Page 11 of Summer Longing
As she’d anticipated, her father looked dubious. A physician, Ben Cooperman didn’t understand the vagaries of the corporate world. Yes, medicine had its own politics. But her mother was the one she really should talk to about this. Olivia simply had no interest in making that phone call. She prided herself on not needing her mother. She was an independent woman—independent financially and emotionally.
“Are you ready for that?”
She nodded. “More than ready.” No need to tell him she felt pushed out the door.
“You’re young—you should be enjoying yourself a little. You can’t be all work and no play.”
“It will be fine,” she said confidently.
“Olivia,” her father said, patting her leg over the blanket, “I admire your ambition. I’m proud of you. But I have perspective that you don’t. Life goes fast. Before you know it…well, I worry that you’re going to miss out on the things in life that will make you happy. The things in life that are important. I don’t want you to…”
“What, end up alone like my mother? Trust me, I’m nothing like her,” she said, reaching for the thermometer.
Just one fever-free day, and she would be back in the office.
Chapter Six
Ruth walked along Commercial, simmering with frustration. She’d thought it was too good to be true that a house as perfect as Shell Haven was available for the summer, and now it was clear she’d been right. The owners had a lot of baggage. Or maybe it would be like this with any place in town. The plus side of Provincetown was that it was quirky and unconventional and people welcomed you with open arms and loose boundaries. The downside of Provincetown was that it was quirky and unconventional and people welcomed you with open arms and loose boundaries. “Sure, I’ll just take a walk while you figure out whose baby got dropped on your doorstep,” Ruth muttered to herself.
She crossed the street and headed to the bookstore. Commercial Street was three miles long and had two bookstores; as far as Ruth was concerned, that was all you needed to know about this area. Provincetown Bookshop, right in the center of the village, had been around since 1932. Ruth had shopped in the store as a teenager, and a bookseller there had introduced her to Mary Heaton Vorse’s Provincetown classicTime and the Town. More recently, East End Books had opened its doors, and thanks to the passionate efforts of its book- and film-loving owner, it offered a year-round calendar of author events. During her last trip to town, she had seen Pulitzer Prize–winning author Michael Cunningham doing a reading. Ruth made a mental note to attend more book events; she hadn’t moved to a lively, artistic town to be a shut-in.
“Ruth! Ruth Cooperman!”
She looked across the street to see her real estate agent, Clifford Henry, waving at her.
“There she is!” he said. “The house huntress.”
Clifford was dressed in a pink button-down and white slacks. Beside him was a handsome, slightly younger man with dark olive skin wearing a black T-shirt and jeans. Clifford motioned her over.
“How fun to spot you out in the wild like this,” Clifford said with a wink. “Ruth, this is my husband, Santiago.”
“Nice to meet you,” Ruth said, shaking the man’s hand.
“What are you up to? A little shopping? Late brunch?”
“Oh, I’m just…”Displaced from my house. Again.“Getting some fresh air.”
“You know Liv Cosmetics?” Clifford said to Santiago. “That’s Ruth’s company. She started it.”
“Well, it’s not mine anymore,” Ruth said.
Still, Santiago looked impressed.
“Have lunch with us,” Clifford said. “We’re going to Napi’s. We did a two-hour bike ride so we’re starving.”
“Oh, I don’t know—”
“I won’t take no for an answer. We want to hear all your glamorous stories about the beauty industry.”
Well, why not?Ruth thought. All she had left were stories.
For Elise, time had stopped.
The baby, calm after a bottle and a successful burping, nestled in the crook of her arm. Her eyes, open and surprisingly alert, were gray and seemed to fix on Elise.
“Who are you, little one?” Elise whispered, dipping her head low, inhaling the sweet, unmistakable milky scent particular to babies.
She wished she could stay like this forever. Just holding the baby, not thinking about the reality beyond the walls of Shell Haven. But her phone had been ringing on and off for a while, and she knew she couldn’t ignore it much longer. Fern had to be wondering where she’d run off to.
