Page 100 of The Summer We Started Over

“Oh, not until next February. It will be a destination wedding. In Aruba.”

Eddie made a girlish squeal. “Awesome!” She twinkled her fingers at Lisa and followed her father to the elevator.

“What the hell was that all about?” William muttered as they rode to the second floor.

“We got the room number, didn’t we?” Eddie asked pertly.

It took only a minute to find Room 201. William pounded on the door.

“Settle down, Dad,” Eddie hissed. “You’re not the gestapo.”

They heard the door handle turning and saw the glitter of the gold chain from the door to the wall.

“Yes?” He was tall, slender, and maybe forty years old. A tired forty years.

Eddie stepped in front of her father. “Hello, I’m Eddie Grant. I work for Dinah Lavender. We have an urgent message for her.”

“Oh,” John Henderson said, and took off the chain. “She’s right here. Come in.”

Eddie almost pushed the man aside as she went through the door. Her father followed.

“Why, Eddie, William, what are you doing here?”

Dinah was sitting at a desk with a stack of books near her. On the floor next to her rose five cardboard boxes. The top box was opened.

“What’s going on?” William demanded. “Are you here of your own accord, Dinah?”

Dinah smiled beatifically. She rose from her chair. “Are you worried about me, William?”

Her father’s face turned red. “You are in a strange man’s hotel room,” he blustered. “You came to Nantucket because you were afraid of a stalker. How can wenotworry about you?”

Dinah stepped close to William. “I think that’s the nicest thing you’ve ever said to me.”

“Dinah.” William struggled to control his voice. “What are you doing here? What ishedoing here?”

Dinah said, “I’ll let John explain.”

William and Eddie turned expectantly to John.

“It’s my wife,” John said. “Bea. She’s ill. She has to have surgery. And well, she adores Dinah Lavender’s books. I want to give her something to look forward to. To give her hope. Something magic. So, I bought all of Miss Lavender’s books, and I asked her to sign them to Bea. She will be thrilled to have them. You’ve got to understand how it is when a book is signed. I mean not for everyone, but for some of us. I mean, she has a couple of Dinah Lavender’s books, and only one has been signed, and she holds it and carefully touches the signature. She says that even so far away in reality, when she touches the signature, she’s somehow magically in contact with the author. With the essence of the author…Bea’s not a spiritually gifted person. But she does get some kind of strength from touching Miss Lavender’s signature.”

Dinah continued, “John did the most remarkable thing. He found one hundred and twelve of my books in good shape, and he’s brought them here, and asked me to sign them.”

“One hundred and twelve books?” William huffed. “That will take forever. He can’t expect you to—”

“Dad,” Eddie said. “Chill. Dinah signs more than one hundred and twelve books at her talks.”

“Well, are you the one who’s been stalking her?” William demanded.

John looked horrified. “Oh, I wouldn’t saystalking.I did fly to New York. I rented a hotel room and tried to find where Miss Lavender lives, which is not that easy. It’s a big city. I didn’t want to barge into the building and knock on her door. That might alarm her.”

“Plus,” Eddie pointed out, “the building has a doorman.”

“I went to her signing, but she had such an enthusiastic and, might I say, impatient crowd lined up, I couldn’t take up her time to explain about wanting her to sign so many books. I had to go home for a while to be with Bea.” For the first time, John’s face brightened. “Be with Bea. We always like saying that. Anyway, I searched online, and I saw that Dinah Lavender was here on the island. I came here, and I saw her go into Nantucket Blues and I went in and talked with the owner. I gave her my card…and Miss Lavender has graciously agreed to sign the books.”

William relaxed. “Do you mean you’ve been flying around the country with boxes full of Dinah’s books?”

John straightened his shoulders. “I have. It’s been my quest.”

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