13

It was a little past 9:00 when Leo showed up to take Tia to the hospital. But first he brought the cooler into the kitchen. “I’m embarrassed to say that I polished off all the leftovers last night.” He set the cleaned food containers on the counter. “Ready to go?”

“I am.” She reached for her backpack.

“Does that mean you plan to camp there?” he teased as they went outside, where last night’s fog was still socked in. She noticed he’d put the top on the Jeep.

“No, it means I don’t like hospital food. Neither does Julie. I decided to pack a few things in case we get hungry.”

His brows arched. “Nice thinking.”

“Well, it’s not a feast like yesterday.”

As he drove through the fog, neither of them spoke much, but it didn’t seem like an awkward silence. More like they were both comfortable enough not to fill the air with idle chatter. Like, she told herself, they were friends. At least she hoped so. That’s what she’d been trying to convince herself last night as she was preparing food for today. It was her way to deflect unwanted feelings of guilt and to distance herself emotionally.

“We made good time,” Leo said as he parked the Jeep. “Missed the commuter traffic.”

Tia pointed to the clock. “Roland won’t be going into surgery for about fifteen minutes.”

“Gives us time to say a quick prayer for him.” Leo turned off the Jeep.

“Yeah?” she said hopefully. “That’d be nice.”

Sitting in the Jeep in the parking garage, they both bowed their heads and took turns praying that Roland’s surgery would be a success, that everyone helping him would do their best job, and that he would come out of it healthier than ever.

“Thanks,” she told Leo as they walked through the parking garage. “I really do believe prayers help. Our family in Norton is praying for him today too.” She wanted to say how much she appreciated him bringing her here today but didn’t want to go overboard. Really, her intention was to maintain this relationship as a friendship. She didn’t want to feel guilty the next time she crossed paths with Natalie.

Julie wasn’t yet in the waiting area where she’d told Tia to meet her, but they settled in just the same. “How about if I get us coffees?” Leo offered.

“Wonderful. Julie and I both like lattes with a little cinnamon on top.”

“You got it.”

Shortly after he left, Julie showed up. “They just took him in,” she said as she sat down. “He seemed pretty relaxed.” But her hands were shaking.

“He’s going to be okay.” Tia reached for her hand, and Julie immediately broke into tears.

“I—I know,” she blubbered. “But I’m still scared. I don’t know what I’d do without him. And I’m just so tired.” She paused to blow her nose. “My emotions are probably going to be all over the place.”

“I’ve asked everyone I know to pray for him,” Tia said. “Leo and I just said another prayer ourselves.”

“Thank you!”

“Maybe we should pray again right now.”

“Yes.” Julie nodded. “I’d like that.”

Once again, Tia prayed for her uncle, and by the time they finished, Julie’s hands had nearly stopped trembling and Leo was coming with their coffee.

“Oh, you dear boy!” Julie exclaimed as he handed her a latte. “Just what I needed. You both are just what I needed. Thank you for being here.”

As the three sat together, Julie explained that some of her friends had offered to come sit with her, but she didn’t really feel that close with any of them. “I suppose that’s my own fault,” she admitted, “because Roland is truly my best friend.”

“I think that’s how a good marriage should be,” Tia told her. “You’re lucky.”

“You know Roland’s quite a bit older than me,” Julie said. “I’d never really given it much thought until recently, when he started having problems with his heart. That was sort of a reality check.”

“He’s not that old,” Tia pointed out. “Besides, you said his father was pretty elderly when he passed on. I’m guessing Roland will be around a good long while too.” In an attempt to change the subject, Tia decided to talk about the boat. “I was just thinking about the Pacific Pearl this morning,” she said. “I’m so eager to get back to it and back to work.”

Julie’s eyes lit up. “Really?”

Tia nodded. “Yeah. It’s like that boat has gotten under my skin. I can’t wait to see it renovated. It was so fun to rip out all that horrible eighties décor. I can’t even imagine what Roland’s mother was thinking.”

Julie smiled. “To be fair, it wasn’t completely her doing. She had a good friend who was a decorator, and for some reason, Lucille just gave her carte blanche with it. Roland’s dad put his foot down when it came to the stateroom, though. Said he wouldn’t be able to sleep with all that froufrou.”

“Good for him,” Leo said.

“Yeah, the stateroom is what first gave me hope,” Tia confessed.

