Phillip raised an eyebrow in surprise. “That’s going to make my sister Liz nervous. I wonder if she’ll come. She gets seasick. Mom knows that. I wonder why she picked a boat this time.”
“I don’t think she’ll get seasick on this,” Amanda said cryptically. “It’s about the size of the QE2. It has stabilizers and every possible modern device to provide a smooth ride. It’s all in the e-mail,” she said, as Phillip turned the computer so he could see. He glanced at the photographs, and read for a few minutes, and then whistled and looked at Amanda with a grin.
“That’s some boat! A crew of twenty-four, spa, hair salon, movie theater, two sailboats, three speedboats? My mother outdid herself this year. You’re right, Liz will be fine. I guess her seventieth birthday is a bigger deal than I thought. Sounds like fun.” Amanda gave him a quelling look, but it didn’t dampen his spirits. The boat was fabulous, and he was looking forward to it. And Amanda would warm up to it. She did every year, more or less, depending on the location and how much she liked it. He didn’t see how she could resist this. The Lady Luck seemed like paradise to him. And he could fish with his brother, and try out the sailboats they carried on the yacht under the list of “water toys.” Three hundred feet was one hell of a big boat.
“I have nothing to wear,” she said in a chilly tone.
“You never do.” He smiled at her. He heard it every year. Her wardrobe was key to her, and her appearance, and important to her sense of well-being on the trip and in life. “Go shopping, have some fun,” he encouraged her. He never deprived Amanda of what she wanted. He had no one else to spend it on, and he liked spoiling his wife. “You’ll need a whole new boat wardrobe, I imagine,” he said, smiling at her, and this time she smiled back. In some ways it was a perfect marriage, except she wished he was more ambitious, while he was happy with the status quo.
“You know I hate that trip,” Amanda said with a sigh, as she took a sip of her cold coffee. The boat did look fabulous—she just didn’t want to be trapped with his family for two weeks.
“It’s never as bad as you think it will be,” he reminded her. “It sounds like we’ll be going to some fun places, and it really is a gorgeous boat. You always have a good time in the end.” She nodded, loath to admit it to him. “Start shopping. You’ll feel better when you do.”
“Thank you,” she said, and gave him a peck on the cheek, and walked past him to help herself to another cup of coffee. And she knew he was right. A boat as impressive as the Lady Luck would improve the trip immeasurably this year. She glanced at her watch as she heated the coffee. She had to be in court in half an hour. And maybe she’d go shopping that afternoon.
As she sat back down at the kitchen table, Phillip was reading avidly about the boat and stopped to look at her.
“So shall I accept?” he asked.
“Do I have a choice?”
“In reality? No,” he said honestly. He never lied to her, and she knew the vacation with his family was required of her every year. Olivia would have been crushed if they didn’t go, and she made it as nice as possible for them, which her children appreciated. She was making up for the lost years and time.
“Then go ahead and accept,” she said in a dull voice. He pressed the reply button and wrote a quick e-mail accepting his mother’s invitation, and then hit the send button and smiled at Amanda.
“Done,” he said, as she stood and picked up her briefcase and her bag. “Have a nice day. See you tonight,” he said, watching her.
“Thanks,” she said and left the house. She didn’t stop to kiss him goodbye. She never did. He went back to reading the e-mail about the yacht his mother had chartered, and thought about his wife. It was strange, but she always seemed just out of reach to him. It had kept him wanting to win her heart for nineteen years. She was the unattainable ice queen he would always love but never fully have. He knew it was perverse, but there was something