
“Don’t be silly. Of course, I need your help.”
“No, you don’t.” He crossed his arms to make his point. “Bring us home, sweetheart.”
“If it looks like we’re going to crash, do something, will you?”
Slim laughed at her sarcastic tone. He loved her sarcasm, her humor, her sweet face and every other thing about her.
She was it for him, and he’d never been happier than since she’d come into his life.
Teaching her to fly had been one of the greatest thrills he’d ever experienced, and knowing what she’d overcome to get to this point made the victory that much sweeter.
Out of the corner of his eye, he watched her go through the steps he’d helped her to memorize. She paid attention to detail, which was one of many things that made her an excellent pilot. He was about to remind her to call in to the tower when she activated the radio and took care of that.
Slim smiled, his chest bursting with pride as she lined up the final approach and brought them in for a smooth, perfect landing. “Hot damn! Look at you go!”
Her delighted laughter filled him with unreasonable joy. “I did it!”
“You did it. You’re ready to solo.”
“Hell, no, I am not.” She taxied them expertly to the spot on the tarmac where he always parked the plane and cut the engines. “That’s not happening.”
“Erin, honey, look at me.”
She turned to him, albeit reluctantly.
Slim took her chin and looked her in the eyes. “You are ready.”
“I don’t want to solo. I don’t want to be licensed. What I’ve already done is more than enough for me. It’s way more than I ever thought I’d ever do. Remember when I didn’t think I’d ever get on a plane again?”
“I remember,” he said, caressing her cheek. “And I’m so, so proud of how far you’ve come since then. I don’t think I’ve ever been prouder of anyone in my entire life. You just flew us from Philly to Gansett, Erin. I never touched the controls.”
“I know, Slim,” she said smugly. “I did do that.”
“So why not finish it up? Do the solo, get your license. Imagine how you’ll feel when you’re holding that piece of paper.”
“I don’t need that. This—what I just did, what I’ve been doing for months—it’s enough for me. I’ll never have the need to fly anyone anywhere like you do, and I don’t want to solo.”
“Because you’re afraid to?”
“Well, yeah, a little bit. Mostly, it’s because it wouldn’t be any fun if you weren’t along for the ride.
We both know I could do it if I had to, and that’s more than I ever expected to achieve when we started the lessons.
You not only taught me how to fly, you took the fear out of it for me.
That’s so, so huge, and I’ll always love you for that. ”
Slim leaned over to kiss her. He could never resist her, especially when she was telling him she loved him.
She placed her hand on his face. “You’re the only passenger I’ll ever have, so what’s the point of a license?”
“I think it would mean something to you to have it, even if you never use it.”
“It wouldn’t. I’m delighted to have come this far, to know I could do it if I wanted to, which I don’t. You understand that, don’t you?”
“I’m trying to. It’s something I want for you, but only if you do, too.”
“I’ve given this a lot of thought, and my conclusion is that this, what I just did, is enough. Can you live with that?”
“Of course I can. All I wanted was for you to overcome your fear of flying. That you’re also an outstanding pilot makes it that much better.”
“I had an outstanding instructor.” She kissed him again. “And now we need to get going because we have a party to get to.”
“Before we do that, hear me when I tell you that was a beautiful flight, I’m super proud of you, and I love you more than anything.”
Smiling, she said, “That’s better than any license could ever be, and besides, I already have the best license ever—the marriage license.”
“That’s true. Best license for sure.” He shifted his hand to her rounded abdomen. “How’s the Peanut?”
“Doing well, but sitting on Mommy’s bladder.”
“Let’s get going so you can stretch.”
They got out of the plane and worked together to tie it down before retrieving their bags from the back.
Slim took hold of her hand as they walked to the parking lot, stopping only so Erin could use the restroom.
“Best thing I ever did was pick you up on the side of the road that night,” he said as he often did.
“Stop saying it like I was a hooker or something!”
“Why stop now? It’s tradition. And holy shit, it’s hot on Gansett.”
“I was just going to say the same thing. The last time it was this hot, Jenny almost roasted to death in the lighthouse.”
