Page 49 of An Island Summer
“All right.” He handed her his card. “Give us a call when you’re ready to rewire.”
“Thank you,” she said, in utter shock.
“I don’t have that kind of money,” she said to Tess, once the man had left.
“We can sweat. We’ll get some fans and open the windows if we need to. Then, maybe you can get on a payment plan for the two thousand to fix the electrical.”
“Maybe,” Meghan said, feeling like she had a cinder block in the pit of her stomach. “I shouldn’t have bought that paint,” she said, shaking her head. “I didn’t need it.”
“There was no way to know, Meghan. Things like this just happen. Maybe we can work some extra shifts.”
“You don’t need to take on any of this,” Meghan said. “It’s my house. I’m not going to let you pay a single cent.” She put her chin in her hands, her mind whirring with how to handle it, the stress of the situation overwhelming her suddenly.
“I’ll take Charlie out for us,” Tess said. “Wanna come?”
“Do you mind if I sit and stew about this a little longer?” Meghan asked.
“Not at all. Come on, Charlie. Let’s give your mama a minute.” Tess opened the door and Charlie bolted out in front of her. “Want me to leave this open so you can get a breeze coming in?”
“Yeah, thanks.”
Once Tess and Charlie were down the walk, Meghan finally let the tears that had been building fall. Her life was a series of bad choices, and she didn’t know how to dig out of it. She could’ve kept working for Vinnie, been thankful for what she had as a waitress, and stayed in her rental apartment where everything that broke got fixed, but instead, she’d left it all and assumed the massive responsibility of home ownership before she was financially ready.
But would she ever be financially ready? As a young girl, she remembered sitting with Pappy on the porch, talking about the day she would be a top chef.
Creativity is in your blood, he’d told her.It’s who you are.
She was starting to wonder if he’d been right at all. She’d listened to Pappy, taken his words for truth, but did he really know, or had he just been telling her what she wanted to hear?
But then, without warning, what Rupert had told Hester came into her mind:You will never find self-worth in other people. Youhaveto trust yourself.
Even though she wasn’t Hester, his advice was pretty clear for her life too. She didn’t trust herself. She didn’t trust that she was a good chef anymore. Or that she deserved anything more than the hand she was dealt. But it was hard to trust a dream that never seemed to get off the ground. Did she have what it took, or not?
EIGHTEEN
“What did the Baldwins say?” Rupert asked, when Meghan found him in the recreation room the next morning.
“I’m sorry?” Meghan came over to the sofa where he sat and lowered herself down beside him. Two other patients were playing cards at the table in the corner and entertainment news was on the television hanging on the wall.
“When we left early to go to the beach the other night, what did they say? Were they okay with it?”
“Oh, uh, yes,” she said, dropping her handbag beside her feet and wriggling into a comfortable position.
“And Audrey was all right? I know she sometimes feels a bit awkward in those situations. Did she manage okay?”
“Ye-es,” she said, trying to keep her composure at the mention of her grandmother’s name.
“Well, I suppose she had John to get her through it without you.”
Meghan stifled her gasp with a cough. She peered over at the card players, but they were deep in discussion about the ace of spades. “John?” she asked, an electric current shooting up her spine when Pappy’s name rolled off her lips.He didknow Pappy. “How did you meet Audrey and John?” she asked, while Rupert leaned over and tidied the stack of magazines on the coffee table in front of them.
“What are you talking about?” His hands stilled and he looked over at her, confused. “Audrey is your best friend. How could you forget how we met? Have you lost your mind?”
“No, I just…” She scrambled again to get a foothold in this odd ping-pong game of past to present, her mind spinning with this new information. Was it true or made up? Did Nanna really know Hester Quinn, the actress? “I just wanted you to tell me again. I like to hear you recount our history together.”
He settled, leaning back on the sofa, his cloudy gaze landing on the television, although it was clear that the information wasn’t permeating his thoughts. He ran his unsteady fingers down his disheveled shirt. “We all met the same day,” he began. “Audrey had traveled with you and your cousin from Texas to Hatteras Island. On the bench that day, when I met you, you asked if I’d show you where to get an ice cream float, remember?”
Meghan nodded, dying for him to keep going.
