Chapter 4
Chapter Four
A lice Rice inhaled deeply as she stepped onto the winding path that led along the cliffs overlooking the ocean. The brisk December air filled her lungs, carrying with it the scent of salt and sunshine. She adjusted her cashmere scarf, grateful for its warmth against the chilly breeze coming over the cliffs.
Clouds filled the sky too, and she wouldn’t be surprised if it rained later that day. A smile came to her soul as she thought about being in the warm swimming pool as the cooler rain came down. She’d loved that juxtaposition as a child, and she’d love to time her afternoon pool time with the rain.
Eloise and Robin fell into step beside her, their shoes crunching softly on the well-groomed gravel path. Alice glanced at her two friends, noting how El seemed ready to wait for the confessions she’d requested while Robin’s eyes darted about, taking in every detail of their surroundings.
A twinge of anxiety whipped through Alice as she thought about what she might say. She’d become even closer with Robin and El in the past year, as they all lived in the same stage of life. She didn’t usually love sharing her innermost thoughts, and she excelled at compartmentalizing the emotions and situations in her life, dealing with each one as she must, and then moving on to the next.
But she also knew the importance of reciprocity in friendships, and if she didn’t share with them, they wouldn’t truly know her. They walked in silence, the only sound the distant crash of waves against the rocky shore below. Alice steeled herself, knowing she’d have to go first.
“I think there’s a lookout up here,” Robin said.
“I think you’re right.” El glanced over to her, then to Alice.
“All right,” she said, her voice a touch cross. “I’ll go first, but you owe me.”
“I’ll go first next time,” Robin said, almost over the top of Alice’s last few words.
“Sure.” Alice exhaled mightily and looked past the bare branches to the choppy ocean waves in the distance. The sea seemed angry today, and Alice often felt some of the same boiling, brewing unrest inside her. Especially over her daughter.
“I’m worried about Ginny,” she said. “That’s my confession.”
“Boo,” Robin said. “You can’t say you’re worried about one of your kids as if that’s a surprise.”
Alice looked at her, her eyebrows flying up. “What? Of course I can.”
“I agree with Robin,” El said. “I told you my inn almost killed me this year, and you think you being worried about your daughter is the same?” She gave Alice a bright smile, but that didn’t mean she didn’t want more than what Alice had said.
“Fine.” Alice held her head high as she faced forward again. “She and Bob just met, what? A few months ago?”
“July?” Robin guessed.
“ Late July,” Alice said. “They knew each other less than a month before he moved to Boston.” He attended law school there, and Alice couldn’t fault him for that. “She thinks he’ll propose soon, and she wants to get married in the city.”
She sighed like this was the worst thing possible, and in many ways, Alice actually thought it was. “I’ve met him a couple of times is all, and it feels like…you know what? Full confessional: It feels like I’m losing her in a major way. Losing her to the city. Losing her to a man I don’t know and who I think she barely knows. Losing her to the wealth and influence of her father.”
There. She’d said it all now. Her lungs vibrated with how much she’d said. “I haven’t told anyone this,” she said. “Besides Arthur, so please keep it to yourself.” She gave Robin a pointed look.
Her best friend had the audacity to look shocked. “Who am I going to tell?”
“Mandie,” Alice fired back at her. “Who’ll tell Charlie, and Charlie and Ginny are twins, Robin. They’re very close and always will be. Ginny told me the other day that she hadn’t seen Charlie yet that day, but something kept bothering her. When she finally got him to respond, he’d told her that he’d been pushed getting on the subway and twisted his ankle.”
She looked at El and Robin, hoping they’d get it. “They know when something isn’t right with the other, and you can’t burden Charlie with this. He won’t be able to keep it from Ginny, and I don’t want her to know.”
“Has he said anything about it?” El asked in her timid, delicate voice.
“No.” Alice shook her head, a break in the trees ahead promising a great view of the water below. “I don’t need solutions. We didn’t give you any, El.”
“True.”
They arrived at the lookout, and the three of them faced the vastness of the ocean off the east side of Rocky Ridge. “This is simply incredible,” Alice said. Five Island Cove was the Eastern-most land mass of the United States, and looking east, she wondered if she could see all the way to the United Kingdom.
The crashing of waves reached up the cliffs, almost echoing off the crags and crevices the higher the sound rose.
“I love the ocean,” Robin said.
