Chloe snapped her fingers and pointed at her grandmother. “That’s them. His name was Joe, but they called him Leo. So, Mom, can I go hang with them later?”
Emily looked at her dad. Again, it was killing her to ask his opinion, even if she wasn’t asking out loud, but she wasn’t going to send Chloe off with kids he didn’t approve of. History was not going to repeat itself. He gave her a quick, single nod.
Emily turned to Chloe. “I guess that would be okay, but keep your phone turned on so I can get ahold of you if I need to.”
Chloe arched an eyebrow. “Thanks, Mom. And when do I ever, ever turn off my phone?”
“Good point.”
Chloe immediately pulled said phone from her pocket and started texting, and Emily looked back at her father. “So, Dad, about Tiny and the others. What do you think? Are they reliable?”
“I’d say so. Tiny has a lot of construction experience, and he’s done work all over the island. Haven’t heard any complaints. Garth is mostly useless but not dangerously stupid. Wyatt’s an excellent electrician. Horsey and Georgie are fine, as far as I know, but I can damn near guarantee Horsey will be late more often than not. Who’d you say was the other guy?”
“Matt. He just moved here a few months ago from New York.”
Harlan picked up his fork and stabbed a piece of roast. “Is that the yoga guy? Yoga Matt?”
Emily chuckled. “I’ve not heard him called that, but yes, he teaches yoga.”
“I’ve seen that guy,” Lilly said. “He teaches a class at the Episcopal church, and all the single girls have got their eye on him.”
“All the single girls, you say? Does that include you?” Gigi directed her question to Lilly, whose face proceeded to turn bright pink.
“I told you, Gigi. There’s no guy.”
“What’s this?” Harlan asked, looking confused, as if the conversation had veered into uncomfortable territory for him again.
“Well, all I really care about is if he can use a hammer.” Emily jumped back in, anxious to pull attention away from Lilly. “And I’m sure he’ll do just fine. What time did you say your friends wanted to meet you, Chloe?”
Talk turned to other topics after that. When the community hall would get a new paint job. Brooke’s potential run for mayor. The cartful of crazy that was Vera VonMeisterburger. Chloe left to meet her friends, and Emily felt confident that they’d be doing something fun instead of sitting around and worrying about their thigh gaps. Life on the island was insulated from crap like that.
“Thanks for not telling anyone about Tag,” Lilly said quietly later that evening as the two sisters sat together on the front porch swing. Brooke and their father had both gone home, Chloe was still off with her new posse of friends, and Gigi was banging around in the kitchen making muffins for the morning.
“You’re welcome, I guess. I want to be supportive, but Lilly, you can’t possibly be serious about him. He’s all wrong for you.”
“That doesn’t sound very supportive, and no offense, Em, but you don’t have the best track record when it comes to men.”
Ouch. That was hurtful.
Accurate. But hurtful.
“No, I don’t have a very good track record when it comes to men, so maybe you should learn from my stupid mistakes. This is going to end badly, and you’re going to get your heart broken.”
“Don’t worry about me. Tag is wonderful, and we are being very cautious about the whole thing. That’s why we’ve been keeping it a secret. Not because we’re ashamed, but because we just want to figure out if what we have is really real before we go telling people.”
In spite of having agreed with Ryan that a direct assault wouldn’t work, Emily felt her frustration bubbling over. “How real could it be? He’s more than twice your age. What could you two possibly have in common?”
“Lots of things. The things that matter, anyway, and he’s funny and smart and—”
“And old. Lilly, he has three sons who are all older than you are. Doesn’t that make you uncomfortable?” Geez, it made Emily uncomfortable just thinking about it.
“No, his age doesn’t faze me.”
“Well, it should. It makes it hard for Ryan and his brothers to believe you’re not just after Tag for his money or because he’s willing to take you places.”
“Willing? That’s a nice word. That makes me sound pretty pathetic.” Lilly frowned and crossed her arms.
“I don’t mean it that way. Not at all. It’s just that everyone you meet is going to make assumptions about you. They won’t care what the truth is. All they’ll see is some very young woman hanging onto the arm of a rich old man.”
“Stop calling him old. He’s not some doddering old grandpa with a walker and a hearing aid. Geez! You make it sound like he’s one step away from a nursing home, and that’s just not accurate. A couple days ago we went hiking up near Bent Rock, and I had to keep up with him.”
Emily did not seem to be making any progress, but still she persisted. “I get that, Lilly. I do. Tag is a nice-looking man and he’s fit and in great shape, but that doesn’t change the fact that he’s significantly older, and it doesn’t change the fact that he’s a wealthy guy who travels in much different circles than you’re used to.”
“You’re flattering me again,” Lilly said dryly. “Now you’re saying that not only am I too young for him, but I’m also not good enough for him.”
“I’m not saying that. What I’m saying is that not everybody is as nice as you, and they might not welcome you. Nick’s family never accepted me. It was one of the things that ruined our marriage.”
“They didn’t accept you? You never told me that.”
“You were a teenager. Plus, I was embarrassed. His parents were horrified when Nick and I showed up on their doorstep already married, and his mother spent the better part of five years trying to make sure I knew that I did not belong there. The only nice thing she ever did for me was to pay for my divorce lawyer. She was that determined to see me gone, even if it meant taking her granddaughter with me.”
“And that’s what you think Tag’s family would do?”
Emily paused. “I’ve only met Ryan, and he seems to be nice enough, but I do know that he and his brothers are determined to make sure Tag doesn’t retire. And . . . honestly, they’re worried that if you guys ever got married, you’d eventually leave Tag and take a lot of money with you.”
Lilly reached out and pressed a hand to Emily’s arm. “Oh my gosh, I would never do that! You know I would never do that.”
“I know, but it’s going to be hard to convince them.”
The swing creaked slowly back and forth as Emily wondered if she was helping the situation or making it worse.
“It wasn’t very easy after you left, you know,” Lilly said quietly a moment later.
“What?”
“After you left, things got harder. I was fifteen when you ran away with Nick, and Dad was so worried I’d do the same thing, he put me under house arrest.”