Chapter 21 #2
When she considered Fred a few rooms away, her stomach sloshed with guilt.
But a moment later, when Jasper called her about the article, she could do nothing but leap up and head inside to take it.
She knew that the Salt Sisters and Shannon were gossiping about her. She’d do the same in their shoes.
“Hey!” she said. “Did you read it?”
“I devoured it,” Jasper said. “It’s about a hundred times better than anything I could have done.”
“That’s not true,” Arietta said, but she couldn’t wipe the smile from her face.
“I’ve already sent it to my editor,” Jasper said. “I know she’s going to love it. But I want to take you out sailing to celebrate. Do you have time this week? Maybe on the Fourth of July?”
Arietta closed her eyes, hesitating. At first she thought, Will Fred be all right?
Then she thought, Will Shannon be all right?
But she knew Shannon would urge her to do things for herself. She knew, too, that if she went back to the veranda and told the Salt Sisters that she’d rejected Jasper’s invitation on his boat, they would never let her forget it.
“All right,” she said, her voice gentle. “Let’s make it happen.”
On the Fourth of July, Arietta donned a white sundress and a big sun hat and slipped into Jasper’s convertible, where he raised his eyebrows, smiled that sensational smile, and said, “Hold on to your hat!” Arietta shrieked with pleasure as he pressed the gas and sped them to the harbor, where his sailboat awaited them.
Although Arietta had been sailing numerous times, she was happy when Jasper suggested she sit down and get comfortable while he brought the boat out.
She allowed herself brief moments of fantasy as she watched his muscles elongating and his massive hands tying the ropes.
Eventually, they were out on the open turquoise waters, whipping past other sailboats as the fabric of their clothes fluttered.
Sometimes Jasper put a hand on her waist to steady her.
Sometimes she reached for his arm to steady herself.
All the while, Arietta’s heart pumped and pumped, and she thought to herself, I’m alive. I’m still here. There is so much left to do and feel.
Eventually, Jasper dropped the anchor, and they unpacked their picnic, snacking on peanuts and cashews and strawberries and sipping champagne.
Jasper removed his shirt and loose pants to reveal a pair of swim trunks beneath, and Arietta eventually removed her dress to reveal her black bikini.
It was a new purchase, something Hilary and Stella had urged her to buy at a boutique yesterday.
It felt revealing and strange to wear something like this in front of Jasper. But it felt exciting, too.
She’d known Jasper for years. She’d never thought of him like this.
And he’d never looked at her the way he looked at her now: as though he were the luckiest man in the world to find her before him.
“Arietta,” he said finally, reaching for the bottle of champagne to top himself off. “Arietta, your article floored me. I didn’t know anyone could do that with words.”
Arietta laughed. “That’s a bit overboard, isn’t it?”
“No. It’s not.” Jasper’s smile melted off. He kept his eyes on hers. Arietta’s stomach flipped. “Did I ever tell you why I got into this subject?”
Arietta realized he never had. Had she told him about her mother?
“When I was growing up,” Jasper said, “my best friend was my grandfather. It’s a little nerdy to admit, but I used to run home from school to play chess with him.
He taught me everything I knew. He told me what books to read.
He told me what to do about girls. I was the first person who noticed he was getting forgetful.
My mother said there was nothing to worry about, but I knew he was different.
I urged my mother to take him to the doctor.
This was almost forty-five years ago. Now, I must have been ten.
There was nothing they could do about his Alzheimer’s, of course.
It was up to us to make him comfortable as he lost days, weeks, months.
Eventually, when he passed, he didn’t know any of our names.
I held his hand till he drifted away. It was the single most important moment of my life.
” Jasper’s eyes glowed. “I knew I had to find a way to stop that from ever happening to anyone else. I don’t know if that will happen in my lifetime.
But with all the writing I’ve done, all the push for societal understanding, I like to believe that I’ve made a small step forward in that field. ”
Arietta’s heart melted. She put her hand on his cheek and watched as he closed his eyes and leaned into her.
“You’re a good person, Jasper,” Arietta whispered.
Jasper didn’t speak for a moment. When he did, his voice broke. “It came for my mother, too,” he said. “Alzheimer’s. And I know it’ll come for me when it’s time.”
“It’ll come for me, too,” Arietta said.
“It feels like a race against time,” Jasper said. “But I’m grateful for the time we’ve been given. I don’t want to waste it.”
“Neither do I.” Arietta moved gently into him, so that she could put her head on his shoulder.
Jasper wrapped his arms around her, and together they sat on the gently shifting sailboat, their eyes closed as they reckoned with the time they’d been given and the time that approached.
Arietta didn’t have the strength to raise her chin and kiss Jasper for the first time.
But somehow, what they were doing felt far more intimate.
It felt like the beginning of something she was too frightened to name.