When she came out of the bathroom, Brystol was sitting crossed-legged on her bed, flipping through a magazine. “Hey,” she said as she made her way to her closet. “How was fishing?”
“So fun. I caught a fish, but Bowie said we had to put it back because he was too small to keep. How was the adult stuff today?”
Brooklyn winced. She didn’t want her daughter to have to worry about anything having to do with the arrangements and instead focused on the happy part of her daughter’s day. “Wow, congratulations. Where did you go?”
“To some bridge. Everyone there fished. It was crazy fun, and everyone knows Bowie.”
Brooklyn thumbed through her shirts, then pulled one off the bar, looked it over, and put it back. She had no idea what to wear on her date with Bowie and was tempted to cancel. It wasn’t that she didn’t want to go out and spend time with him; it was that she didn’t want to leave the house. She’d much rather curl up on the sofa with a blanket and turn on a good movie. Bowie wanted to take her out, wine and dine her, and she felt that she owed him at least one night.
“I used to fish there.”
“You fished?” Brystol sounded shocked. “I thought you hated fishing!”
Brooklyn leaned against the doorjamb and looked at her daughter. “I never really fished, but I’d go with Austin and Bowie. Most of the time I would sit there and read, work on my tan, or visit everyone else who was there.”
“Did you know everyone in town?”
“Mostly.”
“Did you think that was weird?”
Brooklyn went back to looking for the right shirt for her date. Simone had insisted that Brooklyn take some time for herself, and Bowie was more than happy to help. “At first, it was crazy. Austin knew everyone, so I met a lot of people after I moved here. It didn’t take long for the hype of being the new person to subside, and people weren’t eager to meet me. They just knew me, from either Austin, school, or my parents. After a while, it became second nature to say hi to everyone.”
“Right, but don’t you think it’s strange to know everyone?”
“I don’t know,” she said as she finally settled on a flowy blouse that would look good with her distressed jeans and the new flats she had ordered online a few weeks back. “Did you go out to eat?”
Brystol nodded enthusiastically. “Peggy makes the best burgers ever.”
Brooklyn found herself smiling at how excited her daughter was. She remembered what it was like to go to the diner. It was one of her favorite places. She didn’t have the heart to tell her that Peggy wasn’t the actual cook, and the last she knew it was Peggy’s husband. Brooklyn and Brystol spoke for a bit more before Brystol excused herself to go watch television. She said something about making sure the living room was ready for Luke and how they planned to watch a movie with Simone.
As soon as her daughter left her room, Brooklyn dressed quickly and decided to put her hair in a loose braid—a mermaid braid, according to Brystol. She pulled a few strands out to shape her face, added some mascara, and called it good before going downstairs to wait.
Simone was in the kitchen when Brooklyn walked in, staring out the window with a content look on her face. She went over to her and stood next to her. “You’ll always have a place here, no matter what. This is your home.”
“Thank you, Brooklyn.”
“In fact, her will made sure of it. The job of managing the inn is yours, if you want it.”
Simone smiled. “I may take the rest of the summer to think about it, if you don’t mind.”
“Not at all. Want to watch a movie with Brystol and me?” As much as she wanted to spend time with Bowie, she didn’t want to leave Simone if she needed her.
The older woman turned and looked at her. “I thought you have a date with Bowie?”
She shrugged. “I can cancel.”
“You will do no such thing, Brooklyn. You will go out with that man, tell him how you feel, and not worry about anything. Carly would want that. We can mourn tomorrow. Tonight, I plan to snuggle next to Brystol and will let my girl take all my cares away.”
Brooklyn pulled Simone into her arms. “We love you. I will never be able to thank you enough for taking care of Brystol all these years.”
“Hush now—it was my pleasure.”
Simone and Brooklyn walked into the living room and joined Brystol on the sofa. For some reason, Brooklyn had a stomach full of butterflies. She thought it was silly to feel nervous about her date with Bowie because they already knew each other. They had been out a million times before, with and without Austin, so going out now wasn’t unheard of. What was new were the feelings she had for him. For years, she had fought the demons in her heart, loving two men at the same time, and not just two men, but best friends. Back then, it wouldn’t have mattered who she chose; her heart would’ve longed for the other. Her life was different now, changed, yet that still didn’t squelch the anxiety she felt. She was about to go on a date with Bowie Holmes. A real date where he picked her up, where they would undoubtedly kiss at the end of the night because she really liked kissing that man. The date wasn’t even a turning point—she already knew she wanted to be with him, to be a family, to give Brystol a mom and dad—yet she was still jumpy for no other reason than she was already in love with Bowie and wanted to tell him.