The Cliffside Inn

by Jessie Newton

  “Mm.” Eloise kissed him, desperately trying to taste another woman on his lips. She had to know, and even the best cheaters couldn’t keep every scent and every clue hidden.

  He tasted like himself, though, and as Eloise’s hands wandered south down his body, he tensed. He broke their kiss, quickly moving his lips to her neck. “I might not be able to do that,” he whispered. “I’ve only been gone for forty minutes, and we’ve already done it tonight.”

  Eloise was aware of what they’d done. She also knew what a male’s body could and couldn’t do, and he surely couldn’t have made love to another woman so soon after her.

  “You’re so sexy,” he whispered. She did enjoy it when he called her sexy, but a hint of embarrassment sliced through her when he rolled and took her into his arms, kissing her like perhaps he could make love to her again.

  What she knew was that Aaron had not snuck off to have sex with Laurel, and strong guilt struck her right behind the lungs as she felt his love for her in his soft, insistent touch. She could hear it in the way he told her to how beautiful she was. He said it in words with, “I’m so in love with you, El.”

  He wasn’t cheating on her. He couldn’t be. No man could put on such a convincing performance if he was sleeping with someone else.

  Chapter Twenty-Three

  Robin looked out the windshield at her mother’s house, a sense of dread filling her.

  “It’ll be fine,” Duke said. “Remember, girls.” He looked into the rear-view mirror at their two teenage daughters. “We’re trying to show love to Grandma, not argue with her or get annoyed with everything she says.”

  “We know, Dad,” Jamie said, but Robin needed the reminder.

  Her mother picked at everyone, not just her, and Mandie particularly had a hard time with Jennifer Golden, as she wasn’t the thinnest girl in the cove and had quite a few insecurities about it.

  “I’ll be on my best behavior,” Robin said, reaching for her door handle. “Mandie, grab the cake, would you?”

  “Got it, Mom.”

  They all piled out of the car, and Robin carried the compound butter. She’d purposely placed herself in her office when Matthew Hymas had come to her house to pick up AJ, and he really was a gorgeous man.

  He was sweet and nervous around AJ, and Robin found that so endearing. AJ had called her out of the office to say hello, and of course Robin remembered Matt. They’d shook hands, and AJ had taken his hand and followed him out the front door, a glow about her that Robin hadn’t seen in a while.

  She needed some of that glow right now, as she led the way up the sidewalk between the perfect flowerbeds to the front door.

  She rang the doorbell and waited a couple of beats before opening the door. “Mom,” she called. “We’re here.”

  Duke’s hand, warm and heavy, on her lower back gave her the support and comfort she needed, and she appreciated him so much in that moment.

  “Come on back,” her mom called, and once again, Robin led the way.

  Her mother wore a light blue blouse the billowed around her aging, slight frame like a kite, paired with a pair of white shorts that went tastefully to mid-thigh.

  That was another thing she always zeroed in on—what Robin and the girls wore. Duke, however, existed in a class all his own. He seemed dipped in gold, and all of his decisions were the right ones, and he always laughed at appropriate times and “dressed for success.”

  Whatever that meant.

  He was a fisherman. What, exactly, did they wear to show the fish they were serious about catching them that day?

  Robin mentally shook her head, trying to clear the thoughts. She couldn’t go into dinner with a poor attitude, or they’d leave upset the moment they could.

  She longed for the type of relationship where she wasn’t counting down the minutes until she could escape. Where she and her mother lingered over coffee and scones, chatting about everything and nothing, and just enjoying one another’s company. Where she could be her authentic self, and her mother would accept her for who she was, and not who she should be.

  “Hey, Mom.” Robin smiled as she approached her mother, who stood at the island, where her stove had been built-in. She had the grills on today, with hamburgers and hotdogs sizzling away.

  “Robin,” her mom said pleasantly, and they embraced. It was a quick hug—nothing like the hugs she got from Kristen or even Alice—and Robin stepped out of the way so her kids could say hello.

