Meet Me at Sunset (Evening Island)

by Olivia Miles

  “I think I might need one of those,” Hope said, motioning to the open bottle of wine that was starting to sweat on the counter. Ellie hadn’t gotten around to installing the window air-conditioning units, and the sun was blazing.

  “So it’s six of us then?” Gemma asked, a little pertly if anyone asked Ellie.

  “Be nice,” Hope warned as she splashed some wine into a glass and drank it back. She refilled it, and then popped the cork back on, raising an eyebrow at Gemma in the process.

  Ellie frowned. “Did I miss something?”

  Hope and Gemma exchanged a glance. Finally, it was Hope who spoke. “I’m bringing a friend as my guest tonight. A male friend. He’s here on business. We met on the ferry. He helped me wipe vomit off my pants.”

  Seeing Ellie’s reaction, Hope corrected: “He handed me napkins. A nice dinner is the least I can offer him in return.”

  Why was this the first time that Ellie was hearing of this mystery man? Gemma was clearly aware of something that Ellie was not. And she was worried.

  Was there trouble in Hope’s marriage? Was that why she was here? But that wasn’t possible. Hope had the perfect marriage. She had the perfect life.

  The diamonds on her ring finger sparkled as she picked up her glass again, and Ellie put her concerns at rest. Of course there were no problems in Hope’s marriage. Hope had no problems, and for this, Ellie was relieved. Because if Hope’s life fell apart…then what chance was there for her?

  “To tonight,” Hope said, lifting her glass to theirs.

  “To sisters,” Gemma said, giving each of them a grin.

  “To Sunset Cottage,” Ellie said, giving Gemma a poignant look.

  “To memories,” Hope said, and that was that. They clinked glasses and each took a long sip, and then, the doorbell rang.

  They froze, and then, like teenagers waiting for their dates to arrive, started to laugh.

  “I’ll get it,” Ellie said, feeling the need to establish that while Hope may be hosting the party, this was in fact Ellie’s home, not just something she had a financial stake in.

  She set down her glass and walked into the hallway, slowing only briefly to check her reflection in the hallway mirror. She looked flushed, happy, and there was a light in her eyes that seemed permanent now, and it wasn’t because of the promise of good food and nice weather. It was because of the promise of good company. And maybe, something more.

  She opened the door, already smiling, but her expression froze when she saw who was standing on the porch.

  It was Simon. And, by the looks of it, his fiancée.

  Chapter Twenty

  Hope

  Hope stood at the back of the hallway and watched as Ellie turned, flush-faced, her eyes glistening, and said, “I’ll check on the girls for you, Hope.”

  Hope frowned, about to ask why, when she saw Simon. And another woman.

  She glanced at Gemma, who gave her a wide-eyed stare and then disappeared into the kitchen, hopefully to fetch the sangria. Hope was happy right now that she’d had the sense to make a double batch. Already, things were off to a shaky start, and John hadn’t even arrived yet.

  “Hello, Simon.” She smiled as she met him at the open door. She glanced at the woman, who was pretty, about Ellie’s age, with a neat blond bob and a small smile. She didn’t recall seeing her before. Or hearing about her, either. “I’m Hope Morgan.”

  “This is Erin,” Simon said. He didn’t meet her eye when he said, “My fiancée.”

  Hope could only pray that years of living under her father’s roof and learning to be polite at the many stuffy events her parents hosted were adequate training for this moment. She kept her face frozen, resisting the urge to raise even a single brow, and smiled pleasantly. “Lovely to meet you,” she said, shaking the woman’s hand.

  She stepped outside and led them deeper onto the porch, toward the conversation set. Gemma had come around the side and was already pouring glasses of sangria. Trained under the same household expectations, Gemma graciously chatted with Simon as she handed out the drinks.

  Hope took a long sip before saying, “Gemma, this is Erin. Simon’s fiancée.”

  Like her, Gemma was well adapted to hiding her true emotions, but Hope saw the flash of confusion pass through her eyes. So this was news to her, too.

  But was it news to Ellie?

