Ethan came walking up the drive, the muscles in his forearms straining under the weight of a big blue cooler. Cara felt the chill of a ghost run down her spine. With his brown hair salt-stiffed and sun-kissed and his chambray shirttail hanging out over his frayed khaki shorts, he looked so much like Brett at that age. She flashed back to a Fourth of July party well over a decade earlier. It was the summer she’d fallen in love with Brett. He’d walked up this same driveway, larger than life, his eyes the color of the sky, carrying a cooler full of crabs, just like Ethan now.
She felt the quick stab of sadness she always did when something brought Brett to mind. But those pangs were less frequent now and the pain less sharp. She didn’t have time to wallow. Ethan spied them standing there and, grinning, set the cooler down with a thunk.
“They’re real beauties,” he said proudly, lifting the lid. The cooler was filled to the top with ice and shrimp in the shell. He reached in and grabbed a handful of long white bodies, which hung from his fist by their long whiskers. His grin widened. “Take a look!”
“They’re huge!” Cara exclaimed.
“Yep. Right off the boat. I’ll pop the heads and cook ’em up. I hope y’all are hungry.”
The children were dancing on the balls of their feet, and Danny reached out to touch the shrimp.
“Not yet, Danny,” Ethan said, putting the shrimp back in the cooler.
“But I want to help,” he whined with a defeated slump.
“Well, come on then,” Ethan said, flipping the lid shut. He bent and lifted the heavy load with a grunt. He leaned forward for a perfunctory kiss from Toy, then walked off, preceded by his children, who clamored to open the door for him.
Cara heard laughter emanating from inside. “We might be the last to arrive,” she said. Turning, she saw Toy’s gaze following her family.
“You’re happy,” Cara said as a matter of observation. She was smiling. It felt good to see her friends happy and doing so well.
“Very.” Toy kissed the top of Hope’s head and began gently rocking her once again. “And it’s nice to see you happy again too.”
“I’m getting there.”
Toy studied her face, then said, “I can tell. You look good. I don’t mind saying we were all worried about you. You got too thin. By the way, I love your haircut.”
Cara’s hand automatically went to her hair. “Do you?”
“I do. Really. It’s very cool. Young.”
Cara smiled. “I need some cool in my life now.”
Toy looked away, and Cara sensed a shift in her mood. When Toy met her gaze again, Cara caught the worry shining in her blue eyes. “What?”
“I’m pregnant.”
“Congratulations! How wonderful!”
Toy took a breath. “It’s a surprise, I’ll tell you.”
“But a happy one, right?” When Toy didn’t respond, Cara said, “Or is it?”
“Not a problem,” Toy said hesitatingly. “It’s just . . .” She rocked the baby a bit more vigorously. “I’ve just been offered a big promotion at the aquarium.”
“Well, congratulations again!”
Toy took the praise in stride. “It’ll mean I’m no longer director of the sea turtle hospital,” she explained.
“Oh.” Toy was passionate about sea turtles, loggerheads in particular. “Are you comfortable with that change?”
“I have to be. I’ll still be involved with turtles, of course, but I’ll branch out to other areas. Education, sustainable seafood, plastics in the ocean, climate change. All important areas I can dig my teeth into.”
Cara thought the job sounded challenging. Something she wouldn’t mind doing herself. “What’s the job title?”
“Conservation director. It’s a newly created position. They said they had me in mind when they designed it,” she added with a faint blush of pride. “Because education is a major component, I’ll go out to the community to speak a lot. Which means a lot of travel and late hours. That’s going to be hard to do with a family.”
“It’s a lot to juggle.”
Toy took a breath. “Right. I don’t know if—” She stopped when the front door opened.
Flo stuck her head out. “What y’all doing out there? Stop yakking and come in. Folks are waitin’ to see the guest of honor! And by that, I mean that baby!”
“Be right there,” Cara called back. Flo waved in acknowledgment. When the door closed again, she turned back to Toy. “You were saying?”
Toy kicked a pebble. “We can talk later.”
“Let’s talk now. It’s important. You don’t know if . . .” she led.
“I don’t know if I can do all that with a new baby.” She shook her head with a shrug. “Who am I kidding? I know I won’t be able to do it.”
“But you’ve been trying to have another baby for years.”
“We stopped trying last year. Then, bingo.” She laughed. “Wouldn’t you know it?”
Cara felt a pang at the irony. “When Brett and I stopped trying, I used to pray I’d miraculously get pregnant like that. You hear those stories.” She laughed shortly. “And the miracle happened to you.” She reached out to touch her arm. “And it is a miracle.”
Toy bumped her shoulder gently against Cara’s. “You got your miracle too.”
Cara smoothed Hope’s hair. “I did.”
Cara had been Toy’s mentor, an older sister, even a surrogate mother after Lovie died. She’d been the one to dispense advice. But now they seemed more like equals. The twenty-year age difference melted away. In fact, Cara felt she was the one who needed advice from Toy.
“I understand, I really do,” Cara said. “I’m trying to figure out how to work at home and make a living with a baby too. At least you have Ethan.”
“And he’s been great,” Toy was quick to say.
“He’s happy about the pregnancy?”
“Over the moon.”
Cara smiled. Of course he was happy. Ethan came from a large, boisterous family and made it no secret he wanted more children. He’d adopted Little Lovie without a second thought and loved her like his own.
“Well, then,” Cara said with undisguised relief. “I’d say you had your answer. You’ll have to do what women have done for centuries. Make it work.”
Toy snorted and handed Hope back to Cara. “Thanks. Spoken like a woman who’s been a mother for, what, six months?”
Cara laughed. “Five, but who’s counting?” The front door opened, and Emmi appeared in a pink apron. Her red hair was piled atop her head in a bun and she waved her pink-tipped fingers in the air.
“What’s taking you two so long?”
“Lucy, I’m home!” Cara called out, and Toy barked out a laugh.
“Ha-ha,” said Emmi. “Now get your butts in here. The party’s waiting for you!”
Cara walked into a home that had been transformed by fairy lights and pink crepe paper. A side table draped in a white tablecloth with pink polka dots held a large tiered cake decked with pink and lavender flowers, surrounded by champagne flutes. The next table was covered with gifts.