Sam had found a little hotel on Long Island, next to a long white sandy beach. There were four rooms in the hotel and they served no meals. He made the reservation under another name he used when he traveled, and he was wearing a baseball cap and dark glasses when they checked in. There was total privacy and they didn’t see anyone else at the hotel. They must have been out, she thought to herself. There were enough restaurants in the vicinity that they could go out to eat. It wasn’t luxurious, but he had wanted them to have the time alone without the world or fans or paparazzi intruding on them. So he chose a small, remote, little-known hotel.
Kezia was wearing a big floppy straw hat when they checked in. Sam apologized for the lack of luxury, but it was the only way for them to be anonymous. Even if he had rented a house for them, in the end someone would have found out. This way, only he and Kezia knew. And they weren’t even far from home. They were just outside New York. It had taken them an hour and a half to get there.
As soon as they dropped off their bags and checked in, Sam drove them to the beach. They parked the car and got out and took a long walk down the white sand.
They’d worn bathing suits under their clothes, and they left their shorts and shirts under a rock and went swimming. He’d brought a beach towel, and when they came out of the water, he spread it out and they lay down side by side, lying in the sun and snuggling close to each other. He turned to look at her and kissed her. It was exactly what they’d wanted, and they lay on the towel and dozed, and talked to each other when they woke up.
“This is perfect,” she said to him, and he nodded. There were clouds that looked like little cotton balls in the bright blue sky, and when they’d had their fill of the beach, they went back to the room, their skin still warm from the sun. He kissed her again, this time with more passion, and pressed himself against her. He was aching for her, and she for him, and then as though they had always been together, he peeled off her bathing suit and dropped his, and they climbed into the bed and made love. It was exactly as they had hoped it would be, as if it had always been, as time and history melted away. He was a passionate, generous lover, and she was overwhelmed with tenderness for him. Afterward they lay spent and smiled at each other.
“I love you,” she whispered to him, and he pressed her against him and wanted her again, and they made love for a second time.
“I love you more than I can tell you,” he whispered, and ran his fingers down her body, and they fell asleep and woke up at eight o’clock that night.
He held her again before they got out of bed. “Are you hungry?” she whispered to him.
“Starving,” he answered, and she laughed.
They showered together in the small bathroom and got dressed. She loved the fact that they hadn’t tried to hide in some big, luxurious hotel. This was their own private world for the next two days. It was a solemn ritual between them, and the beginning of a new adventure.
The first restaurant they found was a hamburger joint with a bar and a pool table. The hamburgers were delicious, and Sam felt better after he’d eaten.
“What are we going to say to our children?” she asked him as they shared a basket of French fries.
“Do we have to say anything? They’ll figure it out eventually. Unless you want to tell your daughters. I’ve never had to say anything to John. There’s been nothing to say until now. We talk about his love affairs, not mine.” He smiled at her and leaned over to kiss her. “You are amazing!” he whispered to her, and she looked shy.
“You’re pretty amazing yourself,” she whispered back. It was still odd to think that he was a movie star and he was in love with her, when he could have had any woman in the world.
They went to bed early that night and woke up early in the morning. They went for a long walk on the beach before breakfast at a coffee shop. The town looked like a throwback to the 1950s, when it had probably been popular with summer residents, and had been somewhat forgotten in the years since then.
Their two days there were magical, and they were sorry to leave. They had made precious memories together.
When they got back to her apartment, he grinned at her as he carried her suitcase in for her. “If you’ll forgive me for asking, your place or mine?” She laughed.
“Whatever you prefer. Maybe yours. You have furniture, I don’t, but you can send me home anytime you want.”
“I want to wake up in the morning with you,” he said. She loved that idea. And there was a locked door between their two apartments, in the hall. Sam had the maintenance crew come up and unlock it, and he opened the door and blocked it open. “Now we can go back and forth without climbing through the hedge.” The door had been put there in case someone bought both apartments and joined them as a single penthouse. Sam had already bought his when she bought hers.
