Page 26 of An Island Summer
“I think I might be losing my mind,” Meghan said, shutting the album. She turned to address Tess, who was filling up a glass of water at the kitchen sink. “The only two people I’ve spent time with outside of us are a possible thief and an old man with no memory. Pappy would never guide me there, so what’s going on?”
“I have absolutely no idea,” Tess replied, coming over to her and squeezing between Meghan and the dog.
As they sat in the quiet of the evening with nothing but silence between them, they were no closer to having any of the answers Meghan was looking for.
ELEVEN
“Knock, knock,” Meghan said, slipping her sunglasses up like a headband and coming into Rupert’s room slowly to give him time to process. “It’s Meg—Hester.”
“Why don’t you dress up anymore?” he asked from his bed, without a hello. He was in a much calmer mood this morning as he eyed her work trousers and white button-up. “You always used to dress up.”
“Work, remember?” she replied, before lifting his blinds to let in the view of the seagrass swaying in the summer sunlight. She sat in the chair opposite him.
“What movie?”
“Top secret,” she said, pretending to button her lips. “I’m a waitress.”
The skin between his eyes wrinkled. “Inthat? Shouldn’t they have you in a dress?”
She offered Rupert a smile. “You look good today,” she said.
He ran his unsteady hands down the blanket over his legs. “Last night was hard on me,” he said. “I kept thinking about how much I miss you.”
If only she could tease out what was real from what wasn’t in his mind… “Rupert, can I ask you something?”
“Of course.”
“Do you know anyone named Meghan Gray?”
He smiled and tipped his head back in recognition, surprising her. “Yes. I met her once when you and I were at dinner. Lovely girl.”
“Did you know she’s a waitress?”
“Is that so?” he asked, life in his eyes as he took in this new information.
“Yes. She works at your grandson’s new inn. Remember Toby?”
“Oh, wow. I had no idea.” His gaze traveled into the distance above her head, that familiar crease of disorientation forming between his eyes.
“I’m going to step out of the room and Meghan’s going to come in to chat with you. Is that okay?” she asked.
He nodded, his mind still clearly far away.
Meghan let herself out, her hands trembling and her heart racing. She waited a few seconds and then walked back in, sitting down in the chair. “Hello,” she said. “Do you know who I am?”
“Of course I do. Hester. How are you?”
With a deep breath to offset the disappointment that she hadn’t been able to reach him, she answered, “I’m doing just fine, Rupert. How are you?”
“Summer has begun,” Tabitha said, as she passed Meghan with an overflowing silver tray full of lunch orders balancing on the palm of her hand. The dining area was packed inside and out, with a line waiting at the hostess’s station. Tess was across the room, squatting at a table, jotting down orders as Meghan carried a handful of menus over to a table of five, and they’d only just opened.
After getting beverage orders for her new tables, Meghan went back into the kitchen where Tess was now pinning up a table’s food order for the kitchen staff. “People are standing at the edges of the deck, ordering drinks because they can’t get a table,” Tess said, looking tired already.
“It’s madness, isn’t it?” Meghan replied as she filled glasses, setting them on a tray.
Tabitha popped her head over from the counter where she had grabbed two plates of stuffed crab and linguini. “It’s like this from the start of June all the way until September. If Mr. Meyers doesn’t expand soon, we’re going to explode.”
“I hear you,” Meghan said. She picked up the tray and headed out to her table, the whole time thinking about this morning with Rupert. If she could just once get him to acknowledgeher. She’d been hoping to ask him about Toby, but she should’ve known better than to think he’d be able to come out of his Hester fantasy with her there. The more she thought about it, the more she decided that she wanted to see him again, to hear whatever it was he wanted to tell the movie star.
