Under the table, where no one walking by might notice, she lifted her legs and rested her feet upon the chair across from her. Life had been fun back then. Every day had been an adventure. From searching for pirate treasures to playing tag in the echoing old pavilion. A portion of the dance floor was all that was left of the old building. With Norma Rose’s vision and father’s money, the entire resort had been remodeled over the past few years, turning it into the showy place it was today.
For a split second, Twyla wondered how different things might be if Norma Rose and Forrest hadn’t been caught kissing in his car that night of his graduation. If Forrest hadn’t left and if the two of them, Norma Rose and Forrest, had gotten married.
Her mind didn’t have time to wander down that road because her sense of tranquility was rudely interrupted.
“Sleeping on the job?”
The sound of Forrest’s voice not only tore her lids open, but it also sent her heart careening across her chest like a rowboat in a windstorm. “You’re back,” she said coldly, although an inner flash of heat left her almost feverish.
“I’m back,” he said, grasping the back of the chair her feet were on with both hands.
Challenging him to move the chair with a single glare, she didn’t remove her feet. She still didn’t believe he wasn’t in love with Norma Rose. There could be no other reason for him to be here. “You’re too late,” she said, gesturing toward the water. “Norma Rose and Ty are rowing to the island.”
He turned to look and that irritated her more.
“I haven’t been to the island in years,” he said.
Her eyes wandered down the length of him. He didn’t have on his flyboy getup, but looked almost as good in the brown pants and cream-and-brown-striped shirt.
“Remember when we stole the boards out of the hayloft and rowed them over to the island to build a tree fort?”
Her heart sprouted wings, fluttering at yet another happy memory. Twyla lifted her gaze to meet his. “Yes, I remember.” She searched her brain for a minute, but was unable to recall and asked, “Did we ever build it?”
His smile was rather contagious. “No, Josie stepped on a nail and we had to haul her home.”
“That’s right,” she agreed. “You had to carry her all the way to the boat and then she lay around for weeks, making us all wait on her.”
“Yes, she did, and then school started again, so we never got back out to work on it.”
His tone had turned solemn. She could relate. They’d all hated fall. Forrest hadn’t attended school around here like her and her sisters. He’d gone to a private boys’ school down in the city. Other than during the Christmas and Easter breaks, he hadn’t returned home until late spring. Twyla, along with her sisters, had eagerly awaited his return, for it had always seemed like a part of their family had been missing.
“And,” she added, looking for something to erase the heaviness settling around them, “Father explained to all of us that we didn’t own the island and couldn’t just go building on someone else’s property.”
Forrest’s gaze had gone back to the island, and she wondered if the sense of longing hanging in the air was coming from him or her.
“He bought it,” Twyla said when Forrest remained silent. “My father bought the island for the taxes owed on it a few years ago.”
“I didn’t know that,” Forrest replied. “Our wood is probably still sitting in a pile out there, rotting away.”
She laughed. “It was probably well-rotted when we stole it out of the barn. The hayloft was refurbished when...” She let her voice trail off, not meaning to have gone that far.
“When your father started running shine?” Forrest suggested.
It was no secret, but Twyla understood the importance of not sharing certain things openly. Her father’s business was the reason she had the life she did, but she wasn’t fool enough to believe it would last forever. Nothing did. Even here. In the past few weeks, Ginger had run away and Norma Rose had made a complete turnaround. Even Josie was more secretive than usual. Her father also understood the way things could change so quickly. He’d signed over the resort to his daughters, and Twyla, by herself if need be, would make sure Nightingale’s continued to be a success. Until Forrest had up and left town, she hadn’t realized how poor they’d been. She did now, and keeping things as they were was her sole purpose.
Norma Rose and Ty were now little more than a dot on the lake. Gesturing at a gull flying over the water, Twyla said, “I bet you wish you were in your airplane, flying over their boat like that bird so you could see what they’re doing.”