Fools Rush in(78)

“I feel that way all the time,” she answered, pointing to her boys. “The best moments of my life are right there.”

“I mean with another grown-up, Katie. As you well know.”

She smiled, started to say something, then paused. “Well…if you try fixing me up again, Millie, I will kill you.” I smiled back. “The answer is maybe,” she continued. “Not Sam, okay? He’s not for me. But lately, things haven’t been so exhausting, you know? And so I suppose that yeah, I would be open to the possibility of someday, someone. Just not right now.”

“You and Sam—” I began.

“Millie, were you listening to me? Not Sam! Corey, Mike, you need more sunscreen, guys.” The boys hopped up and ran toward us.

“I was just going to say, my sensitive little friend, that you and Sam are alike. You both put your kids first, yourselves second,” I said, squeezing some sunscreen onto my palm and slathering some on Corey’s back.

“Of course we do. You will, too, once you and Joe hatch one.” Katie kissed the boys loudly and they ran back to their excavation.

“So you think Joe and I are good together?” I asked, returning to our original subject.

“Honey, do you?”

“Can’t you just answer, Dr. Freud?”

“Only you can do that, pal. Mike, do not put that in your mouth. Do not!”

CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE

ONE OF OUR ADORABLE TRADITIONS here in August was to have an end-of-summer bash for the high-school juniors and seniors, as well as the Nauset High graduates from the past spring. Lighthouse Day was a day-long carnival held at the school grounds, followed by a semiformal dance that night. It was a way to say goodbye to the kids who’d graduated in June and to usher in the coming academic year for the upperclassmen. The dance rivaled the prom in social import, and Danny and his girlfriend, Sarah, had been talking about it for weeks.

I rode my new bike over to Sam’s the Sunday before Lighthouse Day to see how my guys were. I’d spent the morning at the senior center, checking in on Dr. Whitaker’s patients, and I could use a little fresh air after being inside for three hours. I cruised easily down the level bike path, savoring the deep blue of the kettle ponds and gulping in the fragrance of bayberry, pine and the sharp scent of the salt marsh. Feeling cheerful and energized, I steered my bike down Sam’s road. I hadn’t been over since my birthday bash, and his yard, as always, was magnificent, bursting with color and fragrance. Sam was out in the yard, dripping with sweat as he reinforced a retaining wall under a cascade of pink clematis.

“Now that Trish doesn’t live here, you can let this all go to seed, you know,” I suggested, sitting on the steps next to him.

“Trish, nothing. This is all my doing. How are you, Millie?”

“Oh, good enough. How about you?”

“Fine and dandy.” He wiped his brow and grinned.

“Still seeing that nice Carol?” I asked.

Sam grimaced. “Actually, no. We kind of dropped it.”

“Oh, no!” I blurted, torn between sympathy and guilty delight. “What happened?”

“Nothing, really. We just kind of hit a wall of pleasantry and didn’t seem to want to go any further.”

“Summer lovin’, had me a bla-ast,” I sang. Sam had been in the chorus of Grease in high school…my sister, of course, had been Sandy.

“Summer lovin’, happened so fast,” he sang back obligingly.

I watched admiringly as Sam wrestled another rock into place. His T-shirt was dark with sweat, his hair sticking up in odd places, and he was tan and smiling…. All in all, not too sad about the breakup with Carol. Neither was I, for that matter. “Maybe Carol just didn’t like you,” I suggested.

“Watch yourself, doc.”

“In fact, she said something to me along those lines. ‘Millie,’ she said, ‘I just don’t like Sam. He’s such a stiff.’”

Sam laughed and swatted me on the leg. “Well, Joe said something to me. ‘Sam,’ he said, ‘That Millie is a real pain in the ass.’”

“Plus, Carol also said, ‘That Sam can’t play baseball for shit.’”

“Well, Joe asked me if I had ever seen you running, and if so, what was wrong with you.”

“Carol also said, ‘That Sam is much too sweaty.’”

“Joe told me…oh, forget it. You win, kiddo.” He smiled and grabbed another rock.

“Hey, guys!” my nephew said, leaping down the steps and flopping on the grass. “What’s up?”

“The sky is up,” I said thoughtfully.

“Gosh, you’re funny, Aunt Mil. Hey, I’ve been meaning to ask you something. We need chaperones for the Lighthouse Dance, and I thought it would be cool if you and Joe came.”

“Really?” I asked.

“Sure.”

“You flatter me, darling. Of course we’ll come. It will be fun.”

Sam stopped his macho pursuits and wiped his forehead with his arm. “I didn’t know you needed chaperones, Dan. I could do it, too.”

Danny winced. “Well, Dad, here’s the thing.”

“You’re just not cool enough,” I offered.

“Shut up, Millie, or I’m giving you a big sweaty hug. What’s the thing, Danny?”