Moondance Beach (22 page)

“But I’ve never seen you there.”

“I’ve always politely declined Mona’s invitation.”

A smile tugged at the corner of Duncan’s mouth. “But this year is different?”

Lena raised her mouth to his. “Boy, is it ever,” she said.

D
uncan pulled into a crushed-shell drive off Idlewilde Lane and parked in front of his mother’s cottage. It was a one-story cedar-shingled home surrounded by scraggly boxwoods and a variety of rosebushes, all of which were in need of a good cutting back. Duncan would stop by tomorrow and take care of it for her.

Lena was next to him in the passenger seat, looking incredibly beautiful in a simple light blue summer dress and dainty sandals. From what he had observed, she made even the simplest outfit stunning. They had a third wheel with them that evening. Ondine was in Lena’s lap, gazing out the window as if she were royalty riding in a carriage.

“You sure your mom’s okay with me bringing the dog?”

“I’m sure.”

“I didn’t think I should leave her there all alone just hours after she arrived.”

“I totally agree.”

He watched her bite her lip.

“Are you nervous about being here tonight, Lena?”

She gazed over at him, her eyes big and dark. “Maybe a little. It’s been a long, long time since I sat down for a meal with the entire Flynn clan. I’m out of practice.”

Duncan paused. Something about the way she’d said that felt like a jab. And out of nowhere, a memory slid into his consciousness. Lena at the Safe Haven breakfast table, eyes down, not interacting with anyone, while he, the seventeen-year-old idiot that he was, behaved like an asshole.

Just then the terrible truth hit Duncan. He had abandoned Lena back then. He had turned his back to the friendship she’d offered him, and he’d hurt her. Duncan had been nothing less than a bastard toward her, and yet here she was with him.

How could she have forgiven him?

“Lena—?”

Just then Clancy pulled up in his department-issued Jeep, beeping the horn. Christina jumped out of the back, and Evelyn exited gracefully, already smiling and waving.

Duncan swallowed the bitter guilt he felt rising into his mouth and returned Clancy’s wave. Why was all this old garbage hitting him now?

“So they gave you a pass from the lunatic asylum?” he asked his brother.

Clancy nodded. “Just three hours, but I’ll take it. Chip’s handling the reenactment, and thank God that’s our least rowdy event.”

Duncan had to laugh. Of all the festival-week spectacles, he made a point of avoiding the reenactment. It was a stage play depicting the fateful day Rutherford Flynn and his entire fishing fleet were rescued by a mermaid. Not exactly the Cirque du Soleil
.

Just then Christina came running. “Uncle Duncle!” She jumped straight up and down like a pogo stick, trying to look in the window of Lena’s SUV. “They’ve got the puppy! They’ve got the puppy!”

Duncan walked around the vehicle and opened the door for Lena. Christina was going crazy with excitement and turned to Clancy with disbelief in her eyes. “Look, Daddy! They brought John Dean!” She looked up to Lena. “Can I walk him? Can I?”

“It’s a she, sweetie, and her name is
On
dine.” Lena set the dog down and handed the leash to Christina. The little girl took off down the path into Mona’s backyard, Ondine traveling as fast as her short legs could carry her. Christina announced to the rest of the family, “John Dean is here! John Dean is here!”

Still chuckling, Duncan made his way with everyone down the side of the house toward an old wooden arbor heavy with roses, Lena and Evelyn leading the way.

Clancy turned toward Duncan. “How’s it going? Is she a keeper?”

Duncan lowered his chin and scowled at him.

“Ondine,” Clancy clarified. “The dog.”

“Ah.” Duncan’s neck muscles unknotted. “For now. It was kind of funny how she just waltzed into Lena’s studio and made herself at home. Maybe they were meant for each other or something.”

“Stranger things have happened.”

“What did you decide about the Mermaid Ball?”

Clancy shook his head. “The festival committee absolutely hates holding it indoors—they say it ruins the magic. I told them forty-mile-an-hour winds could ruin more than magic.”

Duncan chuckled. “So what did you decide?”

