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“A boyfriend?” Olive looks at her mother for confirmation.
“The boy I loved with all my heart,” Sunday says, picturing Irvin in her mind: tall, lanky, curly hair, piercing eyes. “Your uncle Ted’s cousin, and the boy I thought I’d be with forever.”
“What happened?” Cameron asks, one fist on her hip as she stands next to the mantel. “Did he break your heart?”
“Oh, honey,” Minnie says, answering for Sunday. “Life breaks your heart in so many ways that it gets hard to blame any of it on one person or one situation.”
Sunday smiles softly. “She’s right,” she says, feeling tears prickle behind her eyes again. “Life did a number on me with this one.”
“What did he do, Mom?” Olive asks. She looks like she’s on the verge of sympathetic tears, and Sunday gets up from the chair she’s sitting in and walks over to the couch, taking her younger daughter’s hand in her own.
“He was a year older than me, Ollie,” she says, patting Olive’s hand as she holds it. “And he was ready to leave for college.”
“Seems pretty typical,” Cameron says, sounding unimpressed. “Don’t most young people want to leave home as soon as possible and go to college?”
Sunday nods. “That’s true,” she says. “They do. And Irvin wanted to go more than most—he couldn’t wait to get off the island and never see me again.”
“Why?” Cameron asks, dropping her chin and looking at her mother as if she’s trying to figure out what this younger version of her mother had done to scare off her boyfriend.
With a sad smile filled with regret, Sunday looks right at Cameron and holds her gaze for a beat. “He wanted to leave because there was no future here on Tangier for him. Or rather, the only future for him was one that he didn’t want--and I didn't want it, either.”
Ruby
It’s Ruby’s idea to go to the Autumn Bazaar, which is a Christmas Market on the Upper West Side. She meets Dexter at Joe Coffee Company on Columbus Avenue at ten o’clock the next morning, searching for him as she stands outside with Banks nearby.
“Hi, sorry I’m late,” Dexter says, approaching her with a huge grin on his face. He looks well-rested and happy to see her, and not for the first time, Ruby thinks about how much he reminds her of Bradley Cooper, with his strong nose and chin, and his high cheekbones dusted with stubble. His wheat-colored hair is blown around a bit, and his chlorine blue eyes are hidden behind a pair of aviator glasses on this bright, sunny morning. “How’d you sleep?”
“Amazingly well, thank you,” Ruby says, allowing him to hold the door for her. “And you?”
“Like a rock,” Dexter says with a lopsided smile. “And now I’m ready for coffee.”
They take their thirteen-dollar espressos to go, wandering through the streets to the market, which is a series of tent-covered tables lined up all along the sidewalks. Some of the streets have been closed to everything but foot traffic, and Ruby leads the way down one of these roads, stopping at booths that sell bushels of apples for making cider, fresh berry and pumpkin pies, and imported lagers from around the world.
“Ooh, apple cider donuts,” Dexter says, pointing at a booth that smells like cinnamon and sugar. “Want one? My treat.”
Ruby smiles. “Love one.” She waits for Dexter on a bench with her coffee in hand, bending forward to pet a small dog in a sweater that wanders over to her as its owner talks to a friend nearby.
“Here you are, milady,” Dexter says, handing her a donut in a white paper bag along with a napkin. He sits next to her with his coffee and his own donut. “Shall people-watch for a while here?”
“We might as well,” Ruby says, pulling her donut from the bag and breaking off a big chunk. “Watching other people is one of my favorite pastimes, and I feel like they watch me enough that it’s only fair for me to have a turn.”
“Sounds reasonable,” Dexter says amiably, biting right into his whole donut. “I actually bought an extra donut, so you can share the second one with me if you like.” He holds his open bag out to her and she sees a second cider donut nestled there.
“I think one is enough for today,” Ruby says, smiling at him happily and licking granules of sugar from her thumb. “But thank you.”
They watch people walking by for a bit. When Dexter finally speaks, it’s a pointed question. “Any further thought about the email you got from Etienne?”
Ruby had no idea how difficult it would be to “do fun things” while talking about such serious topics. In a way, it might have just been easier for them to hole up in a room together and have discussions that went on all day with only breaks for eating, but she’s still glad for the distractions of fall in the city.
“I fell asleep thinking about it, but I have no idea yet what to do, if I’m being honest,” she admits. “I’m not going to respond until I’ve truly formulated a solid thought.”
Dexter polishes off his donut and folds the top of his bag so that he can hold it like a handle. “I have a solid thought.” He stands up, bag in one hand and to go cup of coffee in the other. “Let’s go and browse. I want each of us to pick out one Christmas ornament for the other person, and it has to be something that we think either represents the other person, or that will make them laugh. And the deal is that no matter what we choose, we both have to swear that we’ll hang them on our trees this year. What do you say?”
Ruby is still sitting on the bench, looking up at him. She’d barely started to talk about Etienne or how she felt, and this abrupt change of subject surprises her.
“Oh,” she says, swallowing her bite of donut. “That sounds fun.” And it actually does sound fun, though she feels cautiously guarded about letting herself feel too laid back with Dexter. She’s still struggling with how much being around him feels like being around a man she could really enjoy spending time with, and she knows that these are dangerous feelings to have right now.
“Okay,” Dexter says, running a hand through his hair as he glances around. “Meet back here in thirty minutes, yeah?”