“Speaking of the stateroom, I’ve decided it should be a multiuse room.” Julie started sharing her ideas for making it serve as an office, an infirmary, or just a quiet area. “Of course, sometimes it will be a stateroom too.” She pointed at Tia. “When the demo in the rest of the boat is done—well, as much as you guys can do before the carpenters come—I’d like you to give the stateroom a thorough cleaning, clear everything out, and replace the linens and whatnot. Just make it nice.”

“Sure,” Tia said eagerly.

“When do the carpenters come?” Leo asked.

“When I called Murray Brothers a couple of weeks ago, Jack Murray promised to be there by this Thursday.” Julie sighed. “At the time I was disappointed they couldn’t come sooner. Now it feels too soon.”

“We’ll have the demo done by then,” Leo told her.

“Really?” Julie’s brows arched.

“Based on the progress we made Friday, I really think so,” he said.

“I promised Jack it would be done by then.” Julie sounded relieved. “But I was ready to call him to postpone it.”

“I’ve been thinking a lot about the new galley,” Tia told her. “I’ve got some ideas that I’d like to put down on paper.”

“Great. I can’t wait to see them.” Julie glanced down at her watch with a furrowed brow.

Tia suddenly drew a blank on how to distract her aunt from worrying. “Oh, yeah,” she said quickly. “Uncle Tony and Dad send their love. I talked to Dad last night for almost an hour. Guess what?”

“What?” Julie asked.

“Dad told me he’s considering marriage.”

“Seriously? Vince getting remarried?” Julie’s dark eyes grew wide. “Wow . . . do you think he’ll really do it?”

“I think he’s serious.” Tia felt a little guilty for sharing this. “Although he did ask me to keep it under my hat.” She giggled, knowing she’d have to come clean with him. “Dad knows I’m not good at keeping secrets. Besides, I don’t think he meant you, Julie. Just people in Norton. You know how gossipy it gets at D’Amico’s.”

“This is Deanna, right?” Julie asked.

“Yeah. They’ve been together for a while.”

“I’ve never met her in person, but she sounds nice. Do you like her?”

“I actually do. I mean, I sort of didn’t at first. Mostly because she’s so different than I am. She’s kind of a girly girl, if you know what I mean.”

Julie chuckled. “I saw her photo on Facebook. She’s very pretty.”

“Yeah. Dad would agree. I think now that I’m sort of out of the picture, well, maybe they’re taking it to the next level.”

“I’m happy for Vince,” Julie said.

As they continued visiting, Tia attempted to distract Julie by giving her updates on everyone in the family, going into great detail and trying not to glance at the clock behind the nurses’ station. Finally, out of topics, Tia took a break, sipping the last of her lukewarm latte.

“I have a question,” Leo said. “I’ve been hearing all these Italian sounding names as you talk about your family, Tia. Is your name Italian too?”

Tia smiled. “Well, my real name is.”

“Christina Louise,” Julie informed him. “Isn’t that pretty?”

He nodded but still looked uncertain. “Tia is short for Christina?”

“It was because of my cousin Marcus,” Tia explained. “That’s Uncle Tony’s son, and he’s about three years older than me. His mom, Aunt Karen, used to babysit me when I was an infant. As the story goes, Marcus couldn’t say Christina, so she told him to call me Tina. But he always said Tia instead. Pretty soon they were all calling me Tia.” She shrugged. “It kind of stuck.”

“Well, it’s a nice name,” Leo said. “It suits you.”

“I like its simplicity,” she admitted. “I’m basically a simple sort of girl.”

Julie laughed. “Simple in a complicated, beautiful sort of way.”

As the conversation continued, Tia could tell that Leo was trying to take his turn at keeping Julie preoccupied. During these times, Tia would sneak a glimpse at the clock. Finally, when it was past 1:00, she asked if Julie was hungry.

“I don’t think I can eat a thing,” Julie told her. “Not until they’re done.”

“You need to keep your strength up,” Leo said.

“How long is the surgery supposed to take?” Tia asked nervously.

“Three to four hours.” Julie frowned at her watch. “That means it could be another hour.”

Leo pointed to Tia’s backpack. “Well, I happen to know that Tia has something edible in there.”

“You guys go ahead,” Julie said.

“I’d rather wait,” Tia told her.

“Me too,” Leo agreed. He confessed to how he’d pigged out on the leftovers last night. “I didn’t realize your niece was such a talented chef,” he told Julie. “You obviously knew what you were doing when you brought her down here.”

Julie glanced at Tia, then smiled. “Yes, well, I did ask my brother about her. Just to make sure she was really up to the task.”