“I’ve looked at all the models. I called the National Weather Service on the mainland. Nobody knows the trajectory for sure, so I went ahead and cleared the event for outdoors.” Clancy rubbed his face nervously. “I had to make the call because it takes forty-eight hours to set up. God, I hope I didn’t screw the pooch.”

As soon as their little group passed beneath the arbor, Duncan saw his mother had gone all out for the event, as usual. The large old table was covered with a white cloth and decorated with strategically placed seashells and glass jars of wildflowers. In a new twist, a drape of fishing net hung from the old sycamore above, loaded down with its catch of the day: construction-paper fish, corals, and mermaids.

“Christina worked on those all afternoon,” Evie told Lena. “It kept her busy while we cooked.”

Duncan saw Lena stiffen just before she gasped, “I forgot to bring something!”

“No worries.” Evie leaned in close. “Your date dropped off his specialty earlier today.”

Lena whipped her head around. “You have a specialty?”

“Yep. I got the keg.”

Rowan, Annie, and Serena greeted everyone at the arbor gate. Nat and Ash shouted their hellos from the far end of the yard, where they were building the bonfire. Even while Duncan received hugs from his sister and her best friend, a sick feeling had begun to settle in the pit of his stomach. He glanced at Clancy.

It was obvious his brother was thinking the same thing.

Last year at this event, right in front of the bonfire and the entire family, the brothers had nearly come to blows. Duncan had confessed that he’d kept Evie and
Clancy apart when they were teenagers, that he’d thrown away a love letter she’d mailed to Clancy after Evie had returned home from festival week. Because of Duncan’s actions, it had taken the couple eighteen years to find each other again.

The words exchanged that night had been ugly. Clancy had called Duncan a “jealous son of a bitch” and said that being a Navy SEAL didn’t give him dibs on courage. How had his little brother put it?
Being strong enough to love someone, strong enough to risk everything by loving someone—that is manning up, bro.

Looking in his brother’s eyes right then, Duncan was slammed by so much regret that it left him speechless. He had been cruel to Lena. He had been cruel to Clancy and Evie.

He wondered if that was the real reason he preferred to keep his distance from Bayberry Island—his own shame.

“Duncan.” Clancy looked him square in the eye. “It’s water under the bridge, man. All is forgiven. Seriously.” With that, Clancy gave him a firm, steady hug and slapped him on the back. “Now, you need to tap the keg. I get one beer before I go back on duty, and I think right now’s a good time to drink it.”

The gathering descended into chaos soon after. Christina and “John Dean” zigzagged through the grass. Serena had a meltdown. Evie dropped her famous quinoa and fresh mint salad onto the lawn. “I can run home and make another,” she offered.

A unanimous “no” assured her it wasn’t necessary. While Duncan helped Evie clean up the mess, Ondine stopped by for a sniff. She turned up her nose at the side dish and wandered off.

Eventually, Mona lit the candles and asked everyone to take their seats around an outrageous display of food. A big old soup tureen overflowed with a homemade bouillabaisse of clams, prawns, mussels, and fresh cod. There was freshly baked bread, cranberry relish, roasted leg of lamb, lobster, spinach salad, and crispy new potatoes with rosemary. The only thing missing from the table was Da.

Frasier had dutifully attended every family festival-week cookout since he and Ma separated. Their close proximity was usually a silent one, though a verbal barb or two was sometimes exchanged. Tonight was the first time he hadn’t bothered to show up.

Mona sighed, clearly deciding to move on with the evening, Frasier or no. She raised her wineglass. “I would like to make a toast to all of us, young and old and in between. Our family grows in number and in joy with each passing year, and for that I am deeply grate—”

Mona stopped in midsentence. Duncan had a very bad feeling, and his intuition proved correct when he turned around.

“Granda!” Christina yelled.

“Oh,
hell
no,” Rowan whispered.

Ondine’s sharp little bark split the air.

There stood Frasier, hands in the pockets of his neatly pressed dress trousers, with Sally at his side.

Clancy jumped up so fast that he knocked over his precious beer. “Da, are you insane?”

A painful silence settled over the group until Nat asked, “More wine, anyone?”

