48
We don’t go to the inn after all because Harold’s had a mix-up with the fishmonger and all they’re serving is chicken. Instead we go to a bistro in Rockport and eat mussels and flagrantly hold hands.
He has me home by eleven after our date and furiously kisses me good night by the front door. We can’t go to his house because it’s being painted inside. We can’t go inside my house because my dad’s inside. I feel like I’m sixteen.
When it’s finally Saturday and we are alone in my very own house in my newly clean bedroom, I lie in his arms and let all of the feelings wash over me. Ethan is something I never thought possible—a partner with whom I am totally free to be myself. A summer romance that doesn’t have to end.
“How long do I have to wait to ask your kids if I can marry you?” he asks. He’s not being serious, but he is.
“Definitely a few weeks,” I say.
His phone buzzes, and I don’t want him to move. “Don’t get that,” I say, and drape my leg over his to trap him.
“I have kids,” he says. “I always have to get it.” I lie next to him as he answers questions about an event at the skate park today.
I get a text from Sandy: I don’t know how you ever did this. It’s brutal
She and Camille are next door cleaning out Phyllis’s house. They really only have the weekend to get through it together because Camille is going back to San Francisco on Monday. After that it’s all on Sandy. And me, of course.
When Ethan’s off the phone, he pulls me close and says, “I never want to get out of this bed.”
“Same,” I say. Tomorrow my kids will be home, and he won’t be here. I remind myself that he’s just down the street, and that’s so much better than Devon. “But we may need to go over and help Sandy and Camille for a bit.”
Ethan covers his face with a pillow. “All those books.”
“It’s a lot. But it’s a lot more for them than it would be for us. Let’s give them two hours of help. I’ll set a timer. And we can come right back here.”
I can tell Sandy’s a wreck the minute we walk through the door. And that’s before she starts to cry. “All of these photos. And the letters my dad wrote to her after their first summer together. I could do this for months and not be through it all.”
I give her a hug. “We’re going to help. And you can use my garage for the give-away pile.”
Camille comes out of the bedroom carrying stacks of clothing. “Oh, thank God you’re here.”
“Give-away, right? Take that to my garage.”
“And thank God your garage is so close,” she says. “We only have to move a thousand more loads before this place goes on the market.”
Ethan is in the living room, running his hands over the stone fireplace. “She took really good care of this house,” he says.
Sandy nods. “She thought of her life as a fairy tale. This house was part of the romance, even after my dad was gone.”
“I love that,” he says. He opens a corner cabinet full of books and teacups. “Mind if I go upstairs?”
Sandy nods again. “Knock yourself out. And maybe bring the old coats down from the closet at the top of the stairs?”
Camille is back from my garage, and I start putting boxes together for things they may want to keep. “Let’s call this box ‘treasures.’ We’ll put the love letters and the old photos in here and move it immediately into your car. Then we’ll clear out the books. I suggest you each pick ten, and then we can have Mr. Tripodi from the library come take what he wants. Then tomorrow we’ll tackle the kitchen.”
Ethan comes back down with a pile of coats. “Garage?” he asks. I get the door for him and lead him the ten feet across the lawn. He drops the coats and takes my hand. “So you love me?”
I smile. I am not tired of talking about this. “I do.”
“Like for the rest of the summer? Or longer? Like if you had to guess.”
I put my arms around his waist. I have never felt like this before and I have never wanted forever more in my life. “Longer.”
“Would it spook you if I moved into that house?”
I check his face to see if he is serious. He’s looking down at me with a certainty that I’m getting used to. Ethan is a person who knows exactly what he wants.
“I would love that,” I say. “I would actually love that.” I cannot stop smiling. Ethan is here, right here.