Chapter 2
Far and away on Nantucket Island, Rebecca opened the back door of her place and walked onto the veranda, where she put her arms on the railing and gazed out at the Nantucket Sound.
Waves rolled gently toward her, lapping up on the sand, and the sun beat down upon her, the most delicious of blessings.
Truly, there was so much to look forward to, she reminded herself.
Chad’s wedding was three months away, and it would be another fantastic Nantucket summer of barbecues and bonfires and wine-nights and laughter.
It was another summer without her darling Shelby, yes.
But she would find a way through it, as illogical as that seemed to her. She had to.
Just then, she heard her husband, Ben, calling from the kitchen.
Rebecca turned and hurried back into the house, where she found Ben overseeing a big book of paint samples.
Soon, they would be refurbishing not only the kitchen but also the living room, dining room, and three upstairs bedrooms. “What do you think?” Ben asked, narrowing his eyes as he pointed at three different shades of beige.
“Beige?” Rebecca laughed and kissed his cheek. “Don’t you think we can do better than that?”
“I think it’s a calming and earthy color,” Ben said, spreading his large hands out on the countertop. “I want to enter the kitchen every morning, make a pot of coffee, do my crossword puzzle, and feel at peace with the universe. I think beige can help me get there. You know?”
Rebecca laughed and flipped through the paint samples, searching for something that screamed, “Paint the kitchen this color!”
“I don’t know,” she said. “What about something classic? Ivory white, maybe?”
Ben hummed. “There’s something so clinical about white. I don’t want to feel like our kitchen is a doctor’s office.”
“I don’t know how we ever agree on anything,” Rebecca teased, kissing him.
“We agree about the important things,” Ben reminded her. “Like food. And your dad.”
Rebecca cackled. Her father, Victor Sutton, was someone she loved to pieces. They all did. But he could also be so overwhelmingly arrogant that it was impossible not to grind your teeth with annoyance.
“And baseball,” Ben remembered. “We both love baseball.”
“Is that enough to sustain our marriage?” Rebecca joked. “You should teach a class for Chad and Jenny. I’m sure they’d love your marriage tips.”
“I’ll impart everything they need to know tonight,” Ben said.
Tonight, they were hosting a little Sutton family barbecue right here at the house.
All of the Suttons would be there, save for Shelby, as it was the end of May and all the college-aged kids were home for the summer.
They’d decided on a simple fare of barbecue chicken and burgers, but because Rebecca was a chef, the sauces would be mixed to perfection, and the sides would be exquisite and likely experimental.
Fearing this, Rebecca’s mother, Esme, had called last night and told Rebecca, “I’m going to bring a potato salad and bags of chips.
Not everyone wants haute cuisine, honey.
” Rebecca had laughed, knowing it was true. She couldn’t help herself.
The first Sutton guests to arrive were Rebecca’s two other children, Chad and Lily.
Rather than ever ringing the doorbell, they came storming in, already laughing about something and carrying platters of food—cheese and bread and fruit and wine.
At the sight of them together, getting along so well, Rebecca’s heart swelled.
She threw her arms around them both and ordered them to grab a seat on the veranda. “There’s wine already open!”
Once the glasses were poured, and the four of them were sitting and smiling and basking in one another’s company, Rebecca peppered her children with questions. “Come on, Lily. What’s going on in the world of matchmaking? Have you paired up anyone important lately?”
“Anyone we’d know?” Ben asked.
“You are so nosy!” Lily said. “You know I can’t say who my clients are.”
“Come on,” Chad said. “We won’t tell.”
Lily blushed and giggled. “I do have a previous client who’s about to get married to someone semi-famous, actually…” It was clear Lily meant Chad and Jenny, who were semi-famous in the art world.
“I still can’t believe she said yes,” Chad said, looking miffed.
“Why wouldn’t she have said yes?” Rebecca asked. “You’ve been attached at the hip since your first date.”
Chad raised his shoulders. “It’s like Lily says. She’s an international sensation, and I’m literally just Chad Vance.”
“Come on,” Rebecca said, rolling her eyes.
“I’m your son,” Chad said. “You have to think I’m great, legally.”
“True,” Rebecca said. “But you’re also a brilliant architect in your own right. I don’t think Jenny would have gotten together with just anyone.”
“I knew it would be a match from day one,” Lily said proudly.
Not long after that, Lily’s husband, Mick Hamilton, arrived with their two children, Arianne and Natalia.
They were twins, aged three, and just about the most adorable creatures Rebecca had ever seen.
As they hurried inside, they called out, “Grandma!” until Rebecca bent down and scooped them into her arms. Although Rebecca knew she had at least one other grandchild all the way in Montana, she was grateful to know and love these two little girls here on Nantucket.
Out of the corner of her eye, Rebecca caught Mick drop down to kiss Lily. Ever since they’d gotten together many summers ago, after the dissolution of Lily’s engagement to her ex-boyfriend Liam, Rebecca had adored watching Lily and Mick grow in laughter and love.
