An Invincible Summer (Wyndham Beach #1)(99)

“Hi, Gracie!” Chris waved. “Hi, Mrs. Flynn.”

“Chris.” Maggie waved.

“Hi, Chris.” Grace turned to Maggie and said under her voice, “What is happening?”

Maggie shrugged. “No clue.”

Daisy, having lost interest, went back to drawing.

Natalie retreated to the back door and continued her conversation while still listening to her mother and sister. She wasn’t sure who was more amusing, Chris or Maggie and Grace.

“Daisy, how do you know Chris?” Natalie heard Grace ask.

“From when he was at our house. He’s Mommy’s friend. He brought me a book.” Daisy was focused on her drawing. “About a frog girl.”

Natalie whispered into the phone, “My sister is interrogating my daughter.”

Chris laughed. “Can you get close enough for me to hear?”

“I’ll try. Hold on . . .”

“When was that?” Grace asked.

“Can you hear?” Natalie whispered, and an amused Chris replied, “Yeah. Tell Grace I said she has a future with the CIA.”

“That time.” Any time in the past was that time to Daisy. “The first one.”

“The first one?” Grace was wide eyed. “How many times were there?”

“Nat,” Chris said, “you better go bail out the kid before your sister brings out the water board.”

“Talk to you later.” Natalie turned off her phone.

“Sometimes”—Daisy continued to draw—“he comes to have dinner with Mommy and me.”

Natalie placed the phone on the island and casually picked up her glass and took a sip. “That’s a beautiful pumpkin, sweetie.” She pointed to Daisy’s artwork.

“It’s not a pumpkin.” Daisy looked up at her. “It’s Nana’s car.”

Maggie leaned close. “Why, so it is. I always wanted an orange car.” She tapped Natalie on the shoulder. “Is there something you want to tell us? About you and Chris?”

“Is there something you want to tell us, about you and Chief Crawford?” Natalie smirked.

“Don’t change the subject,” Grace said. “Mom and the chief are old news—sorry, Mom—but since when has Chris been visiting you? And does he stay over?”

“My, aren’t we nosy?” Natalie finished her tea and rinsed out the glass.

“Natalie. Fess up,” Grace whispered. “Are you and Chris . . . ?”

“We’re friends. We’ve always been friends. You know that.”

“Well, I consider him a friend of mine, too, but he doesn’t visit me.” Grace turned to Maggie. “Mom, make her talk.”

“I’m sure if Natalie had something she wanted to share with us, she’d do it. Wouldn’t you, Nat?” Maggie said pointedly.

“You two are a riot.” Natalie laughed. “There’s not a lot to tell. Chris was on his way to New York about a month ago, and his plane landed in Philly for some reason. So he called and asked if we could have dinner. I was just getting ready to put Daisy to bed, but I told him he was welcome to come over if he felt like driving.” She shrugged. “He rented a car and drove to my place. I ordered takeout to be delivered, and we had dinner, and then he drove back to the airport and caught his plane.”

“His plane?” Grace raised her eyebrows.

“Yeah. He has a little jet. Why?”

“Did it occur to you maybe he had the plane stop in Philly on purpose?”

“I did wonder about that,” Natalie confessed.

“I think it was intentional,” Grace said.

“It’s not important.” Natalie lifted Daisy from her seat. “Come on, Daisy. Let’s find your sneakers. I’ll walk into town with you and Nana to look for special Band-Aids.”

“And I’m going to work on Liddy’s website before this day gets any weirder. You should have taken a screenshot of him in that costume. Any one of those gossipy entertainment rags or TV shows would have paid you handsomely.” Grace paused to plant a kiss on Daisy’s head as she left the room.

There were no Olaf Band-Aids to be found at the general store or the pharmacy, but a stop at the ice-cream shop served just as well to heal Daisy’s toe. After they returned to the house, Maggie headed out back to do some weeding in her garden. Daisy wanted to help, so the two of them went outside. Natalie grabbed a book from the stack she’d brought with her from home and went out to the front porch. She pulled one of the rocking chairs closer to the porch rail, sat, and rested her legs on the railing. Fifteen minutes later, she realized she was still staring at the first page.

She’d known Maggie would ask her about her relationship with Chris on that walk into town, so she’d prepared herself, but when her mother asked, “So how long have you been seeing Chris, and does Emma know?” Natalie forgot her rehearsed lines.

“We’ve been in touch since Grace and I went to his concert,” she’d responded honestly. “And no, Emma doesn’t know.”

“Is there a reason neither of you mentioned it to your mother?”

“Yes. So you wouldn’t be asking the questions you’re asking now. So you wouldn’t think we had some great romance going on. We don’t. We’re just friends.”