“I lived here right up until college.”
“You have a dock and a sailboat. Do you know how to navigate it?”
“I grew up sailing. I used to have a small catamaran that I took out every weekend. The first time Casey went out with me, she was green at the gills. She got used to it after a while, but I don’t think she ever really enjoyed it. She used to be a real scaredy-pants.”
“I would not be green at the gills if you took me out.”
“Maybe, this summer. If… Maybe this summer.”
He was scanning the horizon and she noticed when he locked on a target.
“There are boats across the way. Do people fish here for a living?”
“They do. Have for generations. My mother’s ancestors did. There are a lot of famous stories about ships sunk, fishermen drowned. There was a movie that made us famous for a while. It was crazy with curiosity seekers.”
She only noticed her father standing at the door when he yelled over at her, “What are you waiting for? It’s cold out there.”
She yelled back, “It’s stimulating.”
“So’s a lightning storm but who wants to get caught in it?”
She gave Mateo a smile and asked, “You ready to meet the family?”
From the expression on his face, she knew he was taking this time to meet the folks seriously. She should be regretting this, but she wasn’t.
Her father held the screen door open for them and let it snap closed when they were inside.
“Mateo Alvarez, it’s great to meet you.” He was shaking the man’s hand as if he thought he was in for the scoop of a lifetime.
She shrugged out of her coat and said, “Hi, Dad. It’s good to see you, too.”
He leaned in and kissed her cheek. “Allie, love. So glad you could come.”
She pursed her lips, a smile twitching at the corners. “I’m sure you are.”
“I can’t believe it, actually, but I never look a gift horse in the mouth.”
“Might get bitten?”
Her mother entered the room, wiping her hands on a towel. She put it under her arm before she embraced her daughter.
“I’m so glad you came out.”
Alicia gave her father a smirk. “At least someone’s glad to see me.”
“Don’t you dare pout. You know you light up my life.”
“Bringing the light bulb didn’t hurt that cause, did it?”
Ida studied the new Greenie for the briefest of moments before she broke into a grin. “I’d say more like the sun. Hello, Mateo. Welcome.”
She looked at her daughter and said, “You might want to show him around before your father gets his claws in him. Dinner’s in an hour, which gives you very little time to show him there’s more to this place than an office.”
Bob was reaching out to take Mateo’s coat, Allie’s already thrown carelessly over the back of a chair, but before he shrugged it off, he asked, “Can I see the beach?”
Bob wasn’t letting him get away that quickly. Taking a few steps down the hall, he said, “You can get the inside and outside tour later, after dinner, before you leave. The stars will be out by then and it will add more to the experience.”
Mateo turned to look at her as if asking permission to follow her father.
She nodded. “He’s right. It’s better when the stars are out. Besides, I’d like to get rid of the chill in my bones first.”
She was rubbing her hands up and down her arms trying to do that. She should have thrown on a sweatshirt or sweater before leaving, but the excitement about showing him her hometown was uppermost in her mind. She’d have to look at that more closely later.
Her mother was waiting by the doorway. “Come into the kitchen. I’ve got some wine chilling.”
The wine was the perfect way to coax her in, although a hot cup of coffee might have been the better remedy. Her mother began to rub her back as soon as she was close enough to do it.
“He’s a good-looking young man. And, I sense, a good one.”
Looking back through the empty doorway, Allie asked, “You think so?”
Her mother had the oven open and was bending down to check the bubbling casserole. As soon as the question was out, Ida straightened and met her gaze. “Yes. Why? Is it important that I do?”
She gave a shrug and said as non-committal as possible, “Maybe.”
She wanted to think they’d be friends for life, if that was even possible. She still had hopes for a full-blown affair once the divorce was behind them.
Her mother held her gaze a moment too long, and then a smile emerged.
“From what your father tells me, you’re living with him.”
Letting her mother see the possibilities here had been a mistake. She needed to get off the carousel of indecision before she really did something stupid. Taking a leap to more solid ground, she said, “Part of the job. We don’t want any trouble with the change in circumstance.”
“Part of the job? I know you’re dedicated but since when does it include cohabitating with a man?”
She took a generous sip of the sauvignon. “Separate bedrooms.”
“Mm. I’m sorry to hear that.”
She choked as another sip slid down the wrong pipe. She began to cough, her eyes tearing in the process, and her mother patted her back until it subsided.
She said innocently, “It’s been a long time since you’d had some fun, Allie. I say go for broke with this one.”
“I can’t do that, Mom. My job—”
“Allows you to meet some very interesting men, and when they look like that one does…woohoo… I say take advantage.”
After the shock of that statement wore off, Allie was suddenly filled with curiosity and asked, “Is that what made you leave Dad? An interesting man?”
Her mother flashed angry eyes in her direction. “I didn’t leave for a man. I left for myself. I spent my life taking care of people and I needed… some time away from that.”
Allie knew it had been her mother’s job to take care of her brothers