They spent the night at home in his supremely comfortable bedroom. They had a giant screen to watch movies, and comfortable furniture to lounge on. She dressed in her own apartment and kept her clothes there. They each had double the space they had before.
“It’ll be fun when my furniture comes,” she said, looking around. “We can really spread out then and entertain on whichever side we want.” Her furniture was more formal, and his was more relaxed. The combined apartment served all their needs, more like a house.
“If I ever come home and find the door locked between the two apartments, I’ll know I’m in trouble,” he said, and she couldn’t imagine that happening.
Kate called her that night, and Kezia was lying on Sam’s bed while she talked to her, thinking that it was a good thing they weren’t using FaceTime, or Kate would have seen immediately what was happening. She liked Sam’s idea of letting their relationship “emerge gently,” rather than announcing their unofficial union and possibly dealing with a reaction. They had no set plans for the future. They just wanted to live it and see how it all worked. This was new territory for both of them after long first marriages. There would inevitably be things to adjust to that they couldn’t foresee now, but hopefully not too many. They had an unusually harmonious relationship, and were both easygoing. And it was fun being together. Adding sex to the mix had made things even better, more so than they had expected or hoped for with new partners. It added another layer to the relationship, and greater depth.
When Kate called her mother, Kezia had just gotten out of the shower and was wearing Sam’s bathrobe. He was lying next to her, looking intolerably sexy.
“I just wanted to let you know, Mom, there’s been a change,” Kate said to her. All of Jack’s things were gone by then. He had picked them up when Kate was out and the cleaning person was there. Kate had made a point of being gone so she didn’t have to see him. She didn’t feel ready to do that yet, and he was still furious at being made to leave the apartment. He said he was living on a friend’s couch, which didn’t change her mind.
“Have you two finally figured out a date or a venue?” Kezia said, feeling relaxed about it after the heavenly two days she and Sam had just spent together. She was determined not to be upset by anything Kate told her.
“Actually, no,” Kate said just as calmly. “There isn’t going to be a wedding. We broke up this week. I’m fine. I just wanted to let you know, so you don’t need to stress about the wedding. There won’t be one.”
Kezia frowned as she listened. “Darling, I’m sorry. Are you very upset?” She didn’t like Jack, but four years was a long time, and it was going to be a big change for Kate. Kezia wondered which one of them had pulled the plug on the relationship, but didn’t ask. “I hope it wasn’t too traumatic, nor dramatic.”
“It wasn’t, for me anyway. I just realized that it’s been wrong for a long time and I didn’t want to face it. I guess I didn’t want to be alone, or admit I made a mistake way back at the beginning. We never had the same goals. I thought we did, because of the writing, but the rest was too different. I put all the effort in, he didn’t. And he really didn’t want to get married. It wasn’t my intention, but I forced his hand, and it’s better to know that now. I don’t think he would ever have decided on a date or a place.” Kezia was surprised how tranquil Kate sounded about it. It had obviously been the right decision.
“Did he give you a hard time about it? There was no violence?”
“No, Mom, of course not, he’s not crazy. He wasn’t happy, because he doesn’t like paying rent, but he had three years of a free ride. I figured that was enough.”
“I think you made the right decision,” Kezia said, enormously relieved.
“I know you never liked him. I kind of missed the signs of when to jump off, but it was the right decision for me now.”
“You’re very brave and very smart. Some people stick with the wrong decision all their life. This way you can meet the right person one day, and marry and have kids, if that’s what you want. Or not, if you don’t.”
“It’s a little late now, at thirty-seven.”
“No, it’s not,” Kezia said firmly. “You have time to meet ‘the one,’ and even have a family. It’s never too late to find the right person, and certainly not at your age.” It made Kezia think of Paige, who had waited even longer and was still with the wrong man.
“Anyway, I’m proud of you, I know it can’t have been easy.”
“It was easier than I thought it would be. It was the right thing. If you don’t mind, don’t tell Felicity, I’ll tell her myself. But I wanted you to know first, so you don’t worry about the wedding. This way, you only have Felicity’s to deal with.”