“That’s not your confession,” El said right back.
They looked at each other, and even Alice smiled. Then all three of them laughed, and some of Alice’s pent-up nerves settled. She’d always worry about her daughter, and she simply wanted the very best for her.
El stepped away from the lookout, and Robin followed, then Alice. She lined up with them again, the path the perfect width for the trio of them to walk side-by-side. Alice imagined what this place would be like in the springtime, with the leaves budding and birds singing.
It definitely possessed its own spirit in the winter too, and Alice had always loved Rocky Ridge.
“My confession is that I’ve got an appointment with a therapist in the New Year,” Robin said.
Alice pulled in an audible breath. “Wow, Robin.” Questions piled up, but that wasn’t really what this walking confessional was about. So Alice kept her voice silent, and if anyone asked a question, it would be Eloise.
“What spurred that?” El finally asked.
The path curved, and Alice, Robin, and El went with it. “I need to work on things with my mom,” Robin said. “And to be honest, I’m struggling with a few things with Mandie as well.” She tossed a look to Alice, who once again said nothing.
She didn’t worry nearly as much about Charlie as she did Ginny. He would do whatever Mandie wanted, and Alice completely understood why Robin was experiencing some nerves with the relationship.
“I’m glad.” Alice put her arm around Robin and gave her a squeeze.
“We should head back,” Robin said, glancing at her watch. “We need to get to the store and get the groceries.”
As they made their way back to the house, gratitude for this walk of confessions and connections with her friends filled her. Arthur did his best to support her and talk through her feelings.
But there was nothing like expressing them to other women, to moms, to her best friends, and Alice prayed she’d always be able to rely on women like Robin and Eloise.
Later that evening, Alice stood before the full-length mirror in the third-floor Andromeda Suite, assessing her outfit for dinner. She smoothed a hand over the deep burgundy silk blouse she’d paired with tailored black trousers, debating whether to add a statement necklace or keep things simple.
“You look beautiful,” Arthur said, coming up behind her and sliding his hand along her hip and around to her belly. “As always.” He smiled at her in the mirror, and leaned in to kiss a spot just below her ear.
“Thank you,” she whispered. She decided against the necklace as Arthur continued into the en suite bathroom to brush his teeth, opting instead for a pair of small diamond studs. “Are you sure you can’t stay longer than the weekend?”
Arthur sighed, adjusting his tie. “I wish I could, but with only two weeks left before the holiday break, I need to be there for the students. We have appointments to go over college scholarship applications, and I’m heading up the study sessions for finals.”
Alice nodded, understanding but still disappointed. She’d cleared her entire caseload for the next three weeks, determined to fully embrace this chance to spend the holidays at a house she didn’t have to clean later. But she knew Arthur’s work as a guidance counselor meant a lot to a many, especially at this time of year.
“I’m glad you’re here now,” she said, giving his hand a squeeze as he rejoined her in the bedroom. The Andromeda Suite had deep, dark blue walls, with a bright white ceiling, baseboards, crown molding, and accessories. A white couch with starry pillows. White curtains. A stark, white bathroom. She almost felt like she’d been transported to the neighboring galaxy, where she existed in deep darkness, looking toward a bright white sun.
“I’ll be here every weekend, sweetheart,” he said. “And you know what? Rocky Ridge is an hour ferry ride from Diamond. I can come every evening.”
“And commute to school in the morning?”
“People do it every day of the year.”
She turned into his arms, feeling much younger than she was when she looked at him. “We fell in love fast, right?”
“Yes.” He always smiled easier than she did, but tonight, he remained straight-faced. “Worried about Ginny?”
“She and Bob will be here next weekend,” she said. “Then all through the holidays. She texted me this afternoon.”
“This is good,” Arthur said gently. “We’ll get to meet him again. Spend more time with him. See how they are together.”
“Yeah.” Alice didn’t want to hold this inside her tonight, so she said, “Breathe with me?”
Arthur took in an exaggerated breath, and Alice tried to fill her lungs from her belly up and up and up, through her ribcage, then her chest, all the way to her throat. Her husband held the air in his lungs, then started to push it out in a slow, controlled hiss.
Alice once again copied him, and by the time the breath ended and her chest, ribcage, lungs, and stomach felt completely devoid of air, she took a normal breath. “All right,” she said. “I’m ready.”
