She turned away and mounted the stairs with more energy than she deserved to have, given the rigors of the day. When she reached the top, she found Mick standing in front of the windows, staring at the ocean, a fresh cupcake in hand.

  “The first one was good, but I wanted to make sure they were all baked consistently, so…”

  “It’s the only responsible thing to do.” She nodded solemnly and followed his gaze, still mesmerized by the scene before her. The drizzle had turned to a full-on downpour, and the ocean was a writhing mass of power and untamed beauty.

  Just as she was admiring the wildness of it all, a bright flash flickered in the sky and a loud crack followed. A second later, they were plunged into darkness, with only the haziest light from the moon illuminating the room.

  “Uh, Mick?” Cee-cee said.

  “Yeah, wow. That was a doozy. Probably going to be a bit before we get power back. Storm’s still raging.”

  She squinted and leaned closer as her eyes adjusted. “Are you just calmly eating that cupcake right now?”

  She could barely make out the outline of his broad shoulders shrugging. “If not eating it would make the lights go back on, I’d stop, but…”

  She could hear the laughter in his voice and couldn’t help but grin. “Fine. I’ll join you, then. But let’s make a note to look into the cost of a generator. I have butter and all sort of cold items already stocked in the fridge and I’d hate to lose it all.”

  “Roger that, boss,” he replied, happily munching away as she carefully made her way to the dumbwaiter. “I have a six pack of beer in my truck,” Mick added. “If you want to have a little picnic while we wait to see if the power comes back. If it’s not restored by the time we finish, I can grab a cooler from my place for the perishables.”

  “This isn’t your problem, Mick. Don’t feel like you have to stay. I can go home and just come back in a couple hours to check on it.”

  “Not going to happen,” he replied, passing her as he headed for the door. “Looks like the whole block is out,” he observed, before stepping out into the storm on a gust of wind.

  The word “gentleman” didn’t even begin to describe Mick Rafferty, she mused as she bustled around the dim space to find the box where she’d stowed her linens. When she found it, she selected a white tablecloth and spread it out on the floor.

  Mick came back in a minute later with a tiny lantern and a six-pack in hand. “I forgot I had this in my emergency roadside kit. Should come in handy.”

  For the next hour, the two of them sat on the floor drinking lukewarm beer and eating cupcakes. But mostly, they talked. About his parents and his brother, Joe. About his work and how much he loved creating things with his hands. Even about her and Nate. Mick had made it clear that he was going to do his best to be cordial on the topic of her ex, but every so often, she would catch an eyeroll or flash of anger by the light of his little lantern that made her want to hug him.

  “Look, I’m not going to say I’m a fan of the guy. And what he did was…” Mick trailed off and Cee-cee could see he was choosing his words very carefully. “Let’s just say that’s not something I can respect, as a man. But at the end of the day, even if he handled it like a coward, he did you a favor, Cee-cee. If he had stayed, you’d have probably taken years to work up the courage to leave him.”

  She appreciated that Mick gave her that much credit. She was pretty sure Cee-cee 1.0 would’ve died in that house, tethered to that man in an unfulfilling marriage, but she didn’t correct him.

  “I agree. It took a little while for me to see it, but now it’s so clear. I’m in such a better place, mentally and emotionally. If only I could apply all this good fortune to the situation with my dad, everything would be right with the world.”

  Mick kicked out his long legs and leaned back on his hands as he regarded her. “I heard what happened a little while back with your dad walking home in the rain and all. Not doing so well?”

  Cee-cee took a swig of her beer and shrugged. “I see people in their late seventies and early eighties who are totally immobile or unable to see, and sometimes I think he’s doing great. But the mental stuff…it’s hard to watch. I think I handle it the best of the three of us. Anna manages him okay when she’s in town, but her brain is off in Portugal or Honduras half the time, even when she’s here. Right now, she’s in the middle of a shoot at this puffin sanctuary about an hour or so out of town, and she’s still not fully present. She’ll forget it’s her night to take care of dad and call last minute to tell me she’s going to be late. And Steph has her own issues with Pop that I don’t think she’s really worked through…”

  Cee-cee trailed off, already feeling guilty for talking about her sisters in a negative way.

