Driftwood Lane (Nantucket #4)(77)

Something bubbled up inside she’d never felt before, a mixture of relief and pride and love. She had a sense, finally, that things would be okay, even with Noelle. That when the storms hit, they’d work through them.

When Noelle pulled away, she ducked her head, but not before Meridith saw her wet cheeks. Meridith gently wiped away the trail of tears.

“Hey, look at Piper!” Max called, oblivious to the tender moment.

Noelle approached the window, wiping the rest of her tears, sniffling.

Meridith followed, stood behind the children, peeking between them. Jake was on his haunches on the beach. A few feet away, Piper stood, one paw poised in the air. Jake patted his knees, said something.

Piper set the paw in the sand, took a step. Jake clapped his hands, then held them out, coaxing.

Piper, crouched, took one more tentative step.

“She’s doing it,” Noelle said.

Max unlocked the window, and the wood frame squawked as he raised the sash.

Jake’s words carried faintly on the wind. “Come on! That’s it, girl, a little farther.”

Piper took another step, then another. Jake gathered her in his arms. “Good girl!”

Max pressed his face close to the screen. “You did it!” he shouted.

Jake and Piper looked toward him, and Jake gave a thumbs-up.

“I’m going down,” Max said.

“Me too.”

Five seconds later she heard them clomping down the back stairs. Meridith edged closer to the window and watched Jake ruffling Piper’s fur, watched the dog’s back half wagging.

Then Jake was looking toward the window, toward her, a satisfied grin stretching his mouth, and she couldn’t stop the one that spread across her own face.





Forty-one

“Can we take Piper for a walk on the beach?” Max was out of breath from his jog back to the house. “Jake said we had to ask.”

“Put her on a leash, and stay out of the water.”

The screen door slapped behind him.

“Don’t go past the point!”

“Okay,” Max called over his shoulder.

The kids had been out there for an hour and had Piper darting around, kicking up sand in their game of tag. What do you know, Jake did it.

Meridith dried her hands, started the dishwasher, then turned to look out the window where Ben, near the waterline, was already strapping a leash onto Piper. And they were off.

She’d known, had known since she’d met Jake’s eyes from the window upstairs, that God was going to work this out. She didn’t know how, only that He was. She felt it down to her bones. Still, she was afraid.

She watched Piper dragging Ben down the beach and wished for that kind of bravery. If only she could shed her fears so easily. Maybe she needed a few sessions with Jake.

She took a deep breath and slipped through the door into the mild evening. It was that time between daylight and nightfall when the sunset cast a golden glow over the world. She took the porch steps and worked her way down the flagstones.

When she reached the beach steps, she saw Jake seated in the sand, elbows planted on raised knees. He stared into the darkening ocean, apparently lost in thought.

Meridith took the steps and shuffled across the sand, well marked now with footprints and paw prints. The kids were two yards down, still walking. She turned her attention back to the broad shoulders, the hair waving like a black flag under the ocean breeze.

Biting her lip, she moved forward. “This seat taken?”

Jake turned, straightened, then his face relaxed. Almost a smile.

“Saved it for you.”

She lowered herself in the sand, not too close, and gathered her knees inside the circle of her arms. The kids had stopped a few houses down and were throwing driftwood into the water. Piper pulled on the leash, barking.

“She wants in the water now,” Meridith said. “Apparently land is no longer enough.”

Jake said nothing, but she felt his eyes on her as surely as she could feel the breeze caress her skin.

Piper turned in a circle, chasing her tail, then barked up at Max, who threw the wood.

Meridith turned a smile on Jake and got stuck there in the center of his eyes. She remembered the first time she’d seen him and thought him arrogant. Now when she looked in his eyes she saw confidence. Very appealing.

He was studying her face. “Something’s different,” he said finally.

“Me?”

“You.”

She shrugged and looked away. “I got some things squared away. Spiritual things.” She wondered how she’d changed outwardly. She only knew how she felt. More at peace, more loved. The rest, she just had to trust God for.

Jake didn’t respond. He was looking out at the water again, and she realized this wasn’t going the way she’d expected. He wasn’t pressuring her, even asking her . . . maybe he didn’t want her anymore. Maybe time had given him perspective. Maybe he was regretting what he’d said.

The thought shook her confidence. She was fearful that he loved her, then fearful that he didn’t. Make up your mind, Meridith. Which do you want?

No question there.

But she didn’t know what to say. Maybe she should start at the beginning. She took a deep breath, letting the fresh air expand her lungs, and started.

“You know my dad left when I was young. But I never told you that my mother had bipolar disease. You know what that is?”