“I don’t have any money on me,” Rory said.
“My wallet’s in the cottage if you want to help yourself to a five.”
“A five? Don’t want to leave you broke or anything, Dad.” Zack grinned, glancing to his left, and Rory noticed that a teenage girl was waiting for him a few yards away. She was as tan and blond as Zack, and wore a skimpy green bikini and some glittery thing in her navel.
“Make it ten,” Rory said.
“Thanks.” Zack nodded to the girl, and both kids headed up the beach toward Poll-Rory.
“He looks a lot like you,” Grace said once Zack and the girl had disappeared over the dunes.
“He’s too much like me for his own good,” Rory said.
“Do you have any children?”
“No.” She looked down at her arms, and he wondered if she realized that she was starting to bum. Should he tell her? She spoke before he had a chance to decide.
“I read about your divorce a couple of years ago,” she said.
“I’m recently separated. I guess I’ll be divorced myself soon.”
“I’m sorry,” Rory said, feeling instant sympathy for her.
“It’s hell to go through, isn’t it?”
“Just kind of… hard to get back on my feet again,” she said.
He remembered what that was like all too well. The loneliness, the roller-coaster of emotions. He could almost see the pain of starting over etched on Grace’s face. He wanted to know if her husband had been the one to leave. Had there been an affair? Had she, too, suffered that agony?
“Well, I had my work to keep me active and prevent me from thinking too much about it,” he said.
“Are you working?”
She nodded.
“I own a little shop in Rodanthe. I’m usually there, but my partner is handling things while I’m away today.” She glanced at her watch.
“I didn’t realize it was so late,” she said.
“I really should call my partner and tell him I got delayed. Is there a pay phone nearby?”
“My cottage is right next to the beach,” he said.
“You’re welcome to use the phone there.” Her partner was a he. It was crazy, but that disappointed him.
“I hate to put you out,” she said.
He got to his feet.
“No problem. Come on. I should check on my son and his friend, anyhow. Probably shouldn’t leave them alone in the cottage for too long.” He held out his hand to help her up from the blanket, and it seemed to take some effort for her to stand. Her shakiness had to be due to more than a fly bite. “Are you all right?” he asked, not wanting to embarrass her, but her unsteadiness begged the question.
“Oh, I’m fine,” she said, brushing the sand from the rear of her bathing suit.
“I’ve been ill recently, but I’m okay now.” She lifted her blanket from the sand, and he helped her fold it. Her shoulders were quite pink; she would suffer later.
As they walked over the dune to the cul-de-sac, he wondered what illness had left her so tremulous, weak and pale. She walked smoothly across the sand, though, with a fluid ease. Her eyes were on the Sea Shanty.
“You said you’ve met… the woman who was found on the beach?” she asked.
“Yes. She’s a very sweet person.”
“What about the brain damage you said she has?”
“It’s mild. Just makes her seem more childlike than someone her age.”
He stepped into his front yard.
“This is my cottage,” he said.
“How cute!” Grace said as they neared the front steps. Zack and the girl were just coming out of the door.
“Were you coming to chaperon us?” Zack grinned. The a[r} punched his arm, obviously embarrassed.
“Maybe we’d better stay to chaperon you,” Zack added.
“Very funny,” Rory said.
“Grace just needs to use our phone.”
Inside the cottage. Grace made a quick phone call, while Rory put on his shirt and busied himself emptying the dishwasher. It relieved him to hear nothing intimate in her voice when she spoke to her partner.
She hung up and turned to him.
“Well, I’d better get on the road,” she said.
“Thanks so much for the use of the phone.”