Chapter 34
Then
iris
The storm had passed by the time Jesse finally came home at two in the morning. Iris heard him moving around the kitchen downstairs, the sound of drawers quietly opening and closing, a muffled curse as he dropped something and it clattered on the counter.
She’d been awake anyway, unable to sleep for worrying about Mac and Amy. Iris knew her sister: Amy would try to wait things out, hoping Mac’s fling was a one-off. But at what cost to her sanity and peace of mind? And suppose it wasn’t just a fling? Suppose it was a full-on affair?
Maybe Jesse knew what was going on. He and Mac had always been close; if Mac was going to confide in anyone, it’d be Jesse.
Iris waited for a few minutes, but her husband didn’t come up to bed.
She guessed he’d gone to his study, where he was probably sitting morosely at his desk and nursing a tumbler of whisky.
Something had been troubling him for a while now, though whenever she tried to get him to talk to her, he just told her he was tired. Sometimes he and Finn were so alike.
She flipped back the covers and reached for her silk dressing gown, knotting it at her waist as she went downstairs.
Her husband’s study door was closed. Iris tapped gently on it, and then let herself in.
He was sitting in the vintage Eames office chair he’d paid far too much for at auction, his head tipped back, the glass of whisky in his hand. He’d loosened his tie, but he hadn’t taken off his jacket.
‘You must be exhausted,’ she said, leaning against the doorway.
He straightened his head. ‘It’s been a long one.’
‘Can I do anything?’
‘Go back to bed. I’ll be up in a bit.’
She stayed where she was. ‘Did you touch base with Mac today?’
‘Yeah. He called about the Chris-Craft. One of the panels on the roof came down in the storm and hit her, but it’s just superficial damage.’ He rolled the glass of whisky in his hands. ‘Mac reckons it’ll take half a day to fix, that’s all.’
‘Everything else OK?’
Was it her imagination, or did he hesitate before replying?
‘Yep. Marina got off pretty lightly.’
‘Amy’s been worried,’ Iris said. ‘She didn’t hear from him tonight.’
‘He’s spending the night at the marina, in case the wind picks up again.’ Jesse knocked back the rest of his whisky. ‘Cell service has been pretty spotty down there. I’m sure he’ll check in with her when he can.’
‘I’m sure he will.’
Jesse passed the empty tumbler back and forth between his hands, his tell whenever he was anxious. He might be ethically challenged when it came to business, but he’d never been able to lie to her, even by omission.
‘I’m thinking about selling the WaveRunners,’ he said suddenly. ‘What with Finn going off to college, Rose isn’t going to take them out on her own. And we’ve got the boat now.’
Jesse had bought the pair of expensive jet skis just last year, riding roughshod over her protests that they were flashy, dangerous, and an environmentally unsound waste of money. In theory they’d been for the kids, but Mac and Jesse had used them far more than either Finn or Rose.
She had no idea why he wanted to get rid of them now, just as summer was upon them, but clearly something was chapping his ass. It couldn’t be money, not when he’d just spent a fortune on the ludicrous Chris-Craft. So what was it?
‘OK,’ was all she said.
‘And there’s the environmental impact to think of,’ Jesse added.
You just spent over three hundred thousand dollars on a gas-guzzling speedboat.
‘OK,’ she said again.
‘Did you read about the cyanobacteria blooms out near Shelburne?’ he said. ‘I was listening to NPR yesterday. They said there’s been a cluster of ALS cases in people living near the water. D’you think swimming in the lake could be making them sick?’
‘I think you should come up to bed,’ Iris said. ‘It’s after two.’
He nodded. ‘Right, right. I’ll be right there.’
He sank his chin onto his chest and didn’t move.
Iris felt a powerful tug of affection for this man-child who’d picked her up and put her back on her feet and never once asked for anything but that she let him love her.
She started to massage his shoulders, digging her fingers deep into the tight muscle.
Jesse groaned, tilting his head left and then right, stretching his neck until she heard the pop of his vertebrae as they released.
‘It’ll be OK,’ she said. ‘You just need to get some sleep. You’ll be able to think more clearly in the morning.’
‘I’ll sort everything out then,’ he said.
‘And it’s the weekend tomorrow.’
She felt him finally relax under her hands. ‘Maybe we can just have a quiet one,’ he said. ‘Catch up on some comfort TV. There’s a new season of that British detective show we haven’t seen.’
‘Sounds good.’
‘You could make your famous mac ’n’ cheese.’
She laughed. ‘Let’s plan that for Sunday. The kids’ll be tired after prom tonight. I’m sure they’ll be happy to chill out on the sofa in a carb coma.’
His muscles tensed. ‘Right. Prom.’
‘Rose is so excited. You should see how lovely she looks in—’
‘Actually, I’m not sure I’m going to make it to prom,’ Jesse interrupted.
For a second, Iris was too stunned to speak.
‘Something’s come up,’ he said. ‘I don’t know if I’ll be able to get back in time. Don’t look at me like that,’ he added irritably. ‘The school doesn’t need me to be there. There’s enough staff and faculty to keep an eye.’
‘You’re on the prom committee,’ Iris said. ‘You’ve been working on this for months. You’re the one who persuaded Amy to have it on the Lady. What the hell else do you suddenly need to be doing on a Saturday night?’
They stared at each other.
She’d broken their golden rule.
Don’t ask, don’t tell.
In all the years they’d been together, Iris had never once held her husband to account. She didn’t ask him about his business, and he didn’t tell her anything she didn’t need to know. She trusted in his essential decency; he’d never do anything wrong, even if his decisions weren’t always right.
But there were limits to her patience. Her son would never admit it, but Finn would be devastated if the man he thought of as his father wasn’t there on the biggest night of his life.
And this was the most important event of Amy’s year: prom and graduation weekend were always a school highlight, but having it on the Lady upped the ante exponentially, and of course Nicky was graduating, too.
Amy needed Jesse’s support – how would it look if one of the loudest voices pushing for prom to be on the boat didn’t even bother to turn up?
There were times when work was all-important, and times when family had to come first.
Jesse looked away. ‘I told you. I’ve got a lot going on.’
‘This isn’t just your job. It’s your son’s senior prom,’ Iris said furiously.
He rubbed his hand across his face. ‘OK, OK. Let me see what I can do. Maybe I can shift a few things around. I’ll talk to Colt—’
‘Colt?’ Iris said.
She’d never really warmed to Amy’s father-in-law. As the owner of the Maple Sweet Brewery, he held the livelihoods of at least half the town in his hands, and took full advantage of the power this afforded him.
She knew Colt Smith had put Jesse in the mayor’s office for a reason. Planning applications waved through, a blind eye when it came to breaches of code.
But this was something more.
She could read her husband like a book.
It wasn’t guilt or embarrassment she saw in his eyes now.
It was fear.