“Huh. An old friend? Who was that?” he asked.
“You wouldn’t know her,” Ada said. She swept back through the kitchen, coffee in hand, and made an excuse aboutshowering and getting ready for the day ahead. Soon, Peter would have his scary metal utensils in some other woman’s teeth and gums, and Ada would have her metaphorical fingers in someone else’s mind. Maybe she’d never be strong enough to confront him, because to confront him would mean the end, and she wasn’t ready for the end.
Then again, who was?
Chapter Fourteen
The day that Peter told Ada he was going to a West Coast orthodontist conference for a week was the same day that Ada’s mother called to say she was having open-heart surgery. It was too much at once. Head throbbing from the news of her mother’s surgery—which was going to happen in five days because the doctor said sooner was best—Ada listened to Peter describe the orthodontist conference, her hands stretched across the kitchen table, a big glass of wine in front of her. All their kids were somewhere else.
Ada felt so much older than her forty-three years.
“Ada? Are you okay? Did you hear me?” Peter asked, sitting down across from her and reaching for her hand.
“My mother,” Ada said, before bursting into tears. It felt like an elephant was sitting on her chest.
It took a little while for Ada to explain what was wrong with Kathy and what would happen next. Peter listened with a furrowed brow and even took notes, God love him, so that he could reach out to one of his doctor friends for details about Kathy’s condition and surgery.
“I’ll be here the week of the surgery,” Peter said gently. “We can bring her here and take care of her. And I’ll only be on the West Coast for a week. After that, I’ll be on duty for Kathy.”
Ada’s mouth went dry, because the first thing she thought was,What if my mother doesn’t live? Will you still go to your orthodontist conference?But she kept the thought in.
The following morning was Friday, just four days after Hannah’s comment at the burger restaurant about Katrina being “Dad’s friend,” and Ada still hadn’t confronted Peter. Probably because she was weak. On the drive to work, she thought about Kathy, all alone and frightened in Ada’s hometown, and she made up her mind to go there that weekend, help her mother prepare for the surgery, pack her bags, and be there when she woke up. In the parking lot near her office, she called her mother and explained her plan.
Kathy’s voice was tiny. “Are you sure, honey? I know you have a lot on your plate. All those patients.”
“You’re my top priority right now,” Ada told her. “Don’t think anything of it.”
Ada walked through the lobby and stumbled in the doorway to her office, so that her heel was sideways on the hardwood floor. Natalie was on her feet, looking jittery. “Are you all right, Ada?” Ada kicked off her heels and sighed. “I got some bad news about my mother.” Natalie listened intently as Ada explained what Kathy needed done and what Ada had decided to do about it.
“I can rearrange all your appointments for next week,” Natalie said, sitting down to write herself a note. “You’ll be gone for how long?”
“Better cancel all of them,” Ada said. “The surgery is on Tuesday, but I imagine I’ll have her safe and back in Nantucket by the weekend. I can return to work on Monday morning. But maybe not as many appointments per day.”
“I can make it work,” Natalie said.
Ada paused, standing in her stockings, watching the light filter through the enormous Monstera plant near the window. “Natalie, I need to remove a patient from my roster,” she said.
Natalie raised her chin, alert.
“Can you help Katrina Petri transfer her files to another highly recommended therapist on the island?” Ada said, thinking of some of the other therapists she knew and thought highly of in Nantucket, like Victor Sutton or Cleveland Anderson.
As she said it, she felt her heart shrivel up. She knew she should reach out to Katrina herself and inform her that their contract was coming to an end. But she didn’t have the will.
“Of course,” Natalie said. “I’ll do it right away.”
“Thank you.” Ada shot into her office and closed the door behind her. She couldn’t bear to face Katrina, not for another moment. But could she really hide from this forever?
That evening at six o’clock, Ada got on the phone and ordered three pizzas to be delivered to her family’s home. Her suitcase was packed and thrown in the back of her car, and Hannah, Kade, and Olivia were in their swimsuits on the back porch, all of them home for the night and ready to say goodbye to their mother.
With the pizzas on their way, Ada returned to the porch and addressed her children. “I’m going to need your help when Grandma gets here next week. I’ve made a list of things to do in the guest bedroom here on the ground level, where Grandma will be staying. Remember, when Grandma is here, she’s going to need her rest.” She rubbed her forehead. Her children remained quiet. “I’ve also purchased a new television for the guest bedroom, so that your grandmother can be comfortable and have privacy when she wants it. That should be arriving onMonday afternoon. Can one of you remind your father to be here when it’s delivered?”
“Does he know about it?” Hannah asked.
Ada had texted Peter about the television and put the time of arrival on their shared calendar (confirming with his secretary that he didn’t have any appointments first), but she wasn’t sure if she could trust him. She imagined that Kathy’s surgery was the perfect excuse for him to run wild with his girlfriend and forget all family obligations.
And now, here in front of her children, she remembered Peter’s announcement about the orthodontist conference. Her knees went weak, and she collapsed on the outdoor sofa, right there between Olivia and Kade. Kade went pale.
But of course. The orthodontist conference was the trip to the Caribbean. It was the trip Katrina had said was her reward for the heinous last year of her life, proof that her new boyfriend really cared about her. Peter had lied about it so casually, so easily, that Ada now questioned all the other things he’d told her over the past twenty years.
