Alec’s gaze flickered to Skylar, and just for a moment he stared. “Women like her don’t eat lunch. They order it, make you pay and then push it round their plates.”

“Every time you think like that, you’re letting your ex-wife win.”

“She has won. She has a large chunk of my income and my house in London.”

“You have plenty of income left, you can stay in a hotel when you travel to London and you have your freedom. Seems like a good deal to me.” Ryan gave him a slap on the shoulder and strolled across to the group on the other side of the terrace. Lizzy sat, swinging her legs, and she reminded him so much of Rachel at the same age, he smiled. “Cute hat.”

Her face brightened. “Ryan! Can I play with Cocoa?”

“And there I was thinking you were pleased to see me, but it’s all about the dog.” He winked at her. “She’s with my grandmother, but you can visit anytime. They live in the big white house with the wraparound deck just up from the harbor. If you wanted to walk Cocoa, you’d be her favorite person.”

Lizzy instantly turned to Emily. “Can we?”

“Sure.” Her gaze flickered to his, and he saw color warm her cheeks in the moment before she turned to introduce her friend. “This is Skylar.”

He was tempted to ask Skylar if she’d babysit while he took Emily for a long walk along the beach followed by sunset-watching from the king-size bed in his apartment, but instead he reached across and extended his hand.

“I’ve heard about you from my grandmother.” He took the chair next to Emily, leaving Alec no choice but to sit next to Skylar. “This is Alec Hunter. You have to excuse him. He’s half British, but their weather isn’t bad enough for him, so he spends most of his time here with us in Maine. He’s a historian.”

Alec’s greeting was little more than a curt nod, and Skylar’s gaze flickered to Alec’s rough, handsome features and lingered for a moment before returning to Ryan.

“What was your grandmother’s name?”

“Agnes Cooper. You gave her friends a jewelry class once.”

“I did. I remember her well. She was wonderful.” A smile spread across her face, and Ryan saw warmth and humanity beneath the surface beauty.

“She’d love to see you again.”

“We should call on her. Em, do you remember her?”

Next to him, Emily stirred. “I wasn’t there.”

“You must have been.” Skylar frowned. “We made necklaces. Brittany helped. Why wouldn’t you have been there? We spent the morning on the beach searching for sea glass and then—” She broke off and sent an agonized look of apology toward her friend. “I remember now. You stayed in the cottage. You had a headache.”