Page 32 of Songs of Summer

“And you never had kids,” he said, sadly pointing out the obvious.

“Nope. And my sister has two, who I don’t even know. I just met them at my mother’s funeral for like two seconds.”

Matt paused. The next part was going to be tough to hear.

“Have you ever thought about finding your daughter?” Ben asked.

“More like have I evernotthought about finding her?”

Maggie let out a heartbreaking sob, and Matt fought the urge to close the book. But then he remembered how she planned on giving up and leaving the next day, going home without even meeting Bea—and Shep. He had to prevent that from happening. He continued:

“As luck would have it, the adoption agency burnt down years ago, which didn’t much matter because it was a closed adoption.”

“DNA tracing?”

“I did 23andMe—no close match. And you know, if she wanted to find me, she would have done it too—so there’s that.”

“Well, maybe. I mean, closed adoptions were pretty rare, even back then. There’s a chance she doesn’t even know that she’s adopted. How old would she be?”

“She turned twenty-one on May third.”

“Oh my God,” Maggie cried, putting her hands to her mouth. “This was nine years ago.”

“Your hands,” Matt observed. “They’re shaking so hard.”

Maggie looked down and pressed them to her knees, trying to stop them from trembling.

“I haven’t eaten all day. I’m so hungry, but also so nauseous.”

Matt recognized that the fish tacos that they took home from the Salty Pelican wouldn’t do.

“How about I make us some mac and cheese and then we can talk more.”

“The powdery Kraft kind?”

“Yes, Kraft—possibly the most comforting food in the world.”

“I could swallow that,” she said through tears. “Should I come help?”

“Stay here. The last thing we want right now is to have to explain you to my mother.”

Matt returned twenty minutes later with two bowls and two spoons to find Maggie sound asleep in the bottom bunk with the book lying on her chest. He removed it, gently placed his hand on her shoulder, and whispered, “Do youwant to eat?” She rolled over to face the wall. He didn’t have the heart to wake her.

He climbed onto the top bunk, lost in the childhood memory of eating the same mac and cheese from the same bowl in the same bed. It was all part of the beauty of being lucky enough to be able to come home to the house you grew up in. Even though he only ever lived there in the summer, and even though he had lived in the same New York City apartment for most of his life, Fire Island would always be home.

Track 17

She Drives Me Crazy

Veronica

Veronica knew herreputation on the island, and the truth was she didn’t much care, except when it came to her sister. Right or wrong, what her sister thought of her had always had a direct correlation to what she thought of herself. At least, as she witnessed yesterday, she could still make Bea laugh. She loved Bea’s laugh—especially when she was the source of it. Her goal, for now, was more laughter. She vowed to be easy and entertaining.

With Shep convalescing in his bedroom, Beatrix and Veronica were forced to spend the day in close company. Despite the doctor’s diagnosis of a panic attack, as opposed to a heart attack, they both suspected that Shep was tricking them, no doubt with the doctor’s aid. Shep had a knack for convincing anyone to be his accomplice. But without proof, they had to go along with the ruse and follow doctor’s orders.

Veronica, for one, was grateful for the ceasefire and assumed that Bea was as well. V was no longer the formidable fighter she had once been, and her sister had never been as skilled as she was in sisterly combat. Bea was more of aghoster. Ultimately, her ghosting tactic was more painful to Veronica than any vitriolic attack she could have unleashed. Even though there were many things in her life that Veronica was unhappy about lately, she still counted her relationship, or lack thereof, with Beatrix as the single greatest failure of her life.

This temporary truce, although quite welcome, was not a solution to their problems. Their mother used to warn them, to no avail, that if you don’t address things right away, cracks become craters. In their case, those craters were now the size of the ones on the moon. Things would have to be talked out for there to be any long-term resolution. She wondered if Bea was even interested in that.

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