Chapter Eighteen
Kit had gone back to the inn, showered, and fallen asleep across the bed almost as soon as she stretched out.
The ringing of her phone woke her. She checked the time before answering: nine p.m. on the nose. Russ’s retirement party must’ve been in full swing, and Ned would be calling to FaceTime. She shook herself awake and tried to put on an alive and awake face.
“Hi, Ned. I’m so happy to see you.”
“Thanks, Mom. Happy to see you, too.” Ned smiled. “Are you still under house arrest?”
Kit laughed. “I think I’ve been granted a reprieve. I’m back at the inn now. How’s the party going?”
“See for yourself.” He panned the room with his phone.
“Wow, that looks like quite the crowd.”
“Yeah, the place is packed. Everyone’s asking for you,” he said as he continued the tour of the room. “Seems like a lot of people I don’t know, though. I didn’t realize the firm had grown so much over the years.”
“It’s grown some.” Kit watched the screen carefully as Ned slowly moved the camera around the room. “Looks like everyone’s having a good time.”
“Oh, yeah, it’s a good crowd. Oh, Abby’s turn.” Ned handed his phone to Abby.
“Mom, you’re missing a good party,” Abby told her.
“It looks like it.” Kit leaned closer to her phone. “Ned’s right, though. I see a lot of unfamiliar faces.”
“Oh, they’re probably Dad’s friends from his bike group,” Abby told her.
“His bike group?”
“Dad said he’d joined this group that go on bike treks, and he invited them to come tonight. I think that’s probably who you’re looking at.” Abby focused the camera on Russ, then quickly moved it.
“Wait, go back. Who was that with your father?” Kit squinted at the small screen. “The woman in the green top.”
“Um, I’m not sure.”
“Abigail, you’re muttering.”
“I’m not sure. I mean, Dad did introduce me, but I forget her name. She’s one of the bikers.”
“Has she been hanging on your father like that all night?”
“Um, I—well, sort of. But I haven’t been watching him all night, so I’m not sure.” Abby was clearly flustered. “Oh, wait, Dad’s going to give his speech now.”
Kit heard the cry from the crowd. “Speech! Speech!”
“Okay, thanks, thanks, everyone.” Russ stood at the head of the group that gathered around him. Abby moved in closer so Kit could hear.
“First, I want to thank you all for coming tonight. This is a very special night for me. Two of the most important dates in a man’s work life are the day he begins his job and the day he leaves it.
You think you’ll be prepared, but somehow, you’re not.
My colleagues, we’ve been through a lot together over the years”—Kit could hear groans along with a few laughs—“but we’ve faced every crisis and every challenge, and every time, we’ve come out on top.
I’m hoping my retirement life is as satisfying and as successful as my professional life has been. ”
Kit heard some scattered applause and a few whistles before he continued.
“As to what comes next—well, I’ve been saving this as a surprise for my wife, who unfortunately is in Maine taking care of some ‘family business.’”
Had he really made air quotes and rolled his eyes? Had Kit imagined that touch of sarcasm or had she imagined both?
“But I see my daughter has Kit on the line”—Russ paused to wave, presumably to Kit—“so she’ll be hearing this for the first time, same as you all.”
Someone in the crowd said, “Uh-oh,” and the remark was followed by laughter.
Russ waited until the laughter stopped, then continued.
“For years, it’s been my dream to see Europe the way I believe it was meant to be seen: slowly and mindfully.
I have researched those places I most want to experience, and I will be leaving soon for a tour of Italy, France, and Germany.
I will be traveling by bicycle most of the way and will be walking as much as my itinerary permits. ”
“Sleeping under the stars, too?” someone called out, and the group laughed again.
Russ chuckled. “Ah, no. God invented the five-star hotel and the upscale B and B for a reason. No, I have very carefully charted my course to go through the towns and cities and cultural sites I’ve been reading about, and I can honestly say I’ve never been more excited about anything in my life.”
“Did you say Mom doesn’t know about this?” Kit heard Abby say.
“I suspect she does now.” Russ turned in her direction and smiled at the camera.
Was that a smirk? Kit silently asked Abby to move closer to her father.
Russ took two pieces of paper out of his shirt pocket and waved them in Abby’s direction.
“Two tickets to Venice, right here. What do you say, Kit?”
Was he slurring his words? Had Kit ever heard her husband slur?
