Page 22 of A Summer Mismatch
Nancy:Can everyone do on a meeting Wednesday at 4?
Don:Yes. I’ll tell Samantha.
Polly:Winnie? Does that work?
Winnie:I’m still determined if you are.
Nancy:Okay, it’s settled. Good job tonight, everyone.
Don to Polly and Rosa:I’ll finish the book tomorrow too. Let’s meet for lunch.
Winnie walked into Lydia’s house Sunday afternoon, touched to see the quilt she’d made resting on the back of their gray leather couch. It fit into their decor perfectly, just as she’d hoped.
“Please, have a seat.” Lydia indicated the couch. The coffee table had a pitcher of ice water along with a platter of crackers, dried fruits, nuts, and an assortment of cheeses.
“Are you sure Smitty won’t mind that I’m here?” Winnie asked before she carefully took a seat on the edge of the couch, so she could quickly stand if she needed to.
Lydia pursed her lips and shrugged. “I will be friends with whomever I want, and if I say someone is welcome in our house, then they’re welcome here. Besides, he’s doing a couple rounds of golf today, so you can relax.”
Winnie winced. Horace was playing golf today as well. Hopefully they had different start times, and the two men wouldn’t even cross each other’s paths.
Winnie allowed herself to relax into the cushions and inhaled the sweet lavender scent of the Byrd’s home. Lydia handed a plate to Winnie who then helped herself to a little bit of everything. She adored hard cheddar and Roquefort cheeses, especially paired with dried cranberries. “You got settled quickly.” She didn’t see a single unpacked box.
“Logan helped us all day Saturday,” Lydia replied, filling her own plate.
“I was very impressed by him,” Winnie said.
“He’s had a difficult year.” Lydia poured them some water. “After Mary Anne died, the whole family fell apart, and he’s been trying to hold everyone together. But he’s still grieving too. I see it in his eyes.”
“He may always grieve.” Winnie had lost her own mother twenty years before, and she thought about her every single day.
“Yes, but he needs to live life. He’s still young, and my daughter would want him to be happy. His sister is also struggling, drowning in work and school and kid responsibilities. That’s why we’re here.”
Winnie nodded. Her daughter, son-in-law, Julia, and Cameron were why they’d settled in Diamond Cove three years before, once Horace sold his company. Cameron had been in and out of the hospital for years, having surgery after surgery on his heart, stomach, and even his hips. Horace had a special bond with him, and though Horace had always been a good man, she’d seen him soften even more in the last three years, and knew it was directly related to spending time with Cameron.
“So what are we going to do?” Lydia took a sip of her water and set it down on a gorgeously carved wooden coaster.
Winnie’s stomach turned, her appetite suddenly gone. She set her plate on the table with her snack only half-eaten. “What can we do? Horace and Smitty won’t see reason when it comes to each other.”
“I don’t just mean our stubborn husbands. Logan and Julia.”
Winnie caught her breath. “You see it too?”
Lydia shook her head with mirth. “They are meant for one another. Even Smitty and Horace could see it. Why do you think they reacted so forcefully to seeing them together?”
“They saw the connection too,” Winnie whispered. She took her plate up, suddenly hungry once again.
“Exactly.”
“So we both agree?” Winnie asked. “That we’d be pleased if Logan and Julia entered a relationship?”
Lydia’s eyes took on a determined gleam. “More than pleased. I’m willing to do what needs to be done to clear a path for them.”
Winnie let out a breath of relief. Her secrets were piling up: dressing Sweetie, the Secret Seven, matchmaking her granddaughter, and now her alliance—no, friendship—with Lydia. The realization made her uncomfortable. She didn’t like carrying the weight of secrets.
Yet, all weekend, she’d felt like a tiny ship trying to go against the tide, and now it was like someone had come alongside her with some much-needed aid. With Lydia and the Secret Seven on her side, perhaps this was possible after all.
CHAPTER TWELVE
