Page 7

“So,” Mike said.

“Yeah, so.” Rose pressed her lips together. “There’s that parent-teacher conference thing next week. Did you want to…”

“Yeah, let’s go,” Mike said. “You know I always want to go to those.”

“Yeah.” Rose let her gaze drift back to Maxine, who looked overwhelmingly flirtatious with that teenage boy. Maxine threw her head back and let her hair dance in the wind.

“You know, I need to tell you something,” Mike said.

Rose’s heart lurched. “What’s up?”

“I met a woman here on the island early this summer. I wasn’t sure if it would work out, since I traveled for work so much the past month, but she’s decided to stick around. Anyway, we think we’re getting married. Sooner rather than later.”

Rose couldn’t help it. Her jaw dropped. “You just met a woman, and you’re already engaged?”

Mike laughed. “You know how I am. I’m instinctual. I don’t like to wait around and decide things later.”

Rose pressed the tip of her tongue against the inside of her cheek. Now, she was crushed with the memory of how soon she and Mike had gotten married after they’d met. Six months after their first date, she’d been pregnant with Maxine. She’d said things like, “I really needed this. I needed a new chapter!” Now, she understood that the energy that had led her to do that so swiftly had been Mike’s, not hers.

“Wow,” Rose said. “I’m really happy for you!”

“I’m happy, too,” he said. “It’s a surprise, but a good surprise. I’m going to introduce her to Maxine next week. Obviously, I want you to meet her, as well.”

Rose forced a smile. “I can’t wait.”

“What about you?” Mike said. “Are you seeing anyone?”

“Not exactly,” Rose said.

“Not exactly? So that means you were? Or there’s someone you have your eye on?” Mike teased her openly, as though he were an older brother rather than an ex.

Rose shrugged. “I’ll tell you when you need to know.”

It was a lie, and maybe he knew it. But he teased her all the more, saying, “You were always so mysterious, Rose Calder.”

Maxine returned after that, bubbly from her brief flirtation.

“Who was that?” Mike asked, giving her a funny smile.

“Just a kid from chem class,” she said.

Before Rose or Mike could say anything else, the server returned with their fish dishes and a glass of non-alcoholic bubbly wine for Maxine, so the three of them could toast her new chapter. As Maxine’s grin widened, Rose wondered what her daughter would say when she learned of her father’s new engagement. Would she think Rose was pathetic, as Rose had never found anyone to move on with? Would she tell her father that Rose had never really dated anyone over the years? Rose shivered. She hated that everything in life felt like a contest.

Later, after Mike paid for their dinners and Rose and Maxine dished out compliments to both him for choosing the place and the chef, who came out to say hello, the three of them went for a brief walk along the water. Rose carried her shoes in her left hand and watched as Mike and Maxine walked a little ahead of her, falling into a conversation about colleges Maxine might want to attend. Everything felt frightening and on the brink of change.

And then, as though she’d called them from the ether with her fear, Rose spotted them: the Legacy Club’s Eleanor Pike, Rosamund Werther, and Clarice Charmont, those sinister older adults and best friends who ruled the island and everything that happened, both legally and not. They sat at a table before the dying orange sun, surveying the beach walkers with formidable eyes. Rose couldn’t help but think at them, You were supposed to protect me. You’ve broken that promise.

4

That weekend on Nantucket was lonely. Maxine spent her days at her father’s place, leaving Rose to the chaos of a Saturday morning and afternoon bakery schedule, plus the sorrow (yet relaxation, she supposed) of an entire Saturday evening alone.

Propped up on pillows, Rose flicked through her various streaming platforms, searching for something, anything to distract herself. She had Thai food coming, and she planned to eat and, soon, fall asleep. Again, it was raining outside, and she felt as though everyone in Nantucket was tucked away in their homes together, sipping wine and sharing stories. Not for the first time, Rose wondered why she hadn’t focused on finding better friendships for herself over the years. She’d been drowning in bakery logistics and raising Maxine, she supposed. Meanwhile, Mike had built a company, bought a beautiful house, and fallen in love again.

It made her feel pathetic.

Rose went to the kitchen to pour herself a glass of white wine. There, she tugged Harry Orlett’s business card from the back drawer and surveyed it again, wondering what that awful man knew, or thought he knew. Surely if he knew anything, it would be all over the news already. Still, she was uneasy.

Her brother had moved to Seattle years ago with his wife, and they spoke on the phone only on birthdays and holidays. He'd kept her secret all this time, but the distance between them had grown beyond geography.