“I’m certain I’ll still feel that way. You’re doing a good job with her, and I know it hasn’t been easy.”
Emily leaned forward over the kitchen table, toward her grandmother. “Thanks for saying that, Gigi. It means a lot to me. And thanks times infinity for loaning me the ten grand I needed to make repairs on that flip house in San Antonio. I don’t know what I would’ve done without you.”
“Don’t mention it,” Gigi said, patting her hand.
Emily cast a glance at the doorway to be certain Chloe was gone before turning back to her grandmother. “Speaking of not mentioning it, please don’t forget Chloe doesn’t know anything about any of this. She has no idea we’re in so deep. You haven’t told anyone on the island, right?”
Gigi straightened her spine, looking slightly miffed. “Of course I haven’t told anyone. I’ve kept all the details of our arrangement to myself, just as you asked me to.”
Emily’s gratitude was tempered by a hefty dose of realism. She knew the score. Gigi was keeping her secret simply because it gave her leverage. The old bird was not above a little emotional extortion. Apparently she wasn’t above taking hostages, either, because the only way she’d agreed to the $10,000 loan was if Emily and Chloe spent the summer with her on Trillium Bay. If Emily’s instincts were correct, and she was certain they were, her grandmother had thrown in the cottage renovation just to make their deal more palatable, a little less like charity. Either way, Emily was deeply grateful and intended to pay Gigi back every single dime just as soon as that disastrous flip house in San Antonio sold.
Gigi patted her helmet of gray curls. “You know I’m not one to judge, but how exactly did you find yourself in this spot, anyway?”
Not one to judge? Emily nearly chuckled at that. Gigi was very much one to judge, but then again, so was everyone on this island. It was a favorite pastime, ranking right in between gossiping and eavesdropping. Nonetheless, this time the question was valid. For ten thousand bucks, Gigi deserved an honest answer.
“I trusted Jewel instead of trusting my own gut, I guess.”
Jewel was Emily’s friend, housemate, and more recently, her house-flipping business partner. “About four months ago, she found a house listed way under market value. I was suspicious, but Jewel said she’d had the place inspected. What she failed to tell me was that she used a new guy instead of the one we normally work with, and this new guy was a bottom-feeding crook. I’m not sure he even looked in the attic or the basement, but by the time we figured out just how much work the place really needed, we were stuck with it. I know Jewel feels terrible, and there’s not much point in being angry. She didn’t do it on purpose—plus now she’s as broke as I am.” Emily picked up the pitcher sitting on the table and poured herself more lemonade.
“Jewel always sounded a little flaky to me. How long are you planning to live with her? I thought that was going to be a temporary thing.” Gigi helped herself to some lemonade, too, then pulled a pint of gin from one of the cupboards and added a liberal splash to her jelly jar. Emily pushed her jar forward to let Gigi put a little shot in hers, too. She was going to see her father in a few hours. This gin was medicinal.
“She’s not flaky. Just a little, well, sometimes she gets too excited and doesn’t think things through.” That was true enough, but Emily could hardly call her out on that since she had a propensity to do the same thing. “Living together was going to be temporary, just a place to stay until I got back on my feet after the divorce, but Jewel has a nice house in a good school district for Chloe. It’s a good deal for us both because with me paying her rent, she’s been able to fix it up. It takes some of the pressure off from being a single parent, too.” That was definitely true. Jewel had been Emily’s only support throughout her divorce, and she was wonderful to Chloe, too. “I do realize now, though, we shouldn’t have both sunk all of our savings into that one flip. It was a mistake.”
Gigi crossed her skinny legs, the nylon of her track pants giving a little swish. “What about that deadbeat, Nick? Has he gotten any better? Does he help out at all?” A frown had formed on Gigi’s face. She never had liked Nick. No one had, except for Emily. Speaking of getting too excited and not thinking things through.
“Nick is currently back living with his parents in Dallas, which is, of course, all my fault.”
“How is that your fault?” The ice clinked in Gigi’s glass as she took a drink.
Emily smoothed a wrinkle out of the tablecloth beneath her hands. “Because, according to his mother, I ruined his life by agreeing to marry him when he was too young to understand the consequences. Then I ruined it even more by letting him father a child before he was mature enough to handle it. Apparently I also ruined his ability to pass the bar exam, because in spite of my supporting him all through law school, he has failed it repeatedly. He hasn’t called Chloe in months.”
Gigi’s frown deepened into a scowl. “Well, shame on him. How does Chloe feel about that?”
This was one of those topics that filled Emily with guilt and agitation and no place to direct it because she’d tried and tried and tried to fix this for Chloe, and she just couldn’t. She couldn’t make Nick be interested in his daughter any more than she’d been able to make his parents be interested.
“She handles it well enough, I guess. She doesn’t know any different because even though we got divorced when she was four, Nick wasn’t around much before that either. And her comparison is me and Dad. You know I don’t have that great of a track record with him. Sorry. I know he’s your son and all, but he hasn’t exactly begged me to come home, and the two times I’ve come back since Chloe was born, he’s been pretty aloof.”
“I think you remind him of Mary.” Gigi peered over at her, as if to gauge a reaction.
“My mother? You think I remind him of her?” Of all the things Emily expected Gigi to say, that was last on the list.
“You look like her. God knows you have the same rebellious streak. I could be talking out of my ass here, of course. It’s not as if Harlan ever confides anything to me. I’m his mother, but not one day of his life did he ever seem to need me. Even so, you do favor her, and I think that rattles him.”
Emily’s chest felt simultaneously hollow and full. If what Gigi said was true, it was both a compliment and a curse.
“Yeah, I’m pretty sure you’re talking out of your ass, Gigi, but whatever. I’ve tried to make amends for my side of things. Every time we’re on the phone and I try to bring up the past, he starts talking about the weather. Maybe one of these days he’ll come around. In the meantime, I am excited for Chloe to get to know all of her cousins. I want her to have a really wonderful summer.”
“Me too,” Gigi said, smiling again. “I think that can be arranged. We’ll make sure of it.”
Chapter 4