“Mom, we should take Grandpa a snow cone,” Chloe said, pointing to the top of the hill where Harlan stood surveying the festivities. “He looks kind of hot, don’t you think?”
Emily shielded her eyes and looked in his direction. He was in one of his favorite locations, standing at the crest of Leelanau Hill, leaning against the fence. She knew that from that vantage point he could see most of the park and keep an eye on all the people and the happenings, like a guard in a watchtower.
She didn’t really want to hoof it all the way up that hill, but it wouldn’t hurt to make an effort to do something nice. He had stopped by Gigi’s cottage the other day and almost, very nearly said she was doing a moderately acceptable job.
“Okay, let’s do it,” Emily said. They stood in line for five minutes while Mrs. Bostwick explained to the poor teenager scooping the ice that her son, Reed, worked for the governor and was terribly important. Finally, they got a turn, ordered their cherry snow cones, and while Emily paid for them, Chloe got a better offer.
“Mom, Susie Mahoney says I should meet them by the popcorn stand. She’s with everybody. Can I go?”
“I thought you wanted to take a snow cone to Grandpa?”
“Can’t you take it to him?”
“By myself?” Even Emily realized how pathetic that sounded.
Chloe frowned at her. “He’s not so bad as you say, Mom. I think he’s kind of nice. Give him a chance. Isn’t that what you always tell me? Give people the benefit of the doubt?”
Did she say that? It seemed like good advice to give a kid, but not such great advice when talking about Harlan. But now she had two snow cones in her hands, and Chloe was poised to sprint. “Oh, fine. Go find your friends.”
Emily headed toward the hill, feeling stupidly nervous about being alone with her own father, and she realized that for this entire visit, it had never been just the two of them. The Cold War had continued, but maybe it was time to try once more. Plus, any minute now Lilly was going to tell him about Tag and lose her favorite daughter status, and that would boost Emily up to at least second place. She needed to take advantage of that while she could.
Nearing the crest, she called out, “Hi, Dad. I bought you a snow cone. Chloe thought you looked hot.”
“Thanks.” He took the cone from her hand.
“You’re welcome.” She really wanted to head right back down the hill and go find Ryan, but she felt rather obligated to visit with her dad for a few minutes, so she climbed up on the fence next to where he was leaning, and they nibbled their snow cones in silence.
“How’s your day going?” she finally said.
“I’ve had better. I had worse.”
Excellent. That was very helpful. Way to keep the conversation rolling, Dad.
After what seemed like a full minute, he finally said, “How’s your day going?”
She was having a fabulous day, because for the past few days, she’d been having fabulous sex with Ryan. “I’m pretty good,” she said.
“Uh-huh.” He paused for another moment, then said, “I know about the Taggert fella.”
Emily swallowed a chunk of ice big enough to sink the Titanic. How did he know about Ryan already? Maybe, hopefully, she’d heard him wrong. “What’s that you say?”
“I know about the Taggert fella.”
Yep, she’d heard him right. But she and Ryan had been very discreet. Incredibly discreet. Except for the lighthouse. Shit. So much for secrecy around here.
“I want you to know, Dad, he’s a good person, and I’m so much wiser now and very careful.”
“What? You? I’m talking about your sister and that John Taggert guy. What are you talking about?”
Oh good grief. She was so used to being scolded by him she’d nearly confessed before getting caught. She stuffed the snow cone in her mouth and mumbled, “Me? Um, nothing. What are . . . what are you talking about?” Time to play dumb, which was apparently going to be no challenge whatsoever.
He tossed the paper cup from his snow cone into the nearby trash can and crossed his arms, looking stern. Then again, he always looked stern. “I know Lilly has been keeping company with that man. Tag,” he scoffed. “What kind of a grown man goes around using a nickname?”
“I don’t know. Chief.” She pressed her lips together, wondering if he’d catch her sarcastic slip.
“It’s indecent, that’s what it is. He’s my age. He should be ashamed of himself. And what is it with you girls? Why can’t any of you settle down with someone from a nice island family?”
“Um . . . I can’t speak for Lilly, Dad, but keep in mind, we’re related to half the population, and the other half are Mahoneys. We don’t really have much to choose from.”
He tapped at a tuft of grass with the heel of his shoe. “What about that Reed kid? He was a good boy. He works for the governor now, and he’s terribly important.”
Mrs. Bostwick must have bent her father’s ear.
“Reed was a good boy, and now he seems to be a nice man. A much better man than Nick turned out to be. I shouldn’t have run away like I did, Dad. It was wrong. I know that now, and I’m sorry.”
Another moment passed. Harlan uncrossed his arms and slid his hands into his pockets, and Emily thought the conversation might be over, but it wasn’t.
“You know, there are certain days in a man’s life that he looks forward to. Days he knows are significant. Graduating. Getting married. Seeing his children for the first time.” He sighed and looked off into the distance. “I still remember the day you were born. Coldest winter we’d had in years, and there was Mary, in labor and bundled up to the hilt as we walked to Dr. Pine’s house. She wouldn’t let me get her a sled. She said she wanted to walk. Then you came along and you were kind of orangey all over, squalling like nobody’s business. You looked so mad, I couldn’t help but laugh.”
He paused and shook his head and actually chuckled. But then he sighed again. “And I remember it as clear as if it was yesterday. I held you on my chest, and I thought to myself, You know, one day I’m going to have to walk this precious little girl down an aisle and hand her off to another man. But the thing is, Peach, you never gave me that chance. You stole it from me. You just took off with that punk, a kid who didn’t even respect you enough to come and ask me for your hand like a real man would have. And the thing that still bothers me the most? The thing that hurts me to this very day? It’s that you seemed okay with it.”