The Lighthouse Chapter 31

Chapter THIRTY-ONE:

Robin stood in the kitchen, frying bacon, when the first sounds of someone lugging their suitcase down the steps met her ears. She hated that sound, though even she could admit she was ready to have her house be hers again.

She also needed to get back to work, as she had events coming up as the weather continued to warm that she’d put off since Joel’s death.

But not today, she told herself as heel clicks sounded in the hall. Alice, then.

Sure enough, Alice rounded the corner and entered the kitchen, her hair perfectly coiffed and every stitch of clothing and makeup precisely perfect. How she put herself together like that by seven a.m. made Robin tired.

“Morning,” Alice chirped, and Robin simply smiled at her. Alice poured herself a cup of coffee and sat at the bar while Robin started putting the crisp bacon on a plate lined with a paper towel. “Do you think I’m being silly about the summer sand pact?”

Robin switched off the burner and turned to Alice. “Not at all.” She looked at Alice, the anxiety easy to find in her light eyes. “We did say we’d come spend time together every summer, and you know, I think we believed we would at the time.”

Alice nodded, and Robin had never been able to tell exactly what she was thinking. “Things change a lot when you leave the cove.”

“That they do,” Robin said. “Eggs?”

Alice waved her hand as she shook her head. “I don’t eat breakfast.”

“What about the twins?”

“They’re coming,” she said. “And they do like eggs, though you’ll have them so spoiled that my attempts to make sure they’re properly fed in the morning will make them laugh.”

Robin smiled, because Alice had, and she knew Alice didn’t hold any ill will toward her. “I don’t always make breakfast,” Robin said, leaving the kitchen for now. Eggs were best eaten hot, and she heard no noise upstairs. “Just sometimes.”

“Sure,” Alice said, nudging her with her shoulder as Robin sat. She sipped her coffee and fell silent.

“I’m going to miss you, Alice.”

Alice looked at her then, and Robin saw backward thirty-plus years to the first time they’d met. Her eyes harbored the same vulnerability, the same strength, the same fear, now as they had then. Alice was a very complex person, and Robin couldn’t even begin to understand why she’d want to return to her loveless marriage in the Hamptons. She wouldn’t ask—at least not this morning.

Bumping came down the stairs, echoing through the house, and Alice said, “We’ll call, Robin. It won’t be like before.”

“Okay,” Robin said as she recognized the footsteps. “That’ll be Eloise.”

She came into the kitchen, and she too was ready to go, though not nearly as polished as Alice. Still, she wore a cute pair of black slacks with bright white and pink flowers on them, with a white blouse. “I’m headed out in about five minutes,” she said. “I just want to say good-bye to Aaron this morning.”

She conveniently turned away from Robin and Alice to get a coffee mug.

“Robin is taking us to the airport,” Alice said, glancing up at the ceiling. “But they better get a move on if we’re going to be on time.”

Robin wasn’t sure how she was going to fit five people and their luggage in her SUV, but Alice had assured her that, while not technically legal or safe, one of the twins could ride in the back with the suitcases. Robin had her doubts, but she didn’t have another car to take, and no one wanted her to make two trips.

Duke had gone to the harbor last night, and he would’ve been out on his boat for about seven hours by now. Robin thought of the day ahead of her, of what would happen after she dropped everyone off at the airport.

Then what? she wondered.

Her life felt altered now, as if she’d jumped from one path to a completely new one in the past couple of weeks.

Eloise sighed and faced Alice and Robin. “Tell me I’m not being stupid by having this long-distance relationship. If you tell me to break up with him this morning and get on a plane to go back to my life in Boston, I’ll do it.” She sipped her coffee calmly, as if this was normal over-coffee conversation.

“Don’t be silly,” Alice said. “People do this kind of stuff all the time.”

“It’s a hopper flight,” Robin said. “Forty-five minutes. I can’t even get to Rocky Ridge that fast.” She exchanged a glance with Alice. “Besides, it’s still new. When you’re back in Boston, you’ll know how you really feel.”

“What I feel is like I’m fifteen, with my first boyfriend.” Eloise shook her head, though she didn’t look terribly upset. “He has kids.”

“Hey, having some excitement in your love life isn’t a crime,” Robin said.

“Especially at our age,” Alice added, trilling out a giggle afterward. Robin and Eloise laughed with her, and Eloise finally nodded.

“Okay, you’re right.”

More commotion started then, and Kelli and AJ came downstairs with their luggage. Kelli alone reached for the bacon upon entering the kitchen, and Robin was glad she hadn’t concerned herself with making scrambled eggs.

“Are we ready?” AJ asked.

“I’m waiting on the twins,” Alice said.

“Only Ginny is up there,” Kelli said. “Oh, I need to get my curling iron out of the bathroom down here.”

It had been all mirrors and outlets on-deck yesterday morning to get ready for the funeral, and Kelli bustled down the hall to get her appliance.

Alice frowned, and then she turned toward the back door. “Maybe Charlie went outside this morning. I swear he was in the bedroom when I got in the shower.”

“Okay, I’m headed out,” Eloise announced, and Robin leapt from the barstool to embrace her. She held her tight, the emotions storming in her chest and about to explode out. Maybe if she hugged Eloise long enough, she wouldn’t leave.

