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Lauren
Sanctuary: a place of refuge
Lauren stood on the observation deck of the ferry and stared across the choppy sea. The water reminded her of grief, slapping at the boat, pummeling, swirling.
The other passengers, less preoccupied by their own problems, had chosen warmth over the view and long since vanished below deck to the snack bar to avoid the frigid squalls of air.
It was like a slap in the face, and Lauren needed that.
“Marriage can be whatever we want it to be,” Ed had once said to her. “There are people who believe in fairy-tale romance who end up in the divorce court a few years later crushed under the weight of crumbling expectations. Then there are people like us who are honest about what we want.”
How about the debts, Ed? Why didn’t you mention those?
How could there be no money? Ed had been good at what he did. The best, some had said, and yet somehow he’d managed to lose everything he’d ever worked for.
She’d tried to concentrate as words and phrases floated past her, although the look on James’s face had been enough to tell her how bad the news was.
Trying to get higher returns for the fund.
Acquired several private companies.
Lack of liquidity.
All the money tied up in the company.
Lost all his capital.
It had been Jenna who had pointed out that she still had the house, and Lauren who had to confess that Ed had taken another mortgage. He’d mentioned a temporary lack of liquidity. What he hadn’t mentioned was how serious it was.
According to James, there was unlikely to be anything left when the debts had been paid. It would take a while to untangle everything, but right now it seemed they would be lucky for the estate not to be declared insolvent.
Apart from that last day, there had been no signs that anything was wrong.
She hadn’t known the person she’d lived with for more than sixteen years.
The cold wind whipped at her hair and slid down the collar of her coat, but she didn’t notice. In the long list of things wrong with her life, being cold was right at the bottom. The feeling of numbness that spread through her had nothing to do with the weather.
She’d had to borrow money from Jenna to cover their journey from England to Martha’s Vineyard and right now she didn’t have the means to pay her sister back.
The seesaw of emotions was making her dizzy. One minute she was angry, the next she was devastated. Anxiety formed a tight band around her chest.
She missed Ed horribly, but she’d barely had time to process her emotions. Life was sweeping her along like a river in full flood. She was gasping for air, swirling, grabbing at anything she could but still couldn’t reach the safety of the bank.
She hadn’t only lost Ed and the house and the life she’d had, she’d lost her vision of the future.
Only now was she realizing how excited she’d been about this new phase in her life.
To support her daughter she would need to find a job that paid immediately. But what could she do?
“Do we have to stay with Grams?” Mack was slumped over the rail, watching the sea churn beneath them. “How long for?”
Until I can’t stand it any longer.
She killed the thought because she was truly grateful to have somewhere to go. Staying with her mother might drive her insane, but it would give her a chance to regroup and plan her future.
“I thought you loved The Captain’s House and Martha’s Vineyard?”
“This is different. This isn’t a holiday.”
