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“It’s not that I can’t afford one. I could very well buy another in Providence, Bar Harbor, or Timbuktu.”
Rebecca felt a wave of annoyance pass over her. She hated his braggadocios baloney.
“But the issue, I suppose, is that I’m getting divorced again.” Victor’s eyes were empty and wide. “And I find myself, if not an old man, then an aging man with plenty of questions about my past and my roots. This is why I’ve come to you, Rebecca. I want you to accompany me to Nantucket. I want you to come with me to visit your mother. I want us to return to the place where everything fell apart.”
Rebecca’s ears were ringing. Baxter’s brother collected their pint glasses and refilled them without asking, as though this was the bar culture at Baxter’s.
“I don’t know what to say,” Rebecca whispered.
“Say you’ll think about it.”
Rebecca bristled. But when she turned to look at her father again, she saw what she hadn’t seen before. Here was a man who was broken. His suit jacket slumped from his shoulders, as though he’d lost a bit of weight and no longer fit into his academic clothes. His eyes were moist and tinged with red. Then there was the fact that he’d traveled from Providence to Bar Harbor to see his daughter for the first time in thirty years—which was no easy feat. The Victor Sutton who’d left them on Nantucket wouldn’t have stooped this low.
“Don’t you want to make sure your mother is okay?” Victor rasped.
Rebecca wanted to push back at that. She wanted to ask how he could use Esme’s grief to manipulate her.
Then again, fear about her mother’s mental health had begun to shadow everything else. Since January, Rebecca had had to keep everything at least marginally together for the sake of her children. But in that big house alone, Esme didn’t have anything to prove.
“We don’t have to stay for long,” Victor urged. “Just a day or two. Just enough time for us to sit with Esme and make sure she’ll get through this.”
Rebecca closed her eyes. On the stereo, a commercial advertised brand-new mattresses and their owners’ desire to remain in bed all day long.
“I can’t go until Chad is off to basketball camp and Shelby’s in the mountains for work.” Rebecca closed her eyes and rubbed her temples.
“I understand,” her father said. “And your eldest?”
“She has an internship,” Rebecca said. “She’s an adult. I don’t need to worry about her as much anymore.”
Her father quieted for a moment. Rebecca opened her eyes to peer at him. He studied the top rim of his beer glass like a scientist.
“What are you thinking?” Rebecca demanded.
After a pause, he answered. “You say you don’t need to worry about your eldest as much anymore. But that’s just not true, is it? We always worry about our children, no matter how much time has passed, and no matter how old they are.”
Chapter Four
The Acadia Mountains and Bar Harbor’s sea level boasted a twenty-five-degree difference. Rebecca shivered in her spring jacket as she lugged Shelby’s second suitcase from the back of the SUV and followed her into the cabin she would share with the other employees for the summer. By the time she swung the bag onto Shelby’s upper bunk, Shelby was in conversation with a young woman from Sweden who’d traveled all this way for the American experience. “Do you know anything about s’mores?” the woman asked Shelby, who laughed and told her she was in for a treat.
This was the final goodbye of a week of goodbyes. Rebecca perched at the edge of Shelby’s bed and swung her feet in front of her. Yesterday, she’d taken Chad to the airport with three of his basketball friends for their flight to Virginia. Although she’d hugged the other boys goodbye, she’d clung to Chad a bit too long. The other boys had exchanged worried glances. Their parents had probably spoken about Rebecca, the new widow, and told their children to be extra kind to Chad.
Three days ago, Rebecca had taken Lily back to New York City for her paid internship in marketing. Lily had taken a sublease in Brooklyn and said she was grateful to be out of Columbia’s shadow for a little while. Come fall, she would enter her final year at the estimable university, a fact that boggled Rebecca’s mind. What was next? Neither Rebecca nor Lily was eager to find out.
“Are you going to be okay by yourself?” Shelby asked her mother as she walked her out to the SUV.
“I’ll be fine, sweetie. You know me.”
“I do.” Shelby furrowed her brow. A large eagle swept overhead. “I think it’s a good thing you decided to sell the restaurant.”
Rebecca dropped her gaze. “I couldn’t believe how quickly it became a bidding war.”
“It’s a great location,” Shelby pointed out.
“I just hope it isn’t an Asian fusion restaurant. Or, ugh, another Italian place. Or a silly coffee shop that only sells sugary foods.”
“Whatever it is, it won’t be as good as Bar Harbor Brasserie. Everyone knows that.”
Shelby adjusted the straps of her tank top. Rebecca was pretty sure Lily had passed this particular one down to her. It reminded Rebecca of her own sisters, with whom she’d continually swapped clothes with. What would her sisters have said about Victor Sutton reappearing in her life out of the blue? Why hadn’t she asked her father if they’d been in contact?