  She pulled in a breath, no longer anxious about the thought of John coming to the house, but rather, eager. They needed a new dynamic. Something to break up this awkward moment.

  To her relief, she saw Leo coming up the gravel path, looking much more polished than he did when he was working, wearing jeans and a crisp blue shirt rolled at the forearms, and carrying a bouquet of lilacs.

  “The first blooms, I believe,” he said, handing them to Gemma.

  Gemma introduced him to Simon and Erin and said, “I’ll put these in water,” and then took him inside without another word.

  Hope stifled a sigh and said, “I think I’ll have one of those sangrias too.”

  Really, what was there even to say? It was only once she crossed the porch to the drinks cart that she saw her carefully set table. She’d need a seventh setting now. And a chair. The seating wasn’t the issue. She’d only purchased six matching cloth napkins and brass rings. Well, she’d just have to do without. Couldn’t have her unexpected guest feeling uncomfortable…even if her own sister did.

  Worried, she decided to wait a few more minutes to check on Ellie. Hopefully she would come down before then. Hopefully, she wouldn’t refuse to come down. Though that would solve the problem of the table setting…

  Suddenly, she wished she’d never decided to have this party at all. She’d been impulsive. Carried away. She hadn’t been thinking rationally. She’d been thinking with her heart. In the moment. Without a plan. And look what was unfolding.

  She was still struggling with these emotions when she saw him. John, dressed in khaki pants and a white linen shirt rolled at the sleeves, carrying a bottle of wine, and wearing a grin that made her heart skip a beat.

  “John!” Her voice was high pitched, she knew, and she blamed it on the nerves, but she no longer knew the source of them.

  He handed her the wine and gave her a bashful grin. “Thank you for having me.”

  “Thank you for coming.” She introduced him to Simon and Erin and said, “My sister Gemma is in the kitchen. And my other sister…I was just about to check on her.”

  He held up a hand. “I’ll get myself a drink. And let me know what I can do to help.”

  She stared at him, and then, composing herself, said, “Of course. Drinks cart is right there. I hope you like sangria.”

  “Love sangria,” he said, grinning, and something in her seemed to turn over. And for just one moment, she wasn’t Hope with two girls sleeping upstairs and a house with pristine white slipcovers that she was forever throwing in the wash or scrubbing at. She was Hope, offering a drink to John, who was her friend, a person in her life. A life she hadn’t even known existed two weeks ago. A life that she was starting to like an awful lot.

  With a smile, she excused herself and passed the bottle off to Gemma. “I’ll check on Ellie,” she said.

  “Good idea,” Gemma said. She picked up the cheese plate and went back to the porch.

  Of course, the girls had been asleep since six thirty. No nap and a long day playing in the sand had tuckered them out early, as Hope had planned.

  She walked quietly up the creaking floorboards of the stairs, careful not to wake them. As expected, the second floor was quiet, and the bedroom door to the room that the girls shared was closed, along with her own.

  Straining for any hint of sound, she tiptoed down the hall to Ellie’s room and tapped quietly.

  The door flung open immediately, and Ellie stood on the other side, looking a bit wild-eyed. Hope stared at her.

  “Is everything okay?”

  “Of course!” Ellie blinked rapidly. “Why wouldn’t it be okay
?”

  “It’s just that you’ve been gone for…a while.” A solid fifteen minutes, really. Not that she was counting. “Are you coming down? John and Leo are here.”

  “Ah, so your dates have arrived.” Ellie nodded.

  “John is not my date,” Hope clarified, even if she wasn’t sure that was exactly the truth. “He’s my guest.” Yes, that was the best word for what he was.

  Ellie was still nodding. “So now there are seven. Three couples. And me. And you don’t need me making a scene.”

  Hope pulled in a breath and let it out. Now she saw where this was going. “This isn’t about appearances. And we aren’t three couples. John is just a guest,” she clarified again. “And I’m pretty sure that there is nothing going on between Gemma and Leo either.”

