“And you’re Anne?”
Grace got that grumpy look on her face I could never get enough of, because she could never hold on to it for long around me. “IwasAnne. She just happens to have me beatwhen it comes to being stubborn. Also, her daydreams didn’t involve Gilbert nearly enough. Or like, at all.” Grace blushed. She’d recently admitted that she used to, maybe, think about me a lot before we got together, and it tickled me every time I contemplated it. Every mean thing she’d ever said, every time she froze me out, there was the possibility that on the inside, a romance reel was playing out that she couldn’t shut off.
I did feel bad that I’d flirted with her not knowing she’d already developed feelings for me. She may have fallen first, but I definitely fell harder.
Without warning, I closed my book, leaped over our shared footrest, and tackled her into the antique settee she was lounging on, burying my face in her neck and making her giggle.
“You guys are so gross. Stop upstaging me and Simon.” I glanced back to see Jessica and Simon standing in the doorway holding hands. Simon was as shy as Jessica was bold, so he was not into PDA. But in his unguarded moments, I saw the way he looked at her. They’d be just fine.
“Is it time for spooky poetry reading in the haunted wood?” Grace asked. “Will it be too scary for Piper?”
“It won’t be scary at all. I promise. Not even Edgar-Allan-Poe level. This is more the type of stuff a twelve-year-old Anne would have made up. But Piper’s having so much fun with my mom on that tree swing in the backyard. They asked to stay here. Is that okay with you?”
I got up so Grace could go to the window and look out on them. Piper’s laughter carried through the walls of the bed-and-breakfast. “I should get a picture,” Grace said.
“Already done. Having my sister be the onsite photographer has its perks.” Jessica linked arms with Grace and pulled her away from the window. “Come on, losers. Let’s go hike and read some super-dramatic poetry.”
The haunted wood was one of many trails within Prince Edward Island National Park and included the final resting place for L.M. Montgomery in Cavendish cemetery. I wondered whatshe’d think of the tourism tie-in. Maybe she’d find it funny. Her books did have more humor in them than I was expecting.
Grace’s phone rang just before we stepped outside to the gravel parking lot, and she froze. Once we reached the end of the road, the call would drop.
“It’s Rob. Can I just let him say hello to Piper really quick? She’s used to him calling twice a week, but we’ve been so busy.”
She was asking Jessica. Her hand had already wrapped around mine. She knew I’d stick with her, especially when it came to Rob.
“Yeah, yeah. We’ll stop for mini cherry pies at that little shop on the way. Meet us there in fifteen?”
“Will do.” Grace stepped back into the house and answered the call. “Rob? Give me just a second. I’ll go get Piper. She’s playing in the backyard.”
Hand in hand, we retreated to the backyard in search of her. I completely understood why Piper wouldn’t want to leave this yard, even for a hike. The tree swing went up, up, up to a branch in a tree so big, I’d never stop staring at it with awe. Even the gentle pushes from Jessica’s mother sent Piper soaring across the lawn. Jessica’s dad sat on a porch swing watching and knitting a beanie, looking completely at peace. He was a fraud investigator for a large corporation. He said knitting relaxed him.
“Piper, your dad’s on the phone,” Grace called out.
“K. I’ll be there in a minute.”
Grace leaned back against my chest holding up the phone so we could both hear. “How’s it going, Rob?”
“Okay, I guess. I’m not on an island,” he answered.
“Yeah, it’s pretty great.”
“Not Hawaii great, though. There’s no swimming, unless you’re into hypothermia.”
“True. But I can swim at home. This is a kind of beautiful I won’t see again. The sky is so big, and it’s green and quiet here.There are these grasses that grow tall along the beaches, and they dance in the wind.”
“Oh, you’ve almost sold me.” The sarcasm was coming through loud and clear. “Wind dancing is my favorite.”
“Tell Rob I love him and miss him,” I whispered in her ear.
“Dean says he loves you and can’t wait to see you again.” She silently laughed, her shoulders shaking.
“Oh, likewise. He makes my ex happy, which is not easy to do.”
I’d learned to not pick up the phone and correct him when he said things like that. Grace could handle it herself. She told me she needed to. It was part of having a healthier relationship with him, one where she spoke her mind where it counted, but didn’t make herself responsible for changing him.
We’d come up with theories about why he still made comments like that. Her current reigning theory was that he needed to reframe what had actually happened between them. I just thought he enjoyed being negative.
“Thanks for calling, Rob. Piper loves to hear from you.” She handed off the phone to Piper, who ran away with it and sat next to Jessica’s dad on the porch swing, talking a mile a minute to Rob about everything she was doing and seeing. Grace turned to face me, wrapping her arms around my waist. “Kill him with kindness, right?”
