“Matt!” Troy said in surprise.
“Matt?” a tall curly-haired woman he couldn’t remember asked.
“Iris, this is Matt Lacoumette, Peyton’s brother,” Ray Anne Dysart said. “I can’t believe you’re here.”
“Last minute, I know, but I thought since I had a day, maybe I could help.”
They all eagerly accepted the offer. Ginger, a kerchief tying back her strawberry-blond hair, flushing slightly under her freckles, just smiled at him. He smiled right back at her.
“We’re down to finishing touches,” Grace said. “Lots of finishing touches. Furniture was just delivered, my mother’s assistant shipped some personal and household items that have to be put away after the cupboards and closets are cleaned, the basement and garage are getting painted today, light fixtures and bathroom fixtures have to be installed as well as washer and dryer hookup. And obviously serious cleanup. What’s your pleasure?”
“I can clean like I was trained by Corinne Lacoumette and I’m pretty fast with a screwdriver.”
“Great. You’ve got bathroom fixtures. Four bathrooms, the fixtures all in boxes in the bathrooms. One loft bathroom, master and main floor bathrooms, one bathroom downstairs.”
“I’ll go get my toolbox,” he said, leaving them. As he was walking out to his truck, he heard the unmistakable sound of women giggling and whispering. And it made him smile. He remembered something Paco had told him long ago: try fooling women all you want, you’ll never get away with anything. How true. He wanted to stay away from Ginger; he wanted to be with her if he could.
Everyone worked ferociously and work crews came and went. Cooper went home to take care of his little daughter and tend his bar while his helper, an old guy named Rawley, replaced him. Al left to go to work, Devon left to go home and Spencer replaced her—someone had to watch the kids and this “work in progress” was no place for little ones. Peyton showed up and apparently got the word Matt was on the premises right away because she found him in the downstairs bathroom, head in the cabinet under the sink with a wrench, fixing a leaky pipe.
“I suppose you think you’re fooling someone,” she said.
He sat up abruptly and hit his head. He scooted out cautiously. Women, it seemed, were a serious threat to his cranium. “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”
“Why are you here?” she said.
“Ginger told me about this project, about the urgency because Grace’s mother is not well, and I am a very neighborly guy.”
She completely ignored his virtues. “You’re pursuing Ginger and I told you not to. It makes no sense. It’s not like you two got off to a good start.”
“Peyton,” he said very patiently. “Boxers are sometimes friendly outside the ring. On weekends defense attorneys play golf with prosecutors. But you’re wrong, I’m not pursuing her. We’ve talked a couple of times and neither of us is interested in a new relationship. For obvious reasons. We’ve sworn off, all right? But we’re friends now.”
“This is a bad idea.”
“Bugger off,” he said. “And don’t piss me off.”
“Or what? Huh?”
“I will do something terrible to you, without causing you any distress to your pregnancy. But you’ll never forget it, it will be so bad and dangerous.”
“How can you talk like that to your pregnant sister?”
“Gee, I don’t know,” he said. “Didn’t you threaten to castrate me? Now, leave me alone. I can pick my own friends. And for your information, Ginger is very nice.”
“I know!”
“And she likes me!” Matt said, standing up and facing her. “Why is it you’re so upset at the idea of me being friends with her? I admit, I made an awful mistake at your wedding, but she’s accepted my apology and I’ve been perfectly perfect.”
“That’s now,” she said. “You’ve been... Well, Matt, you have a reputation. A love-’em-and-leave-’em reputation. That’s the last thing a nice girl like Ginger needs right now.”
He got it. Everyone thought he left Natalie because of a lot of annoying arguing. Because no one knew the whole story. And no one could know. “Okay, okay. I give you my word, we’re friends and I will not do anything to hurt Ginger. I like her. She’s a good person. I’m here today because she told me how everyone is helping Grace and Troy so they can get their families together and get married and I thought it was sweet and kind. She told me you and Scott were helping, even though you have little kids and a clinic to run. She told me she was going to be here all day working, even though she worked all week at the flower shop. I came to help. That’s why I came.”
“You swear?” she asked.
