do anything to her,” Hollis said.
The old woman scowled. “You professional athletes are all the same.”
“Yeah, you’ve got us all figured out.” Hollis stood. “So you’ll talk to her.”
She glowered. “I suppose I don’t have much of a choice.”
“Good. Keep me posted.”
Gladys watched him for a long, unnerving moment. “Why the sudden interest in the children’s programming, Mr. McGuire?”
Great. Just what he needed—the third degree from Gladys Middlebury.
“I’m invested in the well-being of this island. You know that.”
“And that’s all this is?” She waved her hand when she said this as if it were something hanging in the room between them.
“Don’t know what you’re implying, Mrs. Middlebury, but the only ulterior motive I have here is doing what’s best for the community.”
He didn’t stick around long enough to let her say anything else. The last thing he wanted was to land under Gladys Middlebury’s watchful eye—or to confront the full scope of his reasons for wanting Emily to take over the children’s programming for the summer.
CHAPTER 14
EMILY SCROLLED THROUGH TWITTER as she rounded the corner toward the main entrance of the arts center. She’d given Gladys a full week, and now Emily was going to follow up with her.
She looked up for a brief second to avoid running into a young family walking three deep on the sidewalk when she spotted Hollis heading toward her.
He had that easygoing, I’m-too-handsome-for-my-own-good thing going on, as if he’d just rolled out of bed looking like someone on a billboard.
It both delighted and irritated her at the same time.
“Hey.” He smiled as the gap between them closed.
They stood on the street staring at each other for what felt like a solid minute but was probably more like three seconds.
Had it really only been a few days since she’d seen him? It felt much longer. Maybe because she’d been hiding herself away in that old house, watching his family from the second-story window and making up excuses why she couldn’t join them on the beach.
“What are you doing here?” Hollis finally asked.
Emily exhaled her held breath and thought it probably wasn’t good for her to keep holding on to air. “I was going to follow up with the director of operations. This old woman named Gladys. No way she’s going to actually do anything unless I apply some pressure. I wanted to make sure Jolie gets her show.”
His expression changed. “You do?”
“Yeah, I have to make good on my promise. Better than theatre camp, remember?”
He smiled.
“Is that why you’re here too?”
He looked toward the building, then back at Emily. “Uh . . . yeah. My dad says it would be good to take an interest in something she’s into.”
“Isn’t that what fathers do?”
Hollis looked away. “I don’t really know.”
Emily watched as he refused her eyes. Had he become a completely different person from the one she knew all those years ago? She shook away the thought—it didn’t matter. He wasn’t a part of her life. What he did or didn’t do was none of her business.
“You think this Gladys will be open to your pressure?” Hollis asked.
She shrugged. “After everything my grandfather gave to this arts center, they cut the one thing that mattered to him most. I’m not going to just let them get away with that.”
Hollis started to say something, then stopped.
“What?”
“You seem upset.”
“I am upset—you know how much this place meant to me.”
“But it’s been a lot of years, Em. Things change.”
Did that mean it should matter less? This was her place. This was the place where one of her very best memories had been made, but the way he was looking at her now—it made her feel like she was overreacting.
Was she overreacting? She wasn’t sure how to tell anymore.
“Hey, you wanna go to the Juice Bar?” Hollis hitched a thumb over his shoulder as if to point Emily in the direction of their favorite Nantucket ice cream shop.
Emily crossed her arms over her chest. “No, I want to pretend I have some pull and strong-arm this old lady.”
“For Jolie.”
“Yes, of course for Jolie. Who else would I be doing this for?”
Hollis shrugged. “You stopped by here before you even met Jolie, so maybe you’ve got your own reasons?”
He watched her for several unnerving seconds, and she decided she didn’t like it. His eyes saw too much of what she wasn’t willing to share.
“What are you doing here anyway?” she asked, turning the tables.
“I already told you. I was coming to check things out for Jolie—”
“No, I mean here, in Nantucket?”
He