Love Finds You in Martha's Vineyard (21 page)

“I looked in your apartment,” Blake began with a furrowed brow, “and you weren't there. Sicily spotted you out here and—”

“I'm sorry for being late.” Waverly stood.

“I would've just dropped Sicily off,” Blake said in a slightly apologetic tone, “but the painter was the only one there and I—”

“Yes, sorry about that. I should've been there.” She forced a smile. “But I got distracted.”

“My fault.” Reggie stood now, and Waverly introduced him to Sicily.

“This is my young artist assistant,” she explained. “Ready to go to work.”

Sicily turned to her dad. “See, I'm okay, Daddy. You can go now.”

Blake looked at a loss for words but continued standing there.

“Thanks for dropping her off.” Waverly set a tip on the table.

“Oh, that reminds me,” he said with a funny grin, “I dropped your bike off at the arcade. Thanks for letting me borrow it.”

She laughed. “Anytime.”

“Blake's been riding your bike?” Reggie looked clearly confused.

“Long story,” she told him.

“Guess I'll have to hear it later.” He smiled.

She nodded, then turned to Sicily. “All right, my friend, I think we've got some work to do.”

“I'll pick you up around noon,” Blake told his daughter.

“Or if you want to wait until later this afternoon,” Waverly said tentatively, “maybe Sicily and I could take another picnic lunch over to the beach. If that's all right, and if she wants to, that is. I know I had fun there yesterday.”

“Yes!” Sicily exclaimed. “Let's do that again. Maybe this time we can stay longer.”

Waverly glanced at Blake. He looked unsure. “Unless you have other plans, of course. Do you mind?”

“Oh, no, that's fine.” Now it appeared a lightbulb had gone on for him. “And if
you
don't mind, maybe I'll join you girls down there. I haven't really seen much of that beach yet. And it looks like it's going to be another nice day.”

“Uh, all right…,” Waverly said with uncertainty.

“You don't mind, Sicily?” He looked at his daughter.

“Whatever.” She made an exasperated sigh. “But will you just leave so Waverly and I can get to work?”

“That's right.” Waverly turned back toward the arcade. “Time to rock and roll, girlfriend.” Then she grabbed Sicily's hand and they took off, leaving Blake and Reggie behind to sort it out.

It took some time and some adaptations and compromises, but eventually Waverly, who decided she needed to take the lead in this initial project so that Sicily could see how it worked, got the cartoonlike figures sketched onto the wall.

“That looks just like I imagined it would,” Sicily exclaimed when Waverly came down from the stepladder.

“Great.” Waverly wiped her painted fingers onto a rag, then handed Sicily the brush. “Now you can start adding the color, and I'll go check on some things with Zach.” She paused to give Sicily a few painterly tips and told her to call out if she needed anything. But she could tell the girl was eager to add her touches and, frankly, Waverly was eager to let her.

Seeing that Zach was just finishing with the opposite wall, the one they would paint another mural on, she showed him how she wanted him to mask off and paint colored stripes onto the other two walls. “It'll add some life in here,” she explained, “without having murals everywhere.”

“That'll be fun,” he said. “Better than just painting the whole walls yellow.”

“When you're finished with that, probably not until tomorrow, I want you to help me move some of these machines around. If you don't mind?”

“Sounds good.”

“And when you're finished with that, I have more work for you.”

“Really?” He looked pleased.

She nodded. “Yes. You do a good job, Zach. I thought maybe I'd have you paint in the apartment upstairs. It can use it.”

“Cool.”

“Then, if my mom and aunt approve, I think the exterior of the building could use some help too.”

“Yeah, I think a lot of people will agree with you on that.”

“We should easily keep you busy up until the Fourth of July,” she assured him.

“Sounds good to me.”

It sounded good to her too. Because, in her mind, July Fourth was turning into a sort of milestone. If she could keep herself busy until then…well, she would have to wait and see what came next after that.

It was well past noon when Waverly announced it was quitting time. “But I'm not ready to quit,” Sicily protested.

“Sorry,” Waverly told her. “But there are child labor laws.”

Sicily came down off the ladder and looked up. “That's pretty cool, huh?”

“I'll say.” Waverly smiled up at it. “Lots better than I expected.”

“I'm going to go wash up,” Sicily said.

“And I already packed us a lunch.” Waverly held up a brown bag. “As soon as you're ready, we'll hop on our bikes and go.”

They wound up in about the same place as they'd picnicked yesterday. But they had barely unpacked their lunch when Blake came walking along, carrying his own picnic basket, which was a relief since Waverly had only packed enough for Sicily and her.

“Hello, hardworking ladies,” he said cheerfully.

“You made us a picnic too?” Sicily asked.

“Just in case. I brought along a few things.” He set down his basket, removed a large Mexican blanket, and spread it out over the sand. “How's that?”

Waverly held up her limp beach towel. “An improvement over this.”

He nodded. “Good.” Then he proceeded to remove items that looked like a rather festive sort of picnic.

“Deviled eggs?” Waverly exclaimed. “Did you make those yourself?”

“I most certainly did.”

“Well, your picnic is putting my picnic to shame,” she admitted as she reached for one.

“Daddy,” Sicily said in an exasperated tone, “don't make Waverly feel bad.”

Waverly laughed. “Don't worry. I don't feel that bad.”

Soon they were seated on the blanket and, once again, Blake bowed his head and asked a blessing. When he finished, Sicily gave Waverly a concerned look. “Do you mind that he does that?”

Waverly smiled. “I like it. I think it's nice to thank God.”

“Really?” Sicily still seemed somewhat skeptical.

