Page 33 of The Summer Club
“Where is everyone?”
Sydney looked up from her phone. “Don’t know. Haven’t seen anyone yet today.”
“That’s strange.” Andi poured herself coffee and joined her sister at the table. “This whole week is just…”
“A mess?”
Andi looked at Sydney. Her eyes were steel blue and her gaze so earnest, that Andi hoped her fiancé, James, saw the beauty on the inside as much as on the outside. “Yeah. But we’ve got a wedding to take care of that.”
Syd smiled, but it wasn’t convincing. “Not sure a wedding can rescue the family.” She looked at Andi softly. “How’re you doing?”
It was the first time the two were alone. Andi wasn’t going to sugarcoat it. “Processing things. We’ve all been gobsmacked. Hugh and me, especially.”
Sydney nodded. “I feel so bad for you guys.”
Andi wasn’t sure if she meant the fact that Charley was her father but not theirs, or the gift she’d been given of Riptide. “Well, you shouldn’t feel bad. Hugh and I have to work through the stuff with Dad. We need to talk to him and to Mom, now that we’ve had a day to cool down. Before it drags on any longer.”
“Do you want me to be a part of that conversation?” Sydney asked. “I’ll do whatever you guys want. Say the word.”
“No, not really. But you can help me with something else.”
“Name it.”
“I’m curious what your intentions are with Riptide.”
And just like that, Andi could see her little sister start to close down. Sydney cleared her throat. “Like I said, I don’t really feel comfortable talking about the house until James and I have a chance to. He doesn’t get here until next week and even then, we both think it’s best to wait until after the wedding.”
“All right, I respect that. But that’s a good two weeks out and this is sort of hanging over all of us right now like a dangling elephant.”
Sydney smiled. “Dangling?”
“You know what I mean. It’s in the room. It’s huge. And this one is being dangled. Deadly, all around.”
“Andi, you’re asking me to do what I just said I wasn’t comfortable with. I want to wait until after the wedding to even think about it.”
Andi sipped her coffee and tried to slow her thoughts. She didn’t mean to push. But the prospect of living under the same roof, that supposedly now belonged to Sydney, for the next two weeks while pretending nothing was bothering her seemed impossible. “Just tell me this. Did it occur to you that you should give the house to Mom and Dad?”
“Give it back? It was never theirs. It belonged to Grandma.”
“Sure, up until now it did. But isn’t that what we expected all along—that Mom and Dad would inherit the place from Tish when the time came? And it seems the most fair.”
“I guess. But it’s not like I gave it much thought.”
“Well, maybe you should. It could solve a lot of problems.”
“Problems? What are you thinking? That I’ll take the key and lock the doors? That I won’t share it with you guys like we always have?” Sydney’s eyes flashed.
“No, of course not. But who knows. You might sell it.”
“Why would I do that?”
“Let’s face it, Syd. You’re marrying James. This house will become half his now. And James doesn’t have the same ties to this place that we do.”
“It doesn’t mean he’d sell it. Or try to make me sell it.”
“You don’t know that. He may look at this entirely differently. It’s a beach house in one of the most coveted spots on the New England coast. The taxes are probably high. It’s a lot to manage a second place. He may not want to sell it, but I’m sure he’ll at least think about it. He’d be stupid not to.”
Sydney stood up. “And here we are talking about Riptide again.”