bed and nightstands made from upended wooden wine crates. An old pine dresser spilled clothing, and a faded oval braided rug covered the wooden floor. The bathroom was clean but basic.
“I wasn’t expecting company, so it’s kind of a mess,” Nate called from the living room. “I thought I was going to spend a quiet night at home until Annie shanghaied me into helping out at the party.”
She walked back into the living room, and he handed her a pint jelly glass filled with Chardonnay and gestured to the sofa—the nicest piece in the cabin, it was made of soft glove leather and looked expensive.
“I haven’t had a whole lot of time to do anything with the place,” he said, taking a seat beside her. “I was staying at my parents’ house, until one day Annie announced that she thought it was absurd for a grown man to be living with his mama. This place was available, and the price was right, so I bought it.” He took a long drink from his bottle of beer.
“I’m in the same position, you know,” Riley said. “Except my mother is delighted to have Maggy and me under her roof—and under her thumb.”
“But it’s probably good for Maggy, having family around now, right?”
“Maybe,” Riley said. “I really do admire the relationship you and Annie have. It seems so easy and natural for you to work together. I love Evelyn, but if she and I had to be together in a business, I’d have to kill her for sure.”
“Did you ever think about working in the family business?” Nate asked.
“You mean Belle Isle Enterprises? That was never an option for me. My great-grandfather Riley started the business with his brother, and then when Mama married my father, he turned it over to my dad.”
“And then you married Wendell and your father turned it over to him to run,” Nate said.
“Daddy used to brag that he chose Wendell before I did,” Riley said, swirling the wine around in her glass. “Wendell was already working for Daddy when we met. He used to say he saw my photo on Dad’s desk and was, quote, ‘intrigued by my beauty,’ end quote. Typical Wendell bullshit.”
“The beauty part wasn’t bullshit,” Nate said, touching her chin lightly. “I always thought you were the prettiest girl on the island when we were teenagers, but you’re even more beautiful now.”
“You thought I was pretty? That’s so sweet. I didn’t think you knew I was alive.”
“I didn’t pay much attention to girls until I was fifteen, but believe me, I knew who you were. I kinda had a crush on you. But it was clear you were way out of my class.”
“Hah! I guess I was too busy being the super-nerdy Beta Club president-slash-school newspaper editor, until my senior year of high school. But believe me, that summer, all my girlfriends had the hots for the hunky deckhand on the ferry, because we thought you looked exactly like Don Johnson.”
“Who?”
“The guy who played Sonny on Miami Vice. You always had that same stubble he had.”
Nate laughed. “That’s because I was too lazy to get up in time to shave before I went to work, and my dad wouldn’t allow his employees to have beards, because he said only bums had beards.”
Riley sipped her wine. “I was just remembering—that summer, my girlfriends and I would always try to get down to Southpoint in time for either the early-morning ferry or the last one of the day, because we figured out that’s when you’d be working.”
“Because I had football practice during the day,” Nate said.
“I thought you were sexy as hell back then,” Riley said.
“I’ve still got the stubble,” Nate pointed out.
She reached out and ran a finger down the graying stubble on his jawline. “And I think maybe I’ve still got the hots for you.”
“But earlier, at the Holtzclaws, you accused me of everything just short of burning down this precious island of yours.”
“I know,” Riley said with a sigh. “And I want to apologize for the way I treated you. I’ve been a total bitch. Suspicious and paranoid.”
“Not bitchy, but you sure made it clear you wanted no part of me or anything I wanted to do here. What made you change your mind?”
“It was something Parrish said. She told me I was bitter and unforgiving, and she was right. And then, when I heard what Annie told Parrish about your donating the Holtzclaw property to the university, it made me realize who