The Seaside Sisters

Chapter 23

“Where are you off to? You look great. Love the shoes,” Hannah said. Aunt Maddie was in a gorgeous ocean-blue sweater and flowing ivory linen pants. Her shoes were new ones that she’d shown off to Hannah the week before. They were pretty gel slides from the boutique she loved on Main Street.

“Thanks, honey. I’m meeting some friends for dinner in Hyannis. Have fun at your cookout.”

Aunt Maddie left and Hannah checked the time—it was a quarter past five. Time to get a move on. She’d already showered and dried her hair, and now she just had to decide what to wear. She opened her closet and stared at her options, willing something to jump out at her. The cookout was in a backyard so she knew it was pretty casual. The temperature this time of year dropped down in the evenings. It was warm now, still in the high sixties, but she might need a jacket later. She tried on a few pairs of jeans and different tops and finally settled on dark jeans, a white tank top, and a rosy-pink V-neck sweater layered over it. She had treated herself to a pedicure earlier in the week so she chose a pair of comfortable open-toed sandals that would show off her polish.

Hannah didn’t usually wear much makeup during the day but since it was a party, she added some bronzer, mascara, curled her eyelashes, and added blush and a swipe of her favorite glossy lipstick in a peachy-pink shade. She ran a curling iron through her hair to add a few loose waves and some shine.

At twenty to six she headed to her sister’s house, and fifteen minutes later, pulled into her driveway. Before she could turn off the engine, Sara came out the front door and a few seconds later climbed into the passenger side.

Hannah laughed. “I would have come in to get you.”

“No need. I heard the car and I was ready so I just came out. If you’d come in, we would have lost time saying hello to everyone. They just saw you, so it’s all good.”

“Good point. How’s Tom?”

“He’s fine. He’s in his office eating leftover pasta and drinking a beer. I ordered pizza for the kids, so everyone is set.”

“All right. Let’s go, then.”

“Are we picking up Natalie?”

“She’s meeting us there. She lives right near Caitlin’s boyfriend’s house, so I think she was going to walk over.”

“You said there’s going to be a band there. Is it someone she knows?”

“It is. Her boyfriend’s best friend, Tim, plays in a band. It’s a side thing for them as they all have full-time jobs and just do it for fun. Caitlin said her boyfriend, Jason, used to play with them, too. He quit years ago when he took over his father’s plumbing business and didn’t have time for it anymore. She said they usually make him come up and sing at least one or two songs, though.”

“That sounds fun,” Sara said.

It didn’t take long to get to the address Natalie had given her. Jason’s house was a modest Cape with a huge backyard, perfect for an outside gathering. It was at the end of a cul-de-sac and there were already cars parked all along the side of the road. Hannah found a spot and parked. Sara had a bottle of chardonnay and Hannah had brought a tray of brownies that she’d made from a boxed mix that morning.

They knocked on the front door and a moment later, Caitlin opened it and welcomed them. “I’m so glad you guys came. Come on in.” Hannah handed her the brownies. “Oh, these look so good. Thank you.” She glanced at the bottle of wine Sara was holding. “There are wine openers in the kitchen if you want to open that or there might already be some wines open. Help yourself to whatever you want. Jason is cooking burgers and hot dogs and all the food is on the back deck. I’ll set the brownies there.”

Caitlin showed them where the kitchen and wine opener was, then headed to the back deck with the brownies. Sara opened the bottle of wine while Hannah found plastic cups for them to use. They took their glasses of wine and headed to the back deck and the yard where everyone was gathered.

Natalie was there, sipping a canned wine spritzer. She waved when she saw them and they walked over to her.

Hannah introduced Natalie to her sister. “I’m glad you could get out tonight. This should be fun,” Natalie said.

“Thanks. I haven’t been to a party like this in a very long time, other than stuff with the kids. I love them dearly, but it’s nice to get out with just Hannah for a change to an all-adult party,” Sara admitted.