  Duke rounded them all out, and her mother’s smile grew when she saw him. “You look well, Duke. Alaska must have something special in the air.”

  “It’s a great place,” Duke said. “I hope to get the whole family up there next year.”

  Robin stiffened, because that was the very first time she’d heard that. Mandie’s face turned to stone, and Robin’s annoyance soared.

  “Oh, heavens,” Robin’s mom said. “Can you imagine Robin in Alaska?” She chuckled as she nudged a hamburger patty up on the grill an inch or two.

  “I think I’d like it,” Robin said, if only to argue with her mother. She coached herself through her thought processes. She did not need to argue with her mother. It wasn’t required or necessary, and she shrugged.

  “But I might hate it. I’ve heard the sun never sets in the summer.”

  “Yeah,” Duke said, throwing his arm around her. “Then you can run morning, noon, or night, babe.” He smiled at her, and sometimes she wondered what went on inside his head.

  “I thought we were having crab legs, Grandma,” Mandie said, picking up a pair of tongs. She’d worn a black sweater with an array of colorful stripes on it, because Robin’s mother had once said it made her look slimmer. With her cutoff shorts, Robin thought she was a very cute girl, and she’d told her so before they’d left the house. She did not want to have the same kind of relationship with her daughters that she’d had with her mother, and Robin worked very hard to talk to them about real things, but maintain her role as matriarch of the family.

  “They ran out,” Robin’s mom said. “So we’re having an indoor roast instead.”

  Robin opened the fridge and put the compound butter inside. She wished her mother had texted or called to tell her about the change in menu, because then she wouldn’t have had to make the compound butter at all. Surely she’d gone to the store last night, as Robin knew her mother hated leaving the house on Sundays.

  She called it her one day of rest, though Robin wasn’t sure why she couldn’t rest on Mondays or Tuesdays—or any other day of the week too.

  Her mother didn’t work. The Goldens had generational money, as Todd Golden had been one of the first to come to Five Island Cove and open up a housing development. They owned real estate on all five islands, and Jennifer Golden had managed their properties, investments, and rentals for thirty years before retiring.

  Robin’s oldest brother, Fisher, did that now, and Robin benefitted by living in one of those properties for practically free.

  She didn’t want to be more involved than she was, and sometimes she and Duke talked about getting out of the house and into something without apron strings that led back to Robin’s mother.

  But the truth was, Duke was just a fisherman, and while it provided a good living for them, they weren’t rich by any means.

  “I made that macaroni salad you love so much,” her mom said. “And cowboy caviar.”

  “I love that stuff,” Jamie said excitedly.

  “Can I help with anything, Grandma?” Mandie asked, and Robin relaxed a little more. Things were going well.

  Mandie helped get out the sides Jennifer had made, and soon enough, they all sat down to eat. The porch off the back of the house had two fans to circulate the air, and now that September was a week or two old, the temperatures around the cove had started to drop.

  Duke kept them entertained with stories from Alaska, and Robin legitimately started to enjoy herself. She’d started to wonder if such a thing was even possible, and relief filled her t
hat it was. Sometimes being on her best behavior was so dang hard, but she told herself that every relationship worth having took hard work.

  “Let’s call Eva,” Jennifer said only a few minutes after the last mouthful of food was swallowed. “They’re an hour behind us, and I know they want to have a family dinner too.”

  Robin stacked her plate with Duke’s, and he picked them both up. With everyone helping, they got all the dishes and utensils back inside while Jennifer went to get her laptop.

  She positioned it on the dining room table and said, “Everyone get a chair and gather ‘round.”

  “How old is Eva now?” Duke asked. “Eighteen?”

  “Seventeen,” Robin said. Her younger brother lived in Virginia, and he had three kids—Eva, the oldest, and two boys that were younger. His wife owned a jewelry store, and Robin had never seen the woman without gems and diamonds dripping from every finger, earlobe, and both wrists.

