Surfside Sisters(78)

Eloise allowed Keely to put a slight bit of makeup on her face. Lipstick, light eyeliner, blush. The style the hairdresser had given Eloise was becoming, slightly longer and bouncier than when she was working. Keely’s mother seemed pleasantly surprised.

Gray arrived, completely swoon-worthy in his navy blazer and white ducks. As he helped the women into the car, Eloise quickly mouthed “wow” to Keely.

The chat was light and easy on the drive out. When they were seated at a table at Topper’s with drinks and orders taken, Gray said to Eloise, “Keely tells me you’re a nurse at the local hospital.”

Eloise looked down. “Well, I was. I’ve retired now.”

“Did you happen to know David Vanbrack?”

Eloise lit up. “Of course I did. He was our only surgeon here for about thirty years. How did you know him?”

“He was a guest lecturer in med school one year. He was a great advocate for pediatric surgical instruments. He used to make rough sketches of the Ballenger sponge forceps and the Metzenbaum dissecting scissors, before they were actually designed and utilized. He would get so worked up talking about them that he’d storm out of the lecture hall down to his office and phone one of the many hospital directors he tormented in those days.”

    “Yes, he was an emotional man,” Eloise agreed, nodding. “I worked with him often on difficult births. He really hated C-sections. He had all the latest statistics on the tip of his tongue. Too many unnecessary C-sections were given in the United States. He would roar that while he was getting ready to help a child being born with forceps. He had the most remarkable forearms.”

“I remember that. Large. Sturdy.”

“Like Popeye.” Eloise laughed.

Keely watched, amused and delighted, as her mother blossomed in the light of Gray’s attention. Clearly Gray was charming her mother, and Keely felt her heart softening toward him. Gray was nicer than he seemed in New York. Maybe that was Nantucket magic at work.

Gray said, “In his last years, he was obese. But many of us who work at the hospital eat for comfort.”

“Especially in a small, isolated hospital like ours,” Eloise agreed. “In the winter, the harbor often freezes over, or we have gale force storms that prevent the freight boat from coming, so fresh vegetables and fruits become rare or nonexistent. We have such long dark winters here, it’s easy to seek pleasure by baking dozens of chocolate chip cookies and eating them while reading by the fire.”

“Well, Eloise, you clearly have found a way to stay in shape,” Gray said. “Excuse me for being too personal, but I can tell from whom Keely gets her good looks.”

“Hey, are you hitting on my mother?” Keely asked playfully.

Her mother blushed, and with diplomatic skill Keely didn’t know she possessed, Eloise said, “So, Gray, tell me about your parents.”

Keely leaned back in her chair, letting the conversation between her mother and Gray flow past her like a spring breeze. Here, tonight, she was witnessing sides of both Gray and her mother that she’d never seen before. Was everyone this way, a kind of benign Jekyll and Hyde? Was she?

    “Keely? Earth to Keely,” her mother said.

“Sorry,” Keely said. “I was lost in thought.”

“About your next book?” Gray asked.

“No. No, to be honest, I was wondering if we, especially Gray, you and I, are composed of two different people, and the city brings out one part and the island brings out the other.”

“Go on,” Gray urged.

“Well…you seem different here. Less formal, easier to talk with.”

Gray nodded. “I see what you mean. You’re different here, too, Keely. And maybe it is the difference in location. Maybe it is that here we feel on vacation, less pressured, but in the city we’re on red alert all the time. And maybe,” he added, smiling at Eloise, “it also has to do with our companions. Eloise is especially easy to talk with, not simply because she knows about the medical field. She’s like chocolate, tranquilizing and stimulating at the same time.”

“Goodness!” Eloise laughed, blushing. “I’ve never been compared to chocolate before!”

It was almost midnight when they gathered themselves and left the restaurant for the winding drive back to Eloise’s house. Gray walked both women to the door and told Keely he’d phone her tomorrow.

“Are you leaving tomorrow?” Keely asked.

His face was partly in shadow, and his tone was gentle but also distant. “We’ll see.”

Gray leaned over to kiss Keely’s cheek, and then, to Keely’s surprise, and to Eloise’s, he kissed Keely’s mother’s cheek.



* * *



—

“My goodness!” Eloise said when the two women were alone in the house. “He’s wonderful, Keely! He’s so intelligent and charming and handsome!”

    “Mom, I think you’re in love,” Keely teased.

Eloise burst into embarrassed laughter. “Don’t worry, darling. I won’t try to steal him from you.” In the kitchen, she ran cold water into a glass and drank it straight down. Turning, she put her hands on Keely’s shoulders. “My sweet girl, thank you for tonight. I don’t know when I’ve had so much fun.” She hugged Keely. “I only hope I don’t have a hangover tomorrow.”