sister, Erin Walsh, and my grandmother, Dr. Penelope Walsh. Grandma, Erin, this is my friend Jake Ramsey.”
“And my knight in shining armor,” her grandma said.
“Oh, I don’t know about that, Dr. Walsh.” It tickled him that she was Dr. Walsh, too. “Maybe more like your pack mule, but I’m happy to be of service either way. You ready?” She nodded and handed her purse to Nora’s sister. As gently as he could, Jake lifted her into his arms and ascended the short flight of stairs to the porch.
“I could get used to this,” the elder Dr. Walsh said, a teasing note in her voice. He set her down, and she immediately took his arm, so when Nora opened the front door, he escorted her inside.
“I noticed you got furniture,” he said to Nora. The living room was still spartan, but there was a small sofa and a side chair in it now. There was a table in the dining area, too.
Dr. Walsh surveyed the space with narrowed eyes. “What a dump.”
“Thanks, Grandma,” Nora said with affection in her voice. She turned to Jake. “My grandma is not known for suffering fools.”
“When you suffer fools, you suffer,” Dr. Walsh said. “And who wants to suffer?”
“Amen. And here’s to not suffering any more fools,” Erin said with a pointed look at Nora.
“Yeah, yeah,” Nora said, and he could only surmise that they were talking about her ex.
“Don’t worry, Dr. Walsh,” he said, “I’m going to help your granddaughter get this place into better shape.”
“I like him,” she said, pointing to him but speaking to Nora, who was headed for the kitchen. “Just this morning the UPS guy called me Penny. Can you imagine? I had to correct him. I earned my title.”
“Our grandma graduated from medical school in 1962,” Erin said. “She was one of Canada’s first female cardiac surgeons. There’s even a procedure named after her.”
“The Walsh repair,” Dr. Walsh said. “It’s a particular suturing technique for valve replacements.”
“That’s impressive. Clearly you inspired your granddaughter.”
“Nah,” Nora called from the kitchen. “Grandma is not impressed with family medicine. Real doctors cut people up.”
“That’s right!” Dr. Walsh yelled, even as she smiled at him and shook her head to show she was teasing. “My son—these girls’ dad—is a doctor, too. So is their older brother.”
“Wow. And what about you?” Jake asked Erin. “Did you go into the family business, too?”
“Heck, no,” Erin said. “I’m an accountant.”
“Every family needs its black sheep.” Dr. Walsh patted her granddaughter’s hand.
The affection among the three women was palpable, even as they razzed each other. It made Jake smile. It reminded him a little of the happy days of his childhood, when his mom had been alive and his brother still lived in town. They hadn’t been as snarky-smart as this family, but they’d known how to have fun, passing long, happy summer days in the cove.
He had been so looking forward to Jude getting older, so they could have adventures, too. Inside jokes.
Sadness settled on him like a blanket. But in so doing, it made him realize that it hadn’t been there earlier. He and Mick had passed an hour without him thinking about Jude.
He…didn’t know how to feel about that.
Nora appeared from the kitchen with a stack of glasses and a container from the town’s famous beachside lemonade stand. “Jake, you want to join us for some lemonade? We stopped at Legg’s in our outings today.”
He started to demur, but Dr. Walsh the elder patted the sofa next to her. “You might as well stay. You’re going to have to heft me down those stairs in about ten minutes.”
He sat and accepted a glass of lemonade from Nora.
“So,” her grandma said. “Is this thing you two have going a romantic thing?”
Nora choked on her lemonade and started coughing. “Oh my God, no.”
“Sexual?”
“Grandma.”
“What? I’m just asking.”
“Grandma, I just got out of a five-year relationship.”
“With an asshole.”
“What difference does that make?”
“Maybe you get over assholes faster.” She shrugged. “I don’t know. I never dated any assholes.”
“Okay,” Erin said to Dr. Walsh. “Down, girl.”
“We’re just friends, Dr. Walsh,” Jake said.
He paused to consider that he hadn’t made a new friend in years. And that he hadn’t had sex since Kerrie.
He hadn’t thought he was in the market for either of those things. But look at him now: he had a new friend.
“Anyway, I told you,” Nora said, “I’ve declared a moratorium on boys. Dating, romance, all of it. The whole point of being here is to clear my head.