He escorted her out of their suite and down the hall to the small landing living room at the top of the steps on the third floor. With the vastness of the house, the third floor also housed a cozy library, Robin and Duke’s suite, another bedroom, and two of the bunk rooms.
The rooms along the back of the house had balconies, and that included Alice and Arthur’s suite. She couldn’t wait to retreat there with him tonight, a glass of wine in her hand as she let the winter night and her handsome husband further soothe her.
As they made their way down to the grand dining room, a flutter of excitement wound through Alice. The Starlight Manor truly boasted the best of everything, from the tile to the carpet to the paint to the decor. Everyone had arrived throughout the afternoon, and Alice had spent an hour in the kitchen, helping Robin make guacamole and salsa for tonight’s taco bar fiesta.
She simply needed an evening of good food and conversation with her closest friends—and the moment she stepped into the main part of the house, she knew she’d get it.
Someone had turned off all the main lights in the house, creating a mysterious and romantic atmosphere. Twinkling Christmas lights brightened the family room, and another string ran across the top of every window, along the underside of the dining room table, around the entire island in the kitchen, and hung like icicles from the cupboard doors.
“Wow,” Alice breathed. A long, dark-oak table dominated the center of the dining room, set for twenty-four with bright white dishes, red napkins, and loose ball ornaments running down the length of it. Bowls of cheese, guacamole, salsa, and sour cream had been positioned among the Christmas decor, and Alice had never considered condiments to go so well with holiday balls.
Above, the ceiling had been painted to resemble a night sky, and Alice stared, trying to decide if the twinkling lights there were actually electrical or not. “Are those real lights?” she asked, because it sure seemed like they were.
This holiday house was made with magic, and Alice experienced a rush of joy, and joy, and more joy.
“Okay, everyone,” Robin called, and the casual conversations that had broken out calmed into silence. Robin wore a black sweater dress with a clunky, bright red necklace, and she looked like the perfect picture of night sky and Christmas all in one.
“It’s a taco bar tonight,” she said. “There’s a table in the kitchen for the teens, and they’ve volunteered to take the littles too. That’s up to the parents. There are twenty-four spaces at the dining room table, and that’s one per adult, including Lena.” She smiled over to Clara and Scott’s daughter.
“We can squeeze in the boosters if the parents want their kids by them.” She turned and looked at the spread of food on the twelve-foot island. “There’s chicken, steak, and shrimp for the tacos. There should be plenty of food, so no need to push to be first.” She pinned Parker and Jamie with a look. “I’m talking to you teenagers over there.”
“Okay, Mom,” Jamie said, her smile huge.
Nothing could ruin Alice’s mood tonight, and she found herself smiling too. The aroma of spicy chicken and cool avocado filled the air, and her stomach growled.
“Let’s eat.” Robin clapped her hands, and people started to move toward the island. Alice noted they’d all dressed as nicely as she and Arthur had, even the teenagers. Billie carried Asher in her arms, and Laurel followed her with James, with Grace right behind them.
Most of the adults without children stayed out of the way for a few minutes, and that included Alice and Arthur. When she finally had her one chicken taco and her one shrimp taco, she noted that all of her friends had given up their little children to be cared for by the teens.
Lena, who had turned twenty-four this year, sat at the teen table, Heidi right at her side. Alice smiled at Parker, who took care of his baby half-sister, Daphne, and Jamie, Billie, and Grace, who’d taken on Asher and James.
She followed Arthur back into the dining room, where they found seats near the middle of the table. Alice found herself sitting next to Kelli, and she gave her friend a side-hug before she picked up a tortilla chip and brushed it through her guacamole.
“How was the trip from Pearl?” she asked. Going the length of Five Island Cove—from the southern-most island of Bell to the northern-most of Rocky Ridge—was quite the feat.
“It was fine,” Kelli said. “They run the express on the weekends, so we only had to get on once, and we came straight here.”
“Oh, I didn’t realize they’d started up the express again.” The ferry that bypassed the middle islands had been shut down after Labor Day for maintenance and repairs.
“Just last week.” Kelli leaned over her plate and turned her head to take a bite of her steak taco.
“How are things at the studio?” she asked, glancing over to Shad. “With Daphne and everything. Have you found your groove?” Their daughter was only eight months old, and with every change a baby went through, her parents had to adjust too.
