Chapter 13
Chapter Thirteen
I da struggled to go a few hours without checking the bank balance for the Nantucket Sunset Cruisers. Any purchase or payment they made—essential ones for the business—felt like a punch to the gut. We have to pay the caterers. We have to pay our staff members. We have to make sure the boats are insured. She reminded herself of this over and over again. But with every dollar that went out, they felt further and further from reaching their goal of staying above water this year. Nightmares plagued her. Maybe we won’t make it. Maybe our dreams will die.
But still, it seemed that every payment was above board. Nothing was made out to Tyson Rogers Advertising.
Ida had sent along information regarding Tyson Rogers Advertising to their lawyer, Susan Sheridan, who’d written back: That’s cagey. I’m going to have my guy look into it.
Ida decided to trust whoever Susan Sheridan’s guy was. She certainly didn’t have a guy to look into anything. She was drowning.
Ida was at the docks late on Monday morning. She greeted several high rollers for an eight-hour cruise that would guide them around the island, feed them lunch and dinner, and keep them well-stocked on cocktails and fine wines. Ida was grateful they’d kept their booking, as a few other high rollers had already canceled, turning their backs on the business after Mrs. Grayson’s accident. News got around fast.
Now, a woman in a powder-blue onesie that seemed quite expensive despite how ugly it was shook Ida’s hand and said, “Grayson was always eager to sue the pants off whoever was around. I’m sorry you got in his line of fire.”
Ida smiled meekly. “We hate what happened to his wife and wish her all the best.”
“I heard she’s home and happy, making all her house staff members miserable,” the woman said with an ironic laugh.
Ida couldn’t say what was really on her mind, that the accident had both saved and ruined them. That without the accident, they would never have known about the theft.
All she could say was, “I hope you have a beautiful day on the water!”
Ida watched the yacht pull off the dock. She raised her hand to wave.
Back in the office, Shelby made a fresh pot of coffee and greeted Ida with a side hug as she filled her a mug. “How are you?” She made heavy eye contact, which meant you better tell me the truth. I know you through and through.
“Exhausted,” Ida said with a sigh. “I haven’t slept in what feels like weeks.”
“Me neither. But hey.” Shelby pulled her fingers through her bob. “Would you like to grab some dinner with me tonight? It feels like ages since the two of us caught up.”
Ida sensed that Shelby wanted not only to repair the business but to repair their best friendship, too. It was akin to a marriage—wherein something devastating had happened within the family and thrown the marriage on the rocks. Now, they had to stabilize their foundation. They had to find a way to laugh again.
Ida and Shelby managed to leave the office by seven that night. They left their cars at the harbor and walked side by side through the stunning streets of a sun-drenched evening in August.
“Hard to believe it’s the twelfth,” Shelby murmured. “Just a few more weeks till Labor Day.”
Ida’s stomach tightened. “I wish we had longer. We have to make up what we’ve lost.” She swallowed. “And there’s no telling what will happen with Mr. Grayson’s lawsuit.”
Shelby exhaled all the air from her lungs. “Let’s try to talk about nice things for a change. There’s nothing we can do about any of that now.”
Ida fixed her face. She remembered when she and Shelby had blown off steam in college. They’d abandoned their textbooks and their fat notebooks filled with facts and thrown themselves into house parties with raucous rock and rollers and plenty of beer. She remembered the stench of the houses and the men smoking cigarettes in the hallways. She remembered kissing Rick in the backyard of one of those parties, feeling so free and alive. Do Frankie and Nellie ever feel half as alive as that? she wondered now.
Shelby suggested they grab a table at a vegetarian restaurant near the Sutton Book Club. Ida agreed, grateful for her friend’s memory. Ida had been slacking on her vegetarianism all summer long, but now she felt eager to dig into a black bean burger and some sweet potato fries. She wanted to drink a chardonnay.
Shelby and Ida sat out front so they could people-watch. They clinked glasses of wine and laughed at each other’s nervous smiles.
“I’m sorry. It just feels so normal,” Ida said. “Last week, I never thought anything would feel normal again.”
“I know what you mean,” Shelby said. “Gosh, you scared me. When you suggested that Malcolm or Rick could have been the ones who…” But then Shelby made a cutting motion under her chin. “I’m sorry. We said we wouldn’t talk about it.”
“Oh, but I’m really sorry about that,” Ida said. “I can’t believe I ever considered Rick could do that. The other day, I watched him sleep, and he looked so sweet. So handsome. And I realized I’ve probably seen him sleep for hundreds of hours of our life together. I’ve had the privilege of knowing him in this really unique and wonderful way.” Ida sipped her wine. “I just hope he doesn’t hate me too much for losing my cool during the summer.”
“Rick could never hate you,” Shelby said. “That man has always been head over heels for you.”
Ida laughed. A shadow passed over Shelby’s face. Ida put her glass of wine down and cupped her knees. Something was up.