  “I love them both dearly and I understand we can’t all have the same strengths,” she added quickly. “I’m just at a time in my life where I have to be a bit selfish with my time if I want to get this business off the ground, move out of the beach house, and get into my new apartment.”

  “That’s not selfish, Cee-cee. That’s just not self-less. There’s a difference,” Mick said softly.

  She took a moment to mull his statement over. He was right. “Anyway, I’m blessed beyond measure. My kids are doing okay. Max’s bookstore is off to a slow start, but she has a bunch of promotional events planned, so I’m hopeful she’ll succeed. Plus, she already found a roommate and moved out of the house. I was worried about Gabe and Sasha, but they’re trying to work things out. They’re taking it slow, but I feel like they’re meant to be.”

  “And if they aren’t, that’s okay, too,” Mick said, his gaze thoughtful. “You know it’s not your job to make sure everyone is happy, right, Cee-cee? All you can control is you. Let your sisters know what you can commit to for your father’s care, and if they can’t pull their weight, the three of you can hire a part-time nurse or aide to help with the rest. Don’t waste time or energy on resentment or wishing you could change someone else. I know your life is going well right now, but I think you’d be even more fulfilled if your own happiness wasn’t dependent on every single person you love being perfectly content, as well. That’s just not how life works.”

  When he said it like that, it seemed so obvious, but it really was a revelation. A kick in the head by a mule kind of epiphany.

  “Amen to all of that. Not just a master carpenter, but also one heck of a life coach.” She held up her beer bottle and tipped it in Mick’s direction, mind reeling. “Here’s to letting go of other people’s crap and focusing on my own.”

  He clinked his bottle to hers and smiled. “To letting go.”

  Chapter Fifteen

  “Why are we doing this again?” Anna grunted while she arched back on her knees, trying to reach for her ankles. “Do I look like a llama?”

  Celia broke into laughter and fell onto her side on her yoga mat. “It’s camel pose.”

  “Llama. Camel. What’s the difference?” Anna flopped onto her back, staring up at the ceiling. “It should be named pretzel pose. It’s more accurate.”

  “And it’s good for you,” Stephanie said, speaking in an undertone as she mimicked the instructor’s flawless form. “It strengthens your back and your core.”

  “All it’s doing is making my back spasm.” Anna continued to lay on the floor, waiting for the cramp to ease. “And it figures you’d be good at it. You’re good at everything.”

  “Get into child’s pose,” Stephanie said. “It will stretch out your back.”

  “I don’t feel like sticking my butt up in the air right now,” Anna grunted.

  Cee-cee’s giggles renewed. “That’s downward dog. This is child’s pose.” Still on her knees, she folded herself forward, stretching out her arms.

  “That should be named ‘bow before your leader pose’,” Anna said, trying to get back up onto her knees.

  “Shh!” the yoga instructor whisper-shouted from the front of the room.

  Anna shot her a death stare—so far the only okay part of this class was that they were at the back and could get away with a little talking—but the spritely young woman had already returned to gazing up at the ceiling. After a moment, she looked up at the class again, giving them a zen smile. “Okay, ladies, let’s transition to warrior pose.”

  “Warrior?” Stephanie whispered to her sisters. “We need to stretch out our backs. That’s not a natural flow.”

  “I say we give this up and go eat cupcakes,” Anna said, now sitting with her legs out in front of her.

  Stephanie frowned, and Anna was sure her older sister was irritated with her, but then Stephanie stretched into her own child’s pose, ignoring the instructor’s directive.

  “Is there a problem back there, ladies?” the instructor called out, now in warrior pose.

  “There will be if someone gets injured,” Stephanie said, her voice muffled by the mat in her face. “We need to do a counter stretch after that pose.”

