Page 13 of An Island Summer
“I think we should get ready for the day,” Tess said. “We have to visit some restaurants today or we’re gonnaneedto win the lottery.”
Meghan stood up. “Yes, I’m on it,” she said, holding up her mug. “Drinking this in the shower.”
“Cheers to that,” Tess said, clinking her mug with Meghan’s.
Starting closest to the cottage and moving northward, all the way to the bypass in Nags Head, Meghan and Tess had stopped in to restaurants to talk to the management at each one, handing out their résumés. By noon, they’d visited nearly every possibility in the Outer Banks.
As they walked to the car at the last one, Meghan didn’t feel any closer to finding a job. “I hope we get a call from someone,” she said. “I thought for sure at least one of them would offer us something on the spot.”
“We’ll get a job,” Tess said brightly, before noticing a familiar Range Rover at the small shop next door. “Look! It’s fate,” she said.
“It’s inevitable on this island,” Meghan countered. “You said that yourself.”
Just then, Toby came rushing out holding a small shopping bag, and spotted them right away.
“Everything okay?” Meghan called to him.
Worry etched on his face, he said, “My grandfather keeps trying to leave Rosewood Manor. He’s been really agitated ever since we had dinner that night. He wouldn’t even eat the cake for his birthday.”
Tess elbowed her friend. “Tell him about the DVD,” she whispered.
“I don’t know if this will help,” Meghan said, “but we’ve figured out who Hester Quinn is.”
His eyebrows shot up, creasing his forehead. “Who?” he asked.
“She’s an actress who played in that movieMadness and Magic—the one you said he’d already seen.”
Toby pursed his lips, nodding in thought. “He’s insistent that he needs to see Hester. The nurse there called me at her wits’ end, so I ran out and bought him his favorite chocolate truffles, hoping to redirect his thoughts,” he said, holding up the small shopping bag.
“Is there anything I can do?” she asked.
“No,” he said quickly, as if he’d already imposed upon her enough.
“I could go over there with you,” Meghan suggested, worried about Rupert. “Maybe he’ll still think I’m Hester and I can convince him to stay at Rosewood Manor.”
“I’ll drive the car home,” Tess suggested. “You and Toby can ride together.”
Uncertainty showed in Toby’s eyes.
“It’s worth a try, don’t you think?” Meghan asked.
Before she knew it, Meghan was sliding onto the cool tan leather seat of the Range Rover, Toby starting the engine while Tess waved at them through the window. As the vehicle purred, he handed her the bag of truffles. “You don’t have to do this,” he said.
“I know. But Rupert sort of reminds me of my grandfather, so it’s nice to be with him. Even if he does think I’m someone else.” She smiled at him. He glanced over at her with that warm look of gratitude she’d seen when they’d had dinner.
“His dementia has gotten worse over the last year, and it’s getting very difficult to take care of him,” he said, turning onto the main road. “But he’s all I’ve got.”
There was an edge to his voice that Meghan understood. He was clinging to the remnants of a family member he loved. She was so thankful that her last moments with Pappy had been strong ones. She couldn’t imagine what it must be like to see the man he loved pulling away from him right in front of his eyes.
“Do you have any family that could help?” she asked.
“My parents were killed in a skiing accident last year,” he said, his eyes on the sand-covered road. “It was a shock to all of us, and my grandfather hasn’t been the same since. For the first six months or so, he kept asking about them and I’d have to tell him what happened over and over. Every time, he grieved, so sometimes I just told him they weren’t here at the moment to spare him.”
Meghan’s heart squeezed. She knew too well what that grief was like, and she couldn’t imagine having to relive it for the first time even once, let alone day after day. “Oh my goodness, that’s terrible.”
“After they passed, he dove into this obsession with old movies that took over his life. We wonder if this new manifestation of Hester Quinn is his way of coping, sending him into a fictional world to avoid the pain.”
“I’m so sorry,” she said, nearly breathless. “How areyouholding up?” she asked, his tension taking on a new meaning for her now.
