Page 4 of The Summer We Mended
Henry and Claudia gave everyone a hug as they headed out for the evening.“Thank you for another wonderful evening.”
“Anytime, you two.”Lily blew them a kiss as she watched them walk away.
Cody came over with Nessa, who held a half-finished s’more.
“I’ve got to head back to Camp Lejeune next week,” Cody said.“But we’re thinking about taking leave around Christmas.Maybe swing back this way?”
“We’d love that,” Lily said, hugging him.“We always have room.”
Nessa rested her head on his shoulder.“This place is magic.”
Lily smiled.“That’s David.He makes anything feel like home.”
Cody looked at his father.“Mom and Dad have always made it feel like something out of a storybook.”
“We’ve always been so lucky to have the best parents,” Anna added.“It’s why Cody and I have already found our perfect matches, don’t ya know?”
“Lead by example, or something like that,” Cody replied with a laugh.
As the fire crackled and the stars came out, Lily leaned her head on David’s shoulder.She could hear the kids giggling, Margot softly singing along to the music, and Anna’s whisper against Luke’s ear.Love lived here, in the clatter of forks and firelight, in the smell of wood smoke and pie.
“I don’t know that there’s anyone who lives better than us,” David murmured against her hair.
“What do you mean?”Lily asked as she pulled away and looked up at him.
“I mean, that we’re both living our dreams and doing work in things that we love.Me with woodworking, you with your pottery.Then you add in that we have two great kids who’ve met their soulmates and are both out here living their best lives.Two amazing grandkids.It’ll be sad to see Anna and Luke leave the island again after the weekend, though.But, then there’s me—I’m here with the best wife known to man.Who lives better than we do?”
“I guess I suppose a king or queen might argue with you,” Lily replied with a breathy giggle.“But you’re right, no one lives better than we do.I never imagined our life could be so simple, so beautiful, David.Thank you for always making certain that it was.”
“I’d steal the moon for you, Lily Bell,” he teased as he kissed her forehead.
She couldn’t remember why or when he started calling her Lily Bell.It wasn’t her name, but it was a pet name that only he was allowed to call her.
Lily rolled her eyes at him before she leaned in closer.
“It’s still perfect, even when you call me that ridiculous name.”
“Someday you’ll miss it.”
“Not for another twenty years.You’re not leaving me anytime soon, Mister.I won’t allow it.”
“I don’t plan on it,” he said as he pulled her in a little tighter.“What a beautiful life we have.”
Lily nodded, smiling up at her handsome husband.His eyes were roaming over the family they created, looking at them all with pride and love.
David was right; they had such a beautiful life.
ChapterOne
Lily
Three Years Later
The salt air clung to Lily Hartman’s skin as she wrestled with the rusted shutter hook, trying to latch it against the spring wind that whipped in from the Atlantic.The ocean, once her lullaby and muse, something she loved dearly and looked to for peace, now sounded too loud, too alive.It roared in her ears like a world she no longer belonged to.
She finally forced the shutter into place with a metallic clang and stepped back to survey the front of her seaside pottery studio.It looked tired, like her.Her late husband, David, had worked hard to bring her studio to life.He made her dreams a reality by integrating his woodworking skills with her pottery.It had all been so cheery and bright, but over the last year, it had faded and chipped from too many storms and too little care.The hanging sign above the door, which read Hartman Pottery Studio in David’s handwriting, swayed with a gentle creak.
He’d been so proud of all of it, and she’d loved it, too.Everything that had once been so breathtakingly beautiful only served as a reminder of her own heartbreak.She couldn’t bear to look at any of it.
