Sometimes, he reflected, what brought you together could also tear you apart. It was probably for the best he hadn’t kissed her.
Later, on the drive home, Grace got a call. When she glanced at the screen she apologized. “Sorry, I have to take this.”
He nodded, kept his eyes on the road.
“Jeremy. Good to hear from you.”
A man’s voice rumbled on the other end of the line. Levi tried to distract himself with other thoughts. He noted a flock of Canadian geese in classic V-formation flying to his left. Then speculated on how things had gone at the store in his absence.
At least five minutes passed before Grace spoke again. “That sounds fabulous. Look, I’m with someone right now. Can I call you back tomorrow?”
Levi tightened his grip on the steering wheel. Whatever that call had been about was none of his business and he wasn’t going to ask any questions. But Grace wasn’t reticent.
“That was Jeremy Browne, my agent. There’s an opportunity for me to work on a project in Costa Rica the first three weeks of November.”
“Sounds exciting.”
Her face glowed. “You would love Costa Rica. As soon as you step off the plane you can feel and smell the difference in the air. The vegetation is so lush and wild. And the birds! You’ve never seen such colors or fascinating personalities.”
He may not have visited in person, but he’d devoured many articles featuring tropical birds of Central and South America, so he had an idea of what was out there. “I’ll go one day.”
“What about now?” Grace twisted in her seat so she could face him. Eyes bright, she put a hand on his shoulder. “Come with me. I’m serious. I could probably get your travel costs covered if you were willing to help with the project.”
The idea electrified him, but only for a moment. Grace was obviously used to flitting from one location to another—all she needed was a passport and her damn camera.
“I can’t,” he said, his voice flat.
“But you haven’t even considered the idea. Couldn’t Jessica stay with her grandparents? And you said you had an assistant at the store.”
She didn’t get it.
“You’re asking me to vacate my life for three weeks when I’ve never left Jessica for a day, let alone three weeks. And the most I’ve stepped away from the store is four days. Then there’s my parents. They’re getting older. They need me now, too.”
Silence stretched as Grace simply sat there, absorbing his words and studying his face. When she spoke again, her tone was subdued.
“If the idea doesn’t appeal to you, just say so. You don’t need to list a bunch of excuses.”
Levi hated that he’d made his responsibilities in life sound like chains, when in fact, Jessica, the store and his parents were the very things that gave his life meaning.
“I wasn’t giving excuses. I was describing my life. It may seem pedestrian to you. But not to me.”
Grace shifted in her seat so she was facing the road again. “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to imply your life wasn’t important. I just thought you might like to see Costa Rica.”
He did. Which, for some reason, only made Levi feel more angry.
September 30, 1999
New York University
Dear Levi,
No, of course I don’t want to go to Florida for Thanksgiving. I want to go to Woodland and see you. Connie said I can stay at her house—I just hope she doesn’t interfere too much with our plans. I already told her I’ve been invited to your place for Thanksgiving dinner. Which was nice of your mom. You shouldn’t be surprised she didn’t like the idea of me staying for the entire weekend. She’s never been my biggest fan. She’s afraid I’ll lure you to the Big Apple and corrupt you!
Chapter Seven
Jess was at her father’s desk in the back room of the store when she heard a tap on the door and her grandmother’s voice.
“You in there, honey?”
“Sure am, Grams.”
The door opened and her grandmother came in dressed in the jogging pants and zip-up hoodie she wore when she went walking with her friends.
“The girls—” her grandmother still called her friends “girls” even though they were all women in their sixties “—and I just came in for a coffee after our walk and Connie mentioned you were working today.”
“Yup. Matching up the shipping receipts and the invoices before we pay the bills.” At least she was trying. She was having a hard time focusing. That seemed to be the case no matter what she was doing these days.
Jess had worked in the family store for as long as she could remember. She’d done all the jobs: dusting shelves and sweeping the front porch when she was little, then stocking inventory and working the till. The past few years she’d been learning the accounting program her father used and had even prepared the draft financials and income tax return last year.
While she was prepared to admit that taking business admin in college would make her even better equipped to run the store one day, she also felt that she could get by without it.
Her grandmother sat in the empty chair on the other side of the desk. “I hear your father took today off work. That’s not like him.”
“No. He should do it more often.” Several times a year the two of them went away on long weekends. When she was little they’d gone to Disney World a few times, also to a cabin on Lake George. But the maximum time they’d spent away from Woodland—and the store—was four nights.
“I agree. Your father works far too hard.” Her grandmother pinched her right earlobe, a sign she was worried. “Do you know where he’s gone today?”
“He took Grace out to the Westland Preserve. They’ll probably go to the meadow, have a picnic lunch and then complete the circuit.” Jess checked the time on her phone. “He should be back any minute.”
But her grandmother wasn’t interested in when he would be back. “Grace Hamilton,” she sighed. “She’s hardly back in Woodland and already your father has taken up with her again.”
Jess had expected her grandmother to be pleased. “I thought you wanted Dad to start dating again?”
