Page 5 of The Hampton Beach Café 4
Why did I say that!?
Frances balked. Kennedy was being more polite than she'd ever seen her, and her reaction was to goad her?
The thin line that Kennedy was pressing her lips into confirmed that it was not a good idea—then Kennedy spoke. Not yelling, not shouting, but quietly and in control.
“I stand by what I said, but I do regret the public nature of it. Additionally, I recognize that the specific actions of inviting you somewhere to lunch for business meetings and then leaving you with the bill multiple times is highly unethical. I would like to assure you that this lunch, in particular, is different.”
“Oh…”
Kennedy sat across from her at the white cloth-covered table and picked up her menu as the waiter arrived.
“You drink gin and tonics, right?” she asked. When Frances nodded, she continued. “A gin and tonic for her, and I'll have a glass of the driest white wine you have. Here, this is my credit card. This lunch is my expense, and anything ordered to this table is to be put on that card. Is that alright?”
The waiter looked down at the card he had been handed and flicked his eyes between the two women.
“Yes, of course, ma'am,” he replied. “Are you ready to order food?”
Frances wasn't, but Kennedy was and started pointing at things on the menu, so she quickly scanned through the list to try and quickly figure out what she could eat.
Finally, placing an order for the House Special Panier de Pêcheur, she turned her attention back to Kennedy.
“So, is this going to be a social and polite meal, or are we going to talk—emphasis on talk—about what was said last time?”
Frances wondered if she should just shut up because the thin line was back.
“I think we should talk,” Kennedy said.
The drinks arrived with remarkable speed, and Kennedy sipped her wine delicately. The gin and tonic was delicious, and Frances made a note to ask what gin they used here.
“Me too,” Frances said. “You said last time that you thought I was like you, that I knew about…my dad.”
Kennedy nodded. “I always thought you were smart enough, and I had figured it out, so why hadn't you?”
Frances shrugged.
“Probably because my father was always away. When he was home, he was the perfect family man. He brought me chocolate bars and my mom flowers. We never had a lot of money, but we weren't badly off. My mom was a nurse, and he…well, I actually don't really know. I knew he wore suits and talked about business stuff, but never really talked about what it was he did.”
Sipping her wine, Kennedy nodded as Frances spoke.
“Do you know why he left?”
Frances felt her stomach drop like she was on a roller coaster plummeting from one of the peaks. Should she tell Kennedy what she had found out?
“Not…explicitly,” she said, regretting the word choice. “Just rumors. I went and spoke to someone who knew him, and apparently, the week he disappeared—"
“Disappeared? What do you mean disappeared?” Kennedy asked, sounding alarmed.
Huh?
Trying not to keep the surprise in her voice under control, Frances answered, keeping her eyes down and focusing on the piece of lime bobbing up and down with the bubbles in the tonic.
“Well. he didn't say goodbye or anything. One day he was there. The next, he wasn't. I thought he'd gone away on an urgent business trip, but when I asked my mom about it, she just burst into tears and didn't answer. A few weeks later, she told me he wasn't coming back.”
She heard a long exhale from Kennedy followed by a tsk.
“Wow, that's…wow.”
“Yeah, I know. Anyway, the person I spoke to said my dad showed up at his place with a black eye and tried to sell him a big bag of jewelry—a bag that included a Tiffany and Co heart bracelet that I had found when I was a kid. When he asked my father why he didn't just sell it to your family's antique shop, he got angry and left. That was the night he left town for good. My mom tried to find him for years. I think she found him eventually, but I don't know for sure. I found a stack of blank letters in her attic from him addressed to me. She never gave them to me. I can see why she didn't, but…I wish she had. I thought he was dead for a long time.”