“I swear. Now, can I get back to my plumbing?”
She gave him one last withering glare, then left him. She was no longer his favorite sister. He rubbed his head. He bet no one ever accused Peyton of being a kind girl. No one who was related to her and really knew her at any rate.
After the plumbing fixtures, he helped finish installing a couple of light fixtures, something Troy seemed to find a challenge. Cooper’s wife, Sarah, brought over a huge tray of sandwiches from Cooper’s bar. Right behind her was Cooper with a cooler full of cold drinks for everyone. The work party moved out to the deck to picnic in the warm afternoon sun, and Matt had to focus his attention on the men because his nosy sister wouldn’t leave.
After lunch, they were down to cleaning so that the area rugs could be rolled out, furniture uncovered and placed, kitchenware and linens put into drawers, closets and cupboards, beds made up. The cleaning went from top to bottom, cupboards, countertops first, floors last. He bravely took his life in his hands and joined Ginger in the kitchen.
“I was so surprised to see you,” she said. “What a good guy you must be, driving all the way down here to help out.”
“Tell my sister, will you? That I’m a good guy.”
“I have two brothers,” she said, laughing. “I know about that brother-sister thing. Not easy. You’ll just have to be satisfied that I think you’re good.”
“Thank you. I have to drive back tonight. We start early on Monday mornings. But I brought a change of clothes. I could clean up at Peyton’s house and we could go out for something to eat. Something casual. Mexican? You like Mexican?”
“I love Mexican!”
“That’ll save us a phone call.”
“You know a place around here? Because I’m new in town,” she reminded him.
“I’ll find one. Someone around here will know a good place.”
“I don’t want you to stay too late and drive home tired...”
“But I’m here, Ginger. Let’s do something. Fun. Let’s have some fun.”
“Aren’t you having fun?” she asked him with a wicked grin.
He leaned toward her. “I’m glad to help, but I came for you. Just, don’t tell my sister.”
“Why not?”
“Because Peyton thinks I’m a bad bet. And I’m getting real sick of hearing about it.”
* * *
Peyton watched Matt and Ginger from the deck as she swept up crumbs and collected empty cans and plastic bottles from lunch. Scott and Spencer carried a large potted plant through the house and out to the deck, placing it where they’d been told to. Then Scott was by Peyton’s side.
“If you frown and scowl and brood like that any longer, you’re going to wrinkle,” he told his wife.
“As soon as Matt leaves Ginger alone, he’s going to get an earful of my opinion of his behavior,” she muttered.
Scott grabbed her by the shoulders and turned her to face the bay. He put an arm around her, holding her there. “No. He’s not,” Scott said. “You’re going to keep your mouth shut.”
“Huh? Listen, I can handle him.”
“I said, no,” Scott said firmly. “I command you.”
She glanced up at him and laughed.
“Figures you would think that’s funny. I want you to listen to me, Peyton, because when it comes to your
family, you’re a little on the blind and deaf side. He might be a little brother to you, but you’re not in charge of him anymore. You have to leave him alone. He’s thirty and he’s obviously experienced some difficult times.”
“He’s been divorced over a year. And that marriage, it was very short and very miserable. And—”
“I’ve only known the Lacoumette family for a year and the whole time Matt has been silent. A little cranky. Very absent. Your mother and some of your sibs have apologized for him, said he was one of the best-natured men in the family. That short marriage obviously took its toll and he’s been nursing some big wounds.”
“And he’s been coping by having a different woman every week!”
“Peyton, he’s smiling. He’s laughing. For that matter, I haven’t seen Ginger look so good since I’ve met her—she’s smiling and laughing.”
“Hanging out with my brother, she could get hurt!”
“If you get in his business any further, you’re going to get hurt. You’re going to get spanked!”
“And just what big man is going to do that?” she asked, laughter in her voice.
“This big man, your lord and master,” he said.
“Oh, you’re really pushing it...”
“We’re going to finish up here, grab the kids from next door where they’re watching a movie and we’re going to go home, without saying one word, because if it were you in there, flirting with me, and someone got in your way, you’d be furious. They’re adults. They appear to like each other. They’re two people who have been through a lot and they’re having a good time for once. I suspect they know more about what they need right now than you do.” He shook his head. “You’ve got a really scary big-sister thing going on. Don’t be a bully.”
