Summer Love by Nancy Thayer

Author:Nancy Thayer [Thayer, Nancy]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Random House Publishing Group
Published: 2022-05-03T00:00:00+00:00

twelve

This Summer

Nick had given the Sand Palace Four a daylong tour of the island, including an extravagant lunch at the famous Chanticleer restaurant in ’Sconset. They had strolled the idyllic lanes of the eastern end of the island, remarking on the changes in shoreline and residences the past twenty-five years had brought. They’d sat at the ’Sconset beach, watching the tides roll in and out, talking idly about this and that, until they were sun-dazed and so relaxed they were almost limp.

When they returned to the hotel in the late afternoon, Nick told the others everyone was free to do whatever they wanted. Ariel and Wyatt went off to their room for a nap, promising Sheila they’d get in touch later about evening plans.

Sheila took a long soaking bath and creamed lotion on her skin, which was already freckled from the sun in spite of her sunblock. She pulled on her robe and lay down on her bed, the bed a maid had made up with fresh linens, leaving a chocolate in gold foil on her pillow. She swirled the chocolate slowly in her mouth, loving its rich silkiness. This room, the luxury, the silence, the views, made her feel as if she were in a posh spa. Thank heaven there had been availability for Penny to have her own room. Penny was, after all, an adult, but it was hard for Sheila not to worry about her.

Sheila didn’t want her daughter to feel like the outsider Sheila had been twenty-five years ago. And that caused her to think about Francine. If anyone was an outsider this week, it was Nick’s wife. Francine was snobbish and aloof, but maybe that was the way she dealt with being around the Sand Palace Four. It would be nice, Sheila thought, to get to know Francine better. If Francine had lived with Nick all these years, she would have some interesting tales to tell.

On the spur of the moment, Sheila called Ariel.

“Ariel, I’ve had an idea. Let’s invite Francine to go out to dinner for a girls’ night out. I don’t want her to feel ignored.”

“That’s so sweet,” Ariel said. “Hang on, let me ask Wyatt what he thinks.” After a few mumbling noises, Ariel said, “Wyatt wants to watch the Red Sox. Let’s do it!”

“Great, I’ll call her right now.”

Francine accepted their invitation and Sheila made a reservation for three at the Languedoc, which she assumed Francine would prefer because the restaurant’s name was French.

They met in the hotel lobby at seven-thirty. Ariel wore a blue silk sheath with a violet shrug that set off her blue eyes. Sheila wore a white piqué sundress with a pink paisley shawl, a rather exotic and daring accessory for her, and an expensive one, too. Francine met them in the hotel lobby wearing cream-colored slacks, a matching cream long-sleeved T-shirt, and around her neck, an Hermès scarf in cream printed with gold buckles and black riding crops.

“Why doesn’t she just wear a sign that says ‘I’m French,’ ” Sheila whispered to Ariel.

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