“Wait.” Frasier approached the table the way a man might walk to his execution. Both he and Sally seemed strangely repentant. “There is something everyone needs
to hear, so I would appreciate it if you all just sat down”—that was directed toward Clancy—“and hold your comments.” That was for Rowan. “I need three minutes. That’s all I ask of you.”

Lena turned toward Duncan, clearly baffled.

“Your guess is as good as mine,” he whispered.

At that point, Sally stepped forward. She wore an off-white pantsuit that made her look more like Hillary Clinton than Dolly Parton. “Hi, everyone,” she said. “Hello, Mona. This won’t take long.”

Clancy looked sideways at Duncan, who shook his head, silently suggesting his little brother let things unfold.

Frasier cleared his throat. “Yes, well.” He gave Sally a nod.

“I am not here tonight as Frasier’s date.” She was addressing Mona in particular. “I’m here because I want to make amends and do whatever I can to convince you to take your husband back.”

Every woman at the table gasped. Nat poured himself more wine. Duncan checked on his mother, but if she were preparing to strangle the shit out of Sally, it didn’t show. Ma was a class act.

“I was diagnosed with cancer two weeks ago.”

Murmurs of sympathy went around the table. Mona said, “I am truly sorry to hear that, Sally.”

Though she held her back straight and her chin high, it was obvious that Sally struggled to keep her composure. “It’s stage two. The doctors say I have a sixty percent chance of survival, and so I’m going to think on the positive.”

“Oh, Sally.” Mona sighed. “Please let me know if there’s anything we can do.”

Ma’s kindness released Sally’s tears. She nodded. “That’s not what I came to tell you, Mona.”

“All right.”

“See, when something like that happens to you, your perspective changes. I suddenly realized the things I thought were so damn important were just bullshit.”

“Uh-oh,” Christina said.

Sally looked horrified. “I am
so
sorry,” she said to Clancy and Evie.

Frasier patted Sally’s shoulder in an awkward show of support. Sally took a big breath and continued.

“Mona, I was so jealous of you I couldn’t see straight. I’ve wasted so much of my life trying to one-up you, and the only reason I broke from the mermaids and started the fairies was to cause you grief. I mean, otherwise what’s the point in a bunch of middle-aged women running around the island dressed in tutus and gauzy wings?”

“Many of us have wondered that very thing,” Nat said.

“Shh!” Annie scowled at him.

“And that whole nasty battle about development on the island . . .” Sally looked at Ash. “The only reason I championed the resort and casino was to get back at Mona. I wanted to see her suffer.”

“Whoa.” Rowan made the only comment.

Christina began picking hunks of bread from the basket and feeding them to Ondine, who was lounging under her chair. Serena hurled her spoon into the bushes. Duncan felt Lena reach for his hand under the table, and he squeezed it in reassurance. Because really, what were the possible outcomes here? This standoff would either resolve calmly or it would break out into a mass riot of hair-pulling and food-throwing, and Duncan had more faith in the Flynns than that.

Sally grabbed a tissue out of the pocket of her jacket, dabbing at her eyes and nose. “Look. I’m here this evening to tell you that Frasier is a good man. He’s been very decent to me, a true friend. But the truth is—I’m nothing but a catch-and-release thing for him.” Sally inclined her head toward Mona. “Don’t you think for one second that Frasier Flynn has
ever
loved anyone but you.”

Mona rose from her chair at the far end of the table. She neatly folded her napkin and dropped it in her plate.

Sally went on. “From here on out, I will be focusing all my energy on getting better and spending as much time with my own family as I can.” She glanced at Frasier, as if to assure him she was wrapping up. “Anyway. You are a beautiful family, and I am sorry for any harm I’ve caused. This is where Frasier belongs.” She paused a moment before she turned to go.

Clancy popped up from his seat once more. “Let me drive you back to town.”

Sally shook her head. “I drove myself. I wish all of you the best.”

All eyes were on Sally as she walked through the yard and under the arbor. Mona slowly returned to her seat. Frasier remained where he was, his feet planted so rigidly in the grass that he looked like an oversized garden gnome. No one made a move or said a word. This was Ma’s call and they all knew it.