supply the room service.” He yawned openly. “Sorry, but I’m beat. There’s nothing like sea air to make you sleep well.”
“I’m tired, too.” Trevor’s yawn was contagious. Luxurious drowsiness swept through Sophie. “I’ll make a grocery list in the morning and if you’d like, you can leave Leo with us while you go to the store.”
“Thanks, but I’m not sure that he’s ready for that yet. Let’s see how everything is in the morning.” Trevor took his empty bottle and rinsed it out in the sink. Over his shoulder, he said, with a smile, “I hope you’re not planning to rise at the crack of dawn.”
Sophie crossed the kitchen and set her own bottle in the sink, allowing herself to be sidetracked for a moment by the pleasurable sensation of standing so close to the tall young man. “If I do rise early, I promise not to bang a gong and force us out for an early morning march.”
“Please, no.” Trevor grinned.
“All right, then, good night.” She forced herself away from that smile. When she was at the door to the hallway, she turned. “Thanks for insisting that we go to the beach tonight instead of unpacking. That was a really good idea.”
As she walked up the wide central staircase, Sophie had the surreal feeling she was ascending into another, different world where she felt happy, content, relaxed, and also kind of turned on. She would have to drink beer more often.
—
She woke around eight the next morning. Late for her, but the house was quiet. Beside her, Lacey slept deeply, making sweet piglet snores. Sophie slipped from the bed and padded to the bathroom. The mirror reflected her typical night wear—a stretched-out, too large, ancient, dark green T-shirt hanging over boxer shorts. No wonder Zack went to Lila.
Downstairs, the cool morning air drifted in the open windows. She made coffee—she had brought her Keurig—and took it out to the patio off the kitchen. Settling in a large wooden deck chair, she folded her legs beneath her, sipped her coffee, and gazed around. A large yard stretched a good long distance, bordered by an unpainted wooden fence with a crisscross of lattice at the top. The grass needed mowing. At the edge of the patio, the geraniums and pansies in the two plaster urns needed watering.
To the left, the music room led straight to the private apartment. No sign of movement flashed in the windows. Sophie had told the kids about the grandfather living there. She’d warned them not to bother him. She would introduce herself sometime, but there was no need to rush.
Clouds drifted high in the sky and a slight breeze shivered the air. She would take Jonah and Lacey into town this morning and they could go to the beach this afternoon. They had to unpack, too. And she needed to make a grocery list for Trevor. She liked him, although he was so handsome it was almost embarrassing to look at him during normal conversation. He didn’t seem to notice, though, and he was funny and easygoing, even though he’d been recently widowed.
What a summer of surprises this was. Susie’s phone call, Zack with his announcement about Lila, this vacation house, complete with strange man and child. It was unsettling. She knew she was not good at spontaneity. She preferred routine, boundaries, organization.
Now all that was gone. She might very well become a single parent. Her husband of sixteen years was in love with a younger woman. The comfortable, even enviable home life she had spent her youthful years creating for her family was about to be shattered. She wondered if she was in a state of shock; if she had been since Zack’s announcement. She thought she was doing pretty well, putting one foot in front of the other, keeping a cheerful face, being an optimistic, efficient mother…holding back a landslide, a flash flood, a geyser of emotion and desire.
Desire.
She had forgotten all about desire.
Okay. She was getting herself all worked up on this luscious Nantucket morning. She
“I’m tired, too.” Trevor’s yawn was contagious. Luxurious drowsiness swept through Sophie. “I’ll make a grocery list in the morning and if you’d like, you can leave Leo with us while you go to the store.”
“Thanks, but I’m not sure that he’s ready for that yet. Let’s see how everything is in the morning.” Trevor took his empty bottle and rinsed it out in the sink. Over his shoulder, he said, with a smile, “I hope you’re not planning to rise at the crack of dawn.”
Sophie crossed the kitchen and set her own bottle in the sink, allowing herself to be sidetracked for a moment by the pleasurable sensation of standing so close to the tall young man. “If I do rise early, I promise not to bang a gong and force us out for an early morning march.”
“Please, no.” Trevor grinned.
“All right, then, good night.” She forced herself away from that smile. When she was at the door to the hallway, she turned. “Thanks for insisting that we go to the beach tonight instead of unpacking. That was a really good idea.”
As she walked up the wide central staircase, Sophie had the surreal feeling she was ascending into another, different world where she felt happy, content, relaxed, and also kind of turned on. She would have to drink beer more often.
—
She woke around eight the next morning. Late for her, but the house was quiet. Beside her, Lacey slept deeply, making sweet piglet snores. Sophie slipped from the bed and padded to the bathroom. The mirror reflected her typical night wear—a stretched-out, too large, ancient, dark green T-shirt hanging over boxer shorts. No wonder Zack went to Lila.
Downstairs, the cool morning air drifted in the open windows. She made coffee—she had brought her Keurig—and took it out to the patio off the kitchen. Settling in a large wooden deck chair, she folded her legs beneath her, sipped her coffee, and gazed around. A large yard stretched a good long distance, bordered by an unpainted wooden fence with a crisscross of lattice at the top. The grass needed mowing. At the edge of the patio, the geraniums and pansies in the two plaster urns needed watering.
To the left, the music room led straight to the private apartment. No sign of movement flashed in the windows. Sophie had told the kids about the grandfather living there. She’d warned them not to bother him. She would introduce herself sometime, but there was no need to rush.
Clouds drifted high in the sky and a slight breeze shivered the air. She would take Jonah and Lacey into town this morning and they could go to the beach this afternoon. They had to unpack, too. And she needed to make a grocery list for Trevor. She liked him, although he was so handsome it was almost embarrassing to look at him during normal conversation. He didn’t seem to notice, though, and he was funny and easygoing, even though he’d been recently widowed.
What a summer of surprises this was. Susie’s phone call, Zack with his announcement about Lila, this vacation house, complete with strange man and child. It was unsettling. She knew she was not good at spontaneity. She preferred routine, boundaries, organization.
Now all that was gone. She might very well become a single parent. Her husband of sixteen years was in love with a younger woman. The comfortable, even enviable home life she had spent her youthful years creating for her family was about to be shattered. She wondered if she was in a state of shock; if she had been since Zack’s announcement. She thought she was doing pretty well, putting one foot in front of the other, keeping a cheerful face, being an optimistic, efficient mother…holding back a landslide, a flash flood, a geyser of emotion and desire.
Desire.
She had forgotten all about desire.
Okay. She was getting herself all worked up on this luscious Nantucket morning. She
Similar Books
