“Afraid not. It’s just me.”He shrugged and took a sip of his wine. And usually, it didn’t bother him that it was just him. Usually. But today, seeing Donna with Olivia and Emily, it did make his lone existence seem a bit…lonely, empty, isolated. And Donna had her mom, her sister, and her niece. And who knew who else? Not to mention a lifetime of friends from growing up in this town.
“Did you ever marry?”She interrupted his thoughts.
“Ah, no. Almost. Once. But…it didn’t work out.”He looked over at her.“And you?”
“I was married once. To Olivia’s father. He…left. Didn’t like living here in Moonbeam, didn’t like how his life changed when we had a child. He left when she was about two.”
“That must have been hard for you.”He couldn’t imagine raising a child alone.
“It was…”She shrugged.“It was what it was. I had no choice. I had my job at Parker’s, and my grandmother helped me with Olivia.”
He noticed she said her grandmother helped her, not her mother.
“Do you ever see him? Does he come see Olivia and Emily?”He was curious about this man who left Donna—a totally charming woman as far as he was concerned—and her young daughter.
“No. He’s never seen Emily, and she’s sixteen now. I think the last time he was here was over twenty years ago.”She looked out over the water.“But his loss. He missed out on knowing two great young women.”
“They do seem like exceptional young women. I really enjoyed our outing today.”He stood.“Let me go grab the burgers and get them on the grill.”
He came back and grilled their dinner while they chatted of less serious topics. The new restaurant on the wharf. The best place to get fresh seafood. The weather for the upcoming week. Safe topics. He was fine with safe topics. Safe topics werenice.
They ate their dinner, then moved to two Adirondack chairs out on the point as the sun dipped behind the palm trees on the far side of the lake. A lone sailboat slipped by under power, returning from a trip to the harbor, its sail down and stored. The sky darkened from pale yellow, to orange, to purple in an amazing kaleidoscope of color as the last of the sunset faded away.
“That was remarkable,”he said as the stars began to poke out of the darkness above him.“I can’t remember the last time I’ve just sat and watched a sunset.”
Her voice drifted over in a small laugh.“I do as often as I can. At least a couple times a week I sit out here and watch it. It’s my…happy time, I guess. So peaceful. Such a simple pleasure and it brings me so much joy.”
He looked over at her profile in the soft evening light. He admired how she just appreciated such a simple, ordinary moment like a sunset. How she made time to come out and watch them.
Truth be told, there was a lot he admired about this woman. He raised his glass in a silent salute to her, to the sunset, to the moment. Her lips curled into a smile, unaware of what a captivating picture she made with that smile and her wisps of hair floating around her face in the breeze. She raised her glass and they both took a sip, savoring the moment.
Chapter 9
Donna had arranged to meet Olivia, Emily, and Heather at The Cabot Hotel. Olivia laughed and called her out on stopping by Parker’s on the way. Which is exactly what she did. Everything was fine there, of course. The Keatings had everything under control.
She walked through the opened doors of the hotel and heard voices. She followed the voices to find the girls standing in the doorway out to the back porch facing the bay. She hurried up to join them.
Barry turned as she approached, a wide, welcoming smile on his face.“Donna, there you are. Good. We were just going out to see the view.”
As she walked past him, he briefly touched her elbow and steered her outside. A simple gesture, yet…somehow it delighted her. Which was silly, of course.
“I’d forgotten how beautiful it is here.”Heather looked out over the water in appreciation.
“Me, too. I can just imagine staying at the hotel and having a drink out here on the porch and watching the sunset.”Donna looked out at the boats gliding through the waters of the bay. Some headed out to the gulf, some heading up the river that flowed into the harbor. The breeze blew her hair into her eyes, and she reached up to grab it in one hand to pull it back.
She caught Barry staring at her and looked quickly away, pretending she hadn’t noticed.
“When will you have the hotel ready to open?”Emily asked.“I can’t wait to see it all finished. Are you going to have a grand opening?”
Barry laughed at all her questions.“Hoping to open in a few more months. Maybe three? Hadn’t thought about a grand opening.”
“I think a grand opening party is a great idea.”Delbert Hamilton came walking out onto the deck.
“Del, thought you were out of town for a bit longer.”Barry shook Del’s hand.
“I was supposed to, but Camille planned a party over on Belle Island and wants me there. You know, duty calls.”
Del didn’t look too thrilled about his duty, but that was none of Donna’s business. She assumed Camille was his girlfriend?