“I hope the AC is working at Sarah and Charlie’s,” Slim said. “Or it’s gonna be a hot one.”
“How can it not be working?” Sarah asked Charlie. “It’s brand-new.”
“I’m working on it, sweetheart. Go do something else and try not to worry.”
“Right. Don’t worry about the AC not working on the hottest day of the year when we’ve got a hundred people coming.”
“What’s not working?” Sarah’s son John asked when he came into the kitchen wearing only a pair of shorts in deference to the heat. His blond hair was a mess, and his jaw was covered in scruff. The older he got, the more he resembled his eldest brother, Owen.
“The AC.”
“Oh damn. You need help, Charlie?”
“Only if you know how to fix an AC compressor.”
“I wish I did.” A second later, John called from the kitchen, “Uh, Mom? I don’t think it’s just the AC. The coffeemaker isn’t working either.”
“What?” Sarah left the utility room where Charlie was working on the AC and went into the kitchen. She stopped short when she noticed the power was off to all the appliances. “Charlie! We’ve lost power. That’s why the AC isn’t working. Did we trip a circuit breaker?”
“I’m checking them,” Charlie said.
Sarah’s cell phone rang, and she took a call from Owen. “Hi, honey. You won’t believe what’s going on over here.”
“Do you guys have power?”
“No, we just noticed it’s out. Why?”
“We’re out, too. We’re hearing the whole island is.”
The news hit Sarah like a punch to the gut. “Oh my God. I have a fridge full of food, no way to cook it and it’s hot as hell. This is a five-alarm housewarming disaster.”
Her youngest son, Jeff, walked into the kitchen, brown hair standing on end, face covered in stubble and, like his older brother, wearing only a pair of athletic shorts.
She loved seeing her boys a little disheveled, free to be themselves now that they were out from under the ruthless reign of their military officer father, who’d demanded their children always be “squared away.” Whatever that meant.
“What’s going on?” Jeff asked.
“The power’s out, and Mom’s melting down,” John said.
“Literally,” Sarah said, wiping sweat from her brow. “What’re we going to do?”
“Send the boys over to the Surf with Charlie’s truck,” Owen said. “We’ve got a couple of grills we can move to your house.”
“We need extra coolers and ice, too.”
“I’ll give you what I can spare.”
“Thank you, O. That’s great.” Sarah’s mind whirled with contingency plans. Hopefully, the power wouldn’t be out for long and their party wouldn’t be a complete disaster. “The boys will be there soon.”
“I’ll be over to help out in a bit.”
“Don’t worry about us if Laura needs you at the hotel.”
“We’re covered for the day so we could be free to enjoy the party. No worries.”
“Then I gratefully accept your help.”
“See you soon.”
Sarah went to plug her phone back into the charger before realizing there was no point. “Boys, your brother wants you to bring Charlie’s truck to the Surf to pick up a couple of extra grills, some coolers and ice. Can you do that for me?”
“Sure,” John said. “Can we use your grill to make coffee?”
“Do you know how to do that?” Sarah asked.
“Do it all the time when I’m camping.”
“Make it a double, bro,” Jeff said.
“Coming right up.”
While John went out to the deck to fire up the grill she and Charlie had bought for their new house on a trip to the mainland a week ago, Sarah turned to her youngest. “It’s a nice surprise to see you here.”
“Well, I was invited to the party,” he said with a grin that reminded her of Owen. Though Jeff had his father’s darker hair and eyes and Owen favored her, there was a hint of his eldest brother in him just the same.
“Of course you were, but I didn’t expect you or John to actually come.”
“We wanted to be here for you, to help you celebrate this awesome new house.”
“It is kind of awesome, isn’t it?” Sarah asked as she looked around at the open-concept contemporary with the sweeping ocean views. “We’ve been here two weeks, and I still can’t believe I actually live here.”
“You deserve this, Mom. You deserve it all. Enjoy every second of it.”
Sarah hugged him. “Thanks, sweetie. Tell me about you. What’s going on?”
“Nothing much, which is why it was a good time to come up for a visit.”
