Chapter Eighteen
LARA HAS MADE plans to meet Jill for lunch at Bistro Maurice, a fashionable French bistro near the gallery where Jill works.
It’s Wednesday, three days since the sailing accident, and she hasn’t seen Jill since the morning after it happened, when Jill looked so shaken.
Lara has only spoken to her briefly on the phone.
She wants to make sure Jill’s okay. It’s probably a good sign that she has gone back to work.
She arrives at the restaurant a few minutes early, so that she can order a prosecco before Jill arrives.
As she waits, she remembers how she and Jill met, in college.
They had been in the same dorm in their first year and had become close friends.
As far as she knows, she is the only one who was privy to Jill’s youthful thoughts about how it was easier to fall in love with a rich man than a poor one.
That it had been an actual goal. Years later, when she’d successfully singled out Ted, she’d taken pains to assure Lara that it was the real thing.
She was in love, and money had nothing to do with it.
Lara had also married money, and she loved her husband too, so it’s not like she would ever say anything.
The trouble with money, Lara thinks, is that sometimes it seems like the more you have the more you want. You never think you have enough. It’s like a sickness.
She spots Jill winding her way through the tables toward her. Jill looks as beautiful as ever in a Tom Ford dress as she greets her and sits down. The nerves of the other day appear to have vanished.
‘Jill,’ she says. ‘You’re looking better.’
‘Thanks. I’m feeling better. What are you drinking, prosecco?’
‘Yes.’
‘I’ll get some too,’ she says, waving the waiter over. That done, they settle in to talk.
‘How are you doing? How’s Ted?’ Lara begins.
At the mention of Ted, Jill’s face falls. ‘Not good.’ She leans forward and lowers her voice a little. ‘He’s really struggling with what happened. He’s not sleeping well. He keeps thinking about it, dreaming about it.’
Lara tuts sympathetically, feels her face mirror her friend’s concern.
‘I’ve suggested that he talk to someone,’ Jill says, ‘but you know Ted, he’s a very private person. Stiff upper lip and all that.’
‘Then you will have to be his rock,’ Lara says, taking a gulp of her prosecco. ‘He’ll get over it in time, as long as he has you.’ She puts her glass down. ‘And how are you managing?’
Jill smiles ruefully and turns thoughtful.
‘I don’t know. It still doesn’t seem real.
We could have died. Ted has lost his brother – he has no family left.
’ She pauses. ‘But it’s made me realize how important it is to live every day to the fullest, because you just never know, do you, when your number is up.
I mean, either one of us could be hit by a car on our way home today or get diagnosed with something horrible next week. ’
‘Now you’re making me depressed,’ Lara says.
‘Sorry!’ Jill gives a little laugh. ‘It was just kind of a wake-up call, you know? Things can change so quickly.’
‘I don’t know about Ted, but you have always been resilient,’ Lara says. ‘You’re one of the strongest people I know. I’ve always admired you for that. You’ll get through this.’
Jill looks back at her over the rim of her glass. ‘Thanks. We’d better order,’ she says.
They both choose the lobster salad. As the waiter retreats with the menus, Lara asks, ‘What happens next? Will there be an inquest?’
‘No, apparently not. There’s no body. And it happened almost ten miles out at sea, so it’s just the Coast Guard that’s involved. They’re doing an accident investigation – that’s what the Coast Guard people told us.’
When their salads arrive, Jill tells her that Greg’s attorneys are going to start the process of having Greg declared legally dead so that they can get on with administering the estate.
She explains, delicately, that there will be no delay because of not having the body, because of the manner of Greg’s death and the fruitless search.
Lara finally asks, casually, through a mouthful of lobster, ‘And who gets the estate, in the end?’
‘Oh,’ Jill says, equally casual. ‘It mostly goes to Ted, although a significant amount goes to Mount Sinai – the hospital that treated their mother for cancer.’ She takes on a regretful expression.
‘The lawyers asked to see us yesterday. Poor Ted. He had no idea. It’s bad enough that Greg is dead, but now he’s getting most of his money, and I think it makes him feel guilty. ’
Poor Ted, Lara thinks acidly, watching her friend. Despite Jill’s regretful expression, Lara can tell how thrilled she is about it. She’s not that great an actress.
‘Enough about me and Ted,’ Jill says. ‘What’s new with you?’
Jill returns to the gallery after her lunch with Lara, reviewing their conversation in her mind.
Lara had a bit of an edge to her today, Jill decides.
But then, maybe she would too, if Ben and Lara had just inherited millions.
No need to let her oldest and best friend know that half of it is locked away in a trust. None of her business.
She and Lara understand one another. They’ve been friends since they were practically kids, just eighteen years old, sharing everything.
Jill thinks a little uneasily about how they would sit in their pyjamas in each other’s dorm room, talking and laughing about how they planned to marry money.
Lighthearted, childish talk. But they’d both meant it.
She’s never had to worry about Lara telling Ted about that because she could level the same accusation at Lara.
Fortunately, Lara had married first, and Jill had held her tongue.
But now Jill recalls their lunch. Was she right to say that Ted was struggling?
Had she laid it on a little thick? Ted has been sleeping just fine.
Why did she tell Lara that he’s not sleeping and having bad dreams?
She realizes it was because she’d instinctively felt the need to steer Lara away from any suspicion.
Because if anyone would suspect the truth, it would be Lara.
So she was pretending. They were both pretending.
Jill was pretending they were upset about Greg’s death, that it wasn’t the best thing that had ever happened to them, and Lara was pretending that she didn’t mind at all about their inheriting so much money.
Because she’s obviously not happy about it.
How dishonest people are, Jill thinks.