“Do you know everyone here?” Hannah asked. She didn’t recognize anyone other than Natalie and Caitlin.

“I don’t know many people here yet, but there are more coming. It’s early still. Have you met Jason, Caitlin’s boyfriend?”

“No, she said he was cooking on the grill. Is that him?” Hannah glanced toward the deck where a dark-haired man was putting hot dog buns on the grill. Caitlin was nowhere in sight.

“Yes. I think Caitlin went to meet more people at the front door. I’ll introduce you.” She led them over to the grill and introduced them to Jason.

“Great to meet you both. Thanks for coming.” They chatted for a minute and then Jason turned his attention back to his cooking and added cheese to the burgers.

“Let’s move out of the way,” Natalie said. They went to the corner of the deck, which was huge and wrapped around the side of the house. They could see everything from this spot and kept an eye on people coming and going as they sipped their drinks. After a little while, Jason hollered for people to come grab food. He’d piled a platter full of burgers and hot dogs. There were also bowls of potato and pasta salad, baked beans, and a creamy broccoli salad with bacon bits.

They took a little of everything and headed down to the backyard where there were several picnic tables and additional folding tables and chairs set up. Hannah could also see where the band was set up to play, in the middle of the backyard. Extension cords ran to the deck for power and all the equipment was there and ready to go. Hannah guessed they’d set it all up earlier so they could enjoy the party first, then just go and play when everyone was ready for some music.

By the time they finished eating, Hannah estimated that the crowd had grown to well over a hundred people. Out of the corner of her eye, she noticed Spencer walk onto the back deck and help himself to a burger. Natalie spotted him, too, and waved him over. He was with a friend, Chip, who Hannah vaguely recognized. He’d gone to school with them, too.

Spencer introduced Chip to everyone. “Do you remember Hannah from high school, and her sister, Sara?”

“Sure, I remember you. Nice to see you both.” Chip had wavy red hair and a face full of freckles. He also had an easy smile and Hannah remembered that he’d been right up there with Spencer as one of the top students.

“Chip is a doctor at Cape Cod Hospital,” Spencer said proudly.

“That’s so interesting,” Sara said. “What kind of doctor are you?”

“I’m in the ER.”

“Is that as crazy as all the TV shows make it seem?” Hannah asked.

He laughed. “It’s actually crazier. We see all kinds of things you’d never imagine in the ER. Never a dull moment.”

Chip entertained them with a few patient stories and Hannah paid close attention. She never knew what might spark a story idea or end up in a book. Her sister often laughed when she read Hannah’s stories and recognized things that had happened or little bits of conversation they’d both overheard. Without realizing it, Hannah had given the heroine of her recent book a navy BMW SUV just like the one her sister drove. Sara had teased her about that. Hannah promised never to use anything too personal without first running it by her. She didn’t like to model her characters too closely after real people. They were all just bits and pieces of lots of people and ideas of people she imagined, and of course there was often a little of herself in some of her characters, too.

“I’m going to head in for a refill, can I get anything for anyone?” Natalie offered as she stood to head inside. Everyone was ready for more, so Hannah went with her to help her carry the drinks out.

Caitlin was in the kitchen talking to someone and she smiled when she saw them. When they drew closer, Hannah saw that it was Niall Peterson, the author. “Your ears must be ringing. We were just talking about you,” Caitlin said. “I was telling Niall that we have another author here and that you come into the cafe almost every day to write.”

“Nice to see you again,” Hannah said.

“I stopped into the cafe this morning before the signing and Caitlin invited me. I do a lot of writing in coffee shops, too. There are a bunch of great places near where I live in the East Village.”

“Do you go to the Lazy Llama?” Hannah asked. It was a coffee shop she’d ventured into one afternoon after a meeting with her editor.

“You know the Llama? It’s one of my regular spots. I like the Coffee Project and Mud Spot, too. Do you live in the city?”

