Chapter 1 Lindy #2
Kate were playing Boggle in the yellow cottage’s front room, she’d seen him, engrossed in a copy of The Human Condition, walk all the way down the stairs and to the kitchen, grab a box of Frosted Flakes out of the cupboard, fill a bowl, splash
milk over top, put everything away, grab a spoon, eat the bowl of cereal while standing at the counter, rinse the bowl at
the sink, and walk back upstairs again, without ever stopping reading.
She was certain he had never observed her in return.
Needing time to get her bearings now, Lindy gave a little toss of her waist-length blonde hair, which she’d taken to ironing
flat each morning and which, somewhere deep down, underneath all her typical fourteen-year-old-girl’s prosaic (as her mother
put it) insecurities, she knew was her best feature. (This despite the shock of her best friend’s older brother suddenly regarding
her as a real girl—could that be true? Or was she misinterpreting? But no, because already she imagined she could hear Kate:
Ewwww. For once, she decided not to care what Kate would say.)
Finally, she’d shrugged. “Whatever,” she’d said, though she hadn’t been able to hold back a smile.
“Hey, Mom!” Cody said, all six foot two of him bursting in through the yellow cottage’s front door. The youngest of Lindy
and David’s four children, Cody had recently turned twenty-one. He took after Lindy’s father physically, big and blond and
athletic, but while Lindy’s father had always been circumspect, Cody entered every room like a cheerful hurricane.
Lindy forgot the horrible cake, grinned at the sight of him. “Hey, sweetie!”
“Where’s Dad?” Cody gave Lindy a quick, warm hug, then was off for the kitchen. “What have we got to eat?”
“Check with Aunt Kate.” Kate had insisted that she and her five kids, who ranged in age from eight to eighteen, would take
over in the kitchen for the evening so Lindy could mingle. Kate’s whole family, including her husband, Matt, were in for the
party from their farm, which was inland just an hour. All summer long, all of them came and went as they pleased from The
Cove, though due to their work they didn’t usually spend long stretches. Kate raised goats and sold artisanal cheese—not at
all what Lindy would’ve predicted for her when they were young.
Now Lindy, overhearing Cody and his aunt and cousins greeting each other enthusiastically in the other room, frowned down
at her watch.
Nearly three o’clock.
David had called her at nine this morning and said he was on his way, so he should’ve been here by 1:30. Two, at the latest,
if there was traffic—which there no doubt was on a summer Saturday.
But three o’clock? Could there have been that much traffic?
Maybe he’d stopped somewhere. Even a meant-to-be-quick stop at the New Hampshire liquor store invariably led to him getting
lost in the wine selection for an hour.
She looked up to see Eli, who was making his typical quieter entrance in Cody’s wake. Two years older and four inches shorter
than his brother, Eli took after David: curly dark hair, thoughtful dark eyes, and very thin, the exact way David had been
when he was young. “Hey, sweetie,” Lindy said. “How was traffic?”
Eli hugged her awkwardly. “Not that bad.”
As they pulled apart, Lindy frowned again at her watch. “Then Dad should definitely be here. And where are your sisters?”
Her oldest, Hailey, had been assigned to pick up Eli’s twin, Emma, at the bus station in Portland.
“Em’s bus doesn’t get in till three,” Eli said. “About now.”
Last Lindy had heard, Emma had been scheduled to arrive in Portland at one. Today of all days, Lindy thought, Emma could’ve done the unpredictable thing of not changing her plans. “You mean they won’t get here till four thirty? The party starts at five!”
“She had to take the train from New York to Boston first, then wait for the bus.” Eli always defended his twin. It was sweet,
really. Predictable. Emma had always been the more troublesome of the pair, Eli the more inclined to follow the rules. Eli
liked to try to make everything make sense, even things that didn’t.
Emma liked things to be messy.
Lindy sighed. At least Emma and Eli had both been able to get the full two weeks surrounding the parties and wedding off,
Emma from her job as an assistant designer for a fashion line in New York, Eli from his research assistantship in Cambridge.
Both were planning to spend the whole time at The Cove, and so was Hailey. Cody would be traveling back and forth to Newport,
where he’d gotten his dream job as a lifeguard this summer.
Cody came back into the room, his mouth full of half a slider, the other half of which he held in his hand. “Dad probably
stopped off for a hike.”
“Those are for the party, Cody. And that would show poor judgment on your father’s part, which he is not known for, in general.”
Eli chuckled under his breath, as if to disagree. Lindy hadn’t seen her older son in three months, and now she remembered
he’d recently developed a way of making her feel like she wasn’t as smart as he was. Harvard could probably be blamed, but
she wasn’t going to stand for it. “Do not disrespect your father, Eli. Yes, he sometimes loses track of time, but he’s not
irresponsible.”
Eli smirked, seemingly okay with being corrected on this point. “I know, Mom.”
Cody swallowed his huge bite of sandwich. “But, Mom, you know Dad’s, like, constitutionally unable to drive all the way here
without stopping somewhere to ‘breathe in’ the Maine woods.” This was true. David, a runner when he was young, had injured
his knee in his mid-twenties. He could no longer run, but he went hiking at every opportunity and found the woods, especially
in Maine, irresistible.
Eli pounded his chest and held out his hand, an imitation of David’s favorite dramatic gesture. “ ‘Smell that salt air, kids!’ ”
Lindy stifled a smile at the spot-on mimicry and gave her best disapproving-mom shake of her head. “Boys, go to Innisfree,
get cleaned up, and say hi to your grandma and grandpa, then walk back. I need your help.”
“Sure, Mom.” Cody disappeared into the kitchen again, drawing more cheers from his cousins. Eli and Lindy barely had time
to exchange glances before Cody was back with another slider, already half eaten. “See you soon!” he called, banging out the
door. Eli, with another amused smile, shrugged, gave Lindy a little wave, and followed his brother.
Lindy looked at her watch again. Where was David, honestly?