daughters, I mean, my daughters here, that I guess I expected you to sound like them. Stupid, I know.” He trails off. “Well. This is some big news, isn’t it?”
“You think?” I say, and he laughs.
“Big, but good news. I’m delighted to have found you. I only wish it had happened a long time ago.”
I don’t say anything, not wanting to point the finger at my mother, even though I am thinking exactly the same thing.
“I haven’t talked to the girls, but they’re both here this summer. We convene every year at the house here on Nantucket. Ellie comes with her kids, and Julia is always here, usually with whatever boyfriend she has at the time. I was thinking perhaps you ought to come out here and meet all of us.”
I am gobsmacked. So much, so fast. All of it wanted. “I would love to,” I say, unable to wipe the smile off my face. “But maybe you should talk to them first. I don’t want to cause any trouble.”
“You wouldn’t be causing any trouble,” he says. “But I’ll talk to them. Do you have a number where I can reach you? You and I have an awful lot to catch up on.”
“Of course.” I give him my home phone number, and the office, although I warn I can’t often chat when I’m working.
“I want us to get to know each other,” he says. “Make up for lost time. Does this sound like something you’d be interested in?”
As if I’m going to say no.
* * *
I am so lost in thought, I barely notice that my mum is also smiling, in a way I’m not sure I have ever seen her smile before, and it dawns on me: My God! This is her first love! He mentioned talking to his daughters but not a wife. Maybe he’s divorced. Maybe he’s single and available. Maybe he never got over my mother, and now they’ve reconnected, maybe they’ll get back together.
Maybe I’ll have the family I’ve always wanted, in this entirely unexpected of ways. I look at my mother’s face, and she is positively beaming, and I realize in all of this, I haven’t once thought about my mother.
God knows I know how miserable she was with my father. After he died, and especially after she left the suburban boredom of Gerrards Cross, I was convinced she’d find some wonderful man in London, but it hasn’t been the case.
She refuses to join a dating agency, and friends have occasionally set her up, but she always ends up becoming great friends with them, and says she’s happier that way. They take her to dinner, the opera, the theater, but nothing ever happens beyond, and it’s not for want of them trying.
Maybe this really is the man she’s been waiting for her entire life. Maybe it’s not too late for miracles to happen.
“Mum?” She looks up at me. “Does Brooks have a wife?”
“They’re divorced,” she says. “He told me earlier.”
“So he’s single?” My eyes gleam.
She shakes her head, snorting with laughter. “He’s single, and it was lovely to connect with him, but I know exactly what you’re thinking, and no, I’m not the slightest bit interested.”
“He just invited me out to Nantucket. Well, provisionally, after he’s talked to the other daughters. But why don’t you come with me? Why don’t we both go? You can’t let an opportunity like this go unexplored.”
“It’s not unexplored.” She smiles. “But what happened between us was years and years ago. We probably wouldn’t have anything in common anymore.”
“What if you did? What if you had everything in common?”
“It’s unlikely. Anyway, I have my life here. I’m not the slightest bit interested in uprooting again.”
“Who’s talking about uprooting? I’m talking about a summer. Maybe a week. See what happens.”
She shakes her head. “This is your time to get to know him. Not mine. I’ve just joined the board of the museum, and I have much too much to do. But I can’t wait to hear how it all goes for you.”
Ten
“You’re what?” Jason is staring at me, as if he can’t believe what I’m telling him.
“I’m going to Nantucket to meet my family.”
“Okay. I mean, that sounds amazing. What an insane story.”
I laugh in disbelief. We are grabbing a quick coffee on Praed Street before the meeting. “I feel like you don’t think this is a good idea.”
“Meeting your long-lost family? I think it’s probably an excellent idea. I’m just worried about what’s going to happen to you, going