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On the way back to the truck, Doug pointed at a woman who walked erratically. Her hair shot out wildly in many directions as though she’d walked headlong into the wind, and her eyes were alert, animated.
“Isn’t that Esme’s daughter?”
It was. The woman outside the Sutton Book Club was headed straight toward them, her eyes to the horizon. In the deep distance, a ferry boat churned toward the harbor. Was she meeting someone?
“Hey! Rebecca?” Ben surprised himself by greeting her.
Rebecca turned her head. Her smile was reminiscent of Esme’s, the kind that lit up a entire room. “Hi there.” She made a beeline for them as, under his breath, Doug said, “Someone has a crush.”
“Shush,” Ben muttered to Doug.
“How are you two doing?” Rebecca asked.
“Just enjoying the sun,” Ben said. “And yourself?”
Rebecca tilted her head as though she wasn’t sure how to answer the question. “I don’t know. My mother never came home the other night.”
“Huh. That’s bizarre.”
“My father and I don’t really know what to do about it. The police told us it wasn’t our business, which is probably fair given my family’s history.”
Doug nodded slightly as though he agreed. “It’s strange of her to close the Book Club. Then again, it must be hard on her to be there alone with Larry gone.”
Rebecca’s face was pained. “I’m sure she’ll turn up.” She pointed toward the ferry, adding, “My little sister is on that boat.”
“Wow. The Suttons back together again.” Although Doug was often sarcastic, he sounded genuinely surprised.
“Not all of us,” Rebecca admitted sadly. “That would take a miracle.”
Ben palmed the back of his neck. “I hope you find her soon.”
“Me, too.”
Ben spoke before he could think. “If you see her, could you ask her when the next Veterans’ Dinner will be? I know a lot of us look forward to them.”
The Veterans’ Dinner was the only time Ben and Doug ate until they were full. It was the only time they felt relaxed around a group of peers who understood the most consequential events of their lives. It was true what they said about going to war—you were never the same afterward. And nobody really understood that without going through it themselves.
“I’ll ask her.” Rebecca frowned as though she suspected a darker truth behind Ben’s question. “I better get to the ferry. I hope you enjoy the sun.” She waved as she departed, fleeing toward the incoming boat.
“I hate to break it to you,” Doug began as they headed back toward the truck, “but that beautiful woman was wearing a wedding ring. Somebody already scooped her up. Tough luck, Ben, my boy.”
Ben chuckled. Doug could joke all he wanted about Ben’s dating life; the truth of it was, Ben felt like damaged goods. How could anyone ever like him, let alone love him, after all he’d seen?
“Let’s head home,” Ben said. “Before another woman breaks my heart.”
Chapter Eleven
The ferry boat purred at the edge of the dock. Rebecca craned her neck to see Bethany somewhere in the crowd of tourists, her hands on the boardwalk railing to ensure she didn’t topple into the water below. Around her, people clutched their suitcases and backpacks and discussed their recent vacation on the island, complaining of stomachaches and hangovers and jobs they would soon return to. Rebecca was prepared to tear through the crowd and throw her arms around her little sister. She was ready to embarrass herself in front of hundreds of strangers if it meant showing Bethany how much she still loved her.
Ever sensible, Bethany hung back from the violent crowd, waiting her turn to walk along the boardwalk. She wore a trench coat and a pair of sunglasses, and her hair looked blondish from the southern sun. Rebecca weaved through the throng of tourists, tears in her eyes, until she reached Bethany. There, she placed her hands on Bethany’s elbows and gasped.
“You look so much like Mom,” she whispered.
Bethany laughed gently. “You look just like her, too.”
Perhaps they hadn’t recognized this in their everyday reflections. They hadn’t noticed, day after day, that their faces had transformed into their mother’s face. But now that they stood before one another, they came to terms with how many years had passed—and how many years they couldn’t get back. Wordless, Rebecca hugged her sister and closed her eyes. Her perfume was a heavenly cloud around them. By contrast, Rebecca had struggled to shower and dress herself that morning. Nantucket had really gotten the best of her.
Bethany grabbed her suitcase from the luggage rack and wheeled it behind her. Together, the two Sutton sisters collapsed into the crowd and headed toward the parking lot, where Rebecca’s SUV waited. By the time the suitcase was stored in the back, Bethany’s forehead was wrinkled with worry. “He was drunk. At the Sunset Cove Bar?”
