Page 27 of The Summer We Started Over

She decided to settle for today, now, as she was, home and happy. Maybe high on the sweet salt air, but whatever, she’d take it.

She returned to the house and got breakfast ready: eggs, bacon, and fresh squeezed orange juice. When she opened the kitchen window, the trills of birdsong floated in on the sweet air. She’d forgotten how delicious Nantucket water was, coming from a glacier melted centuries ago.

“Look at you, sis,” Barrett declared, coming into the room. “You’ve become an island girl.”

“I’m ready to meet with a carpenter about the barn.” Eddie wore clothes she’d left behind when she went to New York, jeans, a T-shirt beneath an open blue button-down, and sandals.

“A carpenter?” Barrett teased. “Please. Don’t you mean Jeff?”

“Do you want breakfast or not?” Eddie lifted the plate, holding the bacon away from Barrett.

“All right. I’ll be good.” Barrett poured herself a cup of coffee and sat at the table. “How does it feel, being home?”

Eddie set their plates before them. “I like it, of course. I have to get used to it. Life with Dinah is…faster paced. Fabulous dining, theater, opera, bookstores, art museums.” She ate a bit of bacon and sighed. “I know people who say they’re vegetarian, except for bacon.”

Duke, sitting next to the table, wagged his tail and whined pitifully.

“No bacon for you, Duke,” Barrett said.

The dog whined again and let his head droop almost to the floor.

“You are such a fake,” Barrett said to Duke, and gave him a piece of bacon.

Eddie’s phone chirped. She glanced at it and said to Barrett, “I’ve got to take this. I’ll meet you outside.” She hadn’t taken Dinah’s last few calls and she wasn’t keen to take this one. Dinah had sent many texts. She was still worried about her stalker.

“Eddie, I don’t know what to do!” Dinah whispered.

“Good morning to you, too, and why are you whispering?”

“Thais is here, preparing lunch and dinner, and she has a key to the apartment.”

“You gave her the key, Dinah. She’s cooked for you for years. Dinah, come on. Don’t tell me you’re worried that Thais will give the key to your stalker.”

“No, I trust her. But what if the guy jumps her and pulls her into an alley and hits her and goes through her purse?”

“Dinah, are you writing a thriller now?”

“What? No. I’m worrying about a perfectly possible realistic attack. I’m not thinking of myself, I’m thinking of Thais.”

Eddie had gone through many crises with Dinah before. Ups and downs in her love life, of course, and freak-outs about a cover for her newest book or fears that no one would like it. She knew when Dinah was just being dramatic, and this wasn’t it.

“Have you alerted the police?” she asked.

“Eddie, you know they can’t do anything about it. They can’t stand in front of my building twenty-four hours a day.”

“Why don’t you hire someone? A private detective slash bouncer? Someone who could frighten away your stalker?”

“I could do that, but I still wouldn’t get any sleep.”

Duke nudged Eddie’s knee, staring at her with his sweetest expression. When Eddie didn’t give him her last bite of bacon, Duke barked, once.

“What was that?” Dinah asked.

“That was a dog,” Eddie said. She gave the bacon to Duke. “Maybe that’s the answer. Maybe you should get a dog to protect you.”

“I’m going out to the barn,” Barrett called.

“Who was that?” Dinah asked.

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