“Rugby.”
“What?”
“Nate likes rugby.”
Stacy was quiet for a moment. “He hasn’t been, you know, having...?”
“An affair? No,” Terri said. “Not even a hint of sex. I never saw him going after any of the females here, even the ones who let him know they were willing.”
Stacy gave a sigh of relief. “We just need time. Tomorrow I’m making a picnic for Nate and me. It’s to be at six, after everything is set up. I thought we’d go to Moonlight Beach. Would you join us?”
“I’m not sure—”
“Please?” Stacy asked. “Nate seems so at home here. Maybe you can get him to relax, to open up, to talk. If he’d just tell me what’s wrong, maybe I could fix it. Maybe—”
“Okay.” Terri stood up. “I need to go. Other people...”
“Sure. I can do the rest of this.” Stacy smiled. “I’m sorry you and I missed out on a lifetime of friendship. You’ve been great today.”
“Uh... Yeah, me too.” Terri said as she practically ran back to the road.
* * *
Terri was in the kitchen going through the cabinets trying to find a blue pan that she’d seen Nate use. It was oval and had a rough coating inside. He’d said it was perfect for fish and that’s what she had. Mr. Allen had given her a big striped bass in thanks for figuring out how his tent was to be put up. He’d held the poles while she screwed them together. This was his first Widiwick and he was very excited.
When the doorbell rang, Terri grimaced. It was nearly 9:00 p.m., she was hungry and she did not want to have to solve even one more problem.
She wiped her hands on a towel, took the frown off her face and went to the door. When she saw Nate through the glass, she smiled so wide her skin nearly cracked. She flung open the door. “Why didn’t you use your key?” It wasn’t easy to keep from throwing her arms around his neck. It seemed like years since she’d seen him.
He stepped inside and he started to say something, but then he glanced at the kitchen and saw the long white package on the counter. “Is that a fish?”
“Mr. Allen gave it to me. I was going to cook it but I can’t find that big blue pan.”
Nate went into the kitchen, opened an overhead cabinet and pulled the pan from the top shelf. “I was going to hang it on the wall, but it’s so heavy that I’d have to use a grappling hook.”
Terri laughed, glad to again feel the easy, light camaraderie between them. She leaned on the counter and watched him season the fish. How often she’d watched him cook!
Nate put oil in the heavy pan, then set it on the stove and turned on the burner.
“Did the Turner Twins help you today?” Terri asked.
“Those two pretty boys don’t know which end of a hammer to use.” As he got a potato out of the pantry and began to peel it, he smiled at her. “Why did they call Jamie this morning?”
“Mr. Arnold thought he was having a heart attack, but it was just anxiety. Mrs. Mellerson was there in one of her low-cut tops. Besides him, Jamie had to deal with two smashed thumbs, four splinters, a twisted ankle and a sprained wrist.”
Nate put potato slices in the hot pan. “I know that later he had to deal with an allergic reaction to a bee sting. He sent the boy to the hospital.”
Terri was watching him. For all his small talk about the day, she could see that he had something more serious he wanted to say, but it looked like he needed time. “How’s Hallie?” she asked.
“Big. Tired. She hates Jamie. He thought for sure that it was twins as they run in our
family. Jamie is a twin, but she’s carrying only one huge baby.”
As Nate turned over the browning potatoes, Terri gathered her courage. “How are you and Stacy?”
“Fine.”
If this were a few days before, she would have called him on the tight tone of his voice, but she didn’t. “Did you tell her that you hate your office and the Stanton house?”