Page 75 of A Nantucket Wedding

“Oh, Ethan’s always been a flirt.” David waved his hand as if dismissing a fly.

“And how’s Poppy?”

“Now that her morning sickness has passed, she’s got her head on straight. I think it was an enormous gift to her, postponing our honeymoon. It will ease the transition of control. It’s probably better for the employees, too.”

“Is it better for you?” Alison asked. “You don’t seem upset that you’re still working instead of playing golf.”

David said, “You might be right. But what about you? If I work, even part-time, what will you do?”

Alison laughed. In a soft Southern voice, she cooed, “Why, darlin’, I’ll lie around watchin’ TV and eatin’ chocolates, jus’ like I always do.”

“All right, point made.” David sent another look at his laptop. “And by the way, I don’t want to check on work. I want to check on our wedding weekend. Not everyone has responded. And I need an update from Heather about the flowers and the welcome baskets and the band. Heather wanted a group from Boston, but I’ve heard the island band Coq Au Vin is good. I’ve listened to a CD and I’m glad we booked them.”

Alison moved over to sit on David’s lap. “I think you’re more excited about this occasion than I am.”

“Maybe I am. I’ve spent too many months looking at the past. I like facing forward again. Why don’t I get my laptop and we can run through the plans? I can email Heather—it’s only eight-thirty—”

Heather,Alison thought grouchily. Heather was so infinitely capable. Did she make Alison seem incompetent by comparison? But Alison knew she was a star at organization when it came to life. All her life she’d managed children, husband, and even her parents and Mark’s parents as they’d aged and toddled off into retirement homes. Alison had managed to get Jane to soccer matches and Felicity to ballet practice and picked up Mark’s dry cleaning and baked dozens of brownies for fundraisers. She’d worked as a receptionist for a busy dental practice. Of course she could deal with flowers, music, invitations, and all the complicated arrangements of their wedding. The truth was, Alison was glad to have Heather doing all this work. It freed Alison up for being with her family.

But she was here, now, Alison reminded herself. And there was one thing she could do that would make David happy…

“It’s Sunday. You shouldn’t bother her on Sunday. Anyway, why don’t wenotthink about the future?” Alison suggested. “Why don’t we think of something we can do right now?”

She wrapped her arms around David and kissed him softly, all over his face, down his neck, behind his ear.

David groaned and ran his hands over Alison. “I know what we can do right now. And right here.”

“Yes,” Alison agreed. “Everyone’s gone. We’re alone in the house.” Rising, she took David’s hand and pulled him to the sofa.

“This feels…decadent,” David said.

“Yes, it feels as if we’re teenagers again, doesn’t it? Not waiting to go to a bed, making love where we are because that’s what feels—necessary.”

As she and David arranged themselves on the sofa, Alison experienced a flush of great affection for the man who was struggling to undo his belt with some kind of grace. At that moment, David seemed to her the perfect man, capable of exerting power, acting creatively and decisively, and still able to transform himself from business executive to gentle lover. His chest hair was silver, and his face was becoming jowly. But Alison silently shrieked to think what her face looked like now, as her jaw lay pressed into her wrinkled neck. They were no longer young. Lovemaking was no longer desperate. It was tender, and sweet, a spring rain rather than a thunderstorm and—

—and David kicked his trousers onto the floor and Alison slipped her pants off. David lowered himself onto her, and suddenly she was young again, overwhelmed,taken. Surprised by what her body—her body and David’s—could still do.

twenty-two

When Felicity awoke, it was late, after eight, but it was summer and she could hear her children playing in their rooms, so she rose leisurely, taking time for a full body stretch from her fingers to her toes.

She wasn’t surprised that Noah wasn’t in their bed. Last night he’d slept in the guest bedroom, his phone and laptop with him. Oh, how she wished she could hack into his email! She’d had trouble falling asleep, wondering if Noah was texting Ingrid.

Sexting Ingrid.

She pulled on shorts and a T-shirt. A quick peek at the guest room proved Noah was already up and out of the house. Felicity rounded up Alice and Luke and shepherded them to the kitchen where they ate cereal while she drank a lifesaving cup of coffee and packed their lunches. This week both kids were in day camp from ten in the morning until four in the afternoon. They had friends who would be there, as well, and Felicity knew some of the counselors—healthy, cheery young women with ponytails and colorful braided bracelets that they taught the children to make on rainy days at camp.

“Backpacks!” Felicity reminded her children.

It amused her, and comforted her, to see how readily Alice and Luke did what she told them. They couldn’t wait to get to camp. They flew to the car and snapped on their seatbelts and jabbered with each other during the ride to the small farm with its barn and pond and tree houses. Four teenage girls and boys were waiting at the gated driveway to collect the children. Alice and Luke yelled, “Bye, Mom!” and exploded out of the SUV and into the campground.

Felicity drove away slowly, her mind stirring with thoughts like a sleeping animal waking. The counselors had been so genuinely happy to see the children. True, the counselors were young and energetic and it was fun to be outdoors on a great summer day. But it was more than that. The teens’ faces had brightened when they saw the children, they reached out to hug them, to hear Alice and Luke jabber away. They liked working with children.

When Felicity saw the sign for Walden Pond, she turned and drove down the forested two-lane road. She parked in the lot, pleased to see that it was still half empty, crossed the street, and walked down to the pond. On the beach, several families were swimming, and two women marched along the trail on the far side of the pond.

Felicity found the trailhead and began walking. She’d been here before, with her children or with friends, but today she was alone, and she was glad. Somehow all this natural space around her gave her thoughts space to roam free.

She’d cried herself to sleep last night, and her heart was heavy today. Noah had thrown down a powerful ultimatum—he would fire Ingrid if Felicity would break with her family. It made sense to her, she thought it would make sense toanyone,that Noah should fire Ingrid because Ingrid was a risk to his marriage. But how in the world could Felicity’s family be a risk to her marriage to Noah?

---