Page 81 of Ten Beach Road

“No.” Maddie realized how bizarre it sounded. She still couldn’t believe how much Steve had kept from her. “He just kept getting dressed and leaving every day. I had no idea.” Her eyes blurred with tears.

“Wow,” Avery said.

“And then once he told me, once he could stop pretending, it was like he just gave up. And then his mother came to live with us.” Maddie tried to sound matter of fact, but could tell she was failing miserably.

“There’s a lot of that going around,” Avery said. “And it’s definitely not a good thing.”

Now that she’d begun talking Maddie couldn’t seem to stop. All of it came pouring out of her as she talked and sipped from an always-full glass; Steve’s loss of job, loss of all that money, loss of himself. Edna and her enabling. Andrew. Kyra. There wasn’t one thing she could think of that seemed to have a bright side.

“Maybe you should go up there and drag him to a psychiatrist or something?” Nikki asked.

“I tried that. I actually got him to one appointment and he wouldn’t talk to the doctor. Two hundred and fifty dollars and he didn’t say a word. I had another one scheduled for him after I came down here, but he refused to go.”

She held her glass out for another drink. Somehow numb from alcohol seemed preferable to numb from despair.

“There must be something else you can try,” Avery said.

“What I tried was divorce.”

Two sets of eyes riveted to her own.

“The last time we talked—well, we didn’t really talk; I had to have Andrew hold the phone up to Steve’s ear—I told him that he needed to get it together.”

“That’s good,” Avery said.

“And then I told him that if he wasn’t down here ready to help us by the first week of August, that I was filing for divorce.”

“Wow.”

“Yeah.” Maddie still couldn’t believe it.

“Did it work?” Nicole asked.

“I don’t know. I’m going to call and check in in a few days, but I may not really know for sure until he shows up.” Maddie could barely see through the unshed tears. “Or doesn’t.”

They continued to drink, stopping only long enough for Nicole to make another pitcher of daiquiris. As they drank and talked a cocoon of comfort began to wrap itself around her. Sharing her worries seemed to dissipate them. Or maybe it was the alcohol.

“I hate to offer advice,” Nicole said. “I’m really good at bringing people together, but not so good at getting and staying married. I married two men I shouldn’t have and for all the wrong reasons.” She shook her head, regret on her face. “I don’t really have the first idea how couples stay married as long as you have. You wouldn’t have made it for . . . how long has it been?”

“Twenty-five years.” Just saying it made Maddie want to cry.

“You wouldn’t have been together for twenty-five years if there wasn’t something major still there.” Her gaze shifted from Maddie’s before she said, “I think you did the right thing. Even when they hurt you or behave in ways you don’t understand, you can’t give up on the people you love.”

The cocoon became gauzier, hazier. Madeline noticed a mosquito hovering around the rim of Nicole’s glass and told it to get lost.

“Well, sometimes they give up on you.” Avery downed the remainder of her drink and held it out for a refill. “And it sucks big time.”

“Are you talking about Deirdre?” Maddie asked. Even in the blessed fog that seemed to be enveloping her, she could not imagine how anyone could walk away from their child.

“Always,” Avery said. “I can tell she thinks she can make me understand it, but there’s nothing that she can say that will excuse her running out on us. Nothing.”

They mulled that one over, although Maddie’s brain seemed to be mulling more slowly than usual.

“But I’m actually a two-time rejectee.” Avery raised her hand as if taking an oath.

“Trent?” Nicole asked.

“Not exactly. I wanted the divorce. We weren’t particularly good or right for each other. But I didn’t really leaveHammer and Nail, I was pushed out. As badly as I was portrayed on that show, I’d still be clinging to it if I’d been given the choice. We’re not on hiatus. I’m off the show.”

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