Read Online The Sweetest Summer: A Bayberry Island Novel by Susan Donovan - Free Book Online
Authors: Susan Donovan
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felt during festival week, this year he was particularly concerned about his mother. The woman was sixty-seven but never stopped. She’d been at this mermaid thing most of her life, and he wished she’d just give it a rest, hand over the reins to someone else. It was starting to be too much for her.
“Would you like a cup of tea?”
“No, Ma. It’s okay. I just stopped by to check on you.”
“Care to take a walk with me, then? Do you have a few minutes?”
“For you, absolutely.” Clancy whistled for the dogs and took his mother’s elbow. The group passed through the gate and strolled out onto Idlewilde Lane, a narrow paved road blown over with sand and dotted with loose gravel.
“Careful where you step,” Clancy said. “If the dogs start crowding you, just let me know.”
His mother chuckled. “I’ve been walking these old crooked lanes for forty-five years and the dogs are perfect gentlemen, as always. You worry too much.”
Clancy shook his head, though he suspected his mother was right. He worried quite a bit. With his parents living separately now for more than two years, he hated the idea that his mother was alone most of the time in her little rental cottage overlooking the sea. She refused to wear the safety alert device he bought for her last winter. Mona had always been the one to care for others, and the idea that she needed some kind of battery-operated alarm to keep her safe completely horrified her. Nobody could change her mind on this—not her fellow Mermettes, not Rowan, and not even Duncan, her favorite.
Mona denied having a favorite child, of course, but Clancy and Rowan would roll their eyes whenever she protested. They were aware of her soft spot for Duncan, the oldest, who had been sick most of his childhood with asthma, bronchitis, and severe allergies. Of course, their brother had made up for lost time after puberty. The sickly, skinny boy who spent most of the first thirteen years of his life in bed became a champion distance swimmer and quite the ladies’ man, and as Duncan’s ego swelled, so did the rivalry with Clancy. Duncan was now a Navy SEAL serving in. . . . hell if Clancy knew where. The family was never informed of Duncan’s whereabouts or what, precisely, he was up to. Sometimes months could go by without a word from him. The only thing they could count on was that he’d show up at the last minute for the family cookout during festival week. It was an unbroken tradition.
“Is everything okay with your Boston boys this year?”
Clancy was drawn back to the moment, letting thoughts of his brother disperse into the breeze. He smiled at how his mother referred to his fellow officers as “boys” when they ranged in age from thirty to forty-one. “Yep. They’re all good. We’re working as backup for all the security out at the Oceanaire construction site, so that’s really the only new thing going on this year.”
“Isn’t it amazing how fast things are coming together? Ash has poured his heart and soul into that project—and the Safe Haven, of course. Have you seen all the progress?”
“It looks fabulous, Ma. The best I’ve ever seen it.”
Clancy wasn’t exaggerating. He’d stopped by the family mansion two days ago, and Rowan and Ash were busy with preparations for the Safe Haven’s last festival week as a bed-and-breakfast. It was mind-blowing how many changes had been made in just a year.
Last fall, Ash began bringing in an army of architectural preservation contractors from Boston to tackle restoration of the tile roof, gutters, spouting, storm shutters, cedar shingles and stone, porches, and windows. A zoned heating and cooling system that independently controlled each of the mansion’s thirty-two rooms was installed. The Safe Haven’s fourteen bathrooms were renovated, the kitchen modernized, and the oak floors refinished. They had even started to design a second-floor suite of rooms to serve as their private apartment.
Clancy
“Would you like a cup of tea?”
“No, Ma. It’s okay. I just stopped by to check on you.”
“Care to take a walk with me, then? Do you have a few minutes?”
“For you, absolutely.” Clancy whistled for the dogs and took his mother’s elbow. The group passed through the gate and strolled out onto Idlewilde Lane, a narrow paved road blown over with sand and dotted with loose gravel.
“Careful where you step,” Clancy said. “If the dogs start crowding you, just let me know.”
His mother chuckled. “I’ve been walking these old crooked lanes for forty-five years and the dogs are perfect gentlemen, as always. You worry too much.”
Clancy shook his head, though he suspected his mother was right. He worried quite a bit. With his parents living separately now for more than two years, he hated the idea that his mother was alone most of the time in her little rental cottage overlooking the sea. She refused to wear the safety alert device he bought for her last winter. Mona had always been the one to care for others, and the idea that she needed some kind of battery-operated alarm to keep her safe completely horrified her. Nobody could change her mind on this—not her fellow Mermettes, not Rowan, and not even Duncan, her favorite.
Mona denied having a favorite child, of course, but Clancy and Rowan would roll their eyes whenever she protested. They were aware of her soft spot for Duncan, the oldest, who had been sick most of his childhood with asthma, bronchitis, and severe allergies. Of course, their brother had made up for lost time after puberty. The sickly, skinny boy who spent most of the first thirteen years of his life in bed became a champion distance swimmer and quite the ladies’ man, and as Duncan’s ego swelled, so did the rivalry with Clancy. Duncan was now a Navy SEAL serving in. . . . hell if Clancy knew where. The family was never informed of Duncan’s whereabouts or what, precisely, he was up to. Sometimes months could go by without a word from him. The only thing they could count on was that he’d show up at the last minute for the family cookout during festival week. It was an unbroken tradition.
“Is everything okay with your Boston boys this year?”
Clancy was drawn back to the moment, letting thoughts of his brother disperse into the breeze. He smiled at how his mother referred to his fellow officers as “boys” when they ranged in age from thirty to forty-one. “Yep. They’re all good. We’re working as backup for all the security out at the Oceanaire construction site, so that’s really the only new thing going on this year.”
“Isn’t it amazing how fast things are coming together? Ash has poured his heart and soul into that project—and the Safe Haven, of course. Have you seen all the progress?”
“It looks fabulous, Ma. The best I’ve ever seen it.”
Clancy wasn’t exaggerating. He’d stopped by the family mansion two days ago, and Rowan and Ash were busy with preparations for the Safe Haven’s last festival week as a bed-and-breakfast. It was mind-blowing how many changes had been made in just a year.
Last fall, Ash began bringing in an army of architectural preservation contractors from Boston to tackle restoration of the tile roof, gutters, spouting, storm shutters, cedar shingles and stone, porches, and windows. A zoned heating and cooling system that independently controlled each of the mansion’s thirty-two rooms was installed. The Safe Haven’s fourteen bathrooms were renovated, the kitchen modernized, and the oak floors refinished. They had even started to design a second-floor suite of rooms to serve as their private apartment.
Clancy
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