“Don’t worry about the feud, honey. No one pays any attention to that except for the old folks, and most of them think it’s silly, too. I’m just glad to hear you’ve found some nice kids. Seems like you’re having a pretty good summer so far.”
Chloe nodded, moving her ice-cream cone along with her head. “I am. I’m having the best summer I’ve ever had. Can we come back here next year?”
Next summer? Heaven only knew what would be going on for them next summer. “Um, probably. If you want to.”
“I do want to. Can I take riding lessons? I saw that guy Percy, and he said he gives group lessons on Tuesday and Friday mornings.”
“Riding lessons?” That might cost some money, but if Chloe was interested, Emily would find a way to make it work. “Yes, you can take riding lessons. That sounds fun. Just stay away from Duke and Periwinkle.”
Chloe giggled. “That’s a deal. Can I ask you something else? You’re probably going to say no, but I really, really, really hope you say yes.”
That was quite a windup. It must be something big. “You can ask me.”
“Can I go camping overnight this Tuesday with a bunch of the girls? There won’t be any boys, and Carrie Crenshaw’s mom and aunt are going, too, so there will be grown-ups with us.”
“Camping overnight. Like outside? Are you sure you can handle sleeping outside and peeing next to a tree?”
Chloe’s expression was indignant. “I think if you could do it, then I can do it.”
Emily wasn’t sure if her daughter was trying to insult her or just demonstrate her own confidence. She chose to give her the benefit of the doubt and go with the latter.
“Let me talk to Carrie’s mom tomorrow. If she says it’s okay with her, then it’s okay with me.”
“Ohmygosh, thank you!” Chloe’s arms closed around her, and the hug was very much appreciated. Less so was the ice cream that Chloe got in Emily’s hair. They were in the process of trying to wipe it out when Ryan showed up. He’d made a habit of that the last couple of days. Showing up. He’d come back to the cottage three days in a row since they’d first made those drawings on the front porch. He’d brought her a few more sketches and told her all about the stuff he and his father were doing for the Clairmont Hotel. She had him assist her with cutting some trim wood just so she could show off how well she could manage a table saw, and she told him that Gigi used a regular old spiral-bound notebook to keep track of her reservations—which made him cringe in a distinctly comical fashion. They’d talked about all sorts of other things, too, like how the remote location of the island created unique challenges for getting things like new carpet and appliances delivered, and she’d explained to him that the best way to receive any goods in a timely fashion from the boat docks was to bribe the dray drivers with a case of beer or a nice bottle of whiskey. It wasn’t corrupt, exactly. Just effective enough to move your cargo to the front of the line.
The chats had been friendly, flirtatious, but not overtly so, yet the butterflies in her stomach seemed to be growing exponentially. He’d nearly kissed her the other day, right on the front porch. And she’d nearly let him, which would have been a terrible idea, but oh so appealing, and tonight just the sight of him sent her body into quiver, sizzle, throb territory. It was getting tougher and tougher to remember why a fling with Ryan was such a bad idea. But it was. It really was. There was the Tag/Lilly connection, for starters, but Emily was also starting to realize that her other hesitation revolved around liking Ryan too much. The truth was, she liked him too much to have sex with him. Or, at least, too much to have sex with him and then forget about him. She knew this was the kind of feminine logic that made men think women were crazy, but it was the truth.
“Hi, Ryan,” Chloe said, waving that ice-cream cone around again.
“Oh my goodness, Chloe. You are a hazard with that thing. Move farther away before you hit me in the nose,” Emily said, laughing.
Chloe slid her bottom down to the other end of the bench.
“Ah, perfect,” Ryan said, settling comfortably between them. “So, what are you two up to?”
“Mom says I can take riding lessons and go camping,” Chloe answered.
“Sweet,” he answered, earning him a high five from Chloe’s non-ice-cream-covered hand. “That sounds very fun. I think my horse-riding days may be over, but I love camping.”
“I’ve never camped before.”
“You haven’t? Why not?” He looked at Emily as if this was a gaping hole in her parenting résumé.
“There just hasn’t been an opportunity, I guess.”
He turned back to Chloe. “Well, I’m glad you’ll finally get to try it. Watch out for grizzly bears because they can unzip tent flaps and they’ll come in when you’re sleeping.”
Emily chuckled under her breath, and Chloe had the good sense to not believe him.
“First of all, no. They can’t unzip zippers. No thumbs, but nice try. Second of all, there are no bears on the island.”
“Really? Are you sure? Because I was hiking with my dad, and I’m sure I saw one. Either that or it was a humongous man-eating badger. With fangs. It might have been frothing at the mouth.”
“Man-eating, huh? No problem then. I’m a girl.” Chloe gave a sassy little toss of her head, making him laugh and give up.
“All right. Fine. But don’t come crying to me when that badger shows up at your campsite.” He turned back to Emily. “Are you going camping?”
She shook her head and wished she’d taken a little time to change into something nicer before heading out with Chloe. She had on a striped T-shirt dress that should have been retired from her closet ages ago. He had on tan shorts and a Trillium Bay T-shirt that was obviously brand-new.
“Nope. No camping for me this time. I’ll be working at the cottage, no doubt. There is fifty-year-old wallpaper that someone must have shellacked to the wall. I’ve been scraping it off for days. Of course, I had to take a break yesterday to help Tiny with his dance steps, and he’s insisting I go to the square dance on Wednesday night to lend moral support because he’s finally ready to make his move on Gloria Persimmons. He chickened out last week.”
Ryan chuckled. “He’s got his eye on a woman? Well, I hope she’s . . . sturdy.”
Chloe stood up and tossed the little bit left of her waffle cone out into the water and the ducks pounced. “I think Tiny and Gloria would make a perfect couple. I think it’s sweet and romantic.” She turned back around. “Ryan, you should go to the square dance, too. That’s where Aunt Lilly met your dad, you know. She told me they put up twinkle lights and it’s all magical and stuff.”
Her kid was about as subtle as a foghorn, but Emily didn’t want Ryan to think she and Chloe had been plotting ways to lure him in. One Taggert/Callaghan combination was more than enough.