She’s hinted. Now it’s your turn.
He stepped in and found her sitting up. She would never know how much this upset him, how his heart fell from his chest, and how he wanted to weep because he had finally found the courage to find out if he had read her correctly.
Graham smiled and motioned toward the galley. “While you were sleeping, I stepped out and picked up some light snacks. I figured we’d eat at the bar or whatever.”
Rennie slid off the bed and came toward Graham. Her messy hair was now in a ponytail, which tempted Graham to tug on it. “I’m excited to go out.”
He laughed. “I know you are,” he said as he shook his head. “I have a feeling tonight is going to be crazy.”
“Duh, crazy fun.”
Her enthusiasm made him feel young and carefree. At least for the night, they’d be the Graham and Rennie of old. He followed her up the stairs and went to the champagne bottle. “Bowie doesn’t have much for flutes or anything, so plastic cup or tumbler?”
“How about we save the champagne for later? We can toast the new year or something when we come back from the bar.”
Graham had no qualms with her suggestion and set the bottle back into the makeshift bucket of ice. He sat down across from Rennie and helped himself to the food. “You know, I only eat this type of food on holidays, and it only seems to be in the winter. I’m sure Brooklyn will have a plate of these types of snacks for their Super Bowl party.” His attempt at small talk seemed trivial and awkward.
You’ve known this woman half your life; stop being weird.
“Yes, but hers will be cut into little footballs,” Rennie pointed out. “I don’t even know what she uses to make her platters look so . . . festive?”
“Beats me,” Graham added. “I’m the guy you call for a keg. Beer, I can do. Maybe a few bottles of alcohol, chicken wings, or something off the menu.”
“I haven’t had beer and wings in a long time.”
“Six months is a long time to you?” he asked. When she made her grand reentrance to Cape Harbor and came into the Whale Spout, the group of them sat around and drank beer and ate everything off the menu, wings included.
“Now that you’ve said it, no. But it seems like a lifetime ago. Coming back to town, I fell into such an easy routine. Once we all caught up, it was like Brooklyn never left, and I had always been around.”
She opened the door, and he was going to use this opportunity to his advantage.
“Why did you stop visiting? You knew I was there, didn’t you?” Graham had always wondered why Rennie never came around.
“Mostly out of respect for Brooklyn. She wanted to put everything behind her and didn’t want people asking where she was.”
“Even with Brystol visiting all the time?”
Rennie shrugged and picked at the piece of cheese she had on her plate. “The whole situation with Carly was weird. Their dynamic was odd. Brooklyn and Carly rarely talked, and if they did, it was about Brystol and when she was coming to visit. But then, Brooklyn would get a check from Carly for thousands to put toward her business or to pay for Brystol’s needs.”
“Maybe Carly paid Austin’s child support or something.”
“The interest from Austin’s trust fund went to Brooklyn for support.”
“And now, the kid owns everything.”
“Even part of Chamberwoods,” Rennie pointed out. “What do you think Grady is going to do when he gets out of rehab?”
“I don’t know,” Graham said, shaking his head back and forth slowly. “I can’t offer him a job, obviously. He has one skill, and that’s fishing, but I fear he’ll have some PTSD from the accident that might prevent him from going out on a boat. I want to help him, though. I don’t want him to fall back into the pattern he was in.”
“Maybe Bowie has some work for him?”
His eyes went to hers. “That’s a great idea. I’ll ask Bowie when I get back and bring it up to Grady when I see him next week.”
“How is therapy, if you don’t mind me asking?”
“Great, I think. We’ve talked about life, the damage his drinking has done, and skirted around the accident. My only complaint is the drive. It’s long and tedious, but whatever gets Grady the help he needs. And my dad is coming around. It’s a slow and steady process with him.”
“He’s a proud man,” Rennie pointed out.
“That he is.” Graham picked up a cracker and added a slice of salami and a piece of cheese to it before sticking it in his mouth. He looked out the windows and saw ships coming into port and motioned toward the water for Rennie to look.