  “Oh…I understand,” the younger girl said with a dismissive nod, then told the class, “Now switch sides.”

  The teacher’s condescending tone set Anna off. “What exactly do you understand?”

  The twenty-something woman grimaced and said, “You know…older bodies.”

  “Older bodies?” Anna asked, getting to her feet. “How old do you think I am?”

  The instructor’s grimace widened, showing teeth. “Old enough for retirement?” her voice rose at the end, making it sound like she was guessing.

  Anna gaped. “Retirement? I’m only forty-eight.”

  Cee-cee started giggling again.

  The younger woman’s face reddened in embarrassment. “Perhaps you three should leave. It’s obvious this isn’t the right yoga class for you.”

  “It’s a beginner’s class,” Anna protested.

  “There are some geriatric online videos,” the instructor suggested. “Those might be more up your alley.”

  Several women in the class looked embarrassed, but a few stared in rapt attention.

  “What?” Anna asked. “That’s ageism.”

  Stephanie, who’d already gotten to her feet, grabbed her arm. “Anna, I think we should just leave.”

  “She insulted me,” Anna said in disbelief, turning back to look at her. “Shoot, she insulted you and Cee-cee, too, since you’re both older than me!”

  Stephanie leaned closer. “I know, but let’s just go. We clearly aren’t welcome here.” She squatted and picked up her mat, still unrolled, and carried it out of the studio.

  Grumbling, Anna did the same, trailing her sister into the fitness studio hall, waiting for the still-laughing Cee-cee to join them.

  “I can’t believe you let her get away with that!” Anna said to her sisters, tossing her mat onto the floor. She turned to Stephanie. “And you just walked out.”

  Stephanie gave her an ornery grin, then squatted and started to roll up her mat. “Choose your battles, little sister.”

  Anna filled with mischievousness. “Does that mean you’re going to put firecrackers in her shoes like you did to Maryanne Carpenter back in high school after she dropped you in the cheerleading pyramid at the homecoming game?”

  Stephanie shook her head, suppressing a grin. “You put a firecracker in her shoe, and no. I have something better in mind.” Her mat now rolled, she straightened.

  “You can’t get much better than a firecracker in a shoe,” Anna grumbled.

  Cee-cee stared at them in disbelief. “When on earth did that happen?”

  “You’d already left for college,” Stephanie said. “Anna and Maryanne didn’t see eye to eye.”

  “You were the cheerleading captain and she wanted your spot,” Anna insisted, dropping to the floor to roll her own mat. “And why did we think yoga was a good idea?”

  Stephanie had been doing yoga at home for years after studying with a yogi while in college. She’d tried to get her sisters to try it with her, but they’d always turned her down. Until now. Cee-cee had agreed because she’d decided she’d wasted too many years not trying things, and Anna…she’d only agreed because she wanted to fix her relationship with Stephanie. And if yoga was what it took, she’d grin and bear it…then get out the ibuprofen and a heating pad later. Besides, she needed to get on Stephanie’s good side before she brought up a subject that was sure to disrupt their tentative truce.

  “It’s good for stretching out muscles and improving posture,” Stephanie said, waiting on her sisters. “With Cee-cee and all her renovation and you squatting and climbing on rocks to take photos of those tiny, fluffball birds, I figured you could use a good yoga class. Little did I know it would be taught by a child who’s encouraging unsafe practices.” She started to walk down the hall, then turned back to point her finger at her sisters. “That was supposed to be a beginner class. No one flows from camel to warrior. She’s not teaching true beginners the proper foundations. They’ll need to relearn everything… that is, if they don’t injure themselves. It’s a liability to the studio.” She spun around and stomped toward the front door.

  “Is she leaving us here?” Cee-cee asked, sounding half worried and half proud.

  “I don’t know,” Anna said, staring at Stephanie as she rounded a corner with determination in her eyes. “But I haven’t see her this worked up in years.”

  “Not since before Paul died,” Cee-cee said.

  Anna frowned. She was right. “Let’s go catch her before she takes off without us.”

