The Invisible Husband of Frick Island - Colleen Oakley Page 0,9

she moisturized or combed it. And only now, when she gently patted it with her hand, did she notice the way the corkscrew curls knotted around each other, matted up in patches, like a mangy dog. She could only imagine how terrible it looked. And that was when the sourness wafted up to her nose, and she realized the only thing rivaling her looks was probably the way she smelled. Half of her wanted to immediately jump in the shower, but the other half was terrified Tom would disappear if she did. So she sat still, torn, while Tom just lay there, smiling at her the way he always did—slightly amused, full of adoration.

“I need to get cleaned up,” she said, reticently slipping out of bed and padding backward to the bathroom, not wanting to take her eyes off him. And then she froze.

“Don’t go anywhere! I’ll only be a minute. Don’t leave.”

“Never,” Tom replied simply. “Piper Parrish, I would never leave you.”

And true to his word, he didn’t. When Piper got out of the shower, Tom was still there.

* * *

—

Seventeen days after Tom’s boat went missing in the storm, Pearl Olecki stood in the kitchen of her bed-and-breakfast, turning link sausages over in a hot pan, when the side screen door squeaked open and Piper came walking through it.

“Piper,” she breathed, turning her wide hips toward the girl, ready to embrace her or feed her or give her whatever she might need.

But Piper slipped right by her and went to the opposite wall, where she tugged her cat-paw-printed apron off a hook and looped it around her neck, expertly tying the side ribbons behind her back. “Morning, Miz Olecki,” she said cheerfully, going straight to the refrigerator to retrieve the carton of eggs, easily falling into their routine as if seventeen days had not passed since they’d last performed it.

Pearl stared at the girl’s back, mouth agape, and then promptly closed it when Piper turned around, clutching the eggs in her right hand. She had lived long enough to know the ways people grieved were as varied as the waves that lapped up on Graver’s Beach at the far end of the island. And far be it from her to say one way was better than another. If Piper chose to face today with a smile, then so be it. The important thing was she was finally out of that house. Pearl turned back to her pan and busied herself with the browning sausage.

“Sunrise was beautiful this morning,” Piper said, as she beat the egg yolks with a fork in the orange ceramic bowl. “Did you see it?”

“I didn’t,” Mrs. Olecki said. She opened the oven door a crack to peek on the cinnamon rolls, thinking how wonderful it was that Piper could still appreciate the simple things, like a glorious sunrise, in the midst of her pain.

“Pinks and oranges—like the sky was on fire,” Piper said.

“Mm,” Pearl said, infusing the sound with sympathy and understanding.

For the next ten minutes, the two women strode around each other in silence, performing their well-practiced dance. Mrs. Olecki tonged the links onto a plate lined with paper towels, while Piper cooked the eggs. When the timer dinged, Piper moved the lower half of her body to the side so Mrs. Olecki could retrieve the cinnamon buns.

It wasn’t until they were standing side by side at the counter, Piper plating the first course for the three guests currently staying at the bed-and-breakfast, Pearl icing the cinnamon rolls, that Piper finally mentioned Tom.

“You want to hear something funny?” Piper asked.

“What’s that, hon?”

Piper paused a beat. And then: “I miss Tom’s snoring.”

Mrs. Olecki froze, holding the piping bag above the round metal pan of swollen, browned buns. “Oh, Piper.”

“I know, it’s so silly. I hated it for so long. Nearly drove me crazy with keeping me up. Sometimes, I’d punch him square in the back. Punch him! Trying to get him to stop.”

Mrs. Olecki set down the icing, ready to embrace Piper now, to absorb the tears she knew were coming on the lemon apron covering her heavy bosom.

But Piper kept talking. “It’s crazy, but last night, he didn’t snore. Not once. And I know he’s not using those Breathe Right strips I ordered from the mainland, because they’re still in the box in the mirror cabinet of the bathroom.” Piper spooned another serving of eggs onto a plate. “Isn’t that something? Been sleeping next to him for a year now—” It was really