8. Kate
T his was Destin ?
From the backseat of an Uber, Kate peered at the endless lanes of traffic, the streets flanked by high-rises and townhomes, the strip malls and hidden neighborhoods. How could one sleepy beach town have changed so much?
Destin had always been bathed in shades of sunny yellow and seaside blue, but now it was vibrant, a vacation paradise that turned relaxation into a business.
“Can I open my window?” she asked the driver, who gave her a nod.
Taking a breath of clean, clean air, she instantly realized it hadn’t changed at all. It still smelled like Destin. Like salt and sandcastles, sunshine and summer freedom, like mangroves and coconuts and sweet hibiscus.
Yes. This was still Destin, only now the rest of the world had discovered it.
Not only this town, though, since she of course had done her research before leaving. The whole Panhandle had blossomed, with some places known just by the highway number—30A—and full postcard towns built from the ground up in the last twenty or thirty years. There were still state parks along the shore and plenty of palm fronds silhouetted against skies so blue it kind of hurt to look at them.
Wait a second. Was that AJ’s?
She peered at a colorful neon sign over a large waterfront building, high above what used to be a tiny harbor with one popular restaurant and a massive landmark magnolia tree.
She could practically smell AJ’s fried clams from here.
Smiling at that and the many memories of big family dinners there, a mantle of familiarity fell over Kate as she rode through the town, leaving the window wide open to inhale the dreamy air.
Escaping the dreary cold of Ithaca had only been one of several incentives to take this unexpected sojourn. Another had been spending time with Tessa who, no matter how “fine” she said she was, sounded like she needed her other half right now.
And, of course, the chance to tiptoe into the past with Vivien and Eli was a cherry on top of this delightful sundae.
After her strange conversation with her mother the other night, Kate had added another good reason for coming to Destin—unfinished business.
Or at least a bit of a mystery that had her intrigued.
For thirty years, her mother—and her father, for that matter—had just shrugged off the end of their friendship with the Lawsons. When the subject came up, which it hadn’t for probably fifteen years, both Jo Ellen and Artie said that Roger Lawson had been arrested for white-collar crimes without ever specifying what he’d done.
Because of that, Maggie had terminated all her personal relationships and put a wall of protection around her family. Knowing Maggie, who always struck Kate as a woman who lived by strict guidelines and deeply valued her privacy, that explanation made perfect sense.
It was sad to lose their friends from the Summer House, but Kate and Tessa—and Vivien—had been headed to three different colleges that last year.
Then a massive storm hit Destin just months after their last summer and wiped out the beaches—or so they thought. This was long before email, text, or social media, and people did lose touch back then.
It never seemed like much of a big deal…until last night when her mother had responded to Kate’s update and news in a way that had been totally out of character.
Jo Ellen Wylie didn’t live by strict guidelines or build walls of privacy. In fact, her mother was an open book. And she’d literally blanched last night when Kate brought Marie Curie over to her house and told her she planned to go to Destin. Jo Ellen had insisted—practically made Kate promise —not to discuss the past with Eli or Vivien.
She said it was because Roger’s jail time was surely a source of great embarrassment for them, but Kate sensed it was more than that. Her mother and Maggie Lawson were sorority sisters and lifelong best friends. There had to be more.
When pressed about why she’d lost touch with Maggie, Mom had gone quiet, pretended to be tired, and curled up in Dad’s chair with Marie Curie on her lap. She swore she didn’t know Roger had died, but Kate wasn’t completely sure she was being honest.
That bizarre response had done nothing but pique Kate’s interest in the parents’ mysterious falling out. Still, out of love and respect, she’d promised to go easy on the questions and only pursue the topic if they did.
Would they? She had no idea. She hadn’t talked to Tessa again, except for texts these last two days, so she had no idea what had been said among them.
She couldn’t wait to find out. She couldn’t wait to see her sister and her old friends. Especially…
Yes, she admitted to herself, especially her old crush, Eli. No doubt he was happily married to some lucky woman—a loving father, a good man, a great catch. She’d known that at eighteen, and still believed it at forty-nine.