“You did?” Tia was surprised.

“It’s not that I didn’t think you were capable,” Julie said apologetically.

“That’s okay. I’m actually glad you asked Uncle Tony. That makes me feel good. Like you went for real references.”

Leo told Julie about the people in the elevator yesterday. “I think they were about to mug us for the cannelloni.”

Tia laughed. “You should have heard Leo promoting dinner cruises on the Pacific Pearl. What a natural PR guy.”

“That reminds me—we need to get a website up and running. I even texted my sister about it. Melinda’s majoring in graphic design, and she’s already built some pretty cool sites.”

“Excellent idea.” Julie slowly nodded. “But maybe we should wait until . . . well, after we see how Roland’s recovery goes.”

“Yeah. No problem.” He nodded. “I mostly just started the conversation with her.”

“Thanks.”

It was getting close to 2:00 when a woman in green scrubs approached them. Tia couldn’t read her rather somber expression but suddenly felt worried. Had something gone wrong?

“Mrs. Sheffield?” the woman asked.

“Dr. Moore!” Julie eagerly stood. “How is he?”

The doctor smiled. “The surgery couldn’t have gone better. Mr. Sheffield is on his way to ICU.”

“Can I go to him?”

“He’s still groggy from the anesthesia. They’ll need some time to get him settled in.”

“Okay.” Julie nodded. “But he’s going to be fine?”

“It all went very well. No complications.” The doctor smiled wearily.

“How long will he be in ICU?” Julie asked.

“Two days. Then five or six more days in supervised care after that. We’ll give you some material to read regarding his recovery. But really”—she placed a hand on Julie’s shoulder—“it’s time for you to take a deep breath and relax now.”

“Thank you.” Julie’s voice choked. “So much!”

To celebrate the successful surgery, Tia unzipped her backpack, pulling out a bundle that contained the lunch she’d prepared this morning.

“That looks like it could contain a baby,” Julie said.

“Now that’s scary.” Tia chuckled as she peeled the kitchen towel insulation away from the brown paper bag. “That was to keep them cool.” She extracted three hoagie style sandwiches that she’d wrapped in parchment and tied with raffia.

“This looks interesting,” Julie said as Tia handed her one. “What is it?”

“Just ham and avocado with a little Dijon mustard on a baguette.”

“Yum!” Leo exclaimed when she handed him one.

She also pulled out three bottles of water and a container of sliced veggies that she’d sprinkled with herbs and balsamic vinegar. Before they started to eat, Julie said a quick thank-you prayer—not so much for the food as for her husband. Feeling relaxed and relieved, they enjoyed their picnic lunch together. When they were done, Tia brought out a Ziploc bag of snickerdoodle cookies.

“My favorite!” Julie exclaimed.

“I know.” Tia grinned.

Tia could tell that Julie was feeling antsy as they were throwing the picnic remains into the trash. “Why don’t you go check on him?” Tia suggested.

“Yes, I think I need to.” Julie gave them both a big hug. “Thank you guys for coming. It was a real comfort. But I’m sure you have other things to do.” She held up her phone. “I’ll keep you posted on how he’s doing. And I’ll let you know if I plan to come home tonight or wait until tomorrow.”

“Sounds good.” Tia nodded. “Give him our love.”

“Will do.”

This time when Leo drove her home, Tia felt like they’d reached the end of a very short season. Although she wished it didn’t have to end, she knew that it was for the best. So when he turned onto her street, she knew it was time to seal the deal.

“I appreciate you giving me rides lately.” She started to recite the lines she’d rehearsed in her head. “But from now on, I’ll be perfectly comfortable using Julie’s bike to get around. I already checked the distance from her house to the docks on my GPS, and it’s an easy ride.”

“Well, if you ever do need a ride, just let me know. It’s no big deal.”

“I really enjoy the freedom of biking,” she said as he pulled into the driveway. “It sounds like Julie will come home today or tomorrow. So if I do need a ride, I’m sure she’ll be able to help.”

“Okay.” He gave a crooked smile. “Thanks for lunch.”

“You’re welcome.” She grabbed her backpack from the backseat. “See you around. I plan to be at the boat first thing in the morning to keep working on the demo.”

“Great. See you then.”

As she went into the house, she knew that she hadn’t been completely honest when she’d said she’d be at the boat first thing in the morning. The truth was, she planned to ride her bike to the boat as soon as she had time to change her clothes. She just didn’t want him to know it.