She nodded. “In Brooklyn. I’m here for the summer though. Grew up in Chatham.”

“Best of both worlds. My parents bought a place here a few years ago and it’s great. It’s nice to get out of the city in the summer. I’m here till the fall, too. Though I might go back once or twice before then. It’s nice that we get to do this from anywhere.”

“It really is. I love Brooklyn. I’ve lived in the city for close to ten years, but I love coming home to the Cape, too.”

Niall smiled and Hannah noticed a dimple in his left cheek. His hair was sandy blond and his eyes were greenish gray. When he smiled his whole face lit up and he was even more attractive. He was average height and on the lean side. She noticed Natalie glancing their way as she poured the drinks. Two women came over to Niall at that point and told them how much they loved his books. Hannah took that as her cue to go.

“It was nice talking with you,” she said as Natalie handed her two cups of wine to carry.

“I’ll catch up with you later,” Niall said.

She followed Natalie outside. “Was there a spark there? You two seem to have a lot in common,” Natalie said.

“Oh, I don’t know. He’s easy to talk to, though. We have the writing in common.”

“That’s a good start,” Natalie said.

Hannah handed Sara a cup of wine and sat back down. Natalie sat next to Chip and had a medical question for him. That left Spencer sitting next to Hannah. He glanced at Chip and Natalie and looked amused. “It happens every time we go somewhere,” he said.

“What does?”

“People have medical questions for Chip. He can’t get away from it. He says he doesn’t mind though.”

“He doesn’t look like he minds.” Natalie and Chip were laughing about something.

Spencer smiled. “Not at all.”

“Do you know many people here?” Hannah was curious since Spencer had returned to Chatham years ago.

He nodded. “Quite a few. I know Caitlin’s boyfriend, Jason. We play on a winter hockey league together. And I know Tim through him, and his girlfriend, Julia. I recognized a few other faces, too. There’s always a big crowd when word gets out that their band is playing.”

“It looks like they are getting ready to play now.” Hannah looked toward the area where the band had all their equipment set up. The guys were over there, checking to make sure everything was ready to go.

Sara and Natalie were talking and laughing about something. Hannah was glad that her sister seemed to be having a good time. She really needed to get out more. Though they talked often, Hannah had always just thought that Sara was busy with the kids and content with being a stay-at-home mom. She didn’t realize until she came back to Chatham and saw her more often how things really were with her sister and her marriage. From what Hannah could see it looked unbalanced. Everything seemed to revolve around Tom and what he wanted and needed.

Sara had mentioned that he wasn’t impressed with her job at the bookshop. He didn’t seem to understand how important it was to her sister to be doing something of value outside the house. Something that would fill her well. She had loved working in the library. And it seemed like the job at the bookshop was working out really well. Hannah was happy for her. She just hoped that things might get a little better for her sister at home.

The band started to play and everyone stopped talking to listen. Hannah hadn’t heard them play before and she was impressed by how good they were. They played a good mix of music, from popular current hits, both rock and some country, and older classic tunes. And they took requests.

“If they know the song, they’ll try to play it,” Spencer said. “What do you think of them?”

“I think they’re great.”

They played for about twenty minutes and then took a beverage break to refill their glasses and chat with friends. One of the guys stopped by the table to say hello to Spencer. He introduced everyone. “To those who don’t know, this is Tim.”

“You guys are great,” Hannah said.

“Hannah likes Pearl Jam,” Spencer said. “Can you guys do ‘Black’ or ‘Just Breathe,’ maybe?”

Hannah laughed. “I do like Pearl Jam, but not as much as Spencer does!”

Tim grinned. “I know. Yeah, we can probably do one of those tunes for you.”

A pretty woman with wavy brown hair and turquoise tips walked over and wrapped her arms around Tim. He leaned in and gave her a kiss and then introduced her. “This is my girlfriend, Julia.”

“You’re Alison’s daughter, right?” Sara asked.