“Are you okay?” Ida asked.
Shelby cocked her head. “Yes? I mean, I think I am.”
Ida’s heart pumped. Is she going to tell me that Malcolm was the one who robbed us? Is this why she wants to take me out?
“Is everything okay with Malcolm?” Ida asked.
Shelby rubbed her temples. “You know how marriage is. Highs and lows. Middle grounds. We’re just in a slightly middle-to-low time right now. I don’t know how to fight past it.”
Ida’s shoulders loosened. “I’m sorry to hear that.”
Only once had Ida seen Shelby and Malcolm having an argument. It was many years ago when Ida had come back to their shared college apartment earlier than she’d planned. Shelby and Malcolm were in Shelby’s bedroom, screaming at one another about something Ida hadn’t been able to decipher. But the rage and ragged edge to their voices had terrified Ida so much that she’d immediately left the apartment and returned to Rick’s place. She’d told Rick, “I think Shelby and Malcolm are breaking up.” But the next time she’d seen Shelby, Shelby hadn’t mentioned the argument. And Ida had decided that people experience romantic relationships in all sorts of ways.
But now, Ida asked, “Is he being cruel?”
Shelby peered at Ida curiously. “We’ve both said cruel things. But isn’t that what marriage is?”
Ida marveled at this. Rick and Ida had so rarely said anything cruel, manipulative, or hard-edged.
“I mean, not all the time,” Shelby hurried to add. “Our marriage isn’t like that all the time. We’ve just gotten pretty creative with our insults lately. That’s all.”
“Do the kids hear you?” Ida asked.
“We try to be careful,” Shelby admitted. “But we’re probably not careful enough.”
Ida had a flashing image of Shelby’s children, Anthony and Stacy, cowering in a room somewhere, turning up their television to blot out Shelby’s and Malcolm’s screams.
Ida was sure the stress with the Nantucket Sunset Cruisers only exacerbated things.
“You should go on vacation this fall,” she suggested. “After things calm down. I can help with the kids. I can even move into your place for a week or two and make sure they get to school on time.”
Shelby’s eyes were saucers. “I would never ask you to do that.”
“We’re partners, Shelby,” Ida reminded her. “But more than that, we’re best friends. I don’t want your marriage to fall apart.”
Suddenly, Shelby’s face transformed. It looked tight and wrinkly, her brow furrowed, her mouth in a strange bow. She was staring at something down the street. She scooched her chair forward and muttered, “Wait. Is that who I think it is?”
Ida followed Shelby’s gaze down past colonial homes, quaint little shops, restaurants, and wine bars to discover Frankie Benson.
Ida’s face broke into a smile. There she was, her eldest daughter, dressed in a beautiful black dress that flowed gently down her thighs. Her hair was pulled into a simple braid, and her makeup was immaculate, clearly a result of one of those makeup tutorials Frankie and Nellie had shown Ida in the past.
“Who is she with?” Ida asked.
Frankie was in animated conversation with a man maybe ten or fifteen years older than her. He had a thick head of curly black hair, thick eyebrows, and massive shoulders, and he watched Frankie speak as though it were the single greatest performance he’d seen in his life. As though he never wanted it to end.
Ida had the strangest and most exhilarating thought. Frankie is falling in love.
“I don’t know,” Shelby said. “Have you seen him before?”
“Never,” Ida said.
Shelby’s brow remained furrowed. She looked captivated by Frankie and the handsome stranger, as though she wanted to turn the image around and make sense of it.
Ida remembered that Shelby’s daughter Stacy was still only thirteen. Shelby had children later than Ida had and therefore hadn’t experienced the horrors and occasional beauty of watching your child date and fall in love.
“Isn’t he a little old for her?” Shelby muttered.
Ida waved her hand. “She’s graduated from college. She’s an adult.”
Shelby gave her an incredulous look. “Isn’t it weird she hasn’t mentioned him at all?”
“Not really,” Ida said. “She spent all of May and June in bed. Depressed? Sick? We still don’t know. But her breakup from Colin did not help things.”
Far down the street, Frankie strung her fingers through the man’s and tilted her head back so that he could kiss her. Their kiss was playful. It was like watching two happily-in-love tourists who’d come to Nantucket to remind themselves of the joy of their relationship.
Their veggie burgers and fries arrived just as Frankie and the handsome man disappeared around the corner. Ida dug into her burger, but Shelby waited a few seconds, staring down at the burger contemplatively.
“Do you want something else?” Ida asked Shelby. “Are you feeling all right?”
Shelby jumped from her reverie and took a sweet potato fry. “I’m fine. Sorry.” She set her lips into a smile. “My emotions are all over the place right now.”
Malcolm. The business. The stress of the summer. Ida understood.
“You’re going to get through this,” Ida assured her friend. “We both will.”
Shelby’s eyes glinted. “I know you’re right.” She took a bite of a veggie burger and chewed, her eyes on the street. “It has to be all right.”