“I do. With some nice, local woman. Our mayor, for instance, would be perfect. I follow Erin on Instagram and she’s always so positive and upbeat. I was so happy when he invited her to co-chair the committee with him this year. I thought it was a sign he was interested in her.”
“I don’t know, Grams. Dad told me he wanted to mentor the mayor so she could take over the committee next year.”
“Nothing more than that?”
“Don’t think so. At dinner the other night he said she wasn’t his type.”
“Oh dear. And now he’s out with Grace. This is not good.”
“What do you have against Grace? From what I’ve se—” Jess caught herself just in time “—heard. From what I’ve heard they share a lot of similar interests.”
“I suppose. But your father very sensibly kept his interest in birding and sketching as a hobby, unlike Grace who is a real wanderer.”
Gram’s gaze went to the bulletin board on the wall behind Jess where her father pinned some of his favorite ink drawings of birds. There was also a drawing of Jess as a baby and she liked to tease her father that he had always thought of her as his little chick.
“But aren’t you impressed with how successful Grace has been?” she pressed her grandmother.
Grams compressed her lips and shook her head. “She may have published some books and made a name for herself in the photography world but look at the price she paid. No family. No children. I bet she’s away traveling more days than she spends at home. How could that lifestyle possibly mesh with your father’s?”
“No offense, Grams, but that’s a really old-fashioned way of thinking. A woman is allowed to choose a career over babies.”
“Maybe it is old-fashioned. Family. Community. These things don’t matter to people anymore. But they matter to your grandfather and me, and I hope they still mat
ter to your father. Because it would break my heart if he decided, after all these years, that he was going to follow Grace back to New York City.”
Guilt welled up in Jess’s chest. If that happened, it would be on her. Jess hoped her grandmother never found out it was her fault Grace Hamilton had come back to Woodland. “If they did get back together, maybe it will end differently. Maybe Grace would move here?”
Grams raised her eyebrows skeptically. “I don’t see that happening. But I’ve already said my piece to your father so now I’d best butt out.” Slowly her grandmother got to her feet, but she paused on her way to the door.
“Where’s your friend Max? I thought the two of you always hung out together after school?”
“He had something to do. He didn’t say what.”
“You sound unhappy.”
Jess swiveled back and forth in her chair. “Something’s going on with Max. I wonder if…well, if he’s dating someone and hasn’t told me.”
“If he was…would it bother you?”
Jess nodded. For some reason talking about guy stuff was easier for her with her grandmother than with her dad. “I’ve been wanting to be more than friends for a while now.”
“Does he know how you feel?”
She shrugged. “Probably.”
“Don’t be so sure. Men can be daft. Did I ever tell you that I was the one who asked your grandpa out on our first date?”
“Really?”
“We were part of the same group of friends in high school. I hoped he would ask me out, but when he didn’t, I started dating this other guy, Craig Larson was his name. But after a few months I realized it was no good. I still liked your grandfather better.”
“Was Grandpa dating anyone else?”
“No. And that gave me hope. So I broke up with Craig and waited to see if Pat would ask me out. But he didn’t.”
Even knowing how the story would turn out, Jess was interested. “So then what?”
“I decided there where two possibilities. Either he truly didn’t care about me or he was too shy to ask me out. I’d had enough of waiting, so one night when we were at a mutual friend’s party, I cornered him and asked if he’d like to go to a movie with me.”
Her grandmother was blushing. She looked so cute. “Obviously he said yes.”
“That’s right. And as of next spring we’ll have been married forty-two years.” Her grandmother got out of the chair and came around the desk to give Jess a hug. “The point is, honey, you can never know for sure what’s in someone else’s head—or heart. I think you should tell Max how you feel.”
“But what if he doesn’t feel the same way?”
“Wouldn’t it be better to know for sure than to torture yourself with wondering?”
*
Levi woke early on set-up day and ate breakfast alone. He was feeling down after his day out with Grace. He felt he’d handled the conversation about Costa Rica badly. Yet he was still annoyed with Grace. She hadn’t even made an effort to see the situation from his point of view. House sparrows were singing madly in the hedge that bordered the courthouse when he arrived shortly after dawn. His sub-committee members were due in ten minutes. But Erin was already on site.
After they exchanged good mornings she glanced up at the blue sky. “Thank God the forecast is good for the weekend.”
“We can handle rain. But it’s so much easier without it,” Levi agreed.
Erin was dressed in a silk blouse, skirt and blazer. She would spend most of the day in her office, handling PR and administrative matters for the event, whereas Levi—in jeans and one of his custom-lettered black T-shirts—fully expected to be on his hands and knees in the grass and dirt many times that day.
Clipboard in hand, Levi waved for his committee to gather around him. Most of the volunteers had worked with him before, and it was a straightforward matter to assign their responsibilities and let them get at it. To them fell the job of actually putting up the tents for the festival and making sure the food trucks and port-a-potties and garbage, recycling and compost bins were in their proper locations.
At noon Levi quickly checked in at the store to see how things were going.
Roy Sandhu, his assistant manager, was busy but not overwhelmed. “We’re good, boss. Don’t worry about things here.”
