Charmaine grinned. “The storm was certainly challenging. But in the end, we made it all happen, mostly thanks to you.”
He shrugged. “It worked out.”
“It certainly did,” Penny added as she linked her fingers through Rowan’s and looked up at him with a glowing smile.
“Was New Zealand nice?”
“It was lovely.”
“Although we hardly left the room,” Rowan said with a wink.
Penny slapped his arm. “People don’t need details, honey.”
He laughed. “Just kidding.”
Charmaine couldn’t help feeling warm all over at the sight of the two of them. They had the kind of love and friendship she longed to find. But given her situation, she doubted it would ever happen for her. She found it so difficult to let anyone get close to her, let alone share a life with her.
“Thank you for everything you did, by the way. I didn’t get a chance to say that after the reception since you had to leave. But I really appreciate all your hard work on the wedding. I couldn’t have done it without you,” Penny said.
“You’re very welcome,” Charmaine replied. “I enjoyed it. I didn’t realise how much fun it would be pulling a wedding together. And then managing things on the day — it was really satisfying to see all our efforts come to fruition.”
“You certainly have a gift for keeping everyone calm,” Penny replied with a laugh. “There were a few times I thought I might have to breathe into a brown paper bag, but you got me through it.”
Charmaine wasn’t used to receiving so much praise, and she shifted from foot to foot uncomfortably, then changed the subject. “Have you seen Sam lately? She hasn’t come to the florist shop in a while.”
Penny’s brow furrowed. “Really? No, I haven’t. I’ve been so busy with the wedding and honeymoon, I haven’t thought about her. I wonder how she’s doing.”
“Usually, she’s at the shop every afternoon after school. The term’s almost over, but she hasn’t been in lately. I’m sure she’s busy with end-of-year activities.” Charmaine had a tendency to turn everything into a disaster.
It was likely that Sam was perfectly fine and she was making something out of nothing. But she couldn’t get out of her head the fight Sam’s dad had with Betsy and the things Sam had said when Charmaine last spoke with her. The little girl was caught in the middle of something Charmaine didn’t really understand, and she was concerned about her.
“I’m sure she’s fine. But I can drop in to her place and check on her, if you like. I drive past it all the time on my way home.”
“That would be great. Thank you.” Charmaine wasn’t usually one to worry about other people’s children, but there was something about Sam. She seemed so alone in the world. It reminded Charmaine of herself at that age.
“I’ve been meaning to talk to Bea about that whole situation with Betsy and Buck and their American names,” Penny said. “We should look into that.”
“You don’t think Betsy was telling the truth?” Charmaine asked.
“I’m sure she was, but it would be interesting to see if there’s any evidence of the two of them before the name change. Maybe there’ll be some information about their cult.”
“I didn’t tell anyone this, but she and her son had a huge fight a few weeks ago when I was new to the island. I didn’t know much about her at the time, so I didn’t know what to make of it. But it was a little concerning.”
“Do you know what they were fighting about?”
“Something about her being a liar and a fraud.”
“Wow. That’s interesting,” Penny said, eyes narrowed. “Let’s all get together and do some investigating soon.”
“Sounds good.” Charmaine waved goodbye to Penny and Rowan.
She was now officially running late for her meeting with Sean. She could only hope he’d given up and left the island in a huff. The likelihood of that was slim. With a groan of reluctance, she climbed onto her bike and pedalled in the direction of the dock. There was a shelter at the opening of the dock with bench seats on either side. She stopped there and waited, one hand shielding her eyes.
“Where’d you get the bike?” Sean asked with a smile as he stepped out of the shadows, a black backpack slung over one shoulder.
She set the bike against a wall and went to embrace him. “Sorry. I’m sweaty.”
He kissed her cheek. “It’s good to see you, sis.”
