I don’t want to be talking to you anymore than you want to be talking to me.”
Eleanor made a sound that I might have called a snort, had it come from someone less delicate.
“As eloquent as ever, I see,” she said with a small sniff.
I shrugged. “Why act like this is anything other than what it is? You don’t like me, and I don’t like you. There’s no Tom or anyone else here to pretend for.”
“If that’s how you want it.” Somehow, she managed to imply that I was the one being unreasonable. She gestured to a richly embroidered armchair that looked about as soft as cement. It had gold clawed feet. “Sit.”
I was getting a little bit sick of people telling me to sit down, but reminding myself this was for a good cause, I did as I was told. I was right, by the way. It was about as comfortable as sitting on the floor.
I refused to shift, though. I wasn’t going to give Eleanor any sign that I was uncomfortable. She sat down stiffly on a sofa across from me, and set her book down on the cushion next to her with care. Something about that made me angry.
Eleanor’s life was so pristine because she made sure that nothing dirty or imperfect came anywhere near it. My whole life, that was how she’d treated my family. Like we were a clump of dust to be shoved under the rug. She was treating that book with more gentleness than she’d ever shown any of us.
“How do you even know Sarah Jane, anyway?” The words were out of my mouth before I realized I was speaking, but the question had been nagging at me all night. They hardly seemed like they ran in the same social circles. “She runs a bait shop. I can’t imagine you frequenting a place like that.”
“Ms. Slagle—” Eleanor said the name like I was five and needed to learn how to properly address my elders, “is an upstanding member of the Summersea community, and the establishment she runs has no bearing on whether or not she deserves the full protection of the law.” She frowned for a moment. “Her husband also happened to charter fishing boats for your grandfather, before he passed.”
I laughed. It wasn’t a particularly pretty sound. “Well that explains it, then. You can provide charity for the help, I suppose, if not for your own family.”
“It’s hardly charity to be interested in a friend receiving justice. And once I learned how similar the damage her property had sustained was to what was happening at McIntyre Beach—”
“But how did you even know about what was happening at the beach in the first place?” I interrupted. I knew I was being rude, but I didn’t care.
“I found out about it from Julian,” Eleanor said calmly. “He mentioned it to me after school one day, when I’d been volunteering in his class.” She smiled fondly. “He’s always been such a sweet boy. Of course I wanted to help him.”
I had to stifle the urge to throw something. What right did she have to dote on Julian, when she’d always treated me like an outcast? She knew Julian and I had been together in high school, and she’d wielded that knowledge like a cudgel, making it perfectly clear she wanted me off the island and away from him.
“When did you start working with him?” I asked. If it sounded accusatory, so be it. “I would have thought raising money for summer bible camp would be more your speed. Or refurbishing old yachts for impoverished millionaires. Since when does your volunteering involve interacting with the working class? Or activism?”
Eleanor drew herself up and glared at me. “I have been recruiting adult reading volunteers for Adair Elementary since Julian first mentioned his vision for that program, and serving as a volunteer myself as soon as it was up and running. If that contradicts the vision you have of me in your head, that is your problem, not mine.”
She paused. “As for the rest, I may not always have been as involved in community affairs as I might have liked, but I have always cared about this island and its quality of life. For all residents. Whether or not you label that activism—” she said the word like it left a bad taste in her mouth “—is not my concern.”
“Since when? Since when do you care about the community, or anyone other than yourself? Frankly, I’m shocked you’re