“And next time, it will be you. You still have to pick a maid-of-honor dress, by the way. I’m sorry to bring that up now, if the subject is painful.”
“It isn’t. I think I was lucky to escape.” Kate was echoing John Stewart’s words, but she thought they were true and John was right.
She hadn’t told him yet. She wanted to tell her mother first. “I’ll tell Felicity in the next couple of days, and then you two can gossip all you want.” She laughed. There was nothing her family liked more than a good gossip.
“Of course,” Kezia reassured her. “It’s up to you when you tell her. Thank you for telling me.” They hung up a minute later and Sam raised an eyebrow.
“What was that about?”
“Kate broke up with Jack. The engagement is canceled, and he moved out.”
He gave her a knowing look. “I know you’re pleased.” She had complained a lot about him, and Sam agreed.
“I’m happy he’s out of her life because I think he was the wrong guy, but I’m sad for her if she’s upset or hurting. She sounded pretty good actually. I’m surprised. Well, at least the rest of us won’t have to put up with him anymore,” she said. But she felt sorry for Kate, if she had loved him.
“I wonder if my son had anything to do with this,” he said with a mysterious expression. “Do you remember, I predicted that John would have her ‘fiancé’ on the run by Labor Day? Maybe I’m right.”
“I doubt it. Kate and John hardly know each other. They only met that once at Felicity’s house in the Hamptons.”
“You never know, they may have been seeing each other since then. He had a strange light in his eye when he met her, after their walk on the beach.”
“Would John tell you if he’s been seeing her?” Kezia asked him, curious now too.
“Maybe, but I doubt it. If it’s just a casual fling, he would. But if it’s anything serious, he’d keep it to himself till he’s sure.”
“I think my girls work on that theory too. At these ages, they don’t like telling us too much.” She smiled at him then. “It’s kind of fun having kids the same age. We’ll have to do another picnic day. Maybe Felicity will invite us all again.”
“If she does, then they’ll know about us for sure. You can’t hide happiness. Will they mind?”
“No, they’ll be happy for me. But I don’t think I would tell them right away. It’s still a little soon, and I am their mother after all. I have to at least pretend to have morals and decorum.”
“Morals, yes. But decorum after the past two days would really be too bad,” he teased her, and slipped a hand into the bathrobe she was wearing. He kissed her and pulled off the robe gently, and they made love again.
After Kate told her mother about the breakup, she decided to call and tell Felicity. She was relieved too.
“I hope you meet a good one now.” It was more than a little disconcerting how happy her family was that Jack was gone. Both her mother and sister could barely conceal their relief and delight.
And after that, Kate made a clean sweep of it and texted John. She wrote him simply, “Done. He moved out. I’m a free woman.” It wasn’t an invitation, just an announcement. She knew he’d be relieved for her too. Her phone rang two minutes later. It was John.
“Congratulations! Do you want to come out and celebrate, or are you in deep mourning?”
“Neither one. It is what it is. A mistake I made that has now been corrected.”
“I salute your excellent correction. Was it very bad?”
“My mother wanted to know if it was violent.” She laughed.
“Was it? Did he go nuts?”
“No, it was all very civil. He was pissed because it’s the end of free rent for him from me. He’s staying on someone’s couch.”
“I can’t think of a better place for him.”
“Unfortunately, neither can I. It was long overdue. You helped me to make the decision. And now I have to start all over again. Like the game of Chutes and Ladders. I go all the way back to the beginning.”
“Try not to be too sad. You did the right thing. I’m proud of you, Kate.”
“Me too,” she said. They hung up and she turned on the TV. She was watching a show when the buzzer from downstairs rang, and she went to the intercom to answer it. The voice said there was a delivery of a package for her. She buzzed them in and went to the door to collect the package and saw John bounding up the stairs, with a bottle of champagne in one hand. She grinned when she saw him.
“What are you doing here?” she asked him, as he came through the front door and kissed her on the cheek.
