Kate pulled her sister into a hug. “He’d be so happy for you, Tess.”
“I know.” Tessa squeezed her tight, then pulled back. “Okay, enough. I have to get home. Olive has a cold and Dusty’s been on his own with her all evening.” She laughed. “Who knew our old pal Dustin Mathers would end up being a great father and husband—myhusband!”
“Go,” Kate said. “We’ve got everything handled.”
More hugs, more love, and Tessa drove off with a wave, her blond hair flying out the open window.
Vivien turned to Kate. “I can take you back to the Summer House, or, if you want to come with me to meet Peter for a late dinner, you’re welcome. Unless you want to chill alone at home. I’m pretty sure just about everyone in the house is out and about tonight.”
“I’d love the solitude,” she said. “Though I appreciate the offer. I’ll have a nightcap and take a shower and wait for Eli and Emma to get back. I still can’t believe he took her out for dinner tonight—just the two of them.”
“It’s so sweet.” Vivien smiled. “Those two have really bonded.”
“They have,” Kate agreed, and the warmth in her chest was genuine. Whatever complicated feelings she had about thesource of that bond, the result was undeniable. Eli had been exactly what Emma needed.
After Vivien dropped her off, Kate walked toward an unusually dark and quiet house.
Everyone certainly was out, though she’d seen the faint blue glow of a television from her mom and Maggie’s apartment above the garage.
Inside, she took a moment to absorb the rare silence. Finding an open bottle of wine in the fridge, she poured a glass and walked out to the deck.
The Gulf was just about black now, visible only by the white lines of surf catching the moonlight. The boardwalk stretched from the deck over the sea oats toward the beach. Stars were beginning to flicker in a sky that shifted from a bruised violet to the dark of night.
On a sigh, Kate realized that somehow she’d not only fallen in love with the man who’d designed and built this home, she’d also fallen hard for the house itself. The view, the air, the water. And, of course, the chaos and the noise and the family that had somehow emerged from two broken halves and made something whole.
Wylies and Lawsons, together again, after all these years.
And now she and Eli…well, it was downright poetic.
Could she really live here? The conversation at Wakulla had made it feel possible. Maybe not this year, if Emma wanted to finish her senior year at Eastmont, but next year? Matt wouldn’t hate staying with Jeffrey and college wasn’t far off for him, either. Maybe he’d go to a Florida university.
Then she could take an early retirement, Eli could shift his work from Atlanta to Destin, and they could live here.
The idea of waking up every morning in this house, near her sister and her mother and next to the man she loved gave her athrill she couldn’t quite describe. It felt…possible. Not a fantasy, but the early stages of a plan.
With a light and hopeful heart, she carried her wine upstairs, took a long, hot shower, then climbed into sleep pants and a T-shirt.
She stretched out on the bed with still damp hair, a deep sense of contentment, and the highest of hopes for her future.
The hard questions were still there, but they felt manageable. She and Eli were in a good place. Emma was healing. Tessa’s wedding was right over the horizon. Life was, for the moment, beautifully uncomplicated.
She picked up her phone. No texts. She imagined Eli and Emma lingering over dessert at a local seafood place, getting to know each other.
The very idea made her?—
“Mom!” The door popped open and Emma blew in, cheeks flushed, eyes shining, vibrating with an energy that Kate hadn’t seen since her little girl was much younger.
She dropped onto the bed and grabbed Kate’s arm.
“I had so much fun tonight!”
Kate sat up, blinking. “At dinner?”
“Well, yes, technically dinner, but not at a restaurant.” Emma was talking at twice her normal speed, which was already fast. “Eli asked me if I wanted to go out or if I wanted to check out pizza night at his church. And I said yes!”
Kate felt the word “church” land in her chest like a stone dropped into still water.
“You went to…church?”