Stay Sweet(80)

Grady’s cheeks flush and his jaw sets. “I would like to get to a place where I didn’t have to rely on you for money.”

“But that’s why you’re calling, correct?” There is no anger in Mr. Meade’s voice. If anything, he sounds satisfied. After all, he set this trap for his son by canceling all his credit cards. “So quit beating around the bush. What do you need?”

“We’ve had a few operational setbacks at the stand.”

“And you’re out of cash.”

“Yes.”

After an excruciatingly long pause, Nancy comes on the line and informs Mr. Meade that she has his next call waiting.

“Grady, I do think we need to continue this conversation, but I’d prefer to do it in person. Why don’t you meet me at Wyndham Sands for eighteen holes tomorrow afternoon? Nancy, are you there? Can you book us a tee time around noon?”

His secretary pipes up. “Of course, Mr. Meade.”

Amelia can’t believe she was listening in this whole time.

“Okay,” Grady says.

“See you then,” Mr. Meade says. And then the line goes dead.

Grady pulls out his earbud. “As much as I hate to admit it, my dad’s not wrong. I shouldn’t get emotional about this. I need his money, simple as that. He’s got that over me, he always has. So I just have to play his game. I’m going to make this golf game as transactional as an ATM withdrawal.”

“It won’t be like that forever, Grady. You’re getting a good education now, and you’ll graduate and get a job—”

“Where my dad will also pull the strings,” he says. He shakes his head, determined to push aside whatever melancholy is trying to take hold. “I don’t mean to sound ungrateful. I know I’ve had every advantage possible in life. I’m better off than so many other people. I’m lucky.”

Lucky is not exactly the word Amelia would use. But as she helps Grady pack, she tries to remain hopeful that this story will have a happy ending for both of them. He’ll leave today, spend the night at the beach house, and meet his dad for golf in the morning.

For a moment of levity, Amelia asks Grady to try on his golf outfit. He ducks into the bathroom and emerges looking handsome in a gray-and-white-striped Nike polo made of superlight material, navy slacks with a little swoosh on the back pocket, a bright blue belt, and a white baseball hat that says NIKE GOLF.

“Are you sponsored?” she asks.

“Ha. No. But I’m actually pretty good. My dad’s forced me to take lessons since I was a kid. I regularly kick his ass, which drives him crazy. Once, in Palm Beach, he got his ball stuck in a sand trap. I was cracking up until he drove off in our golf cart. I had to walk back to the clubhouse.”

“Well, tomorrow, let him win.” She sits down on the arm of the couch. “I wish I could do more to help you. Will you text me when you can? Let me know how it’s going?”

“Sure. Wish me luck,” he says, leaning down for a kiss.

“I wish you all the luck in the world,” Amelia says, and she means it, every single word.

*

After Grady leaves, she stays up at the farmhouse, lying on the couch in the basement, listening to Molly’s records, trying to figure out what to say to Cate about her and Grady.

Obviously her biggest transgression was kissing him in the first place. Grady was supposed to be off-limits to all the girls, and though she tried to keep their relationship purely professional, something did eventually develop between them. She should have told Cate right away after that first kiss, but she was too scared.

Why?

If Amelia’s being honest with herself, it’s because her kiss with Grady wasn’t the first time she’d picked him over the girls at the stand. After all, that kiss came immediately after she missed their Fourth of July party.

All Amelia can do is hope that Cate will forgive her when she’s had a chance to explain.

But how far will Amelia need to go back, in trying to do that? She’ll have to fill Cate in on Grady’s dead mother, and on the things she’s read in Molly’s diary, and admit the heat that clearly existed between her and Grady the very first time they met in the stand. It’s a whole summer’s worth of catch-up.

There’s a lot she’s been keeping from Cate.

Amelia can’t help but wonder if this will be how their friendship is come September, when they’re at different schools. And what about December? Will they continue to grow apart at lightning speed during the school year?

By next summer, they could be strangers.

Her stomach in a knot, Amelia walks down to the stand. The rain has stopped, thankfully, and the sky is a beautiful pinky red. She opens the door just as Cate is passing by. Cate gives Amelia the most fleeting of glances, and Amelia can barely get out a whispered “Hey, can we talk?” before Cate stalks into the office and shuts the door on her.

“I deserve that,” Amelia says, as quietly as she can through the door. “Please let me explain.”

She waits a minute for Cate to answer.

And then she turns around. Liz and Mansi are on the windows, and they quickly look away.

One of the newbies looks away too, and tries unsuccessfully to form a waffle around the cone mold, but it won’t hold its shape. Amelia steps over and discreetly whispers, “You only have a few seconds after taking them off the griddle to wrap them around the mold. If they start to cool down at all, they won’t hold their shape.” She realizes as she’s saying it that the waffle cooled because the newbie was watching and listening to her appeal to Cate.