  The line rang, and there Anna-Maria appeared. She had three piercings in each earlobe, and somehow that was perfectly fine with Jennifer Golden. But when Mandie had gotten her second hole last year, she’d frowned at Robin’s daughter and said it made her look like she was trying too hard.

  Mandie had taken them out for a while after that, but holes never really grew in, and she wore her second pair of earrings on occasion now.

  “Jennifer,” Anna-Maria said. “And Robin’s family. How wonderful.”

  “We have a cake,” Jennifer chirped. “Are you ready for us?”

  “Let me get the boys.” She disappeared from the frame, and Jennifer patted Robin’s leg.

  “Go get the candles, dear. Let’s get them lit. We’ll sing and say hello.”

  Robin did what her mother said, and in the tiny picture at the top of the screen, her applesauce cake glowed with seventeen candles, brightly lit and flickering.

  Robin stared into the fire, seeing different sides of her mother with each twisting, licking flame. She could be sweet and caring. She took care of a neighbor down the street when her shingles flared up. But some of her remarks came with poison on the tongue, almost like she was aiming to hurt when she spoke.

  “Here they are,” Anna-Maria finally said, and Jennifer held up one hand.

  Everyone shuffled on Stu’s end of the line, and finally Eva settled in the front, a wide smile on her face.

  Beside her, Mandie dug her fingers into Robin’s thigh, but Robin didn’t flinch. She knew how Mandie felt about her cousin, and Robin could only agree.

  Eva wore a tank top with such thin straps she looked nude on top. A large, bright blue stone hung from a pendant around her neck, with matching earrings dangling from her lobes.

  “One…two…three,” Robin’s mom said, and all five of them started singing. During the thirty-second song, Robin told herself this was a blip in time. Barely worth remembering, and therefore barely worth thinking about or being annoyed about.

  The song finished, and Robin’s mother squealed and giggled while she clapped. Everyone else gave a good effort, and Robin appreciated them so much.

  “Thank you, Grandma,” Eva said, and that was something, as Robin wasn’t sure she’d ever heard the girl express appreciation for anything. “What kind of cake is it?”

  “Applesauce,” Jennifer said. “With that cinnamon cream cheese frosting you love.”

  Robin kept her painted smile in place, feeling vindicated when Stu said, “Robin must’ve made that.”

  Her mother’s demeanor fell, and she admitted, “Yes, she did,” in a near-mutter. “Happy birthday, my lovely,” she said in a much louder, higher voice. “What have you been doing today for your special day?”

  As Eva droned on about her special pecan waffle breakfast, and then lunch out with her boyfriend—which was a perfectly acceptable activity for her, but definitely not for Mandie—Robin glanced at Duke.

  She could tell he was doing the same thing she was—counting down the minutes already. Mandie had actually pulled out her phone, but Robin didn’t have the heart to tell her to put it away.

  Finally, Eva wrapped up, and Jennifer leaned toward the screen. “Well, we love you, dear. Happy birthday.”

  Choruses of the same sentiment came from Robin’s family, and the call ended.

  Jennifer sat back with a satisfied sigh, and she simply gazed at the computer with a look of adoration on her face.

  Robin wondered if her mother had ever looked at her like that, or even one of her kids. It felt like because they lived so close and saw her so often, that she simply didn’t think they were that special.

  “Well,” Duke said, exhaling as he stood. “My boat’s arriving nice and early in the morning, and I need to be at the dock by four a.m.”

  Robin rose to her feet too, never more grateful for Duke and his early-morning job. “Thank you, Mom.” She waited for her mother to rise, and she hugged her extra-tight. “Dinner was great.”

  “You’re not going to have any cake?”

  Jamie looked like she might cry at the thought of leaving the cake behind, her eyes wide and afraid. Mandie just looked at Robin with an edge in her eye that said, Save us, Mom.

  “I have another one at home,” Robin said. “I can’t eat anything right now anyway.” She patted her stomach. “I ate so much at dinner.”

  “You always do that,” Jennifer said. “I don’t know why you do it. You know there’s dessert.”