Julia nodded. “I am.”

“She mentioned you and your jewelry shop to me. I just started working at the bookshop a few weeks ago.”

“Oh! Nice to meet you. You have four boys, I think my mom said?”

Sara laughed. “Yes. They keep me on my toes.”

“I’ll pop in and say hi. I usually make a coffee run midafternoon and spend most of that time chitchatting with Caitlin.” She looked at Hannah as if she was trying to place her. “You look so familiar.”

Hannah smiled. “I’m usually in the coffee shop when you come in every afternoon. I sit in the corner with my laptop trying to get some writing done.”

“That’s it!”

“I’m going to head inside and grab a beer and another burger before we go back on. Did you eat yet?” Tim asked Julia.

“No, I just got here about ten minutes ago. And I’m starving. I’ll go with you.” She turned back to Hannah and Sara. “It was nice meeting you both.”

“Her hair is so pretty,” Sara said. “My boys would tease me no end if I colored some of my hair blue.”

“Hannah could do it. I usually see colors like that on artsy types,” Spencer said. She could tell by the way he said it that he was teasing.

“Maybe I will one day. You never know. You’re right. I have a few author friends that have pink, purple, or blue hair. It’s a thing. And hers is gorgeous.”

Spencer looked taken aback. “Would you really? I was just kidding. Your hair is too pretty to do that.” He spoke quickly and then seemed to wonder if he’d said the wrong thing. “I mean if you want to do that, you could, you should. If you really want to.”

Hannah laughed. “I’m not dying to color my hair. Maybe someday I’ll try it though. If I could get it to look as good as Julia’s.”

“Hannah, I bet it would look amazing,” Natalie said.

“I think the band is about to start again.” Spencer changed the subject. He was obviously over the hair talk. Hannah was amused. She couldn’t picture straitlaced Spencer ever dating someone with pink or blue hair. Though she couldn’t really imagine she’d ever be daring enough to make such a dramatic change to her hair. She was artsy, but when it came to hair and clothing she tended more toward the Cape Cod preppy look or Lilly Pulitzer.

Hannah looked around. She hadn’t seen Niall since they’d spoken with him inside. She wondered if he’d already left. But then she saw him on the deck, talking to a girl with pink hair, and she smiled. Niall probably had a few friends with hair like that, too.

The band started to play again and they called Jason up to sing a song. “We had a request for Pearl Jam, so we thought maybe we could get Jason to do this one,” Tim said.

Caitlin and Jason were sitting at the picnic table next to theirs and she gave him an encouraging push to get up there. Jason walked up to the microphone and a moment later the first note of the song “Just Breathe” began to play. It was one of Hannah’s favorites, a soft, slow song about slowing down to enjoy life. Jason had a great voice. Full and rich. He was just as good as the other guys in the band, maybe even better.

When the song was almost over, Hannah leaned over and whispered to Spencer, “He’s so good. Too bad he doesn’t play with the band more.”

“Yeah. He could have gone professional with it maybe if he’d taken it seriously. But it was never his focus. Jason had a good job in finance before his father got sick and he took over the family business. He loves it though. He never liked working in the city, either. He likes being out and about, working with his hands.”

“That’s good. I suppose lots of people like to sing or to write. Most just do it for fun, not as a career.”

“You’d have to really love it. They travel a ton and work nights and weekends. I’d hate that schedule,” Spencer said.

Hannah laughed. “That’s a good point. I like having nights and weekends free. Though I often work on weekends, too. But I don’t have to and I can work around what I want to do.”

When the band finished their second set, Hannah went inside to use the restroom. On her way back to the table, Niall saw her and waved her over. He was still in his spot on the deck, but the girl with the pink hair was gone and he was alone.

“Are you having fun?” he asked.

“Yes. It’s a great night. I’m loving the band.”

“They are good. Really good. You mentioned that you’re from Chatham, right?”

