Chapter 21
Fourth of July. New England’s favorite summer holiday.
Fireworks and cookouts, parades and parties.
Everyone clad in red, white, and blue. It had been years since I fully enjoyed one.
It was so often an arbitrary deadline by which clients wanted their deals to sign or close.
So, I usually spent the days leading up to the Fourth working around the clock.
This year was different. I had plans I was looking forward to.
I’d gotten full nights of sleep the last few days.
I snuck over to the gym before Mimi woke up.
I showered, dried my hair, lathered a base layer of sunscreen on my unusually sun-kissed skin, and put on a blue and white patterned dress that hit me at mid-thigh (but was designed to avoid wardrobe malfunctions with built-in shorts underneath).
I spent some extra time on my makeup and added white sneakers and pearl jewelry.
“Don’t you look beautiful,” Mimi said when I walked in the kitchen.
I twirled. “Thanks!” I felt good, too. “Alright, Mimi, chop chop, gotta get ready for Luke’s.”
She took a big gulp of her coffee and popped out of her kitchen chair, surprisingly spry for an eighty-three-year-old. “I wish I could still wear dresses like that,” she grumbled as she climbed the stairs.
“You’ll look fabulous anyway, Mims!”
The plan for today had worked out better than expected.
Luke was having a few friends over to join him, Luna, and his parents for a lunch barbecue before the parade at 4:00 p.m. and had invited Mimi and me.
Max and his parents were planning to take the boat out before the parade to avoid the chaos of downtown.
Which meant I could go to both. I’d bring Mimi to her friend’s house near the parade route before joining Max.
“Val!” Luna jogged over and hugged me around the waist when we arrived in their backyard.
Then she ran back to where she was playing a game with Clara, her new tennis partner.
The sun beat down, but gratefully, the trees provided some shade to the yard and a retractable gray awning covered the deck. I wondered if Luna had sunscreen on.
I scanned the yard for Luke but didn’t see him.
An older couple stood on the side of the yard, watching the girls play and chatting with Clara’s mom.
Luke’s parents. An attractive, younger couple pulled canned drinks out of a cooler on the deck.
Mimi took a seat in the shade, and I told her I’d grab her a drink before slipping in through the slider.
When Luke saw me, a smile filled his whole face.
My stomach somersaulted. He’d trimmed the beard, so I could just make out his one dimple.
He was wearing red shorts, those impossibly weathered boat shoes, and a white golf shirt with blue and red stars on it.
A half-drunk Corona bottle sat on the counter next to the tray of hummus, carrots, and pita chips he was creating. Relaxation wafted off of him.
“Hey, you made it!”
“We did. Thanks for inviting us.”
“Of course. Do you want something to drink? I grabbed another bottle of that rosé.”
I bit down on the smile tugging at my cheeks.
“What?” he asked.
“It’s just nice that you keep getting it for me.”
He shrugged. “Or there’s lemonades and iced teas and stuff in the coolers outside if you aren’t trying to get after it yet.”
I leaned my hip against the counter. “It’s the biggest day-drinking day of the year, so who am I to resist?”
He grinned and pulled the bottle out of the fridge. I poured two glasses: one for me, one for Mimi. I took a sip and said without thinking, “Does, um—Nevermind.”
“Tell me.” Luke looked up from the tray where he’d added some cucumber spears.
I pursed my lips. Will he be insulted if I ask?
He stared at me expectantly.
“Does Luna have sunscreen on?”
His mouth quirked up in the corner. “Yes, covered head to toe.”
“I figured. I’m sorry.”
“Don’t be. The times I’ve forgotten and she’s gotten burned, I felt so bad. She’s fairer than I am, so I have to be super aware of it.”
He had a way of doing that: never making me feel bad for saying what I was thinking, even when I thought it might not come out right or land well.
He returned the wine bottle to the fridge. Then he held up his finger, opened it again, and removed a plastic bag with half a banana in it, still in the peel, hopelessly browned. My cheeks flamed.
“Why do I always find half bananas in the fridge in plastic bags? Does Luna not want the other half or something?”
“Oh, um, that’s me. I don’t think I can eat a whole banana,” I said as shame continued to rise to the surface of my skin. It was ridiculous that I regularly tried to save the other half. This one was from several days ago.
“You can’t eat a whole banana?” Luke asked, dark eyebrows raised, a smirk spreading over his face.