The driver turned and slowed at Gulf Shore Drive, giving her a new perspective on the beachfront homes, which were nothing like she remembered.
One was bigger and more beautiful than the next, all facing the water, which actually couldn’t be seen from the road. Their houses and fences blocked it, unlike thirty years ago when there were just shacks and cottages and even beach parking lots.
“This it?” the driver asked as they reached the orange cones and construction fencing. The house was done, right?
“I think so.”
He turned into a long driveway, and she sucked in a shocked breath at the sight of a house that was completely different than the one in her memory.
Three gorgeous stories as white as the sand with teal shutters and trim perched on the beach.
Was it different from the three-bedroom cottage with a Florida sunroom where the boys bunked? Oh, yes. But to Kate, this house made sense here—it belonged.
For some reason, that made her happy. If it couldn’t be the windswept rental with weathered decks and chipped railings, then it should be this breathtaking showplace that stood like a queen on the dunes of Destin.
The driver parked behind a pickup truck with Georgia plates. She climbed out and the driver got her bags, then was gone before she could actually confirm that she was in the right place.
Clunking her suitcase over the pavers, she left it at the bottom of the steps to the front door, which looked like it was on the second level. Walking up there, she rang the bell and leaned to the side to peer in a long window next to the door, but all she could see was the Gulf on the other side of a wall of glass. The rooms that were visible were completely empty.
Good heavens, she hoped she was in the right place. Maybe getting an Uber and surprising Tessa with her arrival hadn’t been such a great idea, she thought. Pivoting, she walked down the stairs to get her phone from her purse, but as she reached the bottom, she heard a noise at the side of the house. Turning the corner, she saw a man in shorts and a filthy white T-shirt, using a shovel to dig at dirt and sand.
The landscaper, wearing a hat, earbuds, and sunglasses, didn’t even notice her. Would he know the whereabouts of the people living here? Possibly.
“Excuse me,” she called, carefully navigating the unpaved dirt, her cable-knit sweater and jeans suddenly feeling very heavy in the Florida sun. “Sir? Excuse me.”
He turned around, popping an earbud.
“Hi,” he said, tipping his hat back enough that she could see sweat-soaked hair and suntanned skin.
“I’m looking for someone named Tessa Wylie,” she said, guessing that if he’d seen Tessa, he’d noticed her. “A blonde. Very charming. Probably flirted with you.”
The man laughed easily. “I think I’ve met her,” he said, a dry note of humor in his voice.
“Do you know if she’s here?” she asked. “Or maybe you know Mr. Lawson, the architect?”
He slowly took off his hat and used the side of his hand to push his sunglasses up, squinting at her in the late afternoon sunlight.
“You don’t recognize me, Kate?”
For a moment, she couldn’t speak as she realized who she was talking to. “Oh, my gosh!” she exclaimed, locked on eyes the very same color as the sky above him. “Eli!”
She automatically reached to hug him, but he lifted his hands, inching back and gesturing toward the dirt-covered white T-shirt. “You’ll be covered in dirt, but…hi.”
She beamed at him, punched by the bone-deep joy of seeing someone who’d always held such a special place in her heart. “Hi to you,” she said on a laugh.
The years had taken away all his boyish good looks and left a handsome man in their place. Some crow’s feet around his eyes, plenty of silver in his hair, but the same strong jaw and huge smile.
Suddenly, she was eighteen, standing in this familiar blistering sun, all ready, willing, and able to give her heart to a boy who simply didn’t want it.
Time took the sting of that away, but the memory was shockingly vivid.
“You look amazing,” he said, the compliment so genuine and enthusiastic that she nearly lost her footing again. “Exactly like the last time I saw you.”
“Better put those glasses back on, Eli, it’s been thirty years.”
He laughed and nodded, giving his silver temples a brush with his knuckles. “Don’t I know it. I was really happy when I heard you were coming, Kate.”