She gasped. “I just don’t want either one of them to go down the wrong path with the wrong person. It seems dangerous to me. And I don’t approve of the way Matt has handled himself the past year or so, but he’s my brother. I love him. It won’t make me feel good to see him hurt, either. After all, the past couple of years has been hard on everyone.”
“I know. Letting go isn’t easy. But I’m right about this. He has to find his own way. And Ginger does, too. You told Matt about Ginger. Matt isn’t going to use and abuse her. Can you really imagine he would? He might be your naughty little brother, but I’ve gotten to know him.”
“He probably wouldn’t,” she relented.
“I saw a sweetheart side of Matt today I didn’t even know existed and I’ve known him for a year,” Scott said. “He’s not fooling anybody—he’s here because he heard about this barn raising from Ginger.”
“He says they aren’t involved,” she said. “That they’ve sworn off relationships.”
“And maybe they have. But something there is helping them heal. When I let you turn around, look at them. They’re enjoying each other, enjoying the day. They’re up to their armpits in hard, dirty work and they’re smiling like kids. Honey, I want you to do something you have a hard time doing. I want you to have no opinion.”
“Oh, now—”
“None. Zero. Nada.”
“Now you’re making me sound like a real buttinski! Like I’m in everyone’s business!”
“You’re related to half of northern Oregon, Peyton. And you are certainly not the only one in the family who butts in.”
“Well...it’s a hot-blooded family.”
“Will you stay out of his business? Out of hers?”
“All right, all right. Hey, you don’t have some kind of spanking fantasy, do you?”
He grinned at her. “Only if it’s you spanking me.” He turned her around. “Look,” he said, indicating the couple in the kitchen. Ginger had a knee on Matt’s shoulder while she reached for the highest cupboard above the refrigerator with a rag; he braced her with hands stretched up and holding her at the waist. He snuck one hand upward to tickle her ribs, but he held her safely. She laughed as she wiped out the cupboard, and he lowered her to the floor gently. “You going to leave that alone?” Scott asked Peyton.
“Yes,” she said tiredly. “And I’m not spanking you.”
“Oh, nuts,” he said, laughing at her.
* * *
The house on the hill above the beach was empty of helpers now. Smoke was rising from Cooper’s grill on his deck two doors down. There were people walking along the beach and as the sun set, lights from the town were starting to pop up like fireflies. Grace sat on one of the newly acquired chairs next to the newly acquired outdoor table, facing the ocean. Troy trudged up the outside deck stairs, wiping his hands on a rag.
“That’s that. Downstairs bathroom is scrubbed and outside deck swept. I haven’t put the sheets on the bed down there, but it wouldn’t take five minutes if you want to stay here tonight. Makes more sense to go to your loft, though, where all your stuff is. We can get moved in this week, unless you changed your mind...”
She looked at him with moist eyes. “They did this for us,” she said softly. “They cleaned, installed, unpacked, hung pictures. The window guy is putting in the shutters tomorrow. It’s ready, Troy. Our friends got it ready.”
He sat down in the chair next to her. “Because they don’t want us to say ‘I do’ minutes before I have to rush you to the hospital. You really want to move here right away? You don’t want to let your mother settle in first?”
“Once we have furniture in the game room it’ll be just like our own apartment. You can store your toys in the garage. After we let your parents use your apartment for their visit, we can bring your couch over for downstairs. Then you can give up the apartment and we can live here.”
“Listen, we’ve talked about this a little bit, but this is serious business. Even though that downstairs is like a private residence, we’ll be living with your mother, your old Russian coach—because we both know he’s never leaving—and there will hopefully be nursing help. I can’t have my pregnant wife making them all comfortable, directing traffic or waiting on an invalid day and night. We’re going to have to agree on how we’re going to handle this situation. Gracie, it’s not going to be easy. It usually takes a staff of five to manage her.”