“I’m a yes if she’s a no.” Kit heard someone in the crowd loud and clear, but she couldn’t tell who’d made the comment. The woman’s voice was drowned out by more laughter.
“If anyone in the bike club is interested in coming along for all or part of the way, I’d be happy to send you my itinerary.”
“How long will you be gadding about Europe?” Kit recognized the voice of one of Russ’s longtime coworkers.
“So far, my reservations stretch eight weeks, but I could extend them. So I guess the real answer is, until I’m done and ready to come home, whenever that may be.” Russ looked over at his son and his daughter, who’d moved to her brother’s side. “You’re welcome to come along as well.”
“I have a job,” Ned reminded him.
“And I need one,” Abby said. “Plus I have a two-year-old. I’m guessing your plans don’t include a toddler.”
Russ shrugged. “So it’ll be the old-folks tour.”
He turned back to Ned’s phone. “Get out your hiking boots, Kit. Oh, right. You don’t have hiking boots.
And you haven’t ridden a bike in years. Guess it’s time for a trip to an outfitters for you.
I know you’ll enjoy that, much as you love to shop.
Get yourself home and get back on that bike.
You’re going to have to get in shape to keep up with me.
” He turned back to the crowd. “I want to thank the firm for hiring me way back when and for permitting me to go along on the journey we’ve been on together.
It’s been a wonderful ride, and I’m grateful to have been a part of it.
” He raised his glass and there were cheers of “To Russ!” and “Hear! Hear!”
When the toasting was done, he stepped away to applause. Kit watched as Russ’s friends gathered around him, patting him on the back and talking loudly.
Ned looked into the screen and said, “Love you, Mama,” then took the phone from Abby and dropped it into his pocket.
Before she’d even had time to process everything she’d just heard and seen, Kit’s phone rang.
“Sorry. Ned’s battery was dying. Are you okay?” Abby sounded breathless.
“I’m in shock, frankly. I don’t know what to say,” Kit told her calmly, even as her anger grew by the minute.
“Dad never told you he wanted to take off for a few months and bum around Europe like an eighteen-year-old?”
“No.” Kit paused. “Has your father been drinking?”
“Yeah, everyone from the office has been buying him drinks. He looks a little glassy-eyed. It’s weird. I’ve never seen him drunk before.”
“I have, but it was a very long time ago.”
“This whole evening has been strange. Dad was wrong not to tell you he was planning this open-ended trip. He was wrong not to include you in his plans, and he’s wrong to make it public that you didn’t know.
It’s as if he’s—I don’t know, challenging you or something.
I hate that he did this.” Abby sounded like she was close to tears. “I wish you were here, Mom.”
“I tried to be. Regardless of what your father believes, I honestly did.” Kit sat on the wide windowsill in her room at the inn, tapping her foot on the floor and trying to contain her temper.
“He thinks I was just looking for an excuse to not come back for tonight, and nothing could be further from the truth. I had my ticket to fly back last night and to come back here on Sunday so I can finish things here.”
“Yeah, I think you’re right. I think he believes you blew it off. He said something to Ned, like, ‘Well, at least my kids cared enough to show up.’”
“That was mean of him.” Kit took a deep breath to refrain from saying what she really felt.
She’d always made it a point to never criticize her husband in front of their children.
That resolve was slowly eroding. Still, she felt the need to be civil while speaking with Abby, who’d obviously been confused by what she’d seen and heard that evening.
“I guess I’ll be talking to him soon enough. ”
“I’m sorry, Mom. I don’t know what else to say.” Abby paused. “What are you going to do?”
“I don’t know.”
There was no going back to sleep after Kit disconnected the call.
She was so angry with Russ for springing this trip on her, and angry at the woman who was hanging on Russ’s arm.
She was angry with herself for not being the woman who showed up for him, and angry with him for permitting someone else to slide into her place.
Was the other woman a prop he’d used to make her jealous, or someone who’d made a place for herself in Russ’s life?
Kit didn’t know, and she wasn’t sure how she was going to find out when she was hundreds of miles away.
Unless she asked him point blank—which, yes, she would do as soon as she spoke with him.
And she wasn’t sure how she felt about all that. Except infuriated that he’d sprung the trip on her.
Kit thought she’d be hearing from Russ after the party ended and he got home, but her phone did not ring.