She remembered Tessa saying something about how he hadn’t been friendly, but that couldn’t be right because he was absolutely the personification of warmth right now.
“Not as happy as I was to leave chilly Upstate New York and come to the land of sun and fun.” She glanced at the house. “This cannot be the same house.”
“Except for a few pieces saved for nostalgia and design, it isn’t,” he told her, leaning on his shovel to follow her gaze to the house. “We demolished the old place down to the foundation, which, I have to say, hurt a little bit.”
“I bet it did,” she agreed. “So many memories. All good ones, too.”
His smile wavered a bit. He lifted a shoulder, surprisingly broad in the dirty T-shirt. “Anyway, the gang’s all here again, huh?”
“Most of us,” she said. “Is Crista coming down?”
“Nah, she’s still a mommy’s girl, and Maggie…” His voice faded out. “Anyway, it’s just us, but we’ve got plenty of room. Beds for everyone, but not much else, I’m afraid. That’s where Tessa and Vivien are, by the way. Shopping for some insta-furniture to hold us over while Vivien undertakes the official interior design of the place.”
She glanced at the house again. “I can’t wait to see it. You were the architect, I understand?”
“Yep. And I’ve done a lot of the construction and…” He angled the shovel in the dirt. “Now the outside. Jack of all trades, as they say.”
“But you’re an architect as a profession? Like your father?”
The smile completely disappeared. “Nothing like my father except the letters after the name.”
“Well, you’ve done an amazing job here,” she said quickly, hearing the echo of her mother’s warning to avoid the landmine of a subject. “And how are you, Eli? Still in Atlanta? Are you married? Have kids?”
“I have two great kids. My son Jonah is twenty-nine, and Meredith, who’s a year younger. My wife…” He paused as a shadow crossed his expression. “Um, Melissa passed away almost fifteen years ago.”
“Oh.” She breathed the word, surprised and saddened. “That’s terrible. Was she ill?”
He shook his head. “Actually, she was in a private plane for work and, um, there was an accident.”
Without thinking about it, she reached for his arm, not caring about the dirt but hurting for her old friend and his children. “I’m so sorry. I can’t imagine how difficult that must have been for you, and your kids.”
“Thanks.” He nodded. “We coped. Barely,” he added with a humorless smile. “My son…well, he’s still coping, I think. But I’ve made my peace with it.”
She regarded him for a moment, easily seeing the older but very distinct features of a boy she once dreamed she’d marry. He’d endured so much, but you could never tell from the air of stability and calmness about him. A light even, despite what he’d suffered.
“You’ve clearly made a good life, Eli,” she said, gesturing to the beautiful house. “And I can see your architectural skills even from out here. I still can’t wrap my head around the fact that I’m standing right here at the site of the old Summer House.”
“Right? It’s hard to believe we’ve all come back.”
“I thought about it so many times,” she admitted. “I loved those summers, and I even tried to get my family down here for a vacation, but it never happened.”
“Tessa told me you have two teenagers,” he said. “Emma and Matt?”
She smiled, touched that he’d asked about her and then remembered her kids’ names. “Yes, and they aren’t thrilled that I came here without them, but it isn’t their spring break yet. They’re with my ex-husband, Jeffrey.”
Just then, a horn honked noisily as an SUV pulled into the driveway.
“And I think I hear the girls now,” he said, looking over her shoulder.
She laughed at that. “Girls?”
“Sorry,” he said. “I guess some things never change. Come on, let’s go see them.”
He smiled at her, the old Eli smile that always made her go weak in the knees. She wobbled a little right then, too, but only because she was on soft dirt in slippery loafers.
She hoped. If not, then some things never did change…like her illogical and totally frustrating feelings for a man she hadn’t seen in thirty years.
“Lady Katie!” Tessa’s voice floated over the warm breeze, and instantly, Kate knew she wasn’t going anywhere.
Like everyone else on the planet—and that counted the man standing next to her—she fell under the spell cast by Tessa Wylie.
