Chapter 3. Alice #2
Alice stuffed the magazine back in the bag. “Is this why Finn was upset with you earlier?” she asked. “Did he use your bag?”
James thought for a moment. “No, but Daddy used it yesterday for Finn’s sneakers. He said they were too stinky for the car.” He began crying. “Is he in trouble?”
Alice kissed his wet cheek. “No,” she said. “Go put on your shoes.”
James scampered off, and Alice eyed the magazine again.
Good God. She was mostly confused. Kyle had always insisted porn was against their faith.
She remembered a conversation with her sisters years ago where she had mentioned this, and Cait had laughed, making Alice feel like a total idiot in that way only her older sister knew how to do.
Was she? With their sex life what it was these days, was this what he’d resorted to?
Regardless, she was pissed he’d hidden it in James’s bag of all places.
On her way out to the garage, Alice switched off the lights in the kitchen and asked James to grab the cooler Finn had forgotten, as she didn’t have a spare hand.
In a rush, she flung all their bags, including the duffel with the magazine, onto the passenger seat and headed to her parents’ house.
The snow was now sticking to the ground.
At the Folly, she pulled into the circular driveway behind the caterer’s truck and handed James some bags to take into the house, instructing him not to tell his grandparents about the magazine.
As she unpacked the rest of the car—everything but the duffel, which she left on the front seat—she noticed once again the rotting shingles along the north side of the house.
She could never get a straight answer from her father about what remained of the mortgage they’d taken out to settle the Larkins’ lawsuit.
All she knew was that they were still paying it off, and despite Cait’s occasional financial contributions, her parents struggled to maintain the property.
She’d tried to bring up selling the house, but her parents wouldn’t hear it and her sisters were clueless about what it took to keep a hundred-year-old Victorian up and running.
Anyway, she thought now, where would her parents even go?
Beach cottages in Port Haven these days fetched millions before they even hit the market.
Inside, she found her father snacking on banana bread at the kitchen island.
He was dressed in his beloved argyle sweater vest, probably to make a good impression on Isabel, whom he would meet that afternoon.
A roaring fire made the room warmer than usual.
Alice unzipped her jacket, poured herself a glass of cold water, and gulped it down.
Then she turned to her father and said, “You need to call someone to fix the shingles.”
Robert cut James a slice from the loaf and handed it to him on a paper towel. “Don’t worry about the shingles,” he said. “They’re fine.”
“They’re not fine. And it’s going to start impacting the integrity of the house.”
Her father ignored her and turned to James. “Guess what arrived today!”
“What?” James asked as he took an enormous bite of the banana bread.
“The new Ferris wheel for the amusement park.”
“I want to see it,” James said, and off they went to the basement to play with trains.
Alice made her way to the living room, where she heard her mother laughing. “I’m here,” she singsonged.
“There you are now,” Nora said. She introduced her to Beth, the caterer, who stood nearby with a clipboard.
Alice noted that her mother still limped slightly, despite the new sneakers they’d recently bought her and all the physical therapy.
At least she was using her cane. At just over five feet tall, Nora often felt doctors treated her like a child, and she could be defiant about their directions.
Alice could relate. She had inherited her mother’s small frame.
Alice checked her watch. “You’ve got me for ten minutes. What do you need?”
“Where should we set up the oyster bar for tomorrow?” Beth asked.
“Oyster bar?” Alice said.
“Your sister ordered three dozen Belons.”
You must be kidding me.
Alice glanced at her mother.
Nora shrugged. “It’s just a bit of fun.”
“It’s ostentatious.” Alice turned to Beth. “Sorry.”
Beth held up her hands. “You’re good. I just need to tell the gals where to put it all.” She passed Alice the clipboard. “And for you to approve the invoice.”
Alice put on her glasses. Aside from the turkey, Cait had ordered an additional set of dairy-free sides.
Apparently the evening also required not just two waiters but a bartender, too.
The bill was nearly five thousand dollars.
The number made Alice slightly nauseated, and she leaned on the arm of the leather sofa.
“This costs more than a weekend at Disney World,” she said.
She knew this because it was James’s dream to go to Space Mountain, and she was saving to make that happen. She had about as much money as the raw bar cost.
“What can I say?” Beth said. “Your sister has good taste.”
Nora beamed. “Oh, she does, she does.”
“It’s Thanksgiving, not New Year’s Eve,” Alice said. She turned to Beth. “What about the pies? I don’t see them here.”
“You’re baking the pies,” Nora said. “Didn’t Cait talk to you about making sure at least one is dairy free? Maybe the apple pie with shortening instead of butter?”
“ I’m making the pies?”
“You make them every year.”
“Do I have to shuck the oysters, too?”
Nora tsked. “Don’t be cheeky.”
Alice handed the clipboard back to Beth. “I guess it’s approved,” she said. “You can set everything up by the bay window in the living room.”
Beth nodded. “That’s what your mother suggested.”
