She’s been used to her mother and I being together, then her whole world fell apart when we divorced, and this is the first time I’ve introduced her to someone else. You have to understand how difficult this must be for her.”
“I do understand,” Carrie said. “I do. It’s just . . . it was just so upsetting to me, and understanding it doesn’t prevent me from feeling hurt. And shocked.”
“I know,” Richard murmured, standing up and putting his arms around her, pulling her close. “I know how shocking it was. Trust me, I was shocked too. I’ve never seen her behave like that. I’m going to talk to her, but I need you to be your kind, loving self. Okay?” And he pulled back and looked into her eyes.
Oh shit, Carrie thought to herself. This journey may well be hell, but I’m in too deep and there’s no going back. Not now. Not now that I love this man.
“These may be the best banana oatmeal pancakes I’ve ever had in my life,” Daniel says, looking down with horror at his expanding stomach as the waitress refills his coffee cup in the Sconset Café.
“Why is it we always eat so much more on vacation?” Bee laughs, reaching over the table to squeeze Daniel’s hand, so happy they finally made love, so happy that she feels at last, after such a long time, that she has a shot at getting her husband back.
They pay the bill, then walk outside, stopping at the tiny realtor next to the café while Bee puts her sunglasses on and squints at a small iron table in the courtyard, stacked high with papers weighted down with large stones.
“Oh look!” she says. “They leave their listings on the table! Isn’t that clever?”
“What, you mean if we happen to have a few extra million lying around and decided, on a whim, to buy a cottage?”
“But we have to look,” Bee says, taking his hand and pulling him through the gate. “Come on, you know you want to.”
Twenty minutes later they are sitting inside, with the realtor, looking at pages of rentals on the island.
“Can we go and see it?” Bee turns breathlessly to Daniel. “Doesn’t it look perfect for us?”
And looking at the little cottage on the shores of Lake Quidnet, Daniel has to admit it does look like a gorgeous proposition, and hell, it’s not buying, it’s just a summer rental, and if Bee and the girls were here for a few weeks he could fly back and forth, and maybe a little bit of space would do them some good.
“Okay,” he says. “But you know if we took a summer rental I couldn’t spend the whole holiday out here.”
“I know, I know, but the girls would love it here and you could come every weekend, couldn’t you?”
“I’m sure I could,” Daniel says.
“Will you phone and see if we could come now?” Bee asks, and the realtor picks up the phone.
Chapter Seven
Aisling had given Michael a huge hug when they split up, and although he felt empty for a little while once she had gone, he knew from many, many past experiences that they will probably remain friends, at least until she moves on to a new boyfriend, after which time she will disappear out of his life, reappearing if and when she splits up with the next one.
They may or may not then end up sleeping together again, but it will be understood by both of them that it is merely physical, and there will be no chance of either of them falling for the other, and the cycle will continue.
At forty-two Michael has to admit he rather likes his life. His closest friends have been friends for years, and although most of them are now married with kids, and he doesn’t get to see them nearly as often as he would like, when they do get together it is always life-affirming, and he counts himself lucky to be surrounded by good people.
He likes his job, is lucky to have his apartment, and enjoys Manhattan far more than he ever expected to. True, he misses being able to get out of the city every weekend in the summer— his salary can’t quite manage the Hamptons—and when he talks to his mother he misses Nantucket hugely, but all in all he has to say his life is a good one.
None of his friends can understand how or why he is still single, and people are forever trying