Reed asked another question, and another. Locals were observing but quickly grew bored when they saw that this was nothing much to gossip about. Reed mentioned something about a particularly wild party they’d had in the woods near Croton Hill back when they were about sixteen, and soon the two of them were laughing at old memories, but still, nothing stirred inside her other than a sense of thirteen years of guilt floating away. She’d always wondered how it would feel to see him again. Would he be angry or wounded? Insulting or dismissive? Nope. He was just Reed. Smiling, affable Reed. The same one she’d left before.
Marissa tapped her colonial fan against her wrist, not even trying to look interested. After a few minutes, Ryan moved a little closer, his shoulder coming into contact with hers in a not-so-subtle statement of possession, and he put his arm around her waist. It caught Emily off guard, but she didn’t react, as if she didn’t even notice it at all.
Reed did seem to notice, though. “Well, I’ll let you two get back to your evening. Emily, let’s grab a coffee soon and catch up some more, shall we?”
“Definitely. Let’s. It was nice to meet you, Marissa.”
Marissa blinked pale eyes behind her tiny glasses. “Uh-huh. You too.”
Reed and his wife moved on to chat with a group of other friends, and Emily turned toward Ryan, crooking an eyebrow. “Very subtle.”
He dropped his arm from her waist. “Just trying to protect you. Obviously you didn’t notice his wife giving you the stink-eye.”
“Was that Reed?” Lilly said, showing up next to them, her voice breathless. “How did that go?”
“Fine,” Emily answered. “Just two old pals catching up.”
Lilly chuckled. “Glad to hear it. You guys are going to dance, right?”
“No,” they said in unison.
“Excuse me, Ms. Chambers?” Another voice from another side. Emily suddenly understood how her father felt after church services with so many people coming up to talk to him. She turned again to find Tiny standing next to her wearing the biggest plaid shirt she’d ever seen in her life.
“Hi, Tiny. How are you doing?”
“I’m very well, thank you. And yourself?”
Matt had been coaching Tiny on his people skills, and it was definitely helping. “I’m very well also. Thanks. Tiny, you know my sister, don’t you? And you remember Ryan?”
Tiny nodded. “Nice to see you, Ms. Callaghan. Mr. Taggert. May I say both of you ladies look very fetching this evening.”
“Why thank you, Tiny. You look very handsome in that shirt.” She patted his meaty arm.
“Thank you. Matt suggested that perhaps I should ask one of you ladies to dance so I could get a little practice. He says if I dance with you, Gloria will notice me.”
There was very little chance of Gloria not noticing him. He was about as unobtrusive as a hippo in a tutu.
“Hey, speaking of Matt,” Lilly said as she leaned toward them and lowered her voice. “Did you guys hear he was asked to do a porno film?”
“He was?” Emily gasped.
“Yep. He turned it down, though. Rumor has it that’s when he had his spiritual awakening and decided to leave New York. Guess what the title was? Scrotal Recall.”
“Eww.” Emily grimaced, but Tiny and Ryan chortled like a couple of frat boys.
“I know, right?” Lilly said to Emily, ignoring the other two. “But at least he turned it down.”
“That shows some good judgment, if you ask me. And he’s cute, don’t you think?” Emily prompted, from habit.
“Yep. He’s cute. Doesn’t matter.”
“So, about dancing?” Tiny said again.
“Oh, yes. Dancing. Okay, Tiny. I have a slightly better suggestion. Will you trust me on this?” Emily wanted to get this ball rolling, get Tiny taken care of so that she could talk to Ryan.
“Um, sure. I guess.” He looked doubtful but willing.
“Excellent. Okay. Wait here. Don’t move.”
Emily looked around, and it didn’t take long to spot Gloria in her lime-green and white polka-dotted sundress and her rhinestone-studded sandals. She had her spun gold hair twisted into an updo decorated with silk clip-on daisies, and she was drinking a can of orange soda from a straw. She was a vision of garish colors and questionable choices. Tiny gasped as Emily strode directly over to his dream girl.
“Hey, Gloria.”
Gloria had her back to them, and Emily maneuvered around her to keep it that way. “Why, Peach! How are you, girl? Recovered from drunk puzzle night?” Gloria leaned forward and did the air kiss-kiss near Emily’s ear. “How are things going at your granny’s cottage?”
“The cottage is an adventure, but it’s coming along nicely. I have a great crew.” That was stretching it, but there was no point in giving Gloria the actual rundown on the caliber of her workers. “And I’m really fortunate to have an impressive foreman, Tiny Kloosterman. Do you know him?”
“Oh yeah, sure. Everyone knows Tiny. He’s kind of hard to miss!” Gloria threw her head back and laughed, making her equally hard to miss. Then again, that lime-green dress didn’t exactly cause her to blend in, either. Emily leaned forward and felt like they were twelve again, passing notes back and forth. “What do you think of him?”
“Who?” Gloria wrapped her glossy, frosty, plum-colored lips around the straw and slurped loudly as she sucked up the last of her drink.
“Tiny. I’m not sure, but I suspect he may have a bit of a crush on you.” Bit of a crush was an understatement, but she didn’t want to oversell things.
“A crush on me? Really?” She set her pop can down and patted at her hair, securing a loose daisy and peering around at the crowd as if to find him. Tiny took a step backward, hiding behind Lilly, which was entirely pointless because he was three times her width.
“I think he might. Would you like me to see if he’d like to dance with you?”
Gloria’s smile was wide. “Why, you know I love to dance. In fact, I said to myself tonight, I said, ‘Gloria, tonight would be a fine night to kick up these heels,’ so if he’d like to dance, why I sure as hell would say yes.”
“Perfect. Stay here. Don’t move.” Emily strode back over to Tiny. If only breaking up Tag and Lilly was half as easy as getting Tiny and Gloria together, Emily’s life would be a lot simpler. “All right, Tiny. I’ve primed the pump, as it were, so now the rest is up to you. If you go ask her to dance, she’s going to say yes.”
He pulled out a handkerchief and wrung it in his hands. “Are you sure? What did you say to her? Are you sure she didn’t think you were talking about someone else?”
“How many Tiny Kloostermans are there on this island?”
He thought about that a moment, as if tabulating. “One.”
“Right, and that’s you.” She patted his broad chest. “I told her I thought you might like to dance with her, and she said that was great and she’d like to dance with you, too. So, you’ll have to take the rest from here. But Tiny, I think you have a real shot, so just be yourself and be bold.”
He nodded. “Be bold. Be bold,” he muttered as he took baby steps in Gloria’s direction. She’d turned around by the time he got there, and she practically lunged toward him and dragged him to the center of the patio.
“Did you just play matchmaker, Emily Callaghan Chambers?” Lilly asked.
“I sure hope so.”