If for Any Reason (Nantucket Love Story #1) - Courtney Walsh Page 0,15
might burst.
“Who’s the looker?” Hayes asked quietly.
Hollis took a few steps toward the kitchen. “Hayes, you remember Emily from next door,” he said.
Hayes’s eyes widened. “Emily?”
Emily stood as Hayes moved toward her, his arms open. He pulled her into a giant bear hug and Hollis thought it was strange that Emily, someone they’d known so well all those years ago, didn’t know Hayes had become famously kind and philanthropic. She didn’t know Harper had turned into an elite runner. She didn’t know anything about any of them, and they didn’t know anything about her.
He could still remember chasing her car all the way to the end of her driveway the day her grandparents took her away. When he found out about the accident, he’d gone to the hospital, but they wouldn’t let him in. They said he was too young and he wasn’t family.
But he was family, wasn’t he? At least he felt like family. Emily had always felt like family.
And somehow he wondered if things would ever feel that way again.
“Hayes, I cannot believe this is you.” Emily pulled out of his hug and looked him over. “An actual grown-up.”
“Believe it, young lady.” Hayes was still holding on to her hands. Hollis was keenly aware of it. “What are you doing back here? Haven’t seen you in years.”
“It’s been too long,” she said.
Hayes finally (finally!) let go of her hands and moved around the kitchen island to the bowl of grapes sitting on the counter. He popped one in his mouth and smiled. “You look incredible, by the way.”
Hayes was such a flirt. Hollis actually envied his brother—the way he interacted with people so easily. It wasn’t a trait they shared. Hollis had a much different way of charming people.
“Thanks, Hayes.” She smiled.
“You staying next door?” he asked.
She nodded.
“Place is looking kinda rough. We can help you whip it into shape.”
Emily glanced at Hollis. “I think it’s a bigger job than that. I’m going to have to hire someone.”
“Well, we’re offering our services,” Hayes said. “If you change your mind.”
Hollis nodded dumbly, like he couldn’t find the words to be kind.
“Thanks.” She spoke the word quietly, and in a flash he could see there was a whole world behind her eyes—pain and hurt and anger and so much more that he wanted to know.
Jolie descended from upstairs as the front door opened again and Hollis’s parents walked in. Dressed in lightweight white linen pants and a pink button-down shirt, his mom looked like someone who belonged on Nantucket. His dad wore a pair of plaid shorts and a yellow polo shirt. A sun visor wrapped around his balding head.
“JoJo!”
Jolie walked straight into his mother’s arms, like there was a Jolie-shaped hole there. Hollis hoped his wince went unnoticed. Sometimes it was still hard to watch everyone else getting along so easily with his daughter when he seemed to struggle for even the slightest connection.
He glanced at Emily and found her gaze had drifted over to him. Had she seen the shame behind his eyes?
“Hey, GrandNan,” Jolie said with a smile.
Hollis’s dad propped their suitcases next to Hayes’s bags and opened his arms toward his only granddaughter. “Good to see you, kiddo. I hope you’re ready for a Nantucket summer.”
Jolie pulled away. “There’s no Wi-Fi in this house.”
Dad’s gasp was purposely over-the-top. “Hollis, how could you bring her out here under these conditions?”
Jolie’s eyes brightened. Poor kid didn’t catch his father’s sarcasm. “Does that mean we can get it?”
Dad tweaked her nose. “Not on your life.”
Jolie huffed away and Mom swooped in to console her. “You’re going to be so busy, you’re not going to need Wi-Fi, JoJo. We’ll have picnics on the beach and we’ll bake cookies and go swimming and—”
“Fishing and sailing and yeah, yeah, yeah. Dad told me all that.” Jolie harrumphed onto the sofa in the living room and Tilly hopped up next to her.
“Tilly.” Dad’s tone was stern. “Get off that sofa!”
Tilly’s ears perked up and she cocked her head to one side, looking at Dad like she didn’t understand. Hollis knew full well his dog understood.
“Oh, fine, just stay there, you big mutt.” Dad rubbed her ears, then turned toward the kitchen. “What’s going on in here?”
“Oh, how rude of us,” Mom said, making her way toward the rest of them. “I didn’t know you had a guest. Hayes, is this a friend of yours?”
“It’s Emily, Mom,” Hollis said, noticing how Emily’s ears matched her bright-red cheeks. “Emily Ackerman.”