“Hi,” is all I can manage. My cheeks flush as his text from last night burns in my memory. I love you.
Thankfully, Kenny comes jogging from the back room into the kitchen. “Well, hello!” She rises on tiptoes to hug Stuart and then skips over to hug me. “Sorry, I was looking for one of Lane’s trucks. He was crying for it, but I guess he forgot with everyone here.”
As if on cue, Lane comes running through the crowd of grownups with a toy airplane in his hand making bubbly engine noises.
“Lane, did you give Uncle Stuart a hug?”
He freezes in his tracks and looks up, up, up to his uncle. “Did you bring your horse?”
Stuart grins and scrubs his little head. “I had to leave Ranger in Montana this time.”
Lane’s little shoulders droop. “I wanted to ride your horse again.”
“It’s true,” Patrick says, scooping his son up in his arms. “He’s been talking about riding horses with you since last Christmas. You made a big impression.”
“Well, maybe when I’m back in Montana, you can come and stay with me a few days.” Stuart pats his little back, and Lane’s head pops up.
“Okay!” he shouts, and Kenny laughs.
“So, dinner!” she says. “Slayde has steaks marinating. We have baked potatoes, and I snapped the ends off a bunch of asparagus. Mariska, open the wine, and we can sit outside on the patio!”
“You got it!” I circle the bar and grab the corkscrew.
“I can help with that.” Stuart walks over to where I’m standing. “How’s it going?”
“Good,” I say nodding quickly, trying to cover the blush on my cheeks. I’m acting like a nervous schoolgirl, which is silly, considering we were engaged.
“You look good. I really like your hair.” He gives me that sexy grin, and my hands fumble with the wine bottle.
“This thing is always slippery,” I mutter.
Large hands cover mine, and he takes the bottle and corkscrew from me. “Let me.”
“Thanks.” I turn quickly, and make my way toward the balcony before I embarrass myself.
Slayde is bent down beside the grill preheating the coals, and Kenny and Patrick are nearby discussing Lane and preschool. Their apartment is on Tom’s River as well, and I go to the railing to look out and inhale a calming breath of air. The brackish scent of the water reminds me of summer camp.
The glass door flies open and Lane grabs Kenny’s hand to drag her inside. Patrick follows them, and when I look over my shoulder, I find Slayde watching me from where he’s crouched by the grill.
“You doing okay?” he says, and I can tell by his expression he knows something’s up.
“A little flustered, I guess.” Then suddenly I remember. “I heard back from Dr. Endicott!”
“Oh, yeah?” He gives the coals a poke before standing and walking to me. “What did he say?”
“He said based on his old notes, he couldn’t confirm his original diagnosis. He suggested I have more tests if I’m worried.”
“Are you?”
Looking back across the lake, I scan the line of the horizon as I think. I think about everything I’ve said and what I know, how I feel. “I don’t know,” is the best I can do. “It depends on how much I can believe about my past and life and the way things ought to be…”
“If it helps, I believe in you. Kenny does, too.”
Gratitude swells in my chest. “It does. Thank you.”
Kenny and Patrick return at that point, followed by Stuart, and we spend the next few hours talking and catching up. Kenny has Lane on her hip, and he gives me his sweet baby version of Patrick’s naughty smile.
“Mare Mare pretty.”