“He’s doing stuff in the office. Computer stuff.”

“That’s boring.” The sneakers came flying off again, spilling sand he’d brought home from the beach onto the wood floor. “I’m going to watch Star Wars. What’s for dinner? Can we have ziti?”

“Yeah, we can have ziti.”

His smile lit up his face, reminding her what was most important in her life. Yes, it would be nice to pursue a relationship with Paul, but that wasn’t where her attention needed to be right now. The squiggling boy who tried to resist her hugs and kisses was her whole world. She’d do whatever it took to protect him from any further hurt, even if it meant she had to hurt instead.

The rain cast a damper on Mac’s plans for a Sunday afternoon cookout with his siblings, cousins, uncles and closest friends, forcing him to improvise with a makeshift tent over the grill on the deck. As he cooked chicken and ribs and hot dogs for the kids, he thought about the plan he wanted to run by his siblings, in particular.

Their parents would be married forty years in December, and he wanted to do something to commemorate the occasion, but he wasn’t sure what exactly. He was hoping they would have some ideas. With his parents off-island for a weekend getaway in Boston, this had been the perfect time to bring the gang together to talk about them when there was no chance of getting caught.

He carried the meat in on a platter Maddie had given him and placed it on the counter, where she’d set out a buffet that the others had contributed to. “Come and get it!”

Mac loved having his siblings living nearby as well as their cousins Laura and Shane, who now lived on the island, and Finn and Riley, who had spent the summer and were sticking around for the fall. They hadn’t made any promises about the winter, but Mac was hoping they’d stay. He could really use their help on the addition to Seamus and Carolina’s home, for one thing. And he’d gotten the strangest call from Lizzie James earlier, who’d wanted to gauge his availability to convert the former island school into a nursing home of all things.

When everyone had a plate, Mac stood and cleared his throat. “The reason I invited you all here today—”

“Oh God, Mac,” Janey said with a groan. “What now?”

“Hush up, brat, and I’ll tell you. Mom and Dad’s fortieth anniversary is coming up in December, and I think we ought to do something.”

“That’s a great idea,” Grace said, earning a warm smile from Mac. “What did you have in mind?”

“I was hoping you all would have some ideas. I have no clue what we should do.”

“We need a party,” Grant said. “A big bash.”