“I figured you could use some champagne to cheer you up.” But she didn’t look upset to him. She looked surprisingly well. “I can always drink it if you don’t want it.” He followed her into the kitchen, where she got two champagne glasses out, and he poured the already chilled champagne into them. She took a sip, and it was very fine champagne and delicious. He looked serious for a minute. “I know it’s incredibly rude of me to just show up, but I wanted to make sure you’re okay. You actually look pretty good.” Her bookshelves were half empty, Jack had taken all his books. The wall was bare where he took a painting he owned, which she didn’t like anyway, and she wanted to move some things around, but she looked relaxed and pretty in jeans and a white blouse, and he sat down to drink the champagne with her. “I won’t stay long,” he promised, but he was happy to see her. And he had her laughing at his stories with the second glass. She relaxed and told him that it was strange that, after four years, she didn’t even miss Jack, and she had no regrets.
“My mother and sister must be dancing in the streets tonight. You know, it’s weird, all my life I’ve wanted to meet my birth father. I had all these illusions about him, about what a cool guy he must be. And I finally met him, and he wasn’t. He’s smart and dedicated, and doing good things with his work in Africa, but he seemed like a very selfish guy. Seeing him changed something for me. When I got back, I started writing again, better than I have before. All the bullshit I put up with from Jack didn’t seem tolerable anymore. I realized that I deserved better, from my father, from Jack, from any man in my life. What I got from them just wasn’t good enough. I’m glad I went to Africa, it freed me, and gave me self-confidence to expect more from the men in my life. It was kind of an epiphany,” she said, as she poured herself a third glass. And John poured himself a third too, which emptied the bottle.
“I felt that way about Caroline too. I was tired of the takers and the schemers and women who expect everything and give nothing back.” He looked at her when he said it and leaned over and kissed her. It seemed like the most natural thing in the world as she put her arms around him and he gently felt under her blouse. They forgot the champagne and devoured each other like two starving people, desperate for connection and tenderness, and love. They made love on the couch and in her bed, with a passion that neither of them had felt before, and when it was over they were entwined tightly and clung to each other.
“Oh my God,” he moaned, “Kate, I’m sorry, I’ve wanted you so badly ever since the day I met you . . . I’m sorry . . . are you mad at me?” He was hoarse with desire for her, and nothing would sate him except more of her.
“Desperately . . . I’m furious with you.” She kissed him and matched his passion with her own. And afterward, still holding each other, they fell sound asleep. They stayed that way, wrapped together closely, until the sun woke them the next day. Their faces were inches apart as John looked at her. He had a headache, but he didn’t care. The night he had spent with her was unforgettable and worth whatever he had to suffer for it now. He didn’t want her to have regrets.
“I think I have a brain tumor,” she whispered.
“It’s the champagne,” he whispered back. “I didn’t mean to take advantage of you. I was just going to drink the champagne with you and leave, but I couldn’t once I saw you.”
“I wouldn’t have let you leave. I wanted you too,” she admitted. And they made love again before they left her bed.
“I think I’m addicted to you,” he said afterward, trying to catch his breath. She was breathless too. They finally made it out of bed, she made coffee, and they had something to eat, and he stood looking at her, naked in her kitchen. She was beautiful and totally at ease with him. “I’m so glad you broke up with him.”
“Yeah. Me too.” She grinned. She looked around, her body as spectacular as his, in all her naked splendor. He couldn’t take his eyes off her. “I hate this apartment. I think I want to move.”
“You can move in with me,” he said.
“It’s a little soon, don’t you think? Maybe in a while.”
“We’d never get out of bed. I might have to give up my job.”
“Good idea,” she said, and they kissed again. They spent the day discovering each other, it was a weekend and they had time, and then went for a walk in Central Park. It was too depressing staying downtown, in plain view of the mangled buildings from the July Fourth attack. Uptown, everything looked normal, the park was green, and children were playing while their parents watched. The world looked bright and new. They stopped walking and he put his arms around her and kissed her and felt like the luckiest man in the world. She suddenly had everything she wanted, and a man she knew she could love. All she’d had to do was let go of the wrong one, and the right one walked into her life.