“Hey, Willie.” Ben slid onto a barstool at Lucky Duck after dinner with his mom.
“Ben, back in town, I see. The usual?”
Ben nodded. Willie grabbed a cold mug and filled it with a local craft beer. Ben had missed that, too. His favorite beer, sitting here at Lucky Duck, hanging out with Jay.
He’d had a nice dinner with his mom at Magic Cafe, then taken her back to her house. The house was really too big for her now. It was the house he’d been raised in, and his mom just rattled around in the four-bedroom house, all alone. He’d tried to convince her to move into something smaller, or even move to the new retirement community on the island. She had some friends who had moved there. Or people he used to consider her friends before she’d become the hermit she was now.
But she wasn’t ready to give up that house and all the memories it held. It was directly on the beach, and she did love to sit out there with her morning coffee and watch the world awaken. He’d taken over doing most of the repairs around the house and helped out when he could. She was still part owner of the marina, so she had that income coming in plus his father’s life insurance money, so it wasn’t like she had to downsize. He just worried about her living there all alone.
He took a swig of the beer. “Thanks, Willie.”
“You bet.” Willie turned to greet another customer.
Ben looked around the room, waved to a few people he knew, and turned back to the bar. Before long Jay slid onto the stool beside him.
Willie brought Jay the same local beer. “So, how was dinner with your mom?”
“Fine. She’s glad I’m back. Lonely, I think.”
“You should see if she’d join one of the groups at the community center.”
“I should. Not sure what kind of groups they have going there, though.”
Jay nodded at a group of people coming into the tavern. “There’s Noah. You could ask him.”
Jay’s expression changed, his eyes lighting up, as Robin, Sara, and Charlotte entered with Noah. Ben shook his head, wondering if his friend was ever going to ask Robin out. He waved to the group and they headed over.
He jumped off his seat and gave Sara a hug. “I hear you’re back in town.”
“I am.”
“Want to join us? Why don’t we all grab a table? That work for everyone? I’d love to catch up with you.”
They moved to a table in the corner of the bar and Ben didn’t miss that Jay ended up sitting next to Robin. Sara and Noah sat beside each other, their hands resting together on the table. Charlotte took a seat beside Ben.
Willie sent a waitress over for drink orders. Soon they were talking about high school escapades and whatever happened to this person or that person. Jay and Noah were a bit left out on the high school reminiscences but sat and listened to the stories.
Ben finally turned to Noah. “So… I’m hoping to get my mom out of the house more. Maybe she could join one of the groups at the community center?”
“What does your mom like to do?”
“She…” What did she like to do? It seemed like her whole life had been about raising him and his brother and taking care of his father. “She… knits? Likes to read?”
“We have a monthly book club, and there’s an active knitter’s group that meets up a couple mornings a week for coffee and knitting.”
“Maybe I can convince her to join one of those.”
“I’ll see if I can get one of the members of those groups to call her and invite her,” Noah suggested.
“That would be great.” If he could just get her involved in something. She’d had time to grieve, and he knew she’d never get over losing his dad, but she still had so much life to live. He wanted her to have the best one possible.
He turned to Charlotte. “So did you girls have dinner at the inn?”
“We did. We officially decided we had the best day ever. We haven’t had a girls’ day like that in forever.”
Her blue eyes shone. He remembered when they were studying genetics in high school and they’d learned how rare it was to have red hair and blue eyes. Charlotte had been a high school celebrity in that class.
“So are you still painting?”
“I am. I’ve just… I don’t know how to describe it… changed my technique some since I’ve moved back here. I’ve been painting beach scenes and a few of downtown Main Street.”
“I’d love to see them.”
“Oh, they’re not really ready to be seen. I’m still working on them. It’s so different than what I did before.”
He could hear the uncertainty in her voice. She’d never been very secure in her belief in herself, he remembered that. But then she’d lived in the shadow of her ever-so-popular, one-year-older sister.
Robin leaned closer. “Her work now is fabulous. Don’t let her tell you otherwise. I want her to show them to Paul Clark.”
“That’s a great idea.” He nodded.
“They aren’t ready.” Charlotte’s words left no room for debate.
Not that that would stop Robin. “I’m right though. You should show them to him.”
Ben grinned. Hard to win an argument with Robin. Everyone in town knew that.
“I should probably call it a night. My family’s coming to town tomorrow and—” Charlotte shrugged. And what? She needed a good night’s sleep to face them? Maybe she could sleep through their entire visit…
“I’ll go, too.” Robin stood.
“No, you don’t have to leave. Stay and have fun.”
Ben stood. “I’m beat. I’ll walk back with you. You know, now that we’re neighbors.”
Robin sat back down by Jay. “Okay. I won’t be long, though.”
Charlotte and Ben headed outside and walked down Oak Street. They crossed over to the gazebo and headed down the bay side of the island. As they walked, Ben kept looking up at the sky.
“What are you looking for up there? A shooting star?”
“Nah, I just like seeing the stars. We’re lucky here on the island, aren’t we?”
“We are.” Well, she had been until she heard her family was coming to town.
“So your family is coming to visit?”
“Yes.” She knew her voice didn’t hold even a tiny bit of enthusiasm.
He stopped and looked at her. “Things still rocky with your family?”
She frowned. “How did you know things were strained?”
He shrugged. “It was hard to miss some of your parents’ comments when we were younger. They were pretty hard on you.”
“Let’s just say things haven’t changed much.”
“Eva coming in, too?”
“Sure is.” Ben would probably be happy with that. Everyone on Belle Island would be glad to see Eva. She was that person.
“I’ll have to see if I can catch up with her, too, then.”
Of course, he would. He’d probably be one of a long line of admirers holding onto Eva’s every word. “Yeah, you should do that.” Once again, not much enthusiasm in her voice.
They continued their walk in silence.
“Well, here’s my bungalow,” she said.
“It was fun tonight. We should do it again.” Ben stood by her front door.
“Sure.” He’d probably be too busy chasing down Eva. “Night, Ben.”
“Night.”
He crossed the courtyard and entered his cottage, and then she slipped inside and headed for her room. She kicked off her shoes and flopped on the bed, staring at the ceiling. This pity party she was throwing wasn’t really her thing… but she really, really was not looking forward to her family’s week-long visit.