Jared hesitated for a moment. “She designed a chapel,” he said softly.
“And?”
“And it’s good.”
“ ‘Good’? On a scale of one to ten?”
“Eleven.”
“Well, well, well,” Dilys said. “Brains, beauty, and talent. Seems like she’s a complete package.”
“It’s too soon to tell.”
“Jared, honey, my advice is that you don’t take too long to make up your mind. Brains, beauty, and talent tend to get snatched up on Nantucket. We’re wise people.”
Jared washed his hands in the sink. “Wes asked her to go to the Daffy Festival with him on Saturday.”
“Your cousin Wes Drayton? The good-looking, unmarried young man who has a thriving business in repairing boats? That Wes?”
“That’s the one.” Jared didn’t smile at her description. “I can’t fool around with Ken and Victoria’s daughter. If we got serious and it didn’t work out … How would I live that down? I owe my entire life to her parents. You should have heard Ken bawling me out because …” He waved his hand. “It doesn’t matter now. Here she comes. Just keep it light, will you? She’s a nice kid.”
“So are you,” Dilys said, but Jared was already at the door and smiling at Alix.
Chapter Eight
“I like Dilys,” Alix said. They were in his old red truck and heading back toward town, passing beautiful landscapes of marshes and ponds. It was early
in the season yet, so some of the shrubs were still leafless. “What are the white flowers?”
“It’s the shadbush. ‘The shadbush blooms when shad are running,’ ” he quoted.
“I guess that means you’ll be heading off in your boat soon.”
“I have some things to do here on the island.” He didn’t say what because he knew that he had to get Alix settled enough that she wouldn’t jump on a ferry the second he disappeared. He reminded himself that he needed to hook her up with Lexie and Toby.
Alix glanced out the window. Did “some things” mean he was working on a design for some fabulous building?
“Dilys is nice,” Jared said. “You wouldn’t happen to need some computer supplies, would you?”
“There’s enough in my mother’s cabinet to last me. Why?”
“Because if I drive home to drop you off I’m going to be late for my appointment. I could call Trish and change the time, I guess.”
“Oh,” Alix said. “Are you two going out?”
“No, Tricia is a hairdresser and Dilys told me I had to get this off my face.” He ran his hand through his beard.
“You’re going to shave? And get a haircut?”
He was glancing at her as he drove. “You don’t think I should?”
She liked him with the beard but to say that seemed too personal. “I just don’t want to mix you up with Montgomery, that’s all. The hair seems to suit a Kingsley who deals with the sea and lives on an island.”
“All right,” he said, smiling. “I’ll get the beard trimmed, not shaved, and not get my hair cut short. Is that better?”
His tone made her frown. Why was he trying so hard to please her? “Who told you I knew about your … your job?”
“You were angry at me,” he said. “And you kept dropping heavy-handed hints about my work. Sorry I didn’t pick up on them until later.”