“Getting there,” Kelli said, glancing over to her husband. AJ sat next to Shad, and she looked in Alice and AJ’s direction. “Things seem to change every week.”
“Sometimes every day when she wakes up,” Shad said with a smile. He met Kelli’s eyes, and they clearly had some sort of silent conversation Alice wasn’t privvy to.
“Some days I feel like I’m barely keeping my head above water.” Kelli took another bite of her taco while Alice nodded. She’d had two babies at once and a husband who worked in the city. She knew the feeling of drowning on dry ground.
“I can imagine. How’s Parker adjusting to having a little sister?”
Kelli’s expression softened, and she looked into the kitchen through the wide archway. “He’s been amazing, actually. So helpful and patient. I was worried at first, but?—”
“Patient?” AJ’s voice cut in from down the table, her tone sharp. “I thought you said last week that he was acting out and giving you a hard time about babysitting.”
Alice tensed and glanced between Kelli and AJ, noting the way Kelli’s shoulders had stiffened and AJ’s eyes had narrowed.
“He had one bad day,” Kelli replied, her voice tight. “Teenagers are allowed to have mood swings, AJ. It doesn’t mean he’s not generally helpful.”
AJ raised an eyebrow, clearly not about to let this go. The other conversations around her quieted, which only made AJ’s words sound like a shout. “I’m just saying, maybe if you set clearer boundaries and expectations?—”
“And as I’ve told you,” Kelli interrupted, her cheeks flushing. “You don’t have a teenager, and not every child responds well to rigid rules and constant discipline.”
Alice exchanged a worried glance with Arthur, and her gaze instantly sought Robin’s too. “Okay,” Robin started. “El, why don’t you?—?”
“There’s nothing wrong with having structure,” AJ said.
“There’s also nothing wrong with understanding and flexibility,” Kelli shot back.
Alice had no idea how the conversation had spiraled so quickly. And she would’ve never guessed that Kelli and AJ—who’d been best friends forever—would be the two squabbling over how to raise a child. They were part of the “moms group” while Alice, Robin, Maddy, Julia, and Tessa had started having lunches and outings on their own.
Jean, Kelli, AJ, and Laurel had children under the age of three, so it made sense for them to spend more time together. And Jean had her mother and her sister-in-law in the cove, and that created a dynamic group as well.
Of them all, Eloise seemed to fit in the best, and she thankfully raised a spoon and clacked it against her wine glass. “Okay,” she said loudly into the silence. “No one needs to have this conversation right now.”
“I just want everyone to know I’m not too strict with Asher.”
“That’s not what they’re saying,” Matt said, and AJ rounded on her husband, her eyes flashing.
“Well, I’d rather have a well-behaved three-year-old than a rebellious teenager who thinks he can do whatever he wants.”
Kelli sucked in a breath that matched Alice’s. “AJ,” she said. “That’s just uncalled for.”
“This was a bad idea,” Kelli said, her taco now untouched.
“Sweetheart, it’s fine,” Shad said in a soothing voice. AJ and Matt had their heads bent together too, and Alice looked around the table with plenty of helplessness streaming through her. She wanted to say something to smooth all of this over, because she felt like she’d caused a problem by having a conversation with Kelli about her health and wellness studio and her children.
Nothing came to her mind, and Alice couldn’t swallow. She looked at her shrimp taco, her appetite completely gone now.
As smaller, quieter conversations started up again, the lights in the room flickered erratically. The twinkling “stars” on the ceiling flashed on and off, casting eerie shadows across the faces of the stunned dinner guests.
“What on earth?” Alice murmured, her legal mind immediately cataloging the strange occurrence even as a shiver of unease coiled through her.
The flickering intensified, and for one terrible moment, total darkness covered the entire room. Several people gasped, and Arthur’s hand closed protectively over hers.
Then, as abruptly as it had started, the lights stabilized, leaving everyone blinking in the sudden brightness. Well, as bright as stringed Christmas lights could be.
“Is everyone all right?” Kristen’s calm voice cut through the confused murmurs.
“Probably just an old wiring issue,” Robin said quickly, though Alice noted the uncertainty in her friend’s eyes. “This house has been here for generations, after all.”
Gradually, conversations resumed, though they didn’t become as animated as before. Alice couldn’t help but think that the way those lights had flickered…it almost seemed like they’d been responding to the argument, to the vibe in the house.
And she had no idea what to do with that.