  They finished rolling up their mats and headed for the exit. But when they turned the corner, Anna was surprised to see Stephanie hadn’t left after all. She was in a huddle with the fitness center manager outside the woman’s office. Stephanie finished whatever she’d been saying about the instructor’s unsafe practices and the manager said something Anna couldn’t hear.

  Stephanie’s eyes widened. “Oh, no… I couldn’t possibly do that.”

  “Just consider it,” the manager said. “We can discuss hours and pay later.” With that, she shook Stephanie’s hand and headed back to her office.

  “Did the manager just offer you a job?” Cee-cee asked, incredulous.

  “I think so,” Stephanie said, still in shock. Then she seemed to snap out of it. “Let’s go.” She took off down the hall again, moving much too fast for someone who’d been in that class.

  “How did that happen?” Anna asked, trying to catch up. Her back was still cramping on her left side.

  “Well…” Stephanie said, digging her car keys out of her bag as they left the building. “I told her about my background with yoga and why I was concerned with Katie’s instructions. The next thing I knew, she was asking me to teach a beginners’ class twice a week.”

  “That’s amazing!” Cee-cee said, clapping her hands together.

  “It’s ridiculous,” Stephanie said. “I’ve never taught a yoga class before.”

  “That’s not true,” Cee-cee said. “You taught at Sarah’s high school. Remember? They had a yoga club and Sarah signed you up.”

  “Those were a bunch of high school girls nearly ten years ago. That does not make me a yoga teacher.”

  “It might be good for you,” Anna said. “Get you out of the house and the office, interacting with people.”

  “I see people,” Stephanie said as she yanked her car door open. “I see pet owners all day long.”

  “I think what Anna’s trying to say,” Cee-cee said carefully as she climbed into the backseat, “is that a change of pace might be nice.”

  “I like my life the way it is,” Stephanie said. “I have a routine. It’s bad enough that I have two nights taken up with Pop.” Horror filled her eyes as soon as the words left her mouth. “I didn’t mean it like that.”

  But Anna was certain she had.

  They were quiet as Stephanie drove them to Mo’s, and Anna was starting to regret that she’d suggested they do dinner after yoga. Her truce with Stephanie was tentative at best, and her sister was obviously on edge. It didn’t help that Anna was about to bring up a topic guaranteed to piss her off.

  “Well, I thought trying a yoga class was nice,” Cee-cee said. “Even if Anna threw out her back with the pretzel pose.”

  All three women laughed and some of the tension eased.

  They were chatting again by the time they got to the diner and took their seats, discussing Cee-cee’s progress on the shop, Anna’s puffin shoot, and the rehabilitation of Stephanie’s rescue turtle. It felt like old times, or at least the times that Anna had shared with her sisters. There was no denying Cee-cee and Stephanie had a closer relationship than Anna had with either of them, and she knew her career was to blame for keeping her away. Which made what she had to say all the harder.

  She waited until they’d ordered and gotten their food to drop the bomb.

  “I was offered a new assignment.”

  Stephanie and Cee-cee froze, both likely knowing what was coming next.

  “I thought the puffins were keeping you busy for at least another month,” Cee-cee said, her forehead wrinkled with confusion.

  “They are…” Anna said. “But some of the early photos have caught the eye of a foundation that works to protect polar bears. They’ve asked me to come photograph polar bears in the wild for their website and fundraising.”

  Both women stared at her until Stephanie put down her fork. “When?”

  “Next month. Five weeks from now, so we have some time—”

  “And how long would you be gone?” Stephanie cut in, her tone icy.

  “I’m not sure,” Anna said with a shrug. “It depends on how hard they are to find, what kind of shots I get…” Her voice trailed off.

  “How long?” Stephanie asked, sounding sterner. “Ball park.”

  Anna tried not to cringe when she said, “Three months. Maybe four.”

  Cee-cee’s mouth opened as she started to say something then stopped to think it over. Finally, she said, “I see.”

 

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