Page 18 of The Glass Dolphin

“That’s what they’re reporting.” Alice Rice set down the basket of bread that she’d just pulled out of the oven and buttered. She cut a look over to Arthur, silently begging him to stop talking about The Glass Dolphin.

“So it’s not going to reopen?” Ginny asked.

Alice didn’t want her Christmas holidays to be laced with tension and worry. But she couldn’t really control that, since the vandalism at The Glass Dolphin had made the national news, and the twins had seen it in the city before they’d even returned to the cove. Suddenly, the sanctuary and peace of Five Island Cove had been disrupted, all in the name of preserving the sanctuary and peace of Five Island Cove.

Alice couldn’t seem to wrap her head around it, despite talking things to death with Arthur and then Robin. Their text messages on the group thread had not been about holly and ivy, mistletoe or gifts. They’d been solely talking about the messages from a group of people on the island who wanted to stop the growth. Or at least slow it.

She sat down and looked at her daughter. “I don’t know,” she said. “That seems to be the answer everyone has these days.” Eloise didn’t know what was going on with the investigation. Or she did and she wouldn’t say.

Laurel didn’t work for the police force anymore, so their insider was gone. Robin usually knew all the hot gossip around town, but she and Duke had taken Jamie and gone to New York for the holidays. Her mother would be returning from her cruise around New Year’s, and they were planning to meet her there and all come home together.

Surprisingly, AJ had some tidbits, as her husband ran the golf course and seemed to catch snatches of conversation from those who came to the driving range. She’d learned that the man who’d thrown messaged buckets through the windows was someone named Weston Bent, and when Alice had done some of her lawyerly online digging, he did seem to be a lifelong resident of the cove.

He hailed from Pearl Island, the southern most body of land, but Kelli and Shad lived there, and they’d never seen him. Shad Webb worked in the government for Five Island Cove, but he’d been very tight-lipped about everything too.

In general, Alice felt like she was one breath away from inhaling toxin and one step away from having the ground vanish beneath her feet. It wasn’t a very festive way to celebrate Christmas, but she jumped to her feet when the doorbell rang.

Thankfully, AJ and Matt simply entered without waiting to be invited in, and Alice met them as she bustled toward the front door. “Is it still raining?”

“It’s turned to snow,” AJ said as she slicked the slush from her coat sleeve. She carried her little boy, who pushed his arms up to rid himself of the blanket she’d thrown over him. He emerged with chubby cheeks that made Alice’s grin flip onto her face instantly.

“Come here, baby.” She took him from AJ and started removing his coat. “Did you get wet?”

“Da-da-da,” Asher said. Everyone shed their wet clothes and left them on the hooks near the front door to maybe drip-dry, and Alice led them back into the kitchen.

Arthur greeted AJ at the end of the hall with a quick kiss on the cheek and the words, “We got your favorite drink. It’s in the fridge.”

“Ooh,” AJ squealed as she went past him. He laughed and shook Matt’s hand, and their Christmas Eve party was complete. Alice had seen AJ come to life when she’d returned to the cove, then disappear again, and then rejuvenate all over again when she and Matt had gotten back together.

But she was currently in a phase of pulling away again, and Alice had noticed that AJ and Matt didn’t particularly like the big parties, where everyone showed up, and they were expected to stay for hours on end.

They’d disappeared from the Fourth of July party after coming, and they hadn’t come to the last three big dinners or beach days—besides the Friendship Feast, and Matt hadn’t attended that.

Alice slipped Asher into the highchair she’d bought just for him, clipped him in, and moved to hug Matt. “How are you?” She stepped back and looked into his eyes. Really looked. “How’s the golf course?”

“It’s wet,” he said with a smile. “We’ve closed it for the season, so now we just have to maintain the driving range.” He sighed as he sank into an empty chair across from Charlie. “It’s a relief, actually. I’m tired.” He fisted his fingers and reached toward Charlie. “How are you, man? How’s college and New York City?”

Alice watched her son, because she’d gotten very little from him about his college courses or his life in New York. His dad lived there, and she knew both twins were in contact with their father. How much Frank helped them, she didn’t know. Ginny usually volunteered more information than Charlie, and she watched a flicker of…something move through his expression.

“It’s great,” he said, his voice the upbeat kind he usually saved for talking about sports or skateboarding. “The city has a great vibe. I passed all my classes.” He shot her a look, and Alice planted a smile on her face that bloomed to life in a mere moment.

“What are you majoring in?” Matt asked, and Alice vowed to have him over more often while the twins were home. She got to her feet, keeping both ears on the conversation as she went to grab the butter from the fridge.

“I’m not sure,” Charlie said. “I think maybe I’d like to do something with chemistry, but…”

“But what?” Matt asked as the question screamed through Alice. She set the butter that had been carved into a Christmas tree onto the table. Her son looked at her, and Alice’s eyebrows went up before she told them not to.

Charlie very nearly rolled his eyes. “It feels really geeky.”

No one said anything, and Alice knew better than to chime in first. In fact, she took her sweet time sitting down again, and then she reached for a roll. “Look at the butter,” she said. “I got it from the bakery, and it was one of the last ones.”

“It’s adorable,” AJ said as she sank into the chair beside Matt, her cherry Pepsi popped and open, ready to drink.

“Are we ready?” Arthur said as he came in from outside, the turkey he’d been smoking looking golden and delicious on the platter.

“I think so,” Alice said. She tore off a chunk of a roll and put it on Asher’s tray. The little boy took a couple of tries to pick it up with his chubby fingers, and then he mashed it in his mouth. Alice couldn’t help smiling at him, and she even caught Charlie doing the same.

Their eyes met, and everything inside her son softened. He’d definitely had a wall up between them recently, and Alice didn’t know why.

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