Amelia waited until the house was settled. After years of running the inn, she had a sense of when the inhabitants were in their rooms and it was time to unwind.
Next to her in bed, Kelly brushed out her hair with one hand while holding her e-reader with the other. Amelia couldn’t understand how she could choose that device over actual books, but Kelly insisted it was easier on her eyes.
Amelia was irritated with Kelly. It was rare for her to feel that way, and the emotion took her by surprise, so much so that she was almost paralyzed by it. All day, she’d been waiting for the feeling to pass, but it hadn’t. And so now it was time to say something.
“Can you put that down for a minute?” she asked, taking off her glasses. She pressed her fingers to the creases of her eyes. She was exhausted; it was one of those days when she felt her age.
“Is something wrong?” Kelly asked, sensitive enough to know the answer to that question.
“I’m a little disappointed by the way you’re handling Marin’s fragile emotional state.”
Kelly sat straight up and placed the e-reader and the brush in her lap.
“What do you mean?”
“Getting her drunk in the middle of the afternoon? Getting tattoos? Her mother is very upset and I can’t say I blame her. Marin should be spending this week getting fresh air, taking long walks, talking. Discovering the town. We should be helping her deal with all of this in a healthy, constructive way.”
Kelly had always been impetuous; she did what she wanted, when she wanted. She was a rule breaker. It was a trait Amelia loved, and it was that fearless exuberance that had helped shake Amelia out of the rut of her marriage, out of her life of resignation, of duty. It was what had made it possible for Kelly to drop everything and move to Provincetown all those years ago. But it was also the thing about Kelly that frustrated Amelia the most.
Kelly sighed. “Okay, when you put it like that, it sounds bad.”
“And Paul is a terrible influence on you.”
“This has nothing to do with Paul. Listen, Marin was leaving, okay? She was not going to spend another night here. If I hadn’t found a way to connect with her, she’d be back in New York at this very moment, probably never to be heard from again. Instead, she’s asking me if you will take her on your morning walk tomorrow. She wants to go with you.”
Amelia raised an eyebrow. “Is that so?”
“Yes. I told her you’d wake her in the morning.”
Silence settled between them. “So what you’re saying to me is the ends justify the means?”
Kelly nodded. “Something like that.”
“Kelly.”
She sighed. “Okay, fine. Maybe I went too far. I’m sorry. My heart was in the right place.”
Amelia squeezed her hand. “I know. It always is.”
“So much for a calm, uneventful summer,” Kelly said, turning off the light on her side of the bed.
Amelia propped herself up on one elbow, gazing at her wife. Kelly’s long hair was loose, and her bare face looked not a day older than the girls’. It was that Irish skin, shielded from the sun out of necessity year after year. She leaned over and kissed her.
“It’s just one week. Things will get back to normal,” Amelia said.
“I’m not complaining! I love having a full house. And I know you do too.” Kelly smiled, a hopeful, almost childlike expression taking over her face. “I was thinking we should ask them to stay another few weeks. They really should experience a proper Provincetown Fourth of July.”
“Do you think they’d want to?”
Kelly shrugged. “It’s worth a shot.”
“Can you believe this whole thing?”
“It’s amazing. Beyond amazing. And you know, it’s making me think we were too quick to shut down the inn. I know you thought I needed to take it easy because of my health scare. But having the house full of people is a good thing. I think it’s good for you, especially.”
“It was hard to cancel on people and to turn away guests,” Amelia admitted. “I felt particularly bad about the Millers.” The Miller family had had standing reservations for the first week in August since the summer of 1996. Amelia and Kelly had watched their children grow up. “They must be so disappointed. They didn’t even respond to my e-mail. I can’t blame them, I guess.”
“I’ll call them. I’m sure they’re over it by now,” Kelly said. “So next summer we’ll reopen. Maybe Marin and Rachel will come for a while. And we’ll make it up to the Millers—give them a free weekend or something.”
Amelia smiled. “Okay, then. We’ll call this our one-season vacation.” She turned off her light and spooned Kelly. “By the way, have you noticed that love might be in bloom?”
“Who?”
“Rachel and Luke Duncan.”
“What happened with his girlfriend? That pretty Asian woman he brought last summer?”
Amelia shook her head. “Thomas said Luke ended it just before he came out here. I certainly hope that’s the case if he’s flirting with Rachel.”
“What is it about this island and love at first sight?” Kelly said with a sly smile.
Amelia started to say something, then stopped. Kelly was being romantic; she knew that. But it hit the wrong note with her. Love at first sight was not always harmless and romantic.
Oh, the agony when their affair had first begun! Amelia played all the mental games with herself that people do when they cross a line. She told herself it was just this one time. Then she told herself, Okay, it’s the summer and then it’s over. She assured herself it was harmless as long as no one found out.
But of course, someone always finds out.
Unfortunately, in their case, that person was Nick. Nick, who was supposed to be with his father at a fund-raiser at the theater one night but who came home early and went straight to Kelly’s room. Nick could no longer wait, could no longer be subtle; he was ready to profess his adoration for Kelly, his need to be with her.
Instead, he walked in on her making love to his mother.