Waverly nodded. “Absolutely. I'm always trying to remind myself to thank God. I think we are better people when we remember to be grateful to God. Even if things don't go exactly the way we like them to.”

Blake looked intently at her now. “Really? You believe that?”

“For the most part. To be honest, I'm still working on it. Lots of times I start to complain and forget to be thankful.”

“You're not alone there,” he said. “But it does feel better to be happy about something than to be whining about it.”

“Kind of like that goofy movie you made me watch?” Sicily said.

He looked slightly sheepish.

“What movie?” Waverly asked.

“Pollyanna.”
Sicily rolled her eyes.

“I LOVE that movie,” Waverly exclaimed.

Sicily blinked. “Seriously?”

“Yes. I haven't seen it since I was a kid on TV or VHS or something. But I loved it then, and I know I would love it now. Do you have a copy?”

“Yeah.” Sicily nodded eagerly. “Dad got it on DVD. At first I thought it was kind of lame. But I guess you're right. It's pretty good.”

Blake exchanged looks with Waverly.

“Do you think I can borrow it sometime?” Waverly asked.

“Do you want to watch it together?” Sicily asked eagerly. “I think if I see it again, I might like it better.”

“I'd love to watch it with you.”

“Any chance I can watch it too?” Blake asked.

Waverly grinned. “Well, I guess if you can ride a girl's bike, you should be able to watch a girl's movie.”

“Yeah, and maybe we can dress you like a girl too,” Sicily teased.

“And put a bow in your hair,” Waverly added.

“And paint your fingernails and—”

“That's enough.” He held up his hands. “For sweet-looking girls, you two can get kind of mean.”

“Sorry,” Waverly told him.

“You just need to learn to take a hint, Dad.” Sicily wrinkled up her nose. “Besides, if you want to hang with girls, maybe you and Janice should go do something and leave me and Waverly to—”

“Uh, speaking of Janice.” Waverly pointed to where a dark-haired woman in a red swimsuit cover and beach bag was quickly coming their way.

“What's she doing—”

“Hey, Janice,” Waverly called out. “Coming to join us?”

“As a matter of fact, I am.” Janice stood over them for a moment with a puzzled look. “Although I only expected to find Blake and Sicily. What are you doing here, Waverly?”

Waverly forced a smile. “Actually, Sicily and I were having a picnic and—”

“And I crashed it.” Blake stood up politely, making room on the blanket for Janice to join them.

“Well, Mom said you'd borrowed her picnic basket and that you were picking up Sicily. I assumed it was the two of you.”

Now Waverly stood. “As a matter of fact, I'm going to have to cut it short anyway.”

“But we were going to look for—”

“I totally forgot that I need to check with Rosie about something.” Waverly slipped her feet back into her sandals. “So, if you'll excuse me.” She pointed to Sicily. “And I will see you bright and early tomorrow, right?”

“Right.” Sicily still looked disappointed. But as much as Waverly hated to disappoint the girl, she knew by Janice's expression that it was time to go.

“Enjoy,” Waverly called out as she picked up her bike and wheeled it through the sand and into the parking lot, where she got on and took off without looking back. Maybe she was a wimp. Or maybe she just knew when to make a safe getaway. But, for Sicily's sake, Waverly didn't want to be the reason for an ugly scene on a public beach. Not that she'd expected Janice to throw an actual fit. But that look in her cousin's eyes had been like a blast from the past, and Waverly hadn't been willing to risk it.

Try as he might, Blake was having a hard time getting through to Janice. He knew this had to do with Louise. For some reason she'd gotten it into her head this morning that Blake still had feelings for her daughter. Naturally, she had conveyed these sentiments to Janice. Now Janice seemed more determined than ever to show Blake how much she cared for him.

“I'm so sorry for acting like that last night,” she'd told him on Monday afternoon, while Sicily was cooling her jets by wading in the water. “I don't know what came over me. I guess I was surprised at how strong my feelings for you have gotten. Can you understand?”

For lack of any other response, he'd said he
did
understand. But what he didn't explain was that he understood from an entirely different perspective. Whereas Janice seemed willing to make a fool of herself for him, he was willing to do so for her cousin. Or sort of, since he didn't particularly think it would impress Waverly if he acted like a lovesick puppy.

Throughout the afternoon, Janice continued to lavish him with her attention, even insisting on giving him a shoulder rub when he complained that he was a little sore from riding an ill-fitting bike home from town last night. Finally, he couldn't take anymore, and he started to load up the picnic basket and things. “Sicily and I need to go,” he announced abruptly.

“Where are you going?”

His eyes met Sicily's. She looked as curious as Janice. “I, uh, promised to buy her a—a new video game.”

Sicily's eyes lit up like she was seeing right through this. “That's right,” she told him. “We better go.”

“I know of a good store over in Oak Bluffs,” Janice offered.

“I promised her this would be a father-daughter thing.” Now he shot Sicily a warning look.

She played along. “That's right. Just Dad and me, shopping for a new video game and getting ice cream too.” She stood up and started to pick up the Mexican blanket. “We better get going before the store closes, Dad.”

He gave an apologetic smile to Janice. “See you around.”

She sighed as if he'd just crushed her. “Okay.”

“Let's get a move on.” He grabbed Sicily's hand and began jogging toward the car. “I know, I know,” he said quietly to his daughter, “it's wrong to lie.”

Sicily laughed. “Don't feel bad. Mom does it all the time.”

He tossed the picnic gear into the back of the car, then hurried to the driver's seat so that Janice wouldn't catch up with them and throw a wrench in the works. “I can't comment on your mother,” he said slightly breathlessly as he started the engine. “But I don't like to lie, Sicily. I really don't.”