“Tessa!” She found her footing and jogged to the outstretched arms of her twin sister, always the missing piece in her puzzle of life.
The reunion was a blur of updates and laughter, hugs and questions, and a few things that had Kate wondering if she’d heard them right.
Tessa had been living in the house?
In true Tessa fashion, she glossed over that little detail. Keeping everything light and happy, they’d all chatted briefly while they helped Vivien and Tessa unload some household items, many for the kitchen, she was happy to see.
It did look as though they got enough to move in and throw a party, but Tessa was involved, so that made sense.
A roofing inspector showed up to meet with Eli, and Vivien had to run out for a meeting with a window treatment company, so Kate announced she’d like to make them all a special dinner that night.
After unpacking and accepting a spacious room on the third floor, Kate asked Tessa to drive her to the supermarket, finally giving them complete privacy. She didn’t waste a minute, diving into her questions before they turned onto Gulf Shore Drive.
“You crashed there? In an empty house?”
“What? It’s not a big deal,” Tessa said, shooting her a glance from the driver’s seat. “I never dreamed it belonged to the Lawsons. Like, what are the chances of that happening?”
“That’s not the point,” Kate said coolly as she studied her sister’s always beautiful profile. “Whoever lived there could have had you arrested. And you’d have no defense except…” What had she said? “It called to you.”
“Loudly,” she retorted. “Called to you, too.”
“No, you called me. Yes, I did want to come back and experience Destin again, not going to lie. Although…” She peered into the lanes of endless traffic. “It ain’t what it used to be.”
“I know. I love it,” Tessa proclaimed. “There’s a nightlife we certainly didn’t have the last time we were here.”
“We were eighteen,” Kate said. “Our nightlife was bonfires and you pilfering gin from Uncle Roger’s stash.”
“That you didn’t drink.”
“Someone had to keep their head on straight,” Kate said, knowing full well that had always been her job.
“Anyway, there are bars and restaurants now,” Tessa said. “Tons of people. Want to go out tonight?”
Kate’s eyes shuttered. “I guess you forgot you’re almost fifty years old and jobless. And?—”
“If you say homeless, I’ll cry.”
Kate reached over and put a hand on her shoulder, even though she was pretty sure her sister wouldn’t cry. Except for the dark, dark days around Dad’s funeral, Tessa never cried.
“You want to tell me about it?”
“Not particularly, but I will.” She accelerated and passed a car on the left, then pulled at the seatbelt on her chest as if it made it difficult to breathe.
“Let me guess,” Kate said. “There was a guy.”
Tessa closed her eyes and groaned. “Oh, how I hate being predictable, clichéd, or dumb. But, yes, sister of mine, it was all of the above and then some.”
“Oh, Tess. What did you do?”
“I broke one of Dad’s golden rules: ‘don’t fish off the company dock.’”
“This guy worked at the Ritz?” Kate asked.
“A client—a huge one. He’s the CEO of a billion-dollar transportation company, good-looking, loaded, and charming as all get out. All my weaknesses.”
“Married?” Kate asked, wincing and waiting for the worst.
“No! I make mistakes, Kate. I make bad choices, but not that one—I’ve never made that one—and you know it.”
Her voice was just hurt enough that Kate could have kicked herself for the comment.
“I’m sorry,” she said quickly. “I know you don’t go near married men.”
“No. I’m just a serial dater who goes through men like paper towels.”
“Tess,” Kate said gently.
“But sometimes I’m the paper towel,” she said on a sad sigh. “But don’t get the wrong impression. I didn’t fall in bed with the guy, just went out with him a few times.”
Kate gave her a sympathetic look. “What happened?”
“This client, a local Naples gazillionaire named John, was hosting a three-day summit for his company execs and wanted everything first class and over the top. That included an absolute banger of a black-tie event—which, as you know, is my party planning specialty.”
“Did something go wrong at the event?”
