A Nantucket Wedding(88)

    “Lovely.” Alison was wrapping strips of bacon around scallops; it would take only minutes to broil them. Her radar, the proverbial eyes at the back of her head, had not picked up on anything flirtatious or awkward between Jane and Ethan.

Felicity entered the kitchen. “Mom, shall I fill the ice bucket and set it in the living room? Some of you will have wine, but I know David likes Scotch on the rocks.”

“Good idea,” Alison said and as she focused on securing a piece of bacon on a scallop with a toothpick, she heard Felicity at the freezer, trying to wrestle out a big plastic of ice cubes.

“Here, Felicity, let me help,” Ethan said and Alison saw her darling, irresistible almost stepson angle his body against Felicity’s, not quite touching, as he helped her lift out the heavy bag.

“Um, oh, thanks.” Felicity’s cheeks had gone bright pink.

“The ice bucket’s up there,” Alison announced, pointing toward a cupboard at the back of the kitchen.

Felicity reached up to take it off the high shelf, but couldn’t quite reach. And there was Ethan, right behind her, stretching up to grasp the bucket and bring it down to the counter, and if the man could have done it any slower, Alison didn’t know how.

Oh, Ethan, she wanted to say, just stop.

“Here, you hold the bag,” Ethan told Felicity, “and I’ll dig out the ice. The cubes are frozen together.”

Even that sounded flirtatious to Alison.

“You look especially nice tonight, Felicity,” Ethan said as he dug out the ice.

“Thank you.”

“Ethan!” Alison called, startling herself as well as the others. “When you’re through with the ice, could you please put this sheet into the broiler for me? The oven’s so hot, it almost makes me faint.” That wasn’t true, and if Ethan thought about all the times Alison had used the broiler this summer, he would know it wasn’t, but with a smile, Ethan answered, “Of course.”

“The ice bucket’s full. I’ll just take it into the living room,” Felicity said.

    David was outside, in front of the house, waiting to greet Heather and Cecil.

“They’re here!” David called.

“I’ll watch the scallops,” Ethan told Alison.

“Thanks,” Alison said, and now she thought she’d been irrational, thinking that Ethan was flirting with Felicity. Ethan was simply a terribly nice and helpful man. It wasn’t his fault that he was so handsome.

She went through into the hall, checking her hair in the mirror. She noticed she was still wearing her apron, the one that said, in bright red, KISS THE COOK. It was the only apron in the kitchen and she had no idea who had given it to whom, but she made a mental note to buy some other aprons, soon. She took off the apron, smoothed her shirt, and went out to greet her guests.

David was on the lawn at the front of the house, shaking hands with Cecil and being thoroughly sniffed around the ankles by Charlie and Henry, the two elegant British Labs, one black, one yellow.

“I hope you don’t mind that we brought them,” Heather said. “They’re very good with children, and they’ll be quiet in the house. Actually, they have better manners than some people we know.” She laughed nervously.

Alison sank to her knees to greet the dogs. She held out her hand to pet them. In turn, they licked her hand and arm, but they didn’t attempt to lick her face.

“Beautiful dogs. I’m so glad you brought them,” she said to Heather.

Heather squatted down next to Alison. In a whisper, she said, “I don’t tell everyone, but they’re kind of emotional support animals. They were my ‘emotional support animals’ before it became a thing. Now lots of people have emotional support animals, and not to help with any physical disability but to provide, well, emotional support. I feel safer when they are with me. I’m calmer.”

“But, Heather, you’re always calm,” Alison said.

“That’s because I always have the dogs with me.”

    Alison thought of asking Heather what had happened to cause her to need the support, but decided this was not the time.

“Well, they’re handsome animals, and I’m glad you brought them,” Alison said. “Let’s all go into the house and have a drink. I’ll put some bowls of water down for the dogs, and maybe they’d like a bit of fish when it’s ready?”

“Oh,” Heather said, “I’ve brought the dogs’ bowls. I’ll fetch them from the car. They prefer drinking out of their own bowls. I’ve also brought food for them. They don’t do well when they eat unusual foods. They need very specific diets.”

They’re dogs, Alison thought, and then in a rush of comprehension, she realized that the organized Heather was as eccentric as everyone else. “How nice!” She held the door open while Heather and the two dogs filed into the house.

A buoyant, irrational joy filled her as she walked with Heather, Cecil, and the dogs into the living room.



* * *



—

Dinner was over. The table was cleared and the dishes were done. Heather and Cecil and the dogs had gone home. The family was more or less collapsed in the den, which, Alison decided, might need more furniture so that everyone could gather comfortably. As it was, the adults were all seated on sofas and fat, comfortable chairs, but the four children were sprawled on the floor. Oh, well, Alison thought, children liked to sprawl on the floor.