BARE WALLS, empty rooms. No memories here.
Helene walked through the small apartment. Her apartment, she reminded herself. Over seventy years old, and she would be living on her own for the very first time. She didn't know whether to laugh or cry at the thought.
The telephone rang, startling her. It had been hooked up only this morning; who could be calling? She stared at the phone, letting it ring several more times. Obviously it was someone stubborn. She walked over and picked up the receiver.
“Hello?” she said, disliking the tentative way she spoke. A woman on her own should be forceful, decisive.
“Hello,” came the gruff voice of her husband.
“Merrick… how did you get this number?” Now she sounded cranky, and she hadn't intended that, either.
“Amy,” Merrick said, terse as ever.
Helene frowned. She'd made her daughter swear not to give him the number. But Amy was goodhearted and impulsive, and seemed determined to get her parents back together again. What a supreme irony. Helene did laugh, bleakly.
“Want to share the joke?” Merrick asked.
Helene couldn't say anything. Certainly she couldn't expose her misery and self-doubt to him. But all this trouble had started out with the best of intentions, hadn't it? Helene had been worried about the years of estrangement between her three daughters—Amy, Lisa and Megan—and a few months ago she'd concocted what seemed the perfect plan. She and Merrick would feign marital difficulties, and surely that would give the Hardaway girls a reason to unite—a joint purpose in setting their parents straight. But somehow, the plan had succeeded too well. All too soon, the feigned problems in their marriage had become painfully real.
“Helene,” Merrick said.
She gripped the receiver. “Yes…I'm still here. Why did you call?”
“I need a reason to call my own wife?”
“Merrick,” she said on a warning note. She heard his stifled curse on the other end of the line, and then he began again.
“I thought you should know that Lisa decided to take a later flight. She won't arrive until after six tonight.”
“You'll pick her up at the airport?”
“Amy wants to. Something about needing a sisterly chat.”
Oh, yes, the plan to unite their daughters had worked well enough. Since the whole thing began, this was already the second time Lisa—the youngest—had flown in from Connecticut. The oldest, Megan, too, would arrive from Nebraska next week, and had arranged to stay at Amy's beach house. Megan, Amy, Lisa…the three Hardaway girls, together again in Hurricane Beach.
“At least our daughters are spending more time together,” Helene murmured, almost to herself. “We've accomplished that much.”
Merrick gave another grumbled curse. “Turns out the three of them have some crazy idea about planning an anniversary party for us.”
“What on earth makes you think that—”
“I'm good at picking up clues,” Merrick said. “And our daughter Amy is not exactly closemouthed. Apparently, this anniversary bash is supposed to convince us we shouldn't throw fifty years out the window. But I'm not the one who needs convincing—am I, Helene?”
If only she could make him understand! Pretending that their marriage was in trouble had stirred up so much unexpected resentment and bitterness in her. So many stifled dreams had begun to haunt her. Finally, Helene had confronted the truth: she'd spent years loving Merrick, but years also bending to him, molding herself to whatever he needed and desired. And she'd known, with terrible clarity, that she could no longer go on bending. Despite her fears for the future, she had recognized one irrevocable fact: she could not be the woman her husband wanted her to be.
“Helene,” Merrick said. “We have to talk sooner or later. About whether or not we're going to sell the property, for one thing.”
It had become very much a sore spot between herself and Merrick—this decision about whether or not to sell their beachfront property to Silver Sands Development. “I know what you're really thinking,” Helene said quietly. “You're thinking that all you have to do is convince me to come over to your side. You want me to agree to the sale…just as I've always agreed to everything. And then, as far as you're concerned, all our problems will be over.”
“I thought you were happy with me. I thought you had everything you wanted—”
“This is what I need now, Merrick. A place of my own. Decisions of my own.” She was proud of herself for speaking firmly at last. In spite of the pain, the sudden loneliness, she needed to be away from him. For years and years she had loved Merrick Hardaway with all her heart…but she could no longer be with him.
All the pretending was over.