YOUR BUTLER SHOWED ME IN,ʺ IVY SAID TO GUY ON Saturday afternoon, after Fleabag led her along the path that skirted the house to the pond.
Guy smiled and spread a towel beneath the dappled shade of an old apple tree.
They sat, resting back on their elbows, and talked about work: the eccentric artist whose lawn full of sculptures Guy had trimmed that morning, and the hermit crab Ivy had found hidden under a childʹs pillow. Guyʹs laughter came so much easier now. Ivy savored the sound of it.
ʺDo you want a swimming lesson today?ʺ she asked. ʺI was hoping you had brought your suit.ʺ
She nodded. ʺAnd a float. Iʹll be right back.ʺ Ivy changed her clothes in Guyʹs shed, then cut across the long grass to the pond. A hundred feet from the water she stopped. Guy was nowhere in sight. The cat stood at the pondʹs sandy edge, staring at the water. Guyʹs T‐shirt lay next to him.
ʺOh my God!ʺ Ivy dropped the float and flew down the bank. ʺGuy!ʺ she shouted. Ten feet into the pond she saw his dark shape at the bottom. ʺGuy!ʺ
She reached down to pull him up. At the same time he rose to his feet, knocking Ivy backward into the water. Caught by surprise, she came up coughing and sneezing. ʺWhat the heck were you doing?ʺ
ʺWhat were you doing?ʺ he asked back, then, realizing the answer, started grinning. ʺOh, you were saving me!ʺ Feeling foolish. Ivy didnʹt smile.
ʺIʹve been practicing staying under water,ʺ Guy explained. ʺI have to be able to face this fear without my lifeguard hovering over me. Donʹt be mad, Ivy.ʺ I She couldnʹt be. It was the same thing she had told Tristan the day she had arrived at the pool before him and tested her courage by diving for a penny.
ʺLook what I found,ʺ Guy said, opening his palm. Ivyʹs breath caught at the sight of the shiny penny.
ʺI saw it flashing under the water, like a piece of sun,ʺ he told her. ʺItʹs a sign.ʺ
She looked up quickly. ʺA sign… of what?ʺ Tristan, are you there? she asked silently. Guy hesitated. ʺHope. Or maybe itʹs just a penny.ʺ
ʺNo, itʹs a sign,ʺ she told him. He studied the penny. ʺThink Iʹll put this on the blanket. I donʹt want to lose my piece of hope.ʺ Ivy watched Guy walk to shore, head down, seeming deep in thought as he examined the penny. Should she tell him about that day at the pool when they first kissed? But if Tristan was hiding in Guy and if Lacey was right…. ʺReady for a swimming lesson?ʺ she asked when he returned, carrying the float.
ʺAs ready as ever.ʺ
ʺOkay. Kicking, breathing, and floating, those are todayʹs objectives,ʺ she told him, trying to sound teacher‐like and disguise the fact that she felt his eyes wherever they lit on her skin.
She coached him on the flutter kick, then instructed him to use the float and kick his way back and forth across the pond. Their lesson moved on to breathing: ʺPretend the waterʹs a pillow for your head,ʺ she told him, as Tristan had once told her.
ʺYouʹre a natural!ʺ she announced ten minutes later. ʺYou tell that to all your students.ʺ ʺLet’s try the back float.” she said, and demonstrated it.
Guy studied her for a long minute, then cocked his head in a flirty way. ʺCan I just watch?ʺ
ʺNo.ʺ Grinning, he dropped back in the water, seat first, and sank straight down. When he came up sputtering, Ivy laughed, and he splashed her.
ʹT did the same thing when I was learning. You have to arch your spine and drop your head back far enough so that the water is lapping your forehead.ʺ 1
She showed him again. She remembered how Tristan had placed a hand under her back to support her, then let her go. Iʹm floating, she had whispered to him.
Youʹre floating, Tristan had replied, gazing down at her.
