“Think Buster needs a walk?” Noah asked.
“You’re the dog sitter. You tell me.”
Noah frowned at the big dog. Hell if he could tell. “Think I’ve bitten off more than I can chew?”
“Way more.”
“Well. I need a walk, and I’ll bet I can talk Buster into coming along. What about you?”
Dylan shook his head in bemusement. “I’ll get Buster’s leash.”
Six
Phoebe had her gorgeous brown silk gown zipped into a garment bag and hung in a closet before Maggie, wearing a black sundress that drained what color there was in her face, arrived with the outfits she and Olivia had worn.
“Olivia’s getting cold feet about going to San Diego,” Maggie said as she entered Phoebe’s small living room. “I told her she has to go so she can bring the boys stuffed giraffes from the zoo.”
“She’ll go,” Phoebe said. “It’s just preflight jitters.”
“I hope so. The ball was incredible last night. You’d have loved the costumes.”
Maggie laid the Audrey Hepburn and Grace Kelly dresses on a loveseat angled against the front windows, the afternoon summer sun streaming through filmy curtains.
“Then you and Olivia had a good time?” Phoebe asked.
“Olivia especially did. She’s so much more comfortable in her own skin than she was when she moved back to town. Your dresses were a hit.” Maggie gave her Grace Kelly gown a lingering look, as if she was thinking about last night and what might have been. She smiled stiffly at Phoebe. “What have you been up to?”
“I just came from Olivia’s. The basil needs to be picked. She won’t have time before she goes to San Diego. I thought maybe you and I could make pesto or something.”
“Sure. That’d be great.”
“She and Dylan arrived with Noah Kendrick,” Phoebe said, wanting to do something—say something—to penetrate her sister’s pensive mood. “Did you meet him last night? He’s not what I expected.”
“In what way?”
“I don’t know. I guess I thought he’d be fidgety but he’s not. He’s…” She thought a moment. “Calm, I suppose.”
“He and Dylan went straight from hiking in the White Mountains to the masquerade last night. He’s probably tired, but it wouldn’t matter. He strikes me as calm, too. Centered. I expected such a genius tech type to be a little weird, but he doesn’t come across that way.” Maggie smoothed a few wrinkles in the dress with her fingertips then stood back, marginally more cheerful. “I should go. I promised the boys I’d ride bikes with them. I missed them last night.”
Phoebe followed her out to the porch, the afternoon still and warm. “Maggie, are you okay?”
“Just tired. I’m not used to nights on the town. What are you doing the rest of the day?”
“I’ll stop at Mom’s later. Right now I’m going to put my feet up in the shade and read a book. Maybe a good swashbuckler tale.”
Maggie seemed to pull herself out of her own private thoughts and focus more on the conversation. “There were swashbucklers at the ball last night.”
“I’m sure there were,” Phoebe said. She didn’t want to lie outright but skirting the truth seemed just as duplicitous. She changed the subject. “I’ll have the dresses cleaned. We’re going to use them in the fashion show. Maybe you and Olivia can model them.”
“Only if you insist,” Maggie said with a welcome laugh. “Olivia and I will pay for the cleaning. We just didn’t want to do anything without checking with you first. It was quite an experience last night. You’ll get the Edwardian gown cleaned at the same time?”
Phoebe felt her heartbeat quicken. “What Edwardian gown?”
Her sister paused on the top porch step and turned to her. “The deep brown sequined Edwardian gown you wore last night. It was you, wasn’t it?” When Phoebe didn’t respond, Maggie nearly choked. “Phoebe! It was you! I was just testing. I wasn’t really serious.”
Phoebe groaned. “Maggie…”
“I didn’t know you could dance like that.”
“I can’t. The man I danced with can. I have no idea who he is. Please don’t say anything, Maggie. I decided to go at the last minute. I know I could have called you and Olivia but if I had, I’d have chickened out and stayed here, or turned around halfway to Boston.” Phoebe took a breath, trying to control the tumble of words, the feeling that she’d just been caught doing something embarrassing and dumb. “I’d have been too selfconscious if you two knew. I’d never have gone through with it.”
“Why? You were gorgeous. Really. People couldn’t take their eyes off you.”
“That’s kind of you to say—”