  “Yet.” Ellie raised an eyebrow and Hope had to grin. She’d seen the way that Gemma smiled when Leo came onto the porch. She was nervous; all signs were there.

  “Did you know that Simon was engaged?” she asked. Of course this was news to her, but Ellie’s reaction was one of such obvious disappointment, that she needed to be sure before she asked the guy to leave her house and never return again.

  But Ellie nodded, slowly. “I knew.”

  Hope sighed and leaned against the doorjamb. “You knew? Oh, Ellie.”

  “I thought…” Ellie swallowed hard as tears filled her big, blue eyes. “I don’t know what I thought. I just knew that I loved him.”

  “Oh, honey.” Hope reached in and gave her sister a good, long hug, and she didn’t release her until Ellie pulled back.

  “I was so stupid,” Ellie said quietly, brushing a hand from her cheek.

  “People do stupid things when they’re in love,” Hope said, pushing away the frown she felt when she considered that she had invited John here tonight, not because she was in love with him—obviously! But because…she had been thinking with her heart, not her head. “Besides,” she said, eager to focus on Ellie’s dilemma instead of her own, “if anyone should feel stupid, it’s Simon. He’s here, with her, and he knows that wasn’t how the invitation was made. You’re in your house, and you should enjoy your party.”

  “I thought it was your party,” Ellie grumbled.

  “It’s our party,” Hope corrected. She tipped her head toward the landing. “Come on down,” she urged, putting her arm around her sister’s shoulder. “Hold your head up high. You’ve done nothing wrong here. Besides, I know you want that cheese plate.”

  She managed to get a grin out of her sister for that one. “Okay,” Ellie said, a little reluctantly. “But only because you talked me into it. How do you do that?”

  “I’m a mother,” Hope said simply.

  And as she walked back toward the stairs and passed the closed door to the room where her girls were tucked under the matching pink quilts, dreaming about unicorns and fairies and all the other wonderful things that little girls should dream of, for just one moment she wished she could go into their room, sit there for a while, or stay the entire night.

  But a party was waiting for her. And so was her guest.

  ***

  Any concerns that Hope had about John being the odd man out had been replaced with the obvious tension that was made by Simon’s fiancée. Ever the hostess, she swiftly moved Ellie’s place between her and Gemma when she added a new place setting for Erin beside Simon.

  Simon had the decency to look as uncomfortable as he should, all things considered, because given how much time Ellie and Simon had been spending together lately, she couldn’t completely fault Ellie for developing feelings for him again.

  Gemma only focused on Leo, and Hope supposed that this was a good thing. She giggled a little too easily, and kept smoothing her hair, even though it was clear she’d taken greater care than usual in styling it. She liked him. And from the little smiles passed between them, Hope thought the feeling might be mutual.

  From Ellie, however, there were no smiles.

  Perhaps noticing the tension, John said, “This is a lovely house you all have here.”

  “Too bad that Gemma wants to sell it,” Ellie said.

  Gemma flashed her a look, but Ellie just miserably picked up her glass and took another long sip of sangria. Across the table, Simon adjusted the neck of his shirt.

  “Is that true?” John asked. The space between his brows furrowed. “I guess that means you wouldn’t be coming back to the island?”

  But instead of addressing Gemma with this question, he was addressing her. Hope poked at her dinner—fresh Michigan whitefish in a light seasoning—and said, “Well, nothing has been decided yet.”

  If she didn’t know better, she might just say that Ellie had slipped her a smile.

  She pulled in a breath, deciding that really, it was almost time for dessert. Normally it would bother her to see a meal she had so carefully prepared be consumed so quickly, but tonight, she was rather pleased to see Simon all but inhaling his food.

  “I’ll get the tarts,” she said, standing to clear.

  “Let me,” Ellie said, pushing back her chair with such force it almost tipped over. She gave Hope one of those silent, pointed looks that their mother used to give to them if they had their elbows on the tables, and Hope knew a hint when she saw one.

  “Thanks!” she said brightly. She scanned the table. Even Gemma seemed tense now since Ellie had decided to resurrect their argument.