“Work is good?” Sarah asked as she made a mental list of what she needed to do before the party at two—and wondered how she’d do half of it without power.
“It’s a job. I didn’t suffer through college to wait tables, but there’s nothing happening with the job search. I’m about to give up on Florida and move up here.”
“Really? That’d be wonderful!”
“What would be wonderful?” Sarah’s mother, Adele, asked as she came in through the kitchen door. Having her parents living in the guest cottage on their property was the best part of the whole situation. They’d been thrilled to accept her and Charlie’s offer of a new home on Gansett Island.
“Jeff is thinking about moving up here,” Sarah said.
“That would be wonderful indeed,” Adele said, kissing her youngest grandchild on the cheek.
Jeff put his arm around his grandmother and gave her a squeeze. “It’s no fun in Florida since you guys moved home.”
When Sarah had still been trapped in a violent, abusive marriage, her parents had saved Jeff’s life by intervening when he became addicted to drugs.
He continued to have a tight bond with his grandparents, and Sarah would be forever grateful to them for stepping up for her son when she’d been locked in a hellish marriage.
Back then, her parents and children had kept things from her that would’ve made her nightmare even worse than it already was.
“We do bring the fun wherever we go,” Adele said. “I came over to see if you guys have power.”
“Nope,” Jeff said, “and Mom is freaking out.”
She playfully bopped Jeff on the head. “You would be, too, if you had a hundred friends and family coming in a few short hours.”
“We’ll make it happen, Mom,” John said when he came in from the deck with two mugs of coffee. He handed one of them to Jeff. “Don’t worry.”
“What?” Sarah said. “Me worry?”
“This happened once during the height of the season.” Adele and her husband, Russ, had owned and operated the Sand & Surf Hotel for more than fifty years. “I think it was 1973 or 74. We were without power for days, but we made do. Somehow.”
“Let’s hope that doesn’t happen this time,” Sarah said.
“Did they ever figure out what happened?” John asked his grandmother.
“It was hot like it is now, and the demand for AC overwhelmed the system.”
“It must’ve been upgraded since then,” Jeff said. “Right?”
“I can’t recall hearing that it was upgraded,” Adele said.
“That’s not good news,” Sarah said, her spirits plummeting. They’d so looked forward to this day and to celebrating with their friends and family. She and Charlie had quietly gotten married over Memorial Day Weekend, so this day was also a celebration of their marriage.
A few minutes later, her daughter Julia came in with her boyfriend, Deacon Taylor, bringing coolers of ice from the Wayfarer. “They closed down for the day due to the power outage,” Julia said, “so Nikki sent the ice over. Where do you want it?”
Shane and Katie were right behind them, rolling their grill through the kitchen to the back deck. “Heard you needed grills,” Katie said, kissing her mom.
While Katie was blonde, her fraternal twin, Julia, had dark hair.
They had fallen for handsome, wonderful men who were nothing like the father they’d grown up with.
Sarah gave thanks every day for Charlie, Laura, Shane and Deacon, and hoped her younger four children would eventually find their perfect mates, too.
Charlie appeared next to Sarah, who stood at the massive island in the middle of her kitchen and watched with amazement as her kids stepped up for her.
But even their help couldn’t quite stem the full-on panic she felt brewing at the thought of entertaining a hundred people with no power.
“Whatever you’re thinking, knock it off.
We’ve got this. Don’t worry about a thing. ”
“How do you always know what to say to me?”
“I can tell by the way your lips are all tight that you’re unhappy. I don’t like when you’re unhappy.”
And that, right there, was the primary difference between her blissful second marriage and the nightmare first one. Charlie loved her and wanted only the best for her and the ones she loved.
He massaged her shoulders with strong hands that touched her only with love and gentleness. “Relax, babe. It’s all gonna be fine. Look at them.” He tilted his chin to include her kids, their partners, her mother. “Steph and the rest of them will be here in a bit. What else matters?”
“Nothing,” Sarah said, relaxing into his loving embrace. “Well, except food poisoning. That matters.”
Charlie’s bark of laughter made her smile. “We won’t let that happen.”