didn’t mean to upset you.”
“I’m not upset at all. It’s kind of moving, actually, you thinking of our kids growing up. You’re way ahead of me. It makes me relax a little bit because I think you’ll have it all figured out.”
“We’ll do it together, trust me,” he said.
***
Sunday afternoon, Gus sat on the settee in his apartment with Grace Breaux’s feet in his lap, who moaned while he massaged them.
“Oh god, that feels so amazing.”
At age seventy, she still ran five miles a day, and on this day, it was particularly difficult because she’d been on her feet fixing fencing for hours the day before.
“How was fence day?” Gus asked, always looking for a bit of gossip.
“Interesting because Amber Greely got bushwhacked by Ted LeBlanc in front of everyone.”
“Lord have mercy. Right after he goed over to Maggie Angel’s, too. There’s something loose about that man.”
“I wonder if he’s having a breakdown again. You know it happened before. He was in rehab for thirty days.”
“Someone oughta have a talking-to with him,” Gus said. “Maybe his father needs to step in.”
“Maybe, but it won’t be coming from me,” Grace said, chuckling. “That feels so good. When are we going to make it legal so I can move in here?”
“You want to live in the dockmaster’s shack? Ha! I thought I’d move in with you.”
“You are more than welcome to move in with me, Gus. But I’m not on the water. I fancied living here, right on the cove.”
“We can do both places, then,” he said, laughing. “We’ll have our place on the water and our place in town. I’m not sure how I rate. But I’m sure lucky.”
He snickered, thinking how ludicrous it was that he had next to nothing, and this wealthy widow was going to share her life with him.
“I’m the lucky one,” she said, leaning forward to kiss him. “I’ve wanted you all my life.”
“You were married to Tom and had two boys with him,” Gus said, frowning.
“I was married to him, that’s true. But only for a few years. The rest of the time I was free, and you didn’t take the hint.”
But things weren’t always what they seemed, she thought. Gus didn’t need to know the minutiae of her short marriage. No one knew the truth but her boys, and they’d left Cypress Cove to attend college, one back east and one out west, and never returned. Now when they visited, she detected an urgency to leave as soon as their business was taken care of, be it a holiday or a special occasion like her birthday. She knew the only way that she would lure them back would be to drop the charade of the happy family and allow them to express their true feelings about growing up in the cove with an alcoholic, abusive father.
Gus was the antithesis of Tom. He was gentle and soft spoken, tolerant and patient. She hadn’t told Luke and Nick yet about her relationship with Gus because she was afraid they’d find fault with it. They were snobs, and it was her fault.
“So! What are we going to do to decorate this place for Christmas?” Grace asked, looking around Gus’s cozy home.
“Like I do every year,” he said, squeezing her feet. “You know this place looks like I was trapped in a rummage sale at the North Pole.”
“Oh, I’m so glad. I have Christmas spirit already.”
“But let’s get married first,” he said. “Tomorrow, justice of the peace.”
Annie and Steve were in the same position, only the opposite; Steve’s feet were in Annie’s lap while they watched a football game.
“You about ready to start decorating this dump?” Steve asked.
“Aw, baby, don’t call our first place a dump.”
“I don’t want to live above the hardware store for the rest of my life, and at the rate I’m going, it looks like this is exactly where we’ll be stuck.”
“Do you think it might be time to ask Alfonso for a raise?”
“Naw, he likes using me while the rest of the family lives in splendor. Kelly makes twice as much as I do just to keep the damn books. Her house is also twice as big as this place.”
“Steve, once I get on my feet again, as soon as I find another job, maybe we can start saving up to get our own place. Even if we only put away ten dollars a month toward our goal, it will make us feel like we’re in control.”
“Can we even spare ten dollars?”
“Ha! Yes,