She nodded. “I grew up here. I moved to Brooklyn when I graduated from college. I still get back when I can, mostly in the summer. My sister is still here and…” She’d been about to say that her mother was there, too. She sighed. “My mother was here. She passed a few months ago.”

“Oh, I’m sorry to hear that. Were you very close?”

“Yes. She was young, too. Lung cancer. The only good thing is that it went fast, I suppose.”

“It’s an awful disease. I lost an uncle to it, too.” They were both quiet for a moment. Niall took a sip of his drink. “If you’re interested, I thought it might be fun for two authors to hang out one of these nights. Maybe you can show me one of your favorite places.”

“Oh. Sure. That would be fun.” Hannah felt suddenly flustered. It had been a long time since she’d been asked on a date and this sounded like a date.

“Great.” Niall handed her his phone. “Can you put your number in and I’ll give you a call to firm up a day?”

She punched in her cell number and handed the phone back to him.

“Here you go.” It looked like the band was getting ready to start up again, for probably the last time. “I should probably head back to the table. You’re welcome to join us,” she offered.

He smiled. “Thanks. I actually have to get going. My parents are having a gathering tonight, too, and I should make an appearance. I’ll talk to you soon.”

Hannah was still smiling as she sat back down at the table. Spencer was deep in conversation with Chip and didn’t look up as she sat down. Sara looked at her curiously. “Why are you looking so happy?”

“Niall Peterson just asked me out.”

Natalie’s ears perked up. “Did you just say that Niall Peterson asked you out?” Her voice was loud and excited and got everyone’s attention at the table, including Spencer’s.

“Yes, we were talking and he said we should get together since we’re both authors and all. It’s not a big deal.”

“Well, I think it’s a big deal. He sounds perfect for you,” Natalie said.

“I agree. And he lives in New York City, too,” her sister added.

“We’ll see how it goes. I haven’t been eager to date yet,” Hannah reminded them.

“Just go and have fun,” Natalie said. “Even if it’s not a love connection, he might be good to know, since you’re both authors and all.”

“That’s true. Is this the last set, do you think?” Hannah tried to change the subject. Spencer was still looking at her a bit strangely, almost as if he didn’t approve of the date.

“Yeah, this is their last set. The crowd will probably start thinning out once they stop playing,” Spencer said.

Sara glanced at her cell phone. Hannah knew she was probably checking the time. She looked, too, and it was almost ten.

“Do you want to head home soon?” Hannah asked her sister.

“Sure, if you don’t mind. I don’t want to be out too late. This has been really fun. It was great to get out.”

The band played their final song and as predicted, people started saying their goodbyes, including Sara and Hannah. They made sure to thank Caitlin and Jason on their way out.

“I’m so glad both of you came. Hannah, I’m sure I’ll see you soon in the cafe.”

Hannah dropped Sara off at her house and waited until she was inside. She headed home and her aunt was watching TV in the living room. She looked up when Hannah walked in.

“Hi, honey, did you have fun?”

“I did. I think Sara did, too.” She told her aunt all about the cookout and the band. “How was your dinner?”

“It was nice. I hadn’t seen some of those friends in ages and we had a lot to catch up on. I just got home about a half hour ago myself.”

Hannah told her about Niall and their plans to go out soon. Aunt Maddie looked happy for her. “Oh, that’s great. Just what you need. Go on a date and have fun. Don’t worry about where it’s going, just enjoy the moment.”

Hannah laughed. “That’s what Natalie said, too.”

“It’s good advice.”

Hannah agreed. She looked forward to going out with Niall and getting to know him better. They had the writing in common so it would be fun to talk about that. Even if it didn’t go anywhere romantically, she liked that he also lived in the city. So, if it did turn into anything, she wouldn’t have to worry about what would happen at the end of the summer. Not that she was thinking that far ahead; she really had no idea how things would go with Niall. But she was very happy that she’d taken Aunt Maddie up on her offer to spend the summer in Chatham.