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Somehow, Ella had almost forgotten about that. “Oh…”
“It’s just that I was lonely, she really wanted to go out, and I was so tired of sitting in my hotel room by myself after gigs,” Will continued. “The entire time I was there, I wanted to be with you. It felt insane that I wasn’t with you.”
Will staggered to a halt, perhaps realizing that he’d gone too far.Had both of them gone too far at this point?It had been such an emotional day.
“It’s okay.” Ella swallowed the lump in her throat. “Marcia Conrad is a complicated person in my family’s life. But that’s a story for another time.” At this point, Ella wasn’t even sure she cared about Marcia Conrad. Her world had been turned on its head.
After another dramatic pause, Will spoke.
“Your family owes you an explanation. And I’d like to help you through it. If you’d let me.”
In the next room, “London Calling” from The Clash roared from the speakers. Both Ella and Will could feel Danny’s ecstasy about the music.
“He plays football now. I can’t believe it,” Ella said instead of answering Will.
Will laughed, his face opening up joyfully. “Our kids are many things,” he said finally. “They have so much of us in them, but they are also uniquely themselves. Isn’t that the greatest gift of all?”
Ella’s eyes filled with tears. She knew he was right.
“I would love you to come with me,” Ella breathed. “On Nantucket, I was learning to find ways to ask for help. And now, here I am, telling you that I don’t think I can do any of this alone.”
ChapterSixteen
Friday morning, Ella awoke in Will’s friend’s bed as the gray light of the last day of September shimmered through the blinds. In the next rooms, Will and Danny slept on, their snores rising and falling like the tides.
It was seven, which meant that Danny was meant to be in school within the hour. As they were several hours away, that wasn’t going to happen. Ella grabbed her phone and turned it back on, trying to ignore each message and missed call from her sisters and mother.
ALANA: I don’t know what’s going on, but Mom won’t stop crying.
JULIA: Will you please call us back?
Ella spoke with the front desk secretary at the high school to explain that Danny had to miss school due to a “private family matter” but would be in attendance the following evening for the Nantucket High School versus Falmouth High School football game. Ella knew that Danny counted on being there. Despite her anxiety about returning to the island, she wanted to get back there for him.
Ella walked into the kitchen and began to brew a pot of coffee. Outside, a blissful New York City autumn day crept open, with beautiful coffeeshops opening out across the sidewalks, trendy-looking hipsters walking past in autumnal hats, and several musician-types carrying guitars and other instruments over their shoulders. This was the life Ella had once known. Now, she felt caught between worlds.
By the time Will and Danny got up, Ella had a full breakfast spread of bagels and different types of cream cheeses set up across the kitchen table.
“That is one thing about Nantucket,” Danny said sleepily as he selected an Everything Bagel. “The bagels just don’t compare to the cities.”
“You got that right,” Will said as he scratched his head adorably. “That’s one of the hardest things about the tour. In fact, your mom and I used to make that our first stop when we got back to the city.”
“Bagels?” Danny asked with a mischievous grin.
“You bet your bottom dollar,” Will said.
Together, the three of them sat with their bagels and contemplated what to do next. Ella suggested that they hit up the Metropolitan Museum of Art, as she hadn’t been there in years, and both guys agreed whole-heartedly.
“Now that I’m an All-American jock, I need a bit of artistic input every now and then,” Danny joked.
Ella and Will exchanged glances and burst into laughter. After a moment, Will added, “I hope you don’t mind that I’ll be at your game tomorrow night.”
Danny’s face glowed with surprise. After a moment, he forced his lips closed and said, “Oh, cool,” like he didn’t care at all. Both Will and Ella knew just how much it meant to him, though.
By the time the three of them boarded Ella’s station wagon the following late morning, they’d fallen even more in-sync with one another. They cracked family jokes that they hadn’t heard in years and ate snacks they’d always loved— Nutter Butter Peanut Butter Cookies, Pizza-Flavored Combos, and Will and Danny’s favorite, Pork Rinds.
“Any other family would think we’re disgusting,” Danny pointed out from the back seat, clearly pleased that he had his parents to himself.
“We’d better brush our teeth before we see anyone else in public,” Ella pointed out, where she sat in the passenger seat, allowing Will to drive. It felt so wonderful to have him there, picking up the slack like this. They’d hardly had any physical contact at all, but just the sound of his voice and the sturdiness of his hands across the wheel felt like enough just then.
