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Besides, she thought. Russel was selfish and manipulative. But he wasn’t an all-out monster. She had to believe that. Otherwise, she would go insane.
“Steve said Rina’s off to Amherst today,” Trevor went on.
Claire nodded. “She wants to dig around and ask questions about Nathan. She still thinks he’s our best bet for finding her. I have to trust her instincts.”
They were all Claire had left.
Trevor touched Claire’s shoulder gently. Claire suddenly felt like a young, little girl talking to her father in their sunroom. She wanted to lean on him. She wanted him to take away all the pain in her heart.
“Dad?” Claire rasped. “Was he always like this? Were my instincts all wrong?”
Trevor’s face was stony. “Russel wasn’t always like this, no. He changed. I can’t put my finger on when. But I guess I noticed it about a year or two ago.”
“It should be illegal to change so drastically,” Claire tried to joke. “I thought we were going to grow old together. We were so excited about the girls going off to college. We talked about traveling together. We talked about all the experiences we wanted to share.”
But they were just pretty words, Claire saw now. Russel would have that other life with someone else. He would raise another child, maybe more. And maybe he would never look back on his life on Martha’s Vineyard at all. Maybe nostalgia wouldn’t get him down.
A few hours later, Kerry returned home. She looked frigid and volatile, and she put a kettle on the stove and paced the kitchen. Claire and Charlotte watched her from the kitchen table, waiting for her to pop.
“He loaded up several suitcases,” Kerry announced. “And he drove back to the ferry.” She stopped pacing and pointed at Claire. “But that doesn’t mean I want you back in that house tonight. You’re staying here. With us. Is that clear?”
Claire nodded. Charlotte squeezed her hand over the kitchen table.
“And I’m making my clam chowder,” Kerry insisted. “Does anyone have a problem with that?”
Claire felt a smile play out across her lips despite everything. Her mother’s anger was a powerful force guiding the Montgomery clan. She would have smacked Russel across the face if she had the chance.
As Kerry furiously sliced vegetables, there was a knock on the door. Charlotte answered it and brought Susan Sheridan in with her. Susan’s eyes were lined with red.
“Claire, hi.” She removed her coat and bent to hug her.
Claire remembered, abstractly, having reached out to Susan last night to demand an “immediate divorce from Russel.”
“Another Montgomery divorce,” Claire tried to joke, remembering how Susan had dealt with Kelli’s a few years ago.
Susan waved her hand and took the chair between Claire and Charlotte. “I got divorced, too, remember. It’s best to think of it as an escape hatch from a horrible situation.” She wet her lips. “Remember, my husband left me for a younger woman, too.”
Claire had forgotten that. Susan’s first husband had even gone on to marry and have children with his mistress—his secretary at the firm where they’d worked together. Once upon a time, Claire had pitied Susan. But now, Susan was happier than ever with Scott. She’d begun again.
“I’ll handle everything,” Susan was saying of the divorce. “You have his work address? I can have the papers sent there.”
“I do. Yes.” Claire was amazed how wonderful it felt, watching people in her family take the reins on putting her life back together again.
“I’ll strike a deal with his lawyer on the house,” Susan said. “That and the flower shop will be in your name by the end of this. Mark my words.”
Kerry demanded that Susan stay over for dinner. Susan couldn’t refuse, not when clam chowder was on offer. Very soon, Claire felt herself sleepwalk to the dining room table, where she sat between Abby and Charlotte. The savory heat from the soup emanated through the air.
“Bless us, oh Lord,” Kerry said, her eyes closed. “And bring our Gail back to us. We need her here. We love her so. Amen.”
ChapterTwenty-One
Rina called Steve from a gas station parking lot in Amherst. It was terribly windy, and the rain careened sideways and splattered her face. After three rings, Isabella answered the auto shop phone and then fetched her father.
“Hey. How was the drive?” Steve sounded breathless. She imagined they were lying in bed next to one another, whispering in the dark.
“Uneventful,” Rina said. “I’m about to meet with Nathan’s ex-roommate. I don’t have a lot of hope. But at least I’m digging around.”
“Amherst has more answers than here, I’m afraid,” Steve said.
