Total pages in book: 98
Estimated words: 96833 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 484(@200wpm)___ 387(@250wpm)___ 323(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 96833 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 484(@200wpm)___ 387(@250wpm)___ 323(@300wpm)
Before I left, though, I wanted to do something nice for Abby, get her mind off of things for just one night. Since her father wouldn’t be starting treatments until next week, I asked her if she would take twenty-four hours and spend them with me. Roland was insistent that she do so even if she was reluctant to leave him.
Once we left for our mini trip, I could see the stress lifting from her a bit. We’d rolled the windows down, and she closed her eyes as the wind blew her hair around. I hadn’t told her where we were going, but when we passed the signs for Narragansett, she figured it out.
Her mouth fell open. “You’re taking me to your old stomping grounds?”
“Well, you said you wished you’d known me the summer I stayed here. I thought I’d give you a bit of that experience retroactively.”
“Oh my goodness!” She bounced in her seat. “Am I about to enter a time warp?”
A little while later, when I pulled up at the massive house on the bay, Abby’s eyes widened. “This is where we’re staying?”
Instead of answering, I walked around to the passenger side and got the door for her. “Welcome to the very house where Leo and I stayed that summer.”
“Are you kidding?” She looked up. “It’s stunning.”
“It looks the same, honestly.”
“It’s still for rent?”
“Apparently. I couldn’t believe it, either. The owners have rented it out all these years.”
“And it was available on short notice?”
I smiled. “No, actually. Someone had rented it for three weeks. But I pulled some strings and gave them an offer they couldn’t refuse to disappear for one night so we could have it.”
“I can’t believe you did that.”
I used the code the management company had given me to open the door. When we stepped inside, the smell of cleaning chemicals registered. They must have scrambled to have it tidied between guests.
“Oh my God.” She looked around. “This place is amazing.”
I smiled. “Hope you’re ready for the full experience.”
Abby laughed. “Don’t tell me you invited the Marias. I’m not having a foursome.”
“No, wiseass. But we are having a clam bake. And the weather is perfect. I’ve rented a boat so we can take a ride out on the bay.”
“Do you have to pick it up?”
“Someone’s delivering it, actually.”
“Ohhh. Fancy.” She wrapped her arms around my neck. “I just… I can’t thank you enough. I needed this so much, Sig.”
“I know that, beautiful,” I said, cradling her face. “I know you’re scared. The next several weeks aren’t going to be easy. And I hate that I can’t be here.” I kissed her forehead. “This is the least I can do to get your mind off things. I’m not gonna let you worry about a thing today.”
“Thank you,” she whispered.
Narragansett was even nicer than I remembered, but maybe that was because of the present company. Thankfully, it was warm for late September, and Abby and I made the most of our precious last hours together. We swam in the heated pool, took the boat out, went shopping at the gourmet market, and cooked together. Or, well, I cooked while she leaned against the counter invading my space, which I secretly loved.
After a long, action-packed day, we cleaned up the mess we’d made in the kitchen. We’d devoured the lobster, crab legs, clams, and corn on the cob, so there was no food to put away, just dishes to clean.
We eventually took our drinks out to the back deck—beer for me and lemonade for her. I pointed my bottle toward a house in the distance. “See that property over there across the bay?”
“Yeah?”
“That’s where Felicity lived.”
“Oh yeah! That’s right. I forgot she said she was right across the bay when you guys met her.”
“She still owns the house, but the same people have been renting it for years.”
We stared across the bay for a while before she turned to me. “Has anything that’s happened with my father been triggering for you?”
“Because of the cancer, you mean?”
“Yeah.”
I pondered that. Strangely, it hadn’t. I’d been too concerned about Abby’s mental health and her father’s condition. “No. It’s mainly made me feel sorry for you. I imagine you wouldn’t have signed up for the surrogacy if you’d known how this year was going to play out.”
“There’s still nothing I would change so far,” she insisted, looking up at the stars. “It’s so beautiful here.”
“It is,” I said, looking straight at her and not at all at the stars. I cleared my throat. “I can appreciate more about this place now than I did when I was younger.”
“You had ants in your pants, then.” She smirked.
“Go ahead. What else do you want to say?”
“Ants in your pants and two Marias in your pants.” She snorted.
Her laughter was like music to my ears. I couldn’t believe that come tomorrow, I wouldn’t hear it in person again for a while. An unidentifiable feeling gnawed at me. A mix of happiness and guilt, perhaps—guilt over being happy. “I’m relieved you met the person I am now and not then,” I told her. “Parts of him are still here, I suppose, but mostly the good ones.”