She’d always assumed that she would love her children’s spouses. She’d assumed wrong.
Now, Jenny arrived, coming out onto the veranda with a bride’s glow about her. Chad was overjoyed to see her, pouring her a glass of wine before she had a chance to sit down.
“There she is!” Ben announced. “The bride-to-be!”
“It’s all thanks to Lily,” Jenny said, blushing as she glanced at her future sister-in-law. “I was so done with dating! My friend was like, why not try a matchmaker? I almost didn’t.”
“People are resistant to matchmaking,” Lily offered.
“But there’s an art form to it,” Rebecca chimed in, smiling, although she felt a swell of sorrow. Why couldn’t Lily find someone better suited for Shelby? Why had they all failed her?
Soon, the entire veranda and beach were full of Suttons. Esme and Victor arrived, both looking suntanned and happy after a full day out on Victor’s sailboat. Esme bent to play with her great-granddaughters on the sand, and her laughter rang out across the waves.
“Kade’s on his way,” Victor announced, setting down a bottle of wine.
“Our new high school graduate!” Bethany said. She was off to the side, trying to scrub the hands of her youngest child, now five, who had gotten into something sticky.
“He’s quite an adult now,” Victor said, a touch of sorrow to his voice.
Rebecca remembered that Kade was eleven when her father became his therapist. Because of Kade’s heinous living conditions at the time, and because he was mostly alone in the world, Victor and Esme had taken him in, and after enough time passed, they’d fully fallen for him and adopted him.
Very soon after that, Kade had changed his last name to Sutton, and now, he was officially one of the family.
Rebecca knew this had been an essential “fresh start” for her parents, especially as Esme and Victor had spent so many years apart.
Decades. It was hard for Rebecca to fathom, sometimes.
Her life in Maine was often hard for her to reckon with, as well. But it had happened. Her first marriage had happened. Her husband had—horrifically, terribly, life-alteringly—died.
Don’t think about that now, Rebecca told herself, fixing a smile on her face.
It was time to eat. Rebecca ushered everyone to the long table, where Ben and the other guys kept bringing grilled chicken and burgers.
There were salads, soups, cheeses, and gorgeous French appetizers stuffed with goat cheese and spices.
Everyone piled their plates high and refilled their glasses with wine, soda, and sparkling water.
There wasn’t a moment of silence, not for at least two hours, as everyone ate and told stories and watched the sun drop into the ocean.
After a wonderful barbecue feast, Rebecca told everyone to forget about cleaning up and enjoy themselves.
She sat at the table with her sisters, Bethany and Valerie, and her mother, Esme, watching as their family strolled out along the beach in the coming twilight, making sandcastles and putting their feet in the water.
Esme reached over to refill everyone’s glasses with wine, smiling mischievously.
“You don’t have surgery tomorrow, do you, Bethany?” Esme asked.
“I’m free.” Bethany laughed. “But that doesn’t mean I need that much wine.”
“You’ll be fine. It isn’t so much, is it?” Esme smiled. “And Valerie? How’s planning Chad’s wedding going?”
“Jenny has a vision,” Valerie said, her eyes narrow as she watched her son August running down the beach alongside his cousins and father Alex. “Working with an artist on their wedding is always more challenging for me, but also more exciting. It will come together, but I’ll have to hustle.”
“She’s really something,” Esme said as, about a hundred feet away, Jenny sidled up to Chad and took his hand.
“How is it going between you?” Bethany asked Rebecca.
“I think we’re friends,” Rebecca said, her heart spiking with adrenaline.
“It was hard. When she first came into our lives, I don’t know if I was totally receptive to someone new.
” She stalled, remembering that she’d struggled to connect with Jenny, if only because her heart had been so battered after everything that had happened with Shelby.
“But now, we meet just the two of us every month or so. I’m so grateful she wants to live and work on Nantucket. ”
Rebecca wasn’t sure what she would have said if Jenny had wanted to steal Chad away.
“You’ll know their kids,” Esme said, smiling. “When they have them.”
“I worry about this with August,” Valerie said, her voice small. “Alex and I were wild at heart, you know? I worry that August will inherit that and want to get out of here.”
They were quiet for a moment, reflecting on their lives.
“Then again,” Valerie offered, “it was good that we all left, so we could come back.”
“Everything happened the way it was supposed to,” Bethany offered, before dropping her gaze and muttering, “Well, not everything.”
“It’s all right,” Rebecca assured them, trying to lighten the mood.
There was a moment of quiet. Bethany cleared her throat.
“You haven’t tried to reach out to her lately, have you?” Bethany asked.
Rebecca knew she was talking about Shelby.
“It’s been about three months, I guess,” Rebecca said. “Nobody answered the phone, and nobody answered my letters.”
Valerie nodded sadly.
“I can’t help but picture them out on that mountain, up against the elements,” Esme breathed, her eyes lost. “I hope she knows what she’s doing. I hope she feels safe.”