By an unspoken agreement, they didn’t talk more about Victoria. They wanted to enjoy their time alone. After their shower together, they spread the feast on the floor and did what they so loved: looked at architectural plans. Alix was pleased with what she’d come up with, but Jared didn’t agree with a lot of it, and told her so.
“Kingsley,” Alix said, “you don’t know what you’re talking about.”
It was what she’d said the first time they worked together, which now seemed so long ago. They looked into each other’s eyes and laughed. Back then, Alix had been almost afraid of him, but now it was hard for her to remember that he was the Great Jared Montgomery.
They seemed to understand each other because he pushed away the plates and they made love on top of the sketches of the old Montgomery house. It was an especially sweet lovemaking, as both were realizing the changes in store for them.
Afterward, Alix peeled three sheets of paper off Jared’s stomach and said, “We could stay here.”
“Dilys comes home tomorrow. She’ll want her house back.”
“Lexie and Toby’s house?” Alix asked.
“No privacy.”
“We’ll just have to be firm with Mom,” she said. “And we’ll lock the bedroom door.”
“Want to go to my apartment in New York?”
For a moment Alix’s eyes lit up, but then she shook her head. “Maybe after Izzy’s wedding.”
“Right,” he said. “After the wedding.” He looked away so she couldn’t see the fear that crossed his face. That’s when his grandfather would leave the earth and maybe Victoria would go with him.
Jared looked back at Alix. “If you can keep your hands off me long enough, I’d like to show you a much better idea for that east wing.”
“Different maybe, but not better. And as for hands off, you promised me a meal eaten off my stomach. What happened to that?”
“You didn’t see the chocolate mousse I brought back with me? It’s made for smearing across your bare belly. But first I have to teach you about remodeling a house.”
“I am your pupil and eager to learn. Did you bring any whipped cream?”
“A whole bowl full of it.”
“Get those papers and let’s get started,” she ordered—and Jared obeyed.
The next morning Victoria was sitting at the kitchen table and for the first time in the big old house, she was feeling lonely. How strange it was to be there but not to see and talk to Addy. Over the years they’d developed ways of doing things, who they’d see, where they’d eat. Now the house seemed enormous and empty.
Last night at dinner, Victoria had loved seeing some of her old Nantucket friends—but it hadn’t been the same. Addy wasn’t there. Victoria’d always had to work hard to get Addy to go out with people, but she enjoyed it once she was there. As for Victoria, she’d loved having someone nearby who knew the truth of whatever she was saying. She’d look at some man and say, “How very interesting!” then at home she and Addy would sip their drinks and laugh about how dull and pompous the man was.
But last night there’d been no one to look at with raised eyebrows and suppressed laughter—and Victoria had missed Addy horribly.
Standing at the kitchen sink and pretending she was washing dishes was Jilly Taggert. Victoria knew there was a married name but she didn’t remember it. She’d met Jilly’s sister-in-law, the writer Cale Anderson, at several functions and had liked her. That they wrote in different genres and their sales were fairly equal prevented the jealousy writers so often had for one another.
Victoria looked over her coffee cup at Jilly and knew there’d be no deep friendship there. At least not now. Right now all Jilly could do was stare out the window toward the guesthouse, her eyes searching the garden for any sign of movement. She was waiting for Ken to appear.
She and Jilly had chatted some this morning about inconsequential things, nothing important, but Victoria could see that Jilly was ready for a life change. She’d been widowed many years ago and now her two children—twins, a boy and a girl—were leaving home to go to college—which made Jilly free to go wherever life took her. And she was ready.
Victoria knew that Ken was going to be a problem. She’d learned through long, painful experience that her ex-husband had to be pushed to do things. It was so bad that after their five years of marriage Victoria’d had to jump into bed with another man to try to make Ken listen about how miserable she was. He’d been oblivious to the way his parents snubbed Victoria, of how they’d constantly reminded her that she’d been a waitress at the country club where Ken played tennis every day—as if she could forget! No matter what Victoria did, it wasn’t good enough for his parents. But worse was how they watched little Alix as though they were judging her. They seemed to be waiting to see if she was going to be like them or become like her mother and take life without the seriousness it deserved.
Victoria had cried, pleaded, and threatened in an attempt to get Ken to listen to her complaints, but he’d just talked to her like she was a child and said she was exaggerating everything. In an attempt to placate her, he’d said that what he liked about Victoria was that she was the opposite of what he’d grown up with. The truth was that Ken didn’t believe in displaying emotion—but then up until he met Victoria, his life had been so perfect that he’d had no reason to feel anything deeply.
From Victoria’s point of view, going to bed with Ken’s business partner was something she had to do. It still amazed her that Ken had never wondered why she’d done it in their house, their bed, and just when he’d said he’d be home.
But Ken’s anger and hurt didn’t have the effect Victoria’d hoped it would. Afterward, he still wouldn’t listen to her. He just wanted to yell or sulk, with nothing in between.
Frustrated beyond her ability to cope, Victoria decided to give her husband time to calm down. She took little Alix and ran away to Nantucket, but she’d never thought of staying away. She just wanted Ken to know how it felt to be truly miserable—which she knew he would be without them. And also, she wanted to put him in a place where he had to listen.
But an afternoon of dancing and an old cabinet falling down had changed everything.