Paul was smiling, too, and the sight of the two of them laughing together filled her with giddy feelings of gratitude and hope. She liked him. She’d liked kissing him. And despite all the reasons why she shouldn’t, she was looking forward to two days alone with him on the mainland.

On Saturday night, Jared, Lizzie, David, Daisy and Erin came to the Martinez home for a cookout. Marion’s friends had taken her to a spaghetti dinner at the church hall, and Ethan was spending the night with one of his new school friends, so Hope was officially off duty and could enjoy a relaxing evening with her own new friends.

Jenny had the blender going at full speed and produced a frothy salted margarita that she handed to Hope. “You’ve earned this times ten today,” Jenny said.

Marion had been in a foul mood all day, until her friends showed up and her disposition sweetened considerably. Hope certainly understood that the moods were part of the illness, but it wasn’t easy to be on the receiving end of hours’ worth of frustrated rage.

Hope took a big sip of the delicious drink and let the heat of the tequila warm her from the inside.

“Good?” Jenny asked.

“Perfection.”

“Excellent! Erin, Daisy, Lizzie! Come get your margaritas.”

The guys had opted for beers and were on the front porch messing with the grill, as men did.

“Really good, Jenny,” Lizzie said.

“So how’re the wedding plans coming?” Erin asked.

“Excellent, thanks to Lizzie,” Jenny said. “She’s got everything under control.”

“Or at least I hope I do. This is our first really big wedding at the Chesterfield, so Jenny and Alex know they are our test subjects.”

“Since you guys bought the place for us, the least we can do is be your guinea pigs.”

Lizzie wrinkled her nose. “I never said anything about pigs, so don’t tell anyone that. It wouldn’t be good for business.”

The others laughed.

“You know what else this island needs?” Hope said.

“What’s that?” Lizzie asked.

“A home for the sick and aged. Where are people supposed to go when their families can’t care for them at home anymore? They have to go to the mainland, which separates them from their families.”

“That’s so true,” Jenny said. “Alex and Paul wrestle with that every day. They know Marion probably needs to be in a place devoted to the kind of care she needs, but to do that, they’d have to put her somewhere far away from them.” She raised her glass in toast to Hope. “Thank God for Hope. We say that every day, but she works nonstop because dementia never takes a day off.”

“This is very interesting,” Lizzie said. “I’ll talk to Jared about it.”