Floating… Floating. . Guy was standing over her now and Ivy read it off his lips. She felt Guy touch the tips of her hair that had spread out in the water behind her.
He leaned over her, the sun behind his head making a halo of gold, his face lit by the reflections off the water. His arms surrounded her and lifted her up. It felt as if her body was awakening from a long sleep.
ʺIvy.ʺ His mouth formed her name against her throat, then he sought her mouth and kissed her with unbearable sweetness.
The kiss was Tristanʹs. Ivy knew it, even if Guy did not. She longed to hold and be held by him. She reveled in the way he brushed her wet hair from her face.
When he kissed her ears and the tip of her nose, she laughed at his playfulness, sure that she felt Tristanʹs joy in Guyʹs touch.
Tristan, I love you, she thought. Iʹll love you always.
IVY JOINED BETH AND AUNT CINDY AT CHURCH ON Sunday. With a shorthanded staff, Will told them he would stay at the inn. Through Beth, he had sent a message saying that he was gathering what they needed for the bonfire that evening.
Ever loyal and always thoughtful Will — was he proving it to her? Ivy chided herself for that thought. He had been through so much with her; he, too, needed this closure.
Maggie and Andrew waited till late afternoon to call, knowing that Ivy would be working most of the day. Now, with all but two couples checked out of the inn, she had the long front porch to herself and sat alone, gazing at the blue horizon, talking to them on the phone. About ten minutes later, Philip called her from his tree house.
ʺLacey visited me this morning,ʺ he said. ʺShe did?ʺ
ʺIn church.ʺ Philip giggled. ʺShe started tickling me.ʺ
ʺThat sounds like Lacey.ʺ ʺIt was in the middle of Reverend Heapʹs sermon.ʺ
ʺThat really sounds like Lacey.ʺ
ʺHe gave me a look,” Philip went on, ʺthen one of the old ladies who takes care of the flowers started pointing at me and saying ʹan angel, an an‐gel!ʹʺ
Ivy laughed. ʺShe could see Laceyʹs shimmer.ʺ
ʺThen sheʹs a believer,ʺ Ivy said. ʺBut other people, like Reverend Heap, could only see me. Mom turned really red.ʺ
ʺHow about Andrew — Dad?ʺ Ivy added, shifting to the name that Philip used.
ʺHe thought it was pretty funny. Anyway, Lacey said she was just checking in because we both missed Tristan. I still miss Tristan.ʺ Ivy got a lump in her throat.
ʺMom, Dad, and I looked at pictures of him when we got home.ʺ
ʺGood idea,ʺ Ivy said, wiping away a tear. ʺI think Iʹll do the same.” After Philip signed off, Ivy stared at her cell phone for a long time, debating whether to call Guy. Today of all days, she wanted to hear his voice.
On the wicker table next to Ivy sat a jug filled with bright pink roses, freshly cut from Aunt Cindyʹs garden. The scent of them carried Ivy back to the last night she and Tristan had together. He had brought her a bouquet of lavender roses.
To Ivy, their unusual color symbolized a once‐in‐a‐lifetime love. And they reminded her of water— water at dawn, water at sunset, the water that gave earthbound Tristan his wings. Tristan, are you with me?
It was crazy, she told herself, believing Tristan had come back to her. It was unfair to Guy, seeing someone else in him. And yet, the feeling was so strong.
Tristan, are you there? The phone rang. Ivy listened to the ringtone for a full minute before answering. ʺHi.ʺ
ʺHey, itʹs me,ʺ Guy said. ʺI was afraid you werenʹt going to pick up.ʺ
ʺI was. . thinking about things,ʺ she said. ʺWhat’re you doing?ʺ
ʺHacking at tree stumps. And you? Besides all that thinking, I mean.”
ʺWhen the weekenders leave we have a lot of cleanup. I did that and went to church, and talked to my family.ʺ
ʺWhatʹs wrong?ʺ
ʺWhat do you mean?ʺ