Alice followed Nora into her painting studio.
After Topher died, her mother had stopped painting for years.
They never talked about it, but Alice suspected it was a form of penance.
Instead, her mother served as a sacristan for Father Kelly at Saint Mary’s and delivered the Eucharist to the sick and homebound.
Then one day, Alice sensed a new energy at the Folly and discovered her mother painting again.
Something shifted in Alice, too. As Finn grew into a toddler, she missed working and socializing with adults beyond the other mothers she met at the park.
There was a gnawing in her to do something more, and she enrolled in a design class at the local art center.
Alice stood now in the doorway and watched her mother clean her paintbrushes. She checked her watch again. She had five minutes to get to the Hickeys’, but she couldn’t leave without mentioning Maggie’s text from earlier that morning about bringing Isabel home.
“It’s wonderful,” Alice said, and when her mother didn’t respond, she added, “Isn’t it?”
Nora set a brush on the rag to dry. “I’m not sure I know. I haven’t met her yet.”
Alice cocked her head and followed her mother into the kitchen. “And that’s the point. You’ll get to know her.”
“I suppose I will.”
Alice held her mother by the shoulders. “This is important to Maggie,” she said. “You need to make Isabel feel welcome.”
Nora frowned. “I would never make her feel unwelcome.”
“Good.” Alice snatched her keys off the counter. “I’m holding you to that.”
Alice stepped outside and took a breath of fresh air.
The snow felt good against her face, which was sweaty from the fire inside, but almost immediately she was hit with the smell of something—ammonia?
Sulfur? Looking down, she spotted the trail of greenish-brown droppings along the path to the garden.
Damn it. She’d meant to clean the goose poop yesterday but had forgotten.
She was on her way to the Hickeys’ when the smell returned, stirring a disgust in her so intense she gagged and had to pull over.
She opened the car door and tapped the bottom of her boots on the side to scrape off any droppings.
Her body broke out in a cold sweat as she called Georgia to say she’d be a few minutes late.
“David just got here,” Georgia said. “He’s in a rush.”
Alice tried to swallow, but her mouth was dry and sticky. “I’m on my way,” she finally managed.
“Super. We’ll see you soon.”
When Alice arrived at the bungalow, she found Georgia waving for her at the end of her driveway. She lowered her window.
“David wants to meet on Monday,” Georgia said. “He had to get home to cook.” She looked at Alice and tilted her head to the side. “You look a little—” She scrunched her face in that way she did when Alice showed her a fabric she didn’t like.
Alice glanced in the rearview mirror. She was pale, her eyes sunken. Had she seriously not put on lipstick? She must be coming down with something.
“You’re sure?”
“I’m sure. You go take care of yourself, and happy Thanksgiving!”
Alice pulled away, and the nausea settled enough to allow her to grab the groceries for the pies in town.
At a stoplight on her way back, she eyed the magazine peeking out from James’s bag. Maybe Kyle had confiscated it from a student? She thought of Kyle not kissing her that afternoon when he left the house—or ever, it seemed lately—and a surge of anger shot through her.
She turned the car toward Saint Mary’s. At the school, she parked in the bus lane and snatched the cooler and the duffel with the magazine. In the gymnasium, it was halftime of Finn’s game. His team, the Jayhawks, was up against the Golden Eagles from a neighboring town.
Finn waved to her from the court, where he was practicing shots.
She waved back and gestured to the cooler, then sat on the bleachers and hoped she wouldn’t run into anyone she knew.
Kyle stood at the far corner of the court wearing a turkey hat, adjusting the padding on the basketball pole.
When they moved to Port Haven and he became principal, she felt like they were two kids pretending to be adults.
But he was so good at the job that even Father Kelly soon deferred to him on matters beyond his administrative duties. Parents and students alike adored him.
Alice tried to remember the last time they’d had sex.
A few weeks ago. Halloween. She’d made lasagna, and her belly was full from that and the Kit Kats she’d snuck from James’s pumpkin bucket.
But when Kyle placed his hand on her breast, she slid her body beneath his, because it was so rare for him to initiate anything intimate these days.
She’d missed him. It was over within minutes, clothes mostly on. Had they even kissed?
After the Jayhawks won the second-half tip-off, Alice walked over to Kyle and tapped him on the shoulder. “Oh, hey,” he said, turning around. “I didn’t think you were coming.”
“You forgot Finn’s cooler.”
“We have drink boxes.”
“And…” She scanned the room to make sure no one was nearby, then opened the bag an inch or so to let Kyle see the magazine.
He reached inside. “What is it?”
Alice yanked the bag away but quickly flashed him the magazine. “James said you were the last to use the bag.”
Kyle frowned. “That’s not mine.”
Finn stood at the three-point line watching them, an expression of dread on his face. She and Kyle turned to each other at the same time.
Alice’s stomach lurched, and the vomit burst forth so quickly and violently that she barely had time to aim for the bag.