Page 21 of The House on Firefly Beach
“It’s a party! What’s the worst that could happen?”
Chapter Seven
“Is Nate coming again tomorrow?” Robby asked as he climbed under his covers, his eyes sleepy from a busy day.
“I’m not sure,” Sydney said.
Sydney wasn’t lying to him. She had a feeling that Nate was going to do what he wanted to do regardless of her wishes. Protectiveness over Robby surged through her. Nate’s commitment to them and to Firefly Beach was just too uncertain for her to allow anything to develop between him and Robby. Ben would be back from his honeymoon in a few weeks, which would buy her some time to figure out what she could do, if anything, for Robby. But allowing him to see Nate certainly wasn’t the answer.
Out of nowhere, he asked, “Do you like him, Mama?”
Unexpectedly—perhaps out of worry for her son or wistfulness over what was lost with Nate, she felt tears surface. She must have been just as tired as Robby. To keep her mind from wandering any further, she busied herself with tucking the covers around his little body while clearing her throat to keep the lump from forming. Despite her best efforts, she couldn’t avoid one sniffle.
Robby was paying close attention to her, which made her anxious. She smoothed out his covers and tugged on the end of them to make sure he was snuggled in.
“You love him?” Robby asked.
An icy sensation spread over her. “What?”
“You’re crying.”
“I’m fine,” she lied.
But Robby shook his head. “No. You’re crying. You used to cry about Daddy when he left too, and when I asked you why once, you said, ‘Sometimes we cry over people we love—that’s how you know you really love them.’”
Her little boy was so perceptive.
This was different. When she and Christian divorced, Robby was only four years old—too young to understand what was happening, but too old to be oblivious to it. “Why isn’t daddy coming home tonight?” he’d ask, literally tearing her heart out. One day she’d found him in the closet, staring up at the empty hangers on Christian’s side, and she could see the confusion on his face. While she was managing her own loss of love, she also had the burden of what Christian’s leaving had caused for her son.
And now, how would she explain to him that she missed the person Nate used to be, terribly, and her tears were because she could never have him back? “Nate used to be my best friend,” she said, stumbling over the words because “friend” just didn’t even begin to cover what they’d been. “And he had to go away. I missed him so much that it still makes me sad.”
Robby seemed to understand. “I miss Ben like that,” he said. “But when I play football with Nate, I don’t feel as sad.” He sat up. “Will he come over again?”
“We’ll see,” she said, unable to provide the answer he wanted. “I’m glad you had fun with Nate.” Sydney kissed her son’s forehead. “Now, let’s get a good night’s sleep, okay?”
“Okay, Mama. I love you.”
“Love you too.”
Sydney settled onto the porch swing outside, next to Uncle Hank. They sat in silence together, watching the fireflies dancing through the trees at the edge of the property. The sun had already disappeared below the horizon, and the night sky had just begun to emerge, the first few stars making an appearance.
“You look tired,” Uncle Hank said, pushing them back and then lifting his feet so the swing could rock them. “Something on your mind?”
She let the air out that she only just realized she’d been holding in. “Nate has me in a tizzy,” she said.
“What’s new?” Uncle Hank smiled knowingly at her, lightening her mood.
“I think Robby mightlikehim,” she confessed, still totally baffled that Robby was warming to Nate at all.
“He’s a likeable guy.”
“If I let him come around, I’m afraid Robby will get hurt when he decides to leave again. He’ll get his heart broken.”
“Is it only Robby’s heart you’re worried about?”
She dared not say, so she turned her head toward the wind, a warm gust blowing across her face.
“Have you ever talked with him about the day he left?” Uncle Hank asked.
