Page 22 of Summer on Lilac Island

“Interesting perspective,” Georgiana said. “But I’m focused on finding my inner happiness before I find a partner.”

“I’m not sure that’s the right order.” Alice couldn’t stand those modern mantras. “I was miserable before meeting your grandfather.”

“I thought you were in love with Liam Townsend,” Georgiana said. “And then gave him the heartbreak of the century.”

“Being in love doesn’t mean you’re happy,” Alice said. “My relationship with Liam was a tumultuous teenage mess, to say the

least.” So much passion, so little patience.

She’d toppled right over and David had caught her, held her, loved her. Even when she’d foolishly fooled around with Liam,

Alice never doubted that David was the one for her. Life with him had forever buoyed her, steadied her. There might not have

been as much raw chemistry, but a foundation of friendship was the most important ingredient for marriage. Today’s generation

had lost sight of that.

“Pop brought happiness the way yeast made bread rise,” Alice told Georgiana. “Slowly and reliably, always smelling like home.”

“Thanks for searing the image of my grandparents making love into my brain,” Georgiana said.

“Don’t distort my words,” Alice said. “The metaphor was about bread rising, not lovemaking.”

“But you said so yourself—it was a metaphor.”

Alice was flustered. “I won’t apologize for talking about how well your pop loved me.”

“Well,” Georgiana said, looking from Alice to Eloise. “At least one of the three of us knows what true love feels like.”

Eloise looked like she wanted to object and say she knew about true love too. But she just disappeared into the flower beds

to carry on with her gardening.

Alice revved the golf cart engine. “Want a ride into town?” she asked, hoping Georgiana might take the offer so they could

have some one-on-one time.

“I’ll take my bike,” Georgiana said. “There’s a better chance I’ll collide with a fudgie that way. Need to teach them some

lessons.”

“I don’t disagree,” Alice said, knowing better than to tell her to be careful, lest it result in the opposite.

“Looks like you have a taker, though,” Georgiana said, nodding to Liam, who was walking up the drive, bouncing a pickleball

on his paddle as he went.

***

It had happened six years into their marriage.

Bow season had just opened and David was off on a hunting trip. His parents were watching Eloise (age two) for the weekend,

down in Charlevoix. Liam had stopped by the house with a case of bourbon.

“Thought you might be lonely with David out of town,” he’d said, standing there on the front steps.

“I’m not lonely,” Alice had responded. “But come on in. It’s cold outside and I’ve just baked a poached pear pie.”

She knew it was a bad idea but figured she had enough sense not to let anything happen. She had figured wrong.

“Do you ever wonder about it?” Liam had asked after they’d drunk too much. “You and me... what could have been?”

“I can’t say I do. It all worked out the way it was supposed to.” Alice felt bad saying it given that Liam still hadn’t married,

still hadn’t gotten the family he wanted.

“Did it?” He touched her forearm. It felt like a patched-up promise.

“Yes,” she said, but then held out her glass for a refill.

She was surprised by how easy it was to stray from her moral compass. With Liam there had been no hardships endured. They

hadn’t lost a baby together or nearly lost a house. She hadn’t picked up after him for years or cleaned his vomit from the

toilet. She had broken up with him in high school, clean and swiftly.

And then she ended things a second time, ended them before they really started. Nothing had ever passed between them again.

Alice had always been cordial to him since their tryst, never wanting to give the impression that she might have a reason

not to be. That her three nights with him back in the autumn of 1982 might have fractured her marriage, her whole life. But

they hadn’t been caught, and as far as she knew no one was the wiser. She certainly hadn’t told anyone and assumed Liam hadn’t

either. Nothing had imploded. Miraculously, it had all turned out all right.

Liam recouped just fine, and for the last decade he’d devoted himself to none other than the delightful creature that was

Camille Welsh. They’d never married but had been together for over a decade. But just a few months ago, Camille ditched him

for a Yooper (what Michiganders called someone from the Upper Peninsula) she’d met through cycling. “Chuck is a man who knows

what he wants,” Camille had told Paula who had told Deirdre who had told Alice. “He’s moving to Mackinac for me. I could never

leave, not with how attached the islanders are to me.” Since the split, Liam once again seemed to be noticing Alice.

Alice had been hesitant to rekindle anything, even friendship.

It felt unfair to David. But she did have history with Liam and there was a comfort in that, especially at her age.

His irreverent humor made her laugh like she hadn’t in years, and he brought out flecks of youth in Alice that she thought she’d buried with David.

She’d made it clear to Liam that all she had to offer was friendship. Her loyalty would always be to David. But Liam accepted

her friendship gladly, and they enjoyed their pickleball and euchre together.

She had to admit her life was richer with Liam back in it. Though she made sure to sprinkle in a rotation of other male friends

so no one got the wrong idea. Liam or Eloise most of all.

And if Eloise ever found out about the affair... Well, Alice would be too disgraced to ever be seen with Liam again. She’d

probably have to leave the island altogether.

***

“Mind if I hop in?” Liam said now, approaching the golf cart. “Need to conserve my energy so we can take the trophy from Pastor

Kevin and that cheating line-caller wife of his.”

“Very charitable,” Alice said, holding back an uncouth giggle. Liam greeted her with a quick kiss on the cheek. It felt strange

to have a man kiss her in front of her daughter and granddaughter, however chaste and chummy it might be. Georgiana was watching

them curiously. “Hop in,” Alice said to Liam.

Before he was even settled in the passenger seat, Alice floored it out of the driveway, partially to impress Georgiana and

partially to escape before she made any sly comments about how there might be something between her and Liam when there absolutely,

certainly was not.