“Unlike you and my sister, I don’t aim for impossible standards. I don’t want to be the best at anything. I just want to be happy.”

She grabbed my empty glass and her nearly full one, and took them to the counter. Then she rested against it.

“Are you happy?”

The entire conversation was astounding, but this, most of all. I couldn’t remember either of my parents ever asking so directly.

“Sometimes.” It was the best I could do.

“Your podcast certainly measures up.”

“I have good people to work with.” I hesitated. “No, I chose good people. Partly because I’m not doing it for the glory. I’m just trying to tell a story. We all are.”

“And your personal life?” When I didn’t jump right in, she added, “Now that you’re living here, are you going to see Mateo?”

“I don’t know.”

“I’d tell you that you need to, but I’m already too controlling.”

I looked up to see she was smiling, just a little. “Holly takes after you,” I said. “She has your sly sense of humor.”

“If she does, she’s lucky. It seems to stand up under pressure.” She began to fuss, stacking our glasses in the dishwasher, wiping the counter. “You’ll tell me if you hear anything I should know from your sister?”

“I will.”

“Thank you.”

I was pretty sure she meant it.

CHAPTER TEN

For dinner I threw caution and nutrition to our local wind gusts and took the girls to Seabank Seafood, my favorite hometown restaurant. Holly had asked for fish and chips, and I wasn’t going to settle for fish sticks and frozen French fries. I negotiated seats at an outdoor table protected by a high wall. We were just far enough away from the Jimmy Buffett cover band that I could hear the girls’ soft voices if they decided to use them. Plus if I craned my neck, I could glimpse the choppy waves of Little Mangrove Bay, which opened to the gulf.

Our grandmotherly server arrived with crayons, place mats to color and children’s menus on the other side. “You girls like hush puppies?”

She’d gone straight to the important people at the table. I watched Noelle look first at Holly, then at me. She gave a cute little nod. For once Holly didn’t correct her.

“I’ll bring a basket to start you off.” The woman finally glanced at me. “You’ve been here before?”

“My dad used to sneak me in when my mother wasn’t looking. I grew up on your fried shrimp.”

She winked. “We never fry anything at Seabank Seafood.”

After she left I turned the place mats to the menu side. “Noelle, if you can’t read yours, Holly will read it to you. Right?” I looked at Holly for confirmation.

She complied, after a ritual eye roll.

“Fish and chips?” I asked when she finished.

She shrugged, but she looked pleased I’d remembered. Noelle asked for shrimp.

They flipped their place mats and began to color an ocean scene. Noelle was determined to turn the fish a fierce purple, but Holly corrected her. “There are no purple fish, Noelle.”