Chapter 2 #2
He surprised and charmed her when he kissed the back of her hand. “My pleasure. I hope you enjoy your stay on the island.”
She noticed a shiny gold wedding ring on his left hand. Too bad. Otherwise, she might’ve asked if he wanted to get a drink. The man was too handsome—and charming—for her own good. “I’m sure I will. It’s my favorite place in the world.”
“Aye, mine, too. Hope to see you around town.”
“Hope so. Take care.” She went down two flights of metal stairs to get into the black SUV she’d rented for a month.
As always, it took about ten minutes after docking before the cars toward the front of the ferry started rolling off the boat.
Usually, the ferry landing was a madhouse of people and bikes and strollers and cars and forklifts and frenetic activity. Today, she drove into a ghost town.
The difference between summer Gansett and winter Gansett was…
day and night. For the first time since she’d hatched the plan to come to the island, she experienced the tiniest bit of concern about being here alone during the winter.
She’d promised her grandmother she’d check in daily in exchange for Gran turning on the cable and internet service.
Some things a girl shouldn’t have to do without.
HGTV, Netflix and Instagram were at the top of her must-have list, along with the food she stopped to pick up at the island market, which was also deserted.
The woman working the cash register was reading a book with her feet up on the checkout counter when Nikki walked in.
“Hey,” she said. “We’re closing in twenty minutes.”
“I’ll be quick.” She moved swiftly through the store, putting the essentials in her basket—soy milk, which she was always surprised to find on the island, granola, yogurt, salad fixings, deli turkey, chicken breasts and Fritos.
They counted as a necessity, as did the M&M’s and the tabloid magazines she snagged at checkout.
This is a vacation, she told herself, thus the need for some reading material.
“Wait one second,” she said, moving to the rack that held paperback books.
She picked up a couple of romances and a thriller that was being made into a movie and added them to her order.
Oddly enough, she sometimes preferred paperbacks when she was on Gansett.
Netflix, books and Fritos. What else did she need to be happy?
Her camera, which was never far from her side.
After receiving her first thirty-five-millimeter camera from her dad at Christmas when she was thirteen, Nikki had been hooked.
She never felt more inspired to take pictures than she did on Gansett, where the rugged scenery and ocean views provided an endless tableau to explore.
Suddenly, she was excited again. Tomorrow, she’d get outside, take some pictures and get back to doing the things she loved.
While she’d been busy putting out Jordan’s fires, she’d had little time for herself.
Now she had nothing but time, and as she headed toward Eastward Look, her grandmother’s comfortable oceanfront home, Nikki couldn’t wait to be completely alone.
After work, Riley showered and shaved and put on a flannel shirt with good jeans, classified as such because he’d never worn them to work. He even put on a tiny bit of cologne. One never knew when one might meet someone special. It was best to be prepared.
“You done primping, pretty boy?” Finn called to him. “Let’s go already!”
“Showering doesn’t count as primping,” Riley informed his brother. “And tomorrow, we’re cleaning this house.”
“Shut up, Dad.”
“Seriously, Finn, it’s disgusting. We haven’t cleaned once since Dad moved out two months ago.”
“You can clean. I plan to sleep all day.”
“You’re helping me.” Riley stepped over a pile of dirty clothes in the living room. “Most of the mess is yours.”
“Life is too short to clean.”
“Your life will be shorter if you don’t clean that bathroom, because I will kill you and bury what’s left of you in the backyard. You got me?”
“Whatever. Can we drink now?”
“I mean it, Finn! This place is gross, and it’s freaking me out.”
“Fine. Tomorrow we’ll clean, but tonight we drink. Yes?”
Riley rolled his eyes at the brother who was two years younger than he was and pushed past him, taking a bottle of water from a fridge full of science experiments.
Their father would flip his lid if he could see the condition of the house where the three of them had lived until their dad moved in with his fiancée, Chelsea.
The two of them were trying to have a baby, which meant his sons saw much less of him than they had during the year they’d lived together in the small three-bedroom house. It’d been spotless on their dad’s watch, but since he left, things had gone rapidly downhill.
While Finn drove them into town, Riley guzzled the water that would keep him from being hungover tomorrow. “Who else is going?”
“I told Mac, and he was interested. He said he’d see if Maddie minded if he went out, and he was going to tell the others. I guess we’ll see.”
“Having a wife seems an awful lot like having a mother,” Riley said.
“Only with regular sex.”
