Page 39 of The Glass Dolphin

Julia came out of her bathroom and back into the bedroom. “This is the second option,” she said to her phone, which she’d leaned up against the mirror on her dresser. She’d called Helen Ivy, a little old lady who still lived in Nantucket. She owned a bakery there, and Julia had hated leaving her behind the most.

“What do you think?” She spread her arms out to her side so the bell sleeves could register their full effect, and she turned in a slow circle. When she faced the phone again, she wore a bright smile to match the loud floral print of the dress. “It’s got keyhole sleeves up here, but I made sure you can’t see my bra.”

She was meeting her boyfriend’s fifteen-year-old son for the first time as his father’s girlfriend. She didn’t need to be showing too much skin. Or the wrong kind of skin.

“The flowers are magnificent,” Helen said with pure kindness in her voice. “You look ravishing in either one.”

“Yeah.” Julia looked over to the more subdued, a bit sexier, dress. “It’s Friday night, but I’m not going to be alone with Liam.” She fingered the fabric, which did stretch a lot and had some sequins across the bust of the eggplant fabric. “I think I’m going to go with this one.”

Number one, it had a wide, brown leather belt that sat around her waist, giving her body great shape without being form-fitting. Two, the skirt flowed like warm water around her legs, and Julia felt like a million bucks wearing it. Three, it was different than a “little purple dress” she might wear to make Liam think about kissing her.

She wanted him to think she’d be a good maternal figure for his teen son. Over the past eight or nine weeks since Thanksgiving, Julia had learned that Liam’s first wife had left the cove five years ago this coming summer.

She hailed from New York City, and she simply didn’t like small island life. Liam had grown up here in the cove, and he loved everything about it. They’d started their life in the city, and he had wanted to quit the police force almost as soon as he’d started it.

Too much violence in the city, he’d told her. He hadn’t wanted to raise a child there, and he’d gotten a position at the Police Department here in the cove—which didn’t happen as often as Julia thought it might—and they’d moved here.

His ex had lasted a couple of years, and then she’d confessed how unhappy she was. He couldn’t take his ten-year-old back to New York, so they’d split up. She’d forfeited her right to custody, but Ian still went and saw his mother from time to time.

Julia knew there were a multitude of sides to every story, as lives were like gemstones. Each facet held a different story, and that facet could shine light out in an infinite number of directions. Every story could be seen through those rays of light, and that meant they could mean an infinite number of things to different people.

She’d accepted what Liam had told her as his truths, because they were. It was possible Ian saw things differently, and she knew for a fact that Liam’s ex-wife did. And those were just three sides to the story

Julia fidgeted with the necklace she’d put on to complete the outfit. “What do you think? Is this too much?” The chunky beads almost felt like rocks against her collarbone. “I think I’m going to lose it.”

“I think you’re worried about too much,” Helen said with a laugh. “Just go have fun. Where’s he taking you?”

Julia picked up her phone and sank onto her bed. Her small bedroom didn’t have room for a chair, a fact she lamented often. “It’s winter and nighttime, so we’re staying in.”

“His house?”

“I don’t think so,” she said. “I actually think he decided on the bowling alley. We can bowl and get dinner all in one spot, and apparently Ian is a master bowler.” She smiled at Helen’s white hair as she’d set her phone down and had busied herself with something else too. “What are you doing tonight?”

Helen looked up, then held up her crochet. “I’m finishing up the coasters for tomorrow’s winter market.”

Julia smiled at her. “That sounds fun. I wish I could come.”

“Then come,” Helen said. “It’s a thirty-minute ferry ride, and they’ll have peppermint hot chocolate and that candy cane popcorn you love.” She smiled, the lines around her eyes so wise and so deep.

“They know it’s January on Nantucket, right?”

“We milk Christmas for everything we’ve got,” Helen said with a smile.

Julia sobered. “I wish you’d come here,” she said wistfully. “You could open a bakery here. A second branch like The Glass Dolphin.”

Helen snorted and dropped her eyes to her crocheting again. “Yeah, I heard what happened to The Glass Dolphin. No, thanks.”

“It was an isolated incident,” Julia said. Nothing had happened to any other new business that had come to the cove in the past year. The man who’d vandalized the restaurant had been released on bail, but the city was pressing charges. He would likely have to pay a hefty fee, and he could get jail time. The damages to the windows at The Glass Dolphin were estimated to be over five thousand dollars, and that carried a strict penalty.

Julia could worry about whether the sky was blue or not, and she didn’t need the extra stress in her life right now. She sighed, trying to push the tension out of her shoulders, but it only partially left. “No one was hurt, so who knows what will happen?”

Helen nodded, at least Julia thought so. “Maybe you can just come for the summer,” she said. “You can help me start a book club.” Helen snorted, but Julia only smiled. “I need you here to do it, Helen. It’s like no one reads here.”

“People read there,” she said without missing a beat. “People read everywhere.” She did pull herself away from her stitches for a moment. “Don’t you have like, ten new best friends? Start a book club with them.”

“Yeah.” Julia looked past her phone to the open doorway of her bedroom. “I’ll think about it. It would just be so much more fun with you here.”

“Everything is.” Helen grinned, and Julia returned it.

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