At the same time, Robin knew she had to go. She knew it wasn’t the end. Things had changed between the five of them, and the next thing she knew, Alice had joined the embrace. Then AJ, and finally Kelli after she returned to the kitchen.

With the five of them huddled up, Robin let the love and acceptance of their friendship—their life-long friendship—wash over her.

“Okay,” Eloise said, clearing her throat. “Don’t make me cry. I did my makeup for Aaron and everything.”

They chuckled together, and the group broke up. Robin stepped out of the way, so she was the first to notice the back door open.

Charlie came through it first, followed closely by Mandie.

Robin’s heartbeat stuttered in her chest, and one look at her daughter’s face told her that Eloise wasn’t the only one involved in a long-distance relationship. Her eyes flew to Alice, who was watching Charlie too.

“You better go get your bag,” she told him. “And get Ginny down here.”

“Okay.” He walked away from Mandie without looking at her, but something had definitely happened.

“There’s bacon,” Robin said weakly, trying to figure out how she felt about this new development. Charlie was a good boy, and Mandie had had crushes on other guys. So it was probably fine. It would likely fade in his absence anyway.

“No, thanks, Mom.” Mandie put a smile on her face, which had returned to its normal color. “Can we go to the beach today?”

“Maybe,” Robin said, because she wasn’t sure how she was going to be feeling when she got home from the airport. She watched Mandie nod and go down the hall, and everyone waited until they heard the click of the bedroom door before giggling.

“I’ll talk to him,” Alice said, setting her empty coffee mug in the sink.

“How are you going to do that?” Robin asked, hoping she’d get some hints. “What are you going to say?”

“I have no idea.” Alice grinned and shrugged one elegant shoulder, the deep eggplant blouse she wore rippling with the movement. “But I’ll make sure he knows he can’t mess around with her.”

Robin simply nodded, but she thought she should say something to Mandie too. Girls could hurt boys just as easily as they got hurt by them, and Mandie wasn’t particularly well-versed with boys or boyfriends.

She followed them all down the hall and held open the garage door as they went through with their suitcases. She puzzled through where to put bags and people, finally getting everyone into the SUV who needed to go to the airport, with everything they needed to take with them.

Yes, AJ had to hold her carryon on her lap, and Alice had a suitcase by her feet in the front passenger seat. But everyone and everything made it in, and Robin backed out of the driveway.

She had no idea what to say, and apparently neither did anyone else. Silence draped them for the first few blocks, and then Kelli started to sing. Her voice began low, though she had a soprano singing voice, and grew in volume as she progressed toward the chorus of the Seafaring Girls song.

Alice joined in first, and then AJ came in on the chorus. Robin’s voice felt stuck behind her vocal cords, and she simply listened to the others, a ray of sunshine moving through her.

They erupted into laughter at the end of the song, and Robin joined in then.

“That was great,” Alice said. “I can’t believe I remembered those words.”

Robin couldn’t either, because Alice had always said she hated that song Kristen had made them memorize and sing. Robin had loved it, because she’d loved everything about her days in the Seafaring Girls.

As she drove toward the airport, she tried to identify the comfortable, easy feeling within her, and it wasn’t until she pulled up to the only terminal at the Five Island Cove airport that she realized she was content.

Purely content.

“All right,” she said, getting out. “Let’s get everything out.”

Busyness and chaos ensued, while suitcases got switched around and people double-checked the car to make sure they had everything. Then the five of them stood on the sidewalk, and Robin wasn’t going with them.

She hugged Alice first, then both of her twins. “You guys help your mother, okay?” she whispered, and funnily enough, both Ginny and Charlie nodded.

She hugged AJ while Kelli hugged Alice, and then she hugged Kelli while AJ hugged Alice. With everyone properly good-byed, Robin retreated around the front of the SUV and waved one last time.

They turned, all of them, and went into the airport. She got behind the wheel of the car, knowing she couldn’t stay long in the drop-off zone. But she couldn’t go just yet.

She took a deep breath, searching for the place of contentment again. It manifested itself quickly, and she murmured to herself, “I love you guys. See you in June,” before pulling away from the curb.

She had a ton to do before Duke left for Alaska too, and now she’d added a talk with Mandie to her list.

But that was okay. Robin was okay. She was strong, and smart, and sexy, and she and Duke would weather their time apart just fine. Life this summer might not look the way Robin had thought it would—or even how she thought it should—but as she drove home and thought back on her life until this point, it had rarely been the way she’d imagined.

And her life was still good, still happy, and still worth having.

As she passed the road that led up to the lighthouse, she looked that way, seeing the top half of the structure that had defined her for so long. It was strong. It shone light into the world. It guided people to safety.

She wanted to be all of those things, for her friends, her husband, and her girls.

So when she got home, she opened the door, and called, “Mandie? Jamie? Get your beach stuff together, and let’s get going.”

After all, it was a beautiful day, and Robin did not want to waste it inside, feeling sorry for herself that she was the only one left in Five Island Cove.

Mandie came down the hall, already wearing her bikini top and a pair of cutoff shorts. “Jamie’s changing.”

“Great,” Robin said. “You get the towels and some water. I’m going to change, and then I’m going to call Kristen and see if she wants to come sit with us.”

Because she wasn’t the only one left in Five Island Cove, and she didn’t want Kristen to think she was either.