  “So, Leo,” Hope said, settling on the one person she knew least. “What brought you to Evening Island?”

  Gemma turned to look at Leo with interest, as Ellie cleared each of their plates.

  “That was delicious,” Simon said to her, with a hopeful smile.

  “Don’t thank me,” Ellie ground out. “Hope made it.”

  Oh dear, Hope thought, taking another sip of her drink.

  Feeling the need to smooth things over quickly, she said to Simon, “I hear you have your own law practice now. What kind of law do you practice?”

  “I’m a contract lawyer,” Simon said. He gestured to Erin, who had been perfectly pleasant but very quiet all evening. “Erin is too.”

  An office romance then? Or perhaps they went as far back as law school?

  Hope decided not to probe. “And Leo? Have you always been a…”

  But Leo was shaking his head. “I’m also an attorney, actually.”

  “Really?” Gemma spoke with such shock that Hope wondered just exactly what they’d discussed in their little chats these past two weeks.

  “What kind of law did you practice?” she asked.

  His face turned a little ruddy as Ellie delivered him a slice of the strawberry tart that Hope had made this morning. “I don’t practice law anymore.”

  “I don’t think Evening Island has a lawyer,” Hope said, wondering how much had changed in her absence.

  “Don’t look at me,” Simon said good-naturedly. “I’ll be going back to Philly at the end of the summer.” He slanted a glance at Erin. “Well, more like the end of next month.”

  Ellie addressed him for the first time all night. A dessert plate was resting in the palm of each hand, and from the wrath in her eyes, Hope was a little worried that she might do something crazy, like put a pie in his face.

  But she just said sweetly, “Is your mother feeling better then?” To the rest of the group, she said, “Simon came to the island to spend time with his mother. She was unwell over the winter.”

  “Nothing serious,” Simon said as he accepted the plate from Erin—or rather, caught it before it hit the table. “But…it’s time to get back to life.”

  Time to get back to life. Hope thought about that statement as she cut into her own slice of pie and let the conversation go on around her, sliding into safer topics like the most popular spots on the island.

  She didn’t relax again until Simon and Erin had left, and Ellie went up to her room, and Hope was standing on the porch alone with John. There was a sink full of dishes and a kitchen in need of cleaning, but fo
r once, she couldn’t let herself worry about any of it. That was part of her other life. A life that she didn’t want to get back to any time soon.

  “That was a wonderful party,” John said, but his grin quirked and Hope squinted her eyes ruefully, giving him a playful swat on the arm.

  “Please. It was a disaster. I’m a disaster every time I see you.”

  “Maybe I bring out the worst in you,” he said, cocking an eyebrow.

  “I actually think you bring out the best in me,” she said, and just like that, all banter came to a halt.

  “Well. I had a lot of fun,” he said, his voice turning husky as the merriment was replaced with sincerity in his eyes. He reached down and took her hand, and for a moment she thought he was going to shake it, a proper greeting, and a proper farewell.

  Only he didn’t shake it. He just held it. And looked at her.

  “Well, thank you again for coming,” she said, clearing her throat. They dropped hands, and she almost wished that they hadn’t. But staying that way…She pulled in a breath.

  John seemed to hesitate, and for a moment, she was afraid he going to apologize, or take back the gesture. Instead, he said, “If you’re free one day this week, I’d love to show you around the hotel. Get your thoughts.”

  She tried not to show how eager she was, or that this was all suddenly moving very quickly. She’d still promised some design ideas to Darcy early in the week, and she used that as an excuse to stall. “Wednesday or Thursday?”

  He grinned, his shoulders seeming to deflate on her response. “Thursday would be perfect. Does two work?”

  The girls would be napping at two. She’d go over then. “Perfect,” she said.

  Because it was.

  Chapter Twenty-One

  Gemma

  The fireflies were out in full force, dotting the sky, and the only lights to be found aside from the moon in the distance were the dwindling candles that remained on the patio. The house was quiet, as quiet as all the other homes that lined West End Road, most of which were not yet inhabited for the season.