Riley choked on his water. “Shut the fuck up,” he sputtered, wiping water off his chin. “Oh my God, you’re disgusting.”
Finn howled with laughter.
“Don’t put those images in my head.”
“Speaking of Mom…”
Riley groaned. “Stop!”
“Seriously, have you talked to her lately?”
“Not in a few weeks. You?”
“Nada. She’s been noticeably absent since she came to visit. I think she was really bummed—and surprised—that Dad is so serious about Chelsea.”
“Why should she be either of those things? She’s the one who left him. And Dad’s a good guy. Did she think he’d be alone for the rest of his life?”
“Who knows what she was thinking?” After a pause, Finn said, “Do you think she has regrets?”
“Of course she does. That was obvious when she was here. Dad was right to shut her down and not let her rehash it all. What does it matter now?”
“You sound like you’re still really pissed with her.”
Was he? He hadn’t given it much thought, but then again, he tried not to think too much about his mother or the way she’d chosen to end a thirty-year marriage.
“Are you?” Finn asked, glancing at him. “Pissed with her?”
“I don’t know. Maybe a little. I just think the way she went about it was shitty. If you want out, get a divorce, but taking off with a younger guy and humiliating your husband of thirty years, who is a good guy? It’s just kinda…”
“Sordid?”
“Among other things. I’m so glad we aren’t still living in Westport, where the whole town knows what she did. I can’t believe she’s still there.”
“Being there would be hideous with everyone knowing that.”
“Definitely.” Riley had stayed far away from social media since his mother had left his father. He had no desire to know what the people at home were saying about his family.
“Why are we talking about this shit anyway?” Finn asked as he hung a left into the parking lot behind the Beachcomber.
“Because you wanted to talk about having regular sex with your mother.”
“Shut the fuck up,” Finn said, laughing. “I never said that.”
The lot, which would be full in the summer, had about five cars, one of them belonging to Chelsea and another to their father, Kevin.
“Looks like the old man’s in residence,” Riley said.
“As usual when Chelsea’s working. Let’s go see what he’s up to.”
Wind whipping off the water smacked his face as Riley ran after Finn, up the back stairs to the iconic white hotel that anchored Gansett’s downtown, if you could call a collection of hotels, restaurants and stores a “downtown.” They walked into the bar, where their dad was sitting with two other guys while Chelsea tended bar.
“Hey!” At the sight of them, Kevin McCarthy’s handsome face lit up with a huge smile.
His obvious adoration of them used to mortify his sons when they were younger.
Now they knew to expect it—and had come to appreciate his unwavering devotion.
“It’s my boys. Riley, Finn, you know Shannon O’Grady, and I don’t think you’ve met Niall Fitzgerald.
These two blokes have nearly got me talked into a trip to Ireland. ”
“Nice to meet you.” Riley shook hands with Niall as Finn followed suit. “And good to see you again, Shannon.”
“Likewise,” Shannon said.
“What’re you guys up to tonight?” Kevin asked.
“Same as you—beer and food,” Finn said. “In that order.”
“Join us,” Kevin said as Shannon and Niall moved over to make room for them.
“Hey, guys,” Chelsea said, smiling as she came over to greet them. “Good to see you. Can I get you the usual?”
“Works for me,” Finn said, bellying up to the bar on the other side of Kevin.
“Me, too,” Riley said. “Thanks, Chelsea.” Riley liked the woman his father had fallen for, but sometimes it was still strange to see him with someone other than their mother. Over the past year, he and Finn had mostly gotten used to the two of them together.
Chelsea put a bottle of Bud in front of Finn and an Amstel Light in front of Riley.
“Does that stuff even count as beer?” Finn asked, as he always did.
Riley ignored him—as he always did—and took a healthy drink from his bottle.
“Are you guys eating?” Chelsea asked.
“Yes, ma’am,” Finn said. “I’ll have a bowl of chowder and a cheeseburger with everything, please.”
“I’ll have the same, but make mine—”
“Plain,” Kevin, Chelsea and Finn said together.
“One burger, no gaggers, coming right up,” Chelsea said, using his favorite word to describe the gross shit everyone else seemed to put all over their food.
Riley made a face at them. So sue me, he thought. I don’t like my burger loaded down with crap. “That word is trademarked.”
“We’re just messing with ya,” Kevin said, nudging Riley with his shoulder. “You know that.”
“I know.” Riley focused on his beer, depressed to realize that it didn’t matter if he was at home or out. He still felt shitty.