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ChapterTwenty-Three
That night, fireworks exploded in a glorious haze of red, white, blue, yellow, pink, and purple fire over Nantucket Harbor. Nantucketers and tourists alike lifted their faces toward the dense night sky and allowed themselves a brief moment of childlike wonder. Nothing was more nostalgic than the Fourth of July— the colors, the heat, the sailboats, and the barbecue all melded together for an iconic celebration.
And this Fourth of July was one Alana Copperfield certainly wouldn’t forget.
Alana stirred her margarita with a skinny straw, captivated by the fireworks. Beside her, Jeremy sat with his sweating beer glass. They’d said very few words to one another over the past hour as their chins remained lifted toward the night sky. They sat in an empty bar, stationed at a counter on the outer edge of the place, with a perfect view of the harbor before them.
“I got served divorce papers today,” Alana said suddenly.
Jeremy groaned. “Been there.”
Alana, genuinely surprised, felt laughter bubble through her. “Sorry. It’s not funny. Not in the slightest.”
Jeremy chuckled back. “Naw. It is… kind of. It was so long ago now. I don’t even know if I could picture her face if I tried.”
Alana sipped her margarita. The tang blanketed her tongue. “How long has it been?”
“She left when Sarah was three,” Jeremy said, sounding reticent.
“Three. Wow.” Alana found it terribly difficult to imagine a mother leaving her daughter like that. “What was she like?”
Obviously, she’d been beautiful. Alana could see Sarah’s mother’s beauty written across her gorgeous face.
But Jeremy didn’t mention this. Instead, he said simply, “I wasn’t the happiest of men after the accident.”
Alana’s heart cracked at the edges. She kept silent.What was there to say?
“I met her when I was twenty-five,” Jeremy continued. “She was a tourist, just someone I met at a bar.”
“You know better than to get involved with a tourist,” Alana teased gently.
Jeremy’s eyes flashed. “The romance was brief and ended with marriage. She said Nantucket was paradise. Why wouldn’t she want to be here? Then, we quickly had Sarah. The cracks formed in our relationship not long after that. I could tell she wasn’t a natural mother. Not that I was a natural father…”
“I don’t know if anyone is a natural anything,” Alana breathed. “Not that I’m a mother. But as far as I can see, you start with the love, and then you learn from there.”
Jeremy’s eyes shimmered. “Well said.”
Alana shrugged. “I’m not a writer. Just a washed-up actress, looking for a brand-new life.”
Jeremy laughed darkly. “And? What about yours?”
“My soon-to-be-ex?”
“Fair is fair,” Jeremy said as he took a sip of his beer.
“Well. Let’s see.” Alana shrugged. “I guess you know that I met him when I was seventeen years old.”
“I do.”
“A bit of a complicated time for me,” Alana continued. “You see, my boyfriend had just broken up with me. I was devastated.”
Jeremy’s eyes grew shadowed. “I see.”
“This handsome man wanted to scoop me up and take me to New York City. Who was I to refuse that? Afterward, the calls came in, asking me to model for them. The paychecks added up. Soon, Asher and I were able to afford anything we’d ever dreamed of. I was walking on air.”
“It sounds so dreamy.”
“Yes. Until suddenly, I realized that with each passing year, Asher was more in demand, and I was less so. I was once Alana Tarkin, renowned model. But soon after, I was known only as Asher’s wife. My resentment began to build. When I brought it up with him, he pretended not to understand, saying that whatever he did represented both of us.”