“I’ll say,” she scoffed. “After weeks of flirtations, evenings on his yacht, and some pretty serious claims of attraction, he brought a date to the event…and it wasn’t me.”
“Eesh. What did you do?” Kate looked at her.
Tessa lifted a brow. “Not a thing, and that’s the beastly part. I was disappointed, but honestly? We had only gone out a few times and it was not a relationship, per se.”
“Well, then, how did you end up getting fired?”
“Someone set me up,” she said. “I think it must have been someone who might have known I’d been seeing the guy and wanted to get me in trouble. I don’t know. Anyway, his date’s weekend went south. And by south, I mean poor Tiffany’s reservation got lost, she couldn’t get into the spa, and all of her luggage went missing until Monday.” She made a face. “And the room she did get? In the low-rent annex? There was a shower flood.”
Kate gasped. “And you had nothing to do with that?”
She held up her hand like a Boy Scout. A beautiful, contrite, irresistible Boy Scout. “I did not, I swear on our sisterhood, our last name, and…anything else worth swearing on. I did not have anything to do with Tiffany’s travails. Someone pulled some ugly strings, but it wasn’t me. You have to believe me.”
“I do,” Kate assured her.
“Well, sadly, he didn’t. And who knew Mr. Naples CEO was old college pals with one of the highest executive VPs of our parent company? Not me. You’d think he’d have mentioned that, but no. Then, wham. I was canned without warning or severance or a letter of recommendation.”
“Oh, Tess. That’s awful.”
“They kicked me out faster than you can say false accusation.” She pushed out a breath. “Can you blame me for falling into the arms of Destin?”
As Tessa turned left at a light, Kate thought about how things like that always happened to Tessa. Wrong place, wrong time, wrong guy, and no one to rise to her defense. Especially now that Dad, Tessa’s number one cheerleader in life, was gone.
Pulling into the lot, Tessa found a spot and put the car in Park. As she turned off the engine, Kate put a hand on her arm. “How can I help you, Tessa?”
“Don’t fight me if I want to move here.”
“Move here ?” Kate choked. “And do what?”
“I guess plan parties, since that’s what I do,” she said, looking around. “I’ll call local resorts and see if they need an on-site event manager. The place is packed with tourists and surely people have parties, weddings, whatever. I’ll figure it out.”
“Do you have money saved?” Kate asked, always the more practical of the two. “It’s an expensive place to live.”
“I have some. Enough. Okay, a little.” Tessa patted her shoulder. “I’ll be fine, Lady Katie. The wind carries me where I need to go, you know? I’m free and having fun. What else matters, really?”
As always, Kate marveled at her sister’s talent for making instability look like an asset in life. It made no sense to Kate, a woman whose world was ruled by structure, planning, and scientific accuracy. But Kate loved her twin sister and would do anything at all for her.
“And who knows?” Tessa twisted the key and whipped off the seatbelt as though she hated anything that constrained her. “Maybe I’ll win the heart of Eli Lawson, convince him not to sell that gorgeous property, marry him, and live in the Summer House until the day I die.”
Kate just stared at her, her jaw opening as all that sympathy and tenderness evaporated into…hot, raw envy and fear. She wouldn’t! She wouldn’t use him for?—
“I’m kidding!” Tessa poked her arm. “I knew it, though. He still makes your little heart go pitter-pat, doesn’t he?”
“He does not.” She turned away so her twin sister didn’t see something in her eyes that would be forever used against her. “But that does,” she said quickly, rooting for a subject change. “That beautiful, awesome, amazing place called Publix. Oh, how I’ve missed it.”
“A supermarket?” Tessa scoffed.
“The world’s best.”
Laughing, Tessa threw the door open and turned back to Kate. “Nice try, Kate. I know how you feel about Eli. Always loved that guy, am I right?”
With that, Tessa climbed out, leaving the echo of her pronouncement in the car.
Yeah. Kate did once love Eli. But he always loved Tessa more. That was the rule of nature in Destin, and in Kate’s scientific world, nature didn’t change her rules.