Reassured, Levi returned to the park. Artists were beginning to show up now and lay claim to their spaces. The variety of products on display always amazed him. Everything from custom jewelry to hand-stitched quilts to wood carvings. Levi knew most of the artists—their wares and how they liked to display them—personally. In some ways that helped—he was able to anticipate problems before anyone complained. But it also meant he had to stop and chat for five or ten minutes before moving on to the next booth.
Eventually he worked his way to the center of the park, where Grace was unloading framed prints from a trolley. She was in faded jeans today and a long-sleeved navy T-shirt. The simple outfit was practical, but also flattering. She looked as good in her jeans now as she had as a teenager. For some reason that pissed him off, and when she started struggling with a metal contraption, he was tempted to leave her to it.
But it was his job to help.
“Hey, Grace,” he said in a tone that was friendly but not overly so.
As he strode toward her, she turned and smiled. Their gazes met—briefly—and he saw a slight frown line etch into her brow. “Good morning…or I guess it’s afternoon, isn’t it? These darn easels can be awkward to set up.”
He took the contraption from her and easily unfolded the legs, then locked them into position.
“Damn it, Levi. You didn’t have to make it look that simple.”
A corner of his mouth lifted in a smile that he didn’t want to make. After yesterday, he thought he’d be best keeping his distance from Grace Hamilton.
“Thanks again for yesterday. I had such a great time.”
So had he, and that was the problem.
“Yeah, it was a good day,” he said briskly. “The Henslow’s sparrow was a real highlight.”
“From a birding perspective, I agree with you.”
He avoided the challenging light in her eyes by opening the other four easels for her. When he was done, she carefully placed framed photographs on display.
Levi recognized all of them from her new book. “How did you pick just five? They were all so good.”
“Thanks. When I first make a photograph it always feels like the most amazing work I’ve ever done. But over time I’m able to see them more impartially. I really do think these five are the best of the book.”
Levi took his time studying each of the photographs. But the first one Grace had put up kept drawing his eye. A magpie on the back of a majestic bison, in beautiful Yellowstone National Park. The image itself was spectacular. The bison’s thick winter coat sparkled with frost and you could see the gleam in the magpie’s eye.
The story behind the photo was just as interesting. In her book Grace explained the symbiotic relationship between the bird who was getting food and the bison who was getting deloused. She managed to make it amusing and wonderous all at the same time.
Keeping his eyes on the image Levi asked, “So, has a date been set for your Costa Rica trip?”
“The first of November.”
“November is a good time to leave New York.” It had never been his favorite month. Besides being dark and dreary in this part of the world it was also the month Maggie had died. And the month Grace had sent him her final letter, the one that had ended everything. Other than Thanksgiving Levi couldn’t think of one nice thing about November.
“Yes.”
He waited to see if she would mention him coming along again. Told himself it was a good thing when she didn’t, then lifted a box of books off the trolley and carried it inside the tent.
*
Grace was wondering if she should apologize again for inviting Levi to Costa Rica—in hindsight she couldn’t believe sh
e’d been so foolishly impulsive—when she heard her name called out. She turned to see Alicia making her way across the greens carrying two take-out coffee cups. As Grace waved at her friend, Levi stepped out of the tent.
“I better go help some of the others,” he said. “Good luck. Not that you’ll need it. Your work is terrific.”
“See you tonight at the reception?” She’d been planning to suggest they go together, but he was acting so polite and distant, she didn’t.
“Yup.” After a wave of his hand, he was off. Grace was still watching him when Alicia held one of the coffee cups under her nose.
“Mocha latte, special treat.”
“Thanks, Alicia.” Grace smiled at her friend as she accepted the beverage. After the first sip she sighed. “This is so delicious. I don’t want to even think about all the calories.”
“Right? I wouldn’t drink these every day, but they’re fun for special occasions. And today is pretty special. I’m so excited you decided to come to our festival this year. Everyone at my yoga class this morning was saying they couldn’t wait to see you.” Alicia glanced at the feature photographs. “These are terrific. What else did you bring?”
“A few boxes of books. Also some postcards and smaller prints of my most popular photographs.”
“Well, I’m here to help, so put me to work. I’ve got two hours before I teach my next class.”
“Thank you so much. Can you help me with this box of postcards?” She nodded at the trolley. “It’s heavier than it looks.”
As they lifted the box and placed it on one of the display tables Alicia said, “It was nice of Levi to stop by. I’m sorry if I chased him away.”
“Don’t worry. You didn’t interrupt anything. He was just helping me with the easels. All business.”
“Maybe he was just distracted. I imagine he’s got a lot on his plate today.” Alicia opened the box of books and began stacking them on the table.
“Yes, but that wasn’t it.” After the amazing day they’d spent together yesterday, Grace hadn’t expected to get, if not a cold shoulder, then a cool one. “I think me getting that call about Costa Rica on our drive home yesterday bothered him. He mentioned the trip again today. Asked when I was leaving.”
Letters From Grace Page 8