With every passing hour, her anger grew.
She was loaded for bear, as her father used to say when he was angry with someone and ready to confront them without hesitation or constraints.
She lay awake for hours thinking of everything she was going to say to him, but he didn’t call until the following morning before she’d left the inn.
“Russ. Nice of you to call.”
“Could you have waited just a few seconds before getting pissy, Kit?”
“All right.” She paused. “Was that long enough?”
Russ sighed heavily. “Okay, I know you heard my announcement last night, so go ahead and say what you have to say.”
“Have you really made arrangements to go on this trip you did not tell me you were planning?”
“Yes. I really have. The first eight weeks are booked and paid for.”
“Why would you do something like this without even giving me the courtesy of asking if I had an interest in going, which I do not.” Her words were clipped, sharp and pointed like the icicles that hung from the roof at the back of the house.
“If I’d asked you, you’d have said no. So I figured if I booked the flights and the hotels and the Airbnbs, you’d go along with it.” When she failed to respond, he said, “I’m not hearing you say, ‘It’s okay, Russ. I’ll go, since it’s booked and paid for.’”
“Because I’m not okay with it, and I’m not going.”
He started to speak and she shut him down. “We had a discussion about this sort of thing, and I told you I would not want to go on a trip like that.”
“Oh, right, because you’ve been there and done that.”
“Because my knees won’t take that kind of abuse.”
“Your knees are fine, Kit. They’re both new.”
“The right one gives me problems if I push it too far, and you know that.”
“So when your knee is bothering you, you can rent a car.”
“Russ, I have no interest in this trip. None. And the fact that you knew that and planned it anyway behind my back is infuriating.”
“I have been working on this for months, finding the best places to go, the best biking in each country, the best inns, the best restaurants. If I’d asked you to work with me, what would you have said?”
“I’d have said I have no interest in leaving my life behind for an indeterminate amount of time to bum around Europe.
It doesn’t appeal to me. A weekend in Paris—maybe a week in the French countryside or in Tuscany?
Sure. But up every morning, hop on the bike, and just go and keep going day after day—it sounds like torture to me.
I don’t like to bike, and while I enjoy a nice hike once in a while, following what sounds like a very full and closely timed itinerary, having to get to one place after another by a certain day because you have booked a room—” She tried to soften her tone.
“I just don’t want to live like that for a few months.
I’m not eighteen anymore, Russ. And may I remind you that I’m a little busy right now.
We’re in the middle of a police investigation here. ”
“Ah, I was wondering when you were going to throw in the dead baby. They know you didn’t have anything to do with that, Kit.
They’ll probably never find out whose remains they are.
And why does that even matter now? You’ve no part in that story, whatever it is.
You just own the house. You can leave whenever you want.
Don’t make yourself the center of the drama, Kit. ”
“That’s a shitty thing to say, Russ. I know this isn’t about me.
But because I do own this house, and Maxine was my aunt, maybe they think I know something that I don’t know that I know.
But I wasn’t leaving while the Maine State Police detectives were combing my property and looking for answers that I’d like to have as much as they do. ”
“So it’s a no for you.”
“Yes. It’s a no for me. I came here for a reason, and I’m not giving up until I get some answers.”
“That’s why you don’t want to go with me, isn’t it?
You want to keep searching for the reason your mother hated her sister.
Well, they’re both dead, Kit. There’s no one left to tell the story, so get it out of your head that you were meant somehow to solve this big mystery.
It’s not going to happen. And it doesn’t matter anyway.
What’s to be gained even if you were to find out what their beef with each other was all about?
It’s not going to affect your life. I’d think you’d care more about me than your dead aunt, who you never even met. ”
“I care about my family, Russ.” Her jaws were clenched so tightly, her teeth hurt.
“Well, as little as you care about what I want, that’s how much I care about your family and that camp. I don’t know why you can’t just sell it all and walk away from it.”
“I think I’ve said all I have to say about the subject.” She stopped and took a deep breath. “You know, you could come up and see the place. You have time before your trip.” She’d almost said your big adventure but caught herself. “It’s beautiful here. But that’s up to you. The invitation stands.”
“Thanks but no thanks. I have things to do.” Russ sighed deeply. “So what do you think, another week at the most?”
“I don’t know.” I don’t know when, I don’t know if . . .
“All right, then. I guess I’ll see you when I see you.”