She nodded, and then gave him a thoughtful look. “Are you putting off getting out of the truck for some reason?”
Busted.To be fair, it wasn’t only a matter of putting off introductions. It also felt good to reminisce about his younger days, when the house was full.
They got out of the truck, and he led her around the house to the backyard, where everybody was already gathered. Nobody was at the grill yet, though, so they weren’t running as late as he’d hoped. The less time they spent here, the better.
Their parents had loved cookouts and had many friends, so a large patio made from paving stones extended from the deck steps. The grill was massive, and there were several tables with chairs, along with Adirondack chairs in conversational groupings.
It was overkill for how they used the space now—just whoever happened to be home throwing some meat on the grill—but so far none of them had suggested selling any of it.
“Okay, so the resemblance is strong in this family,” Lucy said as soon as they turned the corner.
“Yeah. Not only is it pretty obvious we’re brothers, but it was very obvious who our dad was, too. Mom always griped about how she had to carry and deliver us, but we got nothing from her.” He shrugged. “But I see her in my brothers’ facial expressions all the time.”
Lucy smiled at him, but he caught a glimpse of sadness in her eyes and wondered what it must feel like to have no siblings. And to have what sounded like a pretty terrible mother.
And for a second, he was tempted to tell her something that might help, but it wasn’t his secret to tell. And he’d promised Helen he wouldn’t say a word.
“Okay,” he said as his brothers approached. “These are my brothers, in order down from me—Gray, Beck and Theo. Everybody, this is Lucy Macauley.”
He deliberately said her last name because he trusted his brothers to greet her with warm smiles, which they did. She shouldn’t have to shy away from using her name, even in Wayward Harbor.
He stroked the dark hair of the little girl who ran up and wrapped her arms around his legs. “This is the best niece in the whole world, Sierra. She’s four. And the best nephew in the whole world, Jeremy—over there in the sandbox—is two. They belong to Beck.”
“It’s a good thing he had one of each,” she said, her eyes sparkling with humor.
“It did work out well for me. I’d hate to have to rank two nephews or two nieces,” he said.
“We were just about to fire up the grill,” Theo said. “You want something to drink, Lucy?”
“Just water would be great.”
“I’ll show you around inside,” Nick said. “I’ll grab her one while we’re in there.”
He could practically feel his brothers’ nosy stares boring into his back as he led Lucy across the deck and through the slider into the dining room. Giving her a brief tour of the downstairs—pretty basic dining room and kitchen area, living room and what had been a playroom before being turned into the home office for Slater & Sons—he tried to see it through her eyes.
It looked a lot like it had before their parents passed, with simple, solid furniture and very little clutter. Cream walls lightly decorated with family photos and a lighthouse painting from a yard sale. Hardwood floors with throw rugs. But it didn’t feel the same to him since their mother died. It was functional, but the heart had gone out of the home.
“The half bath is here,” he said, pushing open the door a bit. “So you’ll know where it is. And I’ll save you the upstairs tour since I have no idea what condition the bedrooms are in. It looks a lot like down here, except with furniture for clothes and sleeping instead of sitting and eating.”
“It’s a lovely home,” she said. “You must miss being here.”
Not really.“I have to run over here now and again because the office is here, but it’s actually been nice at the cottage. We tend to have a hard time leaving work at work in this house.”
He’d grabbed two bottles of water from the fridge and was about to open the slider when he realized Lucy had stopped in front of his parents’ wedding photo, which hung in the living room.
“You’re right,” she said. “For a second, I thought it was you in this photo.”
He chuckled. “I’m notthatold, and I’ve never been married, but I know what you mean. I am, however, just old enough so our childhoods were captured with print photos, and there’s a shoebox of them in a closet. My mom wished us luck figuring out who’s who, and she wrote Collective Childhood on the label.”
Lucy was laughing when they stepped out onto the deck, so of course they all looked. Nick was trying so hard not to be tense, but he was afraid one of them was going to make a bad joke about them living together. Or ask her about Las Vegas, or—even worse—reference the old rumors about Iris Macauley. They didn’t know as much as he did, because they didn’t spend as much time with Helen, but even the basic gossip could be hurtful.
He wasn’t surprised Lucy had no trouble relaxing and fitting right in. She was personable and warm and so many things Nick wasn’t, and soon he was enjoying himself. She asked them all questions about Wayward Harbor and what they did for fun. Theo told her about his work with the fire department before she had a deep discussion with Sierra about their favorite movie princesses.
He noticed she never asked any of them about work and the family business, which he appreciated.
“Oh, I meant to ask you about one of the signs I saw,” she said to Nick after setting her empty plate on the table. “I know this town loves some nautical puns, but it can be hard to tell what a business sells before it opens for the season. What is Dinghy Doodads?”
All four of them laughed, but it was Gray who answered. “It’s…a gift shop, I guess you’d call it?”