If for Any Reason (Nantucket Love Story #1) - Courtney Walsh Page 0,28
him, somber and magnetic would top the list. He was like a walking oxymoron. Hollis had always been concerned about everyone else, but especially about Emily, as if he had the burden of being her protector. Clearly he hadn’t outgrown that.
“You guys are up early,” Emily said, trying to keep her tone light and truthfully oblivious to how early it was or wasn’t.
“We came over to invite you down to the beach for a picnic later and also out on this big, fancy boat my dad is renting this weekend with his baseball money,” Jolie said.
“Jolie—it belongs to a friend.” Hollis sounded embarrassed. “Em, what are you doing out here?”
Emily ignored his question and smiled at Jolie. “A big, fancy boat, huh?”
The girl shrugged. “I mean, I’m scared of the sharks, but I’ll go if you go. Maybe we can talk about Broadway and all the other acting jobs you’ve done?”
The light in Jolie’s eyes was so familiar. She remembered when she’d first discovered a love for the stage—she was a couple of years younger than Jolie was now.
Emily wasn’t great at it—not at first. Her grandfather threatened to step in when she was cast in the chorus that first year, but his “Don’t they know who we are?” attitude was exactly what Emily’s mother despised, and Isabelle demanded that he stay out of it.
“Let her be a kid who doesn’t have everything handed to her,” she’d said. “Let her be normal.”
It had been important to Isabelle that Emily didn’t turn out to be a spoiled brat, and Emily had learned a lot being in the chorus of those shows.
The summer she was ten, she had her first speaking role. She played a lady of the court in a production of Cinderella down at the arts center. She would never forget how it felt to dance across the stage with the prince—to feel the stage lights on her face, to look out across the dark theatre and see an audience of people watching her. It was exhilarating.
The joy of performing hadn’t died with her mother, though it had changed the few years she was on television. She’d gotten the title role in the kids’ show not long after the summer she was ten and spent three years being Dottie.
She’d been so passionate about theatre in those days—but lately, performing had lost its luster. Theatre had taken a cruel turn.
Seeing how excited Jolie was at the whole idea of Broadway stirred something inside her. She’d felt it yesterday at the arts center and she felt it now, the reminder that she still had the ability to feel that kind of passion. She’d missed it, the passion for something—anything—but especially for theatre. Hollis might’ve been her first crush, but theatre had been her first love.
“I’d love to talk to you about Broadway,” Emily finally said, forcing herself out of her own mind. She had a feeling her memories would be interrupting her a lot this summer.
“Really?” Jolie grinned a big, toothy grin. “Awesome!”
Was that all it took to make a preteen girl happy? “Yes, but unfortunately, I don’t think I can come to the beach today.”
Jolie groaned. “Let me guess, you have work. Grown-ups always have work.”
“Jolie—” Hollis shot her a look, but a second later his eyes were back on Emily.
“I do, actually.” Emily motioned with her head to the house behind her. “This old place isn’t going to fix itself. I have a contractor coming over this morning.” She pulled her phone out and looked at the time. “Oh, wow. He’ll be here any minute.”
“This early?” Jolie twisted her face.
She thought about her conversation with the investment banker who was looking to “stay busy” this summer. He’d answered her ad the day before she left for Nantucket, and he’d set the time for their meeting. She would’ve definitely picked something a little more in the 10 a.m. range. Or maybe noon.
“Who is it?” Hollis asked.
Emily found Hollis’s eyes intently fixed on hers. “You won’t know him.”
“I know a lot of people.”
“His name is Jack Walker,” Emily said. “He hasn’t been on the island in a few years.”
“And you’re just going to let him in the house?”
Emily shifted. “Is that a big deal?”
“We don’t know anything about this guy, Emily.”
Already she felt like she was doing this wrong. She just wanted someone to come in and fix the house so she didn’t have to think about it.