“Yeah, I don’t know. I always think I want one, but then I get sick of it before I can finish it. Maybe I just don’t really like bananas?” I raised both my palms up, like I still wasn’t sure.
He laughed, full-bellied, supporting himself on the counter. When he stopped he shook his head, smiling at me with a glimmer in his eyes.
I shrugged sheepishly.
“Sorry, that’s…hilarious. What a quirk. And I live with an eight-year-old. I think you don’t like bananas, Val. Do we need to expose you to some other fruits?”
Now it was my turn to laugh. “You’re probably right.”
“There’s apples, grapes, all sorts of berries…”
He thinks he’s so funny.
I let him tease me, shaking my head and fighting my smile. Then I threw a carrot at him. He caught it in one hand and popped it into his mouth, and my smile broke free.
When I walked back out to the deck, Luke was right behind me, still smirking.
“Mimi, Luke. Luke, Mimi,” I said as I set down her glass.
“Great to meet you.” Luke took her hand gently. “Thank you for getting Val over to the island and for hanging out with my kid the past few weeks. Luna has told me your flower garden is much better than mine and we should try and make ours look like yours.”
Mimi laughed, clutching her chest. “Oh, of course. Luna is just a delight. And I am very proud of those flowers, so that means a lot to me.”
Luke turned to me. “Want to meet my parents?”
I looked at Mimi, and she waved me off, content to relax on the deck. Knowing her, she’d have some new friends by the time I returned.
Luke led me out to the yard to make introductions to his parents, Alex and Elena. His father’s handshake was firm; his mother’s smile was welcoming.
“I’m so happy to meet you, Val,” his mother said. “Luna has said some wonderful things. She seems to be really enjoying spending time with you this summer.”
“It’s been great for me, too. I feel like I’m living the best summer ever vicariously through her.”
“The two of them rave about the summers here,” his dad chimed in. “I find it to be a tad crowded, but I can see the appeal.”
Luke shook his head slightly when he could tell his parents weren’t looking, his subtle grin all but hidden under his beard.
“Summers on the Vineyard are the best,” I said.
I joined Mimi on the deck a few minutes later, unsurprised to find her chatting away with the couple I noticed by the coolers earlier.
“Val!” Mimi’s smile reached the green eyes I inherited from her.
It was always the same, whether she saw me a few minutes ago, or if it had been months: like my presence made her whole day.
“My new friends Jeremiah and Francesca were just about to tell me all about their wedding at the Martha’s Vineyard Museum. ”
Jeremiah was Luke’s close friend from college and second in command at Karas Construction. Luke had mentioned him several times, but this was my first time meeting him in person.
“The one on the hill in Vineyard Haven?” I asked them as I took a seat.
Francesca nodded.
“Wow, that must have been spectacular. I’m Val, by the way.” I reached my hand across the table.
“Great to meet you. Luke and Luna have told us all about you. All good things.” Jeremiah smirked and draped his arm around the back of Francesca’s chair.
My stomach flipped over. What did they say?
“Did you do a tent on the lawn?” Mimi asked.
“Oh, yes. The white tent on the lawn, live band, views of the harbor below, blue and white flowers everywhere.” Francesca turned and grinned coyly at her husband.
“She knows how I feel about the flower budget. Highway robbery.” He lifted his dark brows at Mimi and me and shook his head.
“They make the whole event, though,” I said.
Mimi nodded emphatically.
“Exactly, Val! That’s what I keep telling him.” When Francesca looked at her husband again her eyes shone with victory.
He shook his head again, smiling affectionately. He was outnumbered, but he didn’t seem to mind it.
“I loved planning it so much, I quit my high-stress start-up job and started my own event planning business,” Francesca added.
Wow, good for her. Pangs of both envy and admiration rattled inside me as she explained how the start-up grind was not for her, but she loved being her own boss, putting together beautiful events on the island after she moved here to be with Jeremiah.
While we chatted, Luke turned on the grill, refusing our offers to help until everything was almost done. Luna’s friend Clara and her mother left before we ate, but we still had to push two patio tables together for the rest of us.
Luna, Mimi, and I made our plates of burgers and chips and salad first.
“Why do we celebrate July Fourth?” Luna asked after we sat with our food.
Mimi nodded in my direction, lobbing the question to me.