  “I can’t help it,” Robin said with a smile. She imagined herself to be a duck, with water-resistant feathers and a round back, where all her mother’s criticism would just slide right off her. “Especially when you make that cowboy caviar.”

  She grinned at her mom and nodded toward the front door. “Do you want me to leave the compound butter? You can have it next time you get your hands on some crab legs.”

  “No, it’s fine.” Jennifer started for the kitchen, and she opened the fridge. As she leaned down inside, Mandie gasped. Robin’s gaze flew to hers, asking plenty of silent questions.

  “Where is it?” Jennifer grumbled, because she wasn’t leaning over far enough to see it on the top shelf where Robin had placed it.

  “I’ll get it, Grandma,” Mandie said, stepping next to her grandmother. “It was…hey, look. You have crab legs right there.” When she straightened, she held a large bag of crab legs. She looked at Jennifer, and then back to Robin.

  Her heart started to pound in her chest. It leapt around, because what was she supposed to do now? She glared at Mandie, because the gasp made sense now, but she hadn’t had to step over there and call her grandmother on her lies.

  No one said anything, and Robin put her arm around Jamie. “Leave the butter for her,” she said to Mandie. “She likes it, and she already has the crab legs.”

  She started for the front door, noting that only Jamie came with her. “Duke,” she said over her shoulder, and her husband jolted into motion.

  “Robin,” Jennifer called after her, and Robin let her family flow around her and out the front door before she turned back.

  Her mom stood at the corner of the wall that separated the hallway from the kitchen, an unreadable look on her face.

  In that moment, Robin saw all the human frailties of her mother. She was a good person, with a lot of good qualities, but she wasn’t perfect. Robin would want someone to see the good in her, instead of focusing on every little fault.

  Wasn’t that all she wanted from her mother right this moment?

  “I love you, Mom,” Robin said, walking back to her. “Thanks for having us for dinner.” She embraced her again, glad when her mom patted her back. “I’ll call you this week, and maybe we can go to lunch.”

  With that, Robin turned and went back down the hall, out the front door, and to the passenger seat.

  She buckled her seatbelt calmly, silently. Duke backed out of the driveway, and they drove halfway across the island to their house.

  “I’m sorry, Mom,” Mandie finally said, her voice full of tears.

 
“It’s fine,” Robin said, twisting to look at her daughter. “I promise you I won’t lie to you like that, okay?”

  “Why did she do that?” Mandie asked. “I don’t understand her.”

  “No one does,” Duke said, pulling their minivan into the garage. “You still didn’t need to pull those crab legs out of the fridge like that.”

  Mandie nodded, still looking like she might cry. “It made me mad, Mom. Why does she treat you like that?”

  Robin loved her daughter fiercely in that moment. “We have a long history, honey.” She got out of the car and turned back to wait for Jamie. “I’ll make us another applesauce cake, okay? I have all the ingredients.”

  And this one she’d actually enjoy making and serving, because it was for her family.

  She looked over the hood of the van as Duke and Mandie rounded it. “And hey, I lied to her too, when I said we had another applesauce cake here at home.”

  Duke started to chuckle, and that lifted Robin’s spirits. He took her hand and kissed it, then said, “Seeing Mandie hold up those crab legs was amazing.”

  Robin couldn’t hold back her smile, and before she knew it, all four of them were laughing. They went into the house together, and Robin pulled them all together by saying, “Family hug. Come on, right now.”

  She didn’t have to convince Duke or Jamie, and though Mandie took an extra moment, she too stepped into the family huddle-hug pretty easily.

  “I love all of you with my whole heart,” she said, her voice turning thick. “We’re not perfect, but we belong to each other. It doesn’t really matter what my mother does or doesn’t do, okay? We’ll always have each other.”

  “What your mother said,” Duke said, because while he was very good at showing and telling Robin how much he loved her, he struggled with the girls, especially as they turned into teenagers.

  “I love you, Mom,” Jamie said. “And you too, Dad.” She hugged them both tightly, and as Robin stroked her hair, she wondered what she’d done to get such a sweet girl.