“She can be tough, too, from the sounds of it. She kept her cool when she overheard Hartley in the coatroom. And didn’t she show up at that masquerade on her own?”
“You’re right. I don’t want to underestimate Phoebe. She can hold her own with a California billionaire.” Olivia turned, the light from the hotel catching her green eyes as she smiled. “I’d put running a small-town library on a shoestring right there next to running NAK.”
Loretta thought she heard a hint of homesickness in Olivia’s voice. They found their way down to the waterfront behind the main hotel and sat at an outdoor table overlooking the wide beach and glittering ocean. They ordered pi?a coladas and watched the crowd. Loretta heard teenagers laughing, noticed a young couple holding hands, two older couples chatting quietly together over drinks.
“Do you come here often?” Olivia asked.
“From time to time. It’s a good place to take out-of-town guests.”
“It’s so romantic. Dylan says you two used to come here for a drink after you talked business.”
“Money’s never been his favorite topic,” Loretta said with a smile. “That’s how he ended up sleeping in his car. As they say, you can lead a horse to water, but you can’t make him drink. He wasn’t as broke as he thought he was. I’d tucked some money away.”
“But you didn’t tell him,” Olivia said.
“I told him when I did it. He just didn’t pay attention.”
Olivia laughed, looking at ease with herself, her relationship with the man she would soon marry. Loretta felt a sudden sense of loss as she gazed out at the water. The wind had died down. She listened to the waves washing on the sand and wondered what her life would be like right now if Duncan McCaffrey had never gone to Knights Bridge, Massachusetts.
“I’ve known Noah and Dylan for a long time,” she said finally. “Dylan had just started with the NHL and Noah was still a student at MIT. I met Noah when he was out here on a break and went to one of Dylan’s hockey games.”
“They’re like sons to you, aren’t they?”
Loretta ignored a sudden tightness in her throat. “Now you’re making me feel old.”
“I hope not.” Olivia sat back with her pi?a colada and looked out at the dark ocean. “What a beautiful spot.”
“Some Like It Hot was filmed here.”
Olivia smiled. “I’m glad Phoebe didn’t try to put me in a Marilyn Monroe dress. It’s so beautiful here, Loretta. Dylan’s a very lucky man, and I love having him in my life. I love him. We never would have found each other without you.”
Loretta fought back tears that took her by surprise. She wasn’t one for tears. As she studied the woman across from her, she was satisfied that Dylan had made the right choice in asking Olivia Frost to marry him—as if choice had anything to do with it. The man was in love, and from what she’d heard in Noah’s voice since he’d danced with Phoebe O’Dunn, he wasn’t far behind. Loretta just wasn’t sure he was in for as happy an ending as Dylan.
She kicked off her shoes and enjoyed her drink, subtly sniffling back any tears so Olivia wouldn’t notice. Maybe Olivia had a point. Maybe in a way Dylan and Noah were like sons to her. She’d never regretted not having kids of her own.
Noah had always struck her as a man looking for a real soul mate. A woman he loved, and who loved him, without condition. A woman he’d fight for, die for. It was the swordfighter in him, Loretta thought.
She’d never met two more decent men than Dylan McCaffrey and Noah Kendrick.
What was she going to do if they both moved to Knights Bridge?
Sixteen
Noah was in jeans—no shirt, no shoes—when Buster stirred and went to the kitchen door, barking through the screen as the two eldest O’Dunn sisters jumped out of Maggie’s catering van. “Company, Buster,” Noah said, rising from the table with the last of his second cup of coffee. He figured he’d need a full pot of coffee before noon. It’d been a long night alone on the edge of Quabbin. Even Buster had been restless.
Maggie and Phoebe approached the kitchen ell with an ease that suggested they’d forgotten he was dog sitting, which Noah doubted, or had heard rumors to the contrary. They were dressed in shorts and sport sandals. Maggie had on a Red Sox T-shirt, Phoebe a close-fitting tank top in a deep turquoise blue that matched her eyes.
Noah finished his coffee as they entered the kitchen.
And he’d told Buster it would be a boring morning.
Phoebe all but gasped at seeing him. “We didn’t think anyone would be here.” She kept one hand on the screen door, as if ready to bolt for the van. “We thought—we heard you’d left for California.”
“Who told you that?” Noah asked.
Phoebe averted her eyes. “It was the talk of the country store this morning.”
A vague answer at best but Noah let it go. “I see.”
“We’re here to harvest mint,” Maggie said, setting a basket on the kitchen island.