Page 15 of An Island Summer
His face lit up. “You do? Iknewyou’d come around.”
“Mm-hm. I came to spend the rest of my years here. And you know what?”
“What?” he asked, his enchanted eyes wide.
“I really like knowing you’re here in Rosewood Manor so I can find you.”
His gaze was unstill, as if the thought had never occurred to him.
“I’ll come to visit every day if you promise to stay right here so I know where you are.”
Toby stood up, panicked. “You don’t have to do that.”
“I want to,” she said. She liked Rupert, and it made her feel like she was doing something good to come and see him, like she had purpose.
“Ah,” Rupert said, as if the gesture had hit him right in the heart. A tear spilled down his weathered cheek.
“Promise you’ll stay?” she asked the old man.
Rupert put his trembling finger to his lips, clearly overwhelmed by the idea of her visits. “I promise. I lost you once and I thought I’d lost you again.” He leaned toward her urgently. “You can’t get distracted by something and leave me again. My heart can’t take it.”
“I won’t,” she said, staring into his blue eyes the color of a stormy sea.
He relaxed.
A few minutes later, Rupert had sunk down into bed and, just before he fell into a peaceful sleep, Meghan reminded him she’d come to see him tomorrow. Then she and Toby made their way out to the parking lot.
“Thank you for doing that,” Toby said as he clicked the remote car key, the lights blinking on the Range Rover ahead of them. “You really don’t have to come to see him every single day. I’m not convinced it’s such a good idea. I’m sure we can think of something to tell him.” Toby opened her door.
“Being around him makes me feel good. He’s so sweet.”
Toby seemed torn about her visiting Rupert, shaking his head as if he were having an internal dialog, which only confused her. Why wouldn’t he want her to help his grandfather?
“It’s really fine,” she called to him, as he went around to his side of the car and got in.
“Where do you live?” he asked, looking over at her with unsaid words.
She fastened her seatbelt and gave him Pappy’s address, wishing he’d tell her whatever it was that worried him. But that was the last thing they said until she got out at the cottage.
“Bye,” she told him, breaking the silence and stepping down into Pappy’s driveway.
“See ya.” His words seemed to have some kind of longing, as if he really hoped to see her again, but he kept his thought-filled gaze on the dashboard, so she shut the door. Then he drove off, leaving her in the quiet of the afternoon, with the creak of the rocking chairs against the wind and the ocean shushing at her back.
SEVEN
“How was he?” Tess asked when Meghan got inside.
“Strange,” Meghan answered, still trying to make sense of Toby’s reaction. He seemed to be wrestling with something that included her. But maybe she was just reading into things… She dropped down onto the sofa, and Charlie sauntered up and greeted her.
“Stranger than at dinner the other night?”
“Definitely.”
Tess lowered herself down next to Meghan and put a sofa pillow across her lap. “What? Did he think you were Judy Garland this time or something?”
“Hm?” Meghan asked, turning to her friend. “Oh! You meant how isRupert? He was fine.”
Tess wrinkled her nose at her friend. “Who else would I be talking about?” Then, with a look of interest, she said, “Toby was acting strange? How so?”
