Page 30 of Saltwater Secrets
ARIA: Where is she staying?
Hilary explained via text that she’d made up a room for Renée in the guest wing of the estate.
HILARY: She’s a mystery to me. I’m fascinated but terrified.
HILARY: And look at this…
Aria’s mother sent photographs of what appeared to be a photo album from the year 1981. In it were numerous pictures of Renée, Dorothy, and Rachel, who’d died shortly after the photographs had been taken.
It looked like the perfect, idyllic Nantucket summertime. Aria knew it well.
Her head felt heavy. Before she could stop herself, she found herself back on Thaddeus’s social media, looking at photographs from his recent trip to a museum near Shoreditch. He looked happier than she’d ever seen him. Her fingers hovered over her screen, and her heart dared her to write to him, just to check in. But what good would that do?
But at that moment, Gina texted.
GINA: Girl, come out! Meet my friend! We’re at Station 12, not far from you.
Aria groaned. Was she really going to go out with Gina again?
Then again, anything felt better than roaming through the brownstone and thinking about her failed relationship. She hurried upstairs, put on a black dress and a dash of lipstick, and left within fifteen minutes.
Station 12 was a fancy cocktail bar with ice cubes in perfect squares and soft blue lighting. Aria spotted Gina and a handsome blond guy in the corner, both dressed in suits, as though they’d come here from the office and hadn’t left. When Aria reached them, it was clear they were more than tipsy and talking louder than was necessary in such an intimate place. But Aria was surprised by how pleased she was not to be alone.
She ordered a cocktail that cost more than twenty dollars and reminded herself that she was making more money than she ever had, all because of Dorothy’s will. She could actually afford places like this, making a living, doing what she loved to do. It was remarkable.
Gina introduced her friend as Xavier Peterson, a guy who worked on her floor. He was handsome and charming and probably soulless. Aria shook his hand and asked, with a jolt of bravery that surprised her, “Have you always wanted to handle other people’s money?”
Xavier cackled and slapped his thigh. “You didn’t tell me she was one of those, Gina.”
Gina’s eyes sparkled. “She abhors people like us because she thinks she’s above it.”
Aria’s cheeks burned. Was she so transparent?
“I don’t hate you,” she said, stuttering.
“You’re an artist. We get it,” Gina said. “But the world has always needed people like us!”
“The world needs artists, too, Gina,” Xavier reminded her.
Gina made a face, then burst into giggles. Aria felt on display.
“We’re teasing you,” Gina told her, reaching out to touch Aria’s shoulder. “Aria’s been a great friend of mine since college.”
“I can’t believe you’re embroiled in the Philip Wagner situation,” Xavier said, shaking his head. “What are the chances?”
Just then, Xavier pulled out his phone to show off the paparazzi photograph taken of Aria outside the brownstone last week. The headline under it read:Wagner Brownstone
“We’ve been talking about him for hours,” Gina confessed. “We’re so curious about how he made his life work. He came from nothing and literally changed the way people make money. I mean, say what you want to about money, Aria, but we all need it to survive.”
Aria flared her nostrils and filled her mouth with the too expensive cocktail.
For a little while, they spoke of other things. Xavier talked about his Ivy League school and the woman he’d recently broken up with because he didn’t like the way she ate her food. It felt like an episode ofSeinfeld, except that Aria wasn’t laughing.
But Gina and Xavier found a way to return to Philip Wagner.
“Have you found anything that belonged to him?” Xavier asked Aria now. “At the brownstone?”
Aria shook her head, remembering the office at the top of the stairs, where, she was pretty sure, some of Philip Wagner’s important documents remained. She hadn’t gotten there yet.
