“It was the summer before college,” he said. “I introduced myself to her on the ferry.” He smiled softly. “She and her friend were sharing a pair of binoculars.”
Kathy Ryan, I didn’t need to ask. Her forever travel buddy.
“Her hair kept blowing in the wind, and after every bluster, she tried smoothing it down. I mustered up the courage to go over and offer her a rubber band to tie it back.”
I smiled a little. Annie always had a hairband handy in her purse in case I forgot one. “Did she accept it?”
Christian nodded, but before he could say anything else, the studio’s door opened and Connor slipped inside.
“Wow…” His eyes widened, then darted around the room.My heart ached; I loved his innate sense of childlike wonder. “Where do I start?”
“Here.” I pointed to the big watercolor. “This is calledGirlhood.”
“It’s amazing,” Connor marveled, moving closer to the painting. He studied it, then side-eyed me. “It actually reminds me of you.”
“Thank you.” I smiled, warmth building in my chest. “You know everyone says I look just like my grandmother.”
Twenty-three
Before Connor and I walked back to the Annex, Christian asked if I was free for lunch tomorrow. “It would mean so much to talk more,” he told me. “I would love to hear how Annette is, and if you have any questions…”
I had so many. We hadn’t really returned to the reality of Annie and Christian after Connor had done a double take at the artist’s identity. Christian mostly spoke about his creative process, and I caught his drift. His history with Annie felt a little too intimate to share with anyone else.
“Yes,” I told Christian. “I’m free tomorrow.”
We agreed to meet in Edgartown, and I tried not to let thoughts of tomorrow preoccupy my brain for the rest of the night. Both excitement, nerves, and dread coursed through my veins. The former for obvious reasons, and the latter because I knew I had to tell Christian about Annie’s dementia. I had to tell him that we were losing her.
I’d all but forgotten about Connor’s final surprise until I asked how we were getting back across Oyster Pond. WouldMeredith take us back in the boat? Had Nick and Sage been given a pick up time? What time even was it?
Connor’s raised suggestive eyebrow made my stomach flip-flop. “Who said anything about going home?” he said, then he turned to grab a Coleman lantern off the Annex’s porch.
A flush crept up my neck; I hoped Meredith and Wit were brushing their teeth and not watching us from the kitchen window.
Okay, Olivia, I told myself.They’re mature adults, not middle schoolers.
“Where are we going?” I asked Connor once we’d set off hand in hand. “The beach?”
“Mmm…” he mused. “Beach is a bit of a cliché, wouldn’t you say?”
I laughed and grinned when he twirled me around while humming a familiar song. “I thought you didn’t like Taylor Swift,” I said.
“I am ambivalent,” he replied. “But that doesn’t mean she can’t get stuck in my head.”
He continued to hum, and I softly sang along. We might’ve been totally off-key, but we sounded perfect to me.
“This is one of Annie’s favorites,” I said after totally hitting—or entirely missing—the bridge. “She asked me to cue it up every time she picked me up from school. She also loved all Taylor’s outfits in the music video.”
“Set on safari in Africa, right?”
I raised an eyebrow.
His shrug was visible in the lamplight. “Liam.”
“Of course.” I smiled, then I heard myself say, “I’d like to meet him sometime.”
“I think we can arrange that.” Connor smiled back at me before we broke into another harmony.
But after a bend in the trail, my breath caught. A green tent waited patiently for us in the moonlit meadow. It was so simple, yet everything about it made me ache. I gave Connor a look. “Your summer snapshots,” he reminded me. “You need more than one.”
