Page 7 of The Summer Guests

“It’s beautiful here,” Susan sighed, leaning against her husband. “I’m surprised you waited so long to come back.”

He shrugged. “It’s a nice spot, I suppose.”

“Not exactly a ringing endorsement.”

“It’s my parents’ house. Not mine.”

“But I thought the whole family was welcome here. Brooke and Colin come every summer, don’t they?”

“Yeah.”

She looked at him, but he was staring across the water, as if looking into a past that she could not see. One that had clearly not been happy. “You never told me much about this place. Is there a reason you haven’t been back?”

He sighed and pointed up the slope to a tree with a massive trunk and spreading branches. “See that maple there?”

“What about it?”

“When I was seven, I spent most of an afternoon trapped up in that tree, afraid to come down because Colin was waiting below, throwing rocks. Hannah Greene had to come out and rescue me.”

“My God, what a jerk.”

“It’s a stupid memory. You’d think I’d outgrow it, but that’s how I remember all my summers here. Colin, king of the hill. Eventually, I just stopped joining them. It’s been years since I was here. Now I feel like I’m just a summer guest.”

“You’re not just a guest. You’refamily.”

“I know. I know.”

“How about we make this summer different, okay?”

He smiled down at her. “It already is. I have you and Zoe.”

“I think it’s going to be good for us, being out of the city for a few weeks. This trip could actually be a gift from your father, making us all come to Maine to scatter his ashes. It’s forced you to step away from your desk and take a deep breath. And maybe something about this place will inspire you. You’ll see or hear something you can use. I’ll never forget what you said when we met at your book signing. ‘If you’re a writer, no experience, good or bad, goes to waste.’”

“Ah, yes. I have the best pickup lines.”

“Well, it worked on me.”

He pulled her into a hug. “I’m sorry,” he said.

“For what?”

“For not being much fun lately. For being so distracted by thisstupidnovel and thesestupidcharacters. I’m starting to hate them for taking me away from you.”

“As long as you come back to us.”

He smiled and pressed his lips to hers. “We should go unpack,” he murmured.

“We should.”

“The neighbors will show up any minute for cocktails ...”

“And I promised to help with dinner,” she added.

But neither of them moved. It was too beautiful here, just the two of them, the pond agleam like liquid fire, their daughter gliding across the water.

A perfect summer evening,she thought.Let’s make it last a little longer.

Chapter 4