“Sleeping over?”
Juliet shrugged. “I don’t know. I went down on the spur of the moment, got in on the late boat, walked to the house. I phoned Mom just before I got there. I thought she’d be thrilled. But it was ten-thirty at night and she and Mack were sitting on the sofa, and Mom’s clothes were rumpled! Plus, I saw the way Mom looked at him. The last night I was there, I asked her what was going on, and she said she was ‘seeing’ Mack and she liked him a lot and he was terrifically smart, smart I don’t think being the important quality.”
“So you think he’s hot.” Theo grinned wickedly.
“What? You are so gross. I don’t think he’s hot, but I think he’s good-looking, and he is a lot younger than Mom!”
“Well.” Theo hesitated, not sure what to say because he wasn’t sure how he felt. “Mom’s good-looking.”
“I know that. She’s beautiful. But she’s fifty-six years old! Mack Whitney should date someone his age, hell, he could date someone thirty-six years old.”
“How old is Mack?”
“Forty-six. I looked it up in the town register.”
Theo laughed so hard he choked on his beer. “Nancy Drew.”
“You are so immature.”
“Come on, Jules, why are you so worked up about this? Mom deserves to have a little fun.”
“I’m worked up about this, Theo, because I’m afraid that people will laugh at her, an older woman with her boy toy, and second, and most of all, I’m afraid she’ll get a broken heart when he dumps her for someone else. Also I just know he’s trying to get his hands on her money.”
“Mom doesn’t have that much money. If Mack Whitney was trolling for some big bucks, he could find dozens of women on the island who are way richer than Mom.” Theo gave Juliet a look. “You’re thinking that money is going to be our money someday and Mack might get it.”
Juliet crossed her arms defensively. “For one thing, yeah. But honestly, Theo, I’m more concerned about her…her sense of self-worth. Our father left her cold when we were kids. She hasn’t had a serious relationship in years. How is she going to feel when Mack Whitney drops her for the first cute waitress off the boat this summer?”
Theo nodded. He liked the idea of traveling to his mom’s to help her instead of dragging his sorry ass home to Mommy. “Okay. Let’s go see her. And let’s make it a surprise.”
* * *
—
Juliet woke early—she always did. Her left arm was crushed up against her head. It took her a moment to remember that she’d let Theo have her nice comfy double bed. He’d played the sympathy card—his arm, and he hadn’t slept in a comfortable bed for five years. And whose fault is that? Juliet had wanted to say, but she was so glad he was here, she said she’d sleep on the sofa. It also allowed her a chance to catch him if he sneaked out to get into her stash of hard liquor, which was nothing much really, only some vodka and rum. In high school, Theo had partied plenty, but sports during school and surfing all summer had kept him clean.
She heard thunderous snoring from her bedroom. When had she last had a man in her bed? Oh, right. Hugh. Hugh who now lived in New York. Who hadn’t bothered to say goodbye. Her girlfriends said guys like him liked to “seduce and abandon.” Why were men like this? Why had Juliet been so naïve?
Enough. Tossing back the blanket she’d been wrapped in, she stood and stretched and did a few yoga morning exercises. From the window, the blue sky promised a sunny day. She slipped into the bathroom, took a quick shower, and wrapped herself in her toweling robe. Padding into the kitchen, she started coffee brewing. The aroma was bound to wake Theo. If he didn’t get up by her second cup, she’d wake him herself.
She opened her computer on her kitchen table and worked for a while. When it was nine, in Juliet’s mind, nearly lunchtime, she called, “Theo! Time to wake up!”
No answer. No sounds of movement.
She knocked on the bedroom door, pushed it open, and called, “Theo! Get up!”
No reply but the snarl of snoring. She always had been the bossy older sister, so it was a natural act to open the door and enter the room. Besides, it was her apartment.
Theo lay on her bed like an angel dropped flat on his back. Juliet was grateful a sheet covered his torso. She went forward, intending to shake him, but stopped when she saw the Tylenol on the bedside table. And the beer. Obviously he’d found another beer at the back of her fridge and washed the pills down with the beer.
When did Theo say he fractured his arm? Tylenol and beer, not so good together.
“Theo.” She leaned over the bed and shook him. “Theo. Wake up.”
“Uh?” Theo blearily opened his eyes. “Go away.”
“Theo, it’s morning. We’re going to see Mom.”
“For God’s sake, let me sleep. I flew across the continent yesterday, my arm’s screwed up, I’m supposed to rest. The doctor told me I have to rest.”
Theo turned onto his good side, his back to Juliet.
“Two more hours, and then we’re going.” Juliet shut the door, her thoughts all over the place. Her mother with a boyfriend, her careless brother back on the East Coast. She was sitting down at her laptop when she realized she’d forgotten she had dinner with Ryder tonight.
She would have to cancel it. Maybe that would be the wise thing to do, anyway.
She texted Ryder: Sorry, Ryder, I can’t do dinner tonight. My brother just arrived with a broken arm and we’ve got to go to Nantucket to see Mom. Some other time, I hope. After agonizing over the words, she ended the text with a friendly but neutral OXJ.
twelve
Lisa woke feeling like a schoolgirl on the first day of vacation. Which she certainly was not. She had to shower, dress, make some sort of breakfast, and open her shop. But she allowed herself another few moments to lie in bed remembering the phone conversation she’d had with Mack the night before.
She’d left her bedroom windows open slightly. She could hear the birds chirping on the magnolia tree and far away, high in the sky, the hum of an airplane coming to the island. More and more planes would be coming as they brought back the summer people.
And her shop would be more and more busy.
She’d talked on the phone with Mack about this last night, one business owner to another. Mack was a restoration carpenter, specializing in old houses, but the big money was made by construction companies tossing up brand-new McMansions. Millionaires eager to live for a couple of summer months in a home with a hot tub, a home movie theater, and a swimming pool often approached him, offering him enormous sums of money if he could build their house, right now. When Beth was in high school, with college tuition on the horizon, Mack had accepted some of the offers. He’d built spacious houses on beautiful lots, but the work didn’t seem true to who he was and why he was living on the island. Now Mack wanted to do the work he loved, restoring old venerable houses instead of building vanity castles.