office.”
He paused and Becca could hear him speaking to someone else in the office, another lawyer or an assistant maybe. Then she heard the sound of a door shutting. When he came back on the line, it was quieter in the background. “Sorry,” he said. “It’s a really big case. High profile client.”
It was always a big case, Becca thought. And the firm always took precedence, no matter what. “You’re not going to be tied up for the whole weekend, are you?”
“I don’t know. It’s possible.”
“Annie and Della are throwing a big party at the café on Sunday,” she protested.
“I know,” he said, and his voice sounded weary. “Look, Becca, you know I need to do whatever it takes right now. There’s a lot of competition to make partner this year. I’m doing this for us, remember?”
For us.
Becca knew how hard he worked. She knew he wanted to start a family as badly as she did. But, as he’d reminded her countless times, children were expensive. He wanted to make sure they were set up financially first.
How could she argue with that?
She heard more commotion in the background. “Do you want to call me back later? Something happened today and I’d really like to talk when you have time to—”
“Hang on, Becca. Hang on, just a second.”
She heard Tom’s office door open again. All the background noise from the hallway rushed back through the receiver. She held the phone away from her ear as he engaged in a lengthy discussion with whoever had barged in. When he finally came back on the line, the noise in the background was deafening.
“Why don’t you come up here for the night,” he said, trying to speak over the noise. “I might not be home until after midnight, but we can order take-out and stay up and watch those comedy shows you love.”
It was a small sacrifice, Becca thought. He hated those shows and rarely agreed to watch them with her. But she always went to D.C. on the weekends. She couldn’t remember the last time he’d agreed to spend the weekend on the island. Come to think of it, she couldn’t remember the last time he’d even mentioned wanting to visit the island.
“I think I’ll stay here tonight,” Becca said.
“Okay,” he said, not even bothering to put up a fight.
Becca looked out the window over the sink, at the view of the marshes shimmering in the fading sunlight. She knew she should offer to go to D.C., to spend the holiday with Tom since he couldn’t get away. It wasn’t his fault his job was so demanding.
But she really wanted to celebrate Easter on Heron Island. She wanted to watch the kids hunt for eggs on the docks of the marina. She wanted to go to brunch with the rest of the islanders at the café. She wanted to spend the day with her father.
“I’ll call you later, okay?” Tom said. It sounded like more people were swarming around him in the background, trying to pull him away. “I’ve got to run, but I’ll call you later.”
She heard the beep, indicating that he’d already ended the call. “Yeah, okay,” she said softly. Lowering the phone to her side, she looked back out the window, at a blue heron spreading its wings and gliding gracefully over the horizon.
“Becca?”
Becca’s gaze shot to the doorway. She hadn’t realized her father had gotten up from the sofa and had come into the kitchen.
“Are you sure everything’s okay?” he asked quietly.
“Everything’s fine.” She forced a wobbly smile back on her face. She didn’t like her father to see her like this…so vulnerable.
She was the strong one. She had always been the strong one.
She had been the one who had held what was left of their family together after her mother had died.
“Something came up at work for Tom.” She walked over to the fridge to pull out a head of lettuce. “He won’t be coming this weekend after all.”
Her father continued to watch her for several long moments in silence. “He hasn’t come down to the island in a
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