“I know. I think we’ll be okay. School’s out soon. Maybe we can tell your family on the phone, move into this house, let your family use the apartment and the loft for a visit and just get married while they’re here. On the beach?”
He pulled her close. “I married you in my head weeks ago. We should give my son a proper name.”
“It’s a girl, Troy.”
“It’s a boy, Gracie. I know it.”
“It’s a girl. Bet?”
“When can we find out?”
“I don’t know. Twenty weeks? We have things to do, Troy. Next we have to make a baby room.”
“We’ve just done so much. Can we have a day off?”
“I’m going to call my mother tomorrow and tell her the house is ready. I think she can be up here by the end of the week.”
“I’ll call my mom and dad tomorrow, too,” he said. “Are you going to insist your name be Gracie Dillon Banks Headly?”
“I’m going with Headly,” she said. “The most adorable history teacher at Thunder Point High.”
“Not adorable, Grace. Hot. The girls think I’m hot.”
Five
“When I was a little girl I made very little houses,” Ginger told Matt. They sat at a small table in a dimly lit Mexican restaurant. She nursed a glass of wine and he had a beer and there were chips and salsa on the table. She had a plate of enchiladas and he had a mammoth burrito. “I made miniature houses and people out of everything—Q-tips, cotton balls, pipe cleaners, shoe boxes, paper cups and paper clips. I used twigs and flowers and leaves and gum wrappers. Eventually, when I had the supplies, I used cardboard, paper and glue. In winter when I was outside I used snow and made castles. When I was about seven my parents gave me a great big dollhouse for Christmas—the obvious gift, right? And I wanted nothing to do with it. It ju
st sat in a corner of my bedroom because I liked the sloppy little houses I built.”
“All little girls play house,” he said. “My sisters played house. Peyton was always the mother. And she was a very strict mother.”
“What’s your earliest memory?” she asked him.
“Hmm. I’m not sure if it’s an early memory or some family story that’s been repeated so often I think I remember it. It might be when Mikie showed up. My parents had two cribs and a bassinet in their bedroom. We were all lined up to meet him. Ellie was two, Sal was one and Mikie was in the bassinet by the bed. My mother said, ‘This is your new brother, Michael, and from now on your father is sleeping in the barn.’ I didn’t know what that meant for a long time. Eight kids in a little over ten years.”
She laughed happily at that.
“You have little leprechauns in your eyes.”
“My mother’s side of the family, I guess. We’re the only green-eyed members of the family. And I’ve met most of the Lacoumettes—no leprechauns there, I think.”
“That’s for sure,” he said. He put down his fork. “What happened to your marriage?”
“The marriage?” she asked, like that was an odd question. “Matt, I told you, I fell for a musician. A singer with a guitar. He played other instruments, too, but mostly guitar and piano. What I didn’t tell you, I was a groupie. He was in and out of Portland and for three years I followed his gigs. He called when he was in town or even near town, like Seattle or Vancouver or Astoria, and would ask me to come. It was nothing for me to drive three hours just to be with him. On and off, off and on. He’s ten years older and even though he’s had a few breaks here and there, he doesn’t really have a pot to piss in. He wasn’t interested in marriage or family or settling down, though he did move in with me because I had a freestanding garage he could use as a studio. So one night when he said, ‘Hey, babe, maybe we should just get married,’ I jumped on it. Brilliant, yes? I was all over it because hey, I was over twenty-five by that time and all I’d ever really wanted was to be a wife and mother. So I married a self-centered, absent, maybe even adulterous musician who rarely remembered to even call me. My mother thought I’d lost my mind. My brothers hated him. My father still wants to kill him. I married him as fast as I could before he changed his mind. We were married for seven days when he got a job in San Francisco of uncertain duration and he not only took it, he said I wouldn’t enjoy myself, given his terrible hours, and besides, I had to work. He said he’d probably be back in a few weeks. Turned out it was sooner, but he left again a week later, that time for a month. When I tried to talk to him about it he said, ‘Hey, I told you I’d be a lousy husband. I’m just not into it. My music is really important to me and I’m so close. Baby, I’m so close. And you love my music.’ Also, he usually needed money. And I stupidly gave him what I could.”