SATURDAY STARTED OUT to be a great day.
When Kaitlyn texted Sunny about whether she wanted to take Sophia’s place and do a few hours of cleaning at the motel for pay, she hadn’t known whether she and Sunny were close enough, whether Sunny would get insulted at being asked to do something menial like cleaning motel rooms. They’d only exchanged phone numbers because they’d talked about getting together to train Navy.
But Sunny had texted back immediately: YES! I’m broke.
She’d arrived on her bike half an hour later and got off at the room where Mom was giving Kaitlyn instructions she didn’t need.
“Remember, no rag that touches the toilet gets used anywhere else.”
“Toilet rags are special,” Kaitlyn said to Sunny. “That’s one of Mom’s prime rules.”
“I agree that toilet rags should be separate from anything else in the universe. When I go to people’s houses, I’m worried they won’t know that rule.”
Mom’s face broke into a smile. “We’re going to get along fine.”
Kaitlyn took Sunny’s arm and pulled her into the to-be-cleaned room. “We’ll text if we have questions.”
“Open the window when you’re using the strong cleaner,” Mom called in.
“We will.” Kaitlyn rolled her eyes at Sunny, who grinned back.
Quickly, Kaitlyn discovered that Sunny was a hard worker. She had to be, given her mom and her work at the docks. Kaitlyn had spent a lot of time cleaning motel rooms in the past year and a half, so she knew it was best to just get the job done and done right. They worked well together.
Truthfully, Sunny was better at cleaning than Sophia would have been, any day. Especially when Sophia was in a rotten mood, like she’d been this morning. Kaitlyn didn’t even believe her claim of being sick, not really; at the most, she was probably on her period.
But whatever. “I’m glad you could come,” she said to Sunny as they made up a bed with clean sheets.
“Me, too. That’s good pay your mom is offering.” And it was true; it was more than minimum wage. Mom understood that asking teenagers to work for her required spending a little cash, and she was willing. In some ways, a few at least, Mom rocked.
“So how’s that new class you’re in?” Sunny asked. “They wanted to put me in it, last year, but Mom kicked up a big enough fuss that they didn’t.”
“Why’d they want to put you in?” Then Kaitlyn reflected that she didn’t want Sunny to know why she’d gotten put in the class. She opened her mouth to retract the question.
But Sunny was already answering. “Fighting and skipping school,” she said, shrugging. “No big deal. I stopped, mostly.”
“What were you fighting about?” Even though she was a dock kid, Sunny didn’t seem like the kind of girl anyone would harass.
“Stupid stuff. That little twerp Kyle Sprang started spreading rumors I’d slept with him. When I shot him down in front of a bunch of people, he claimed he’d dumped me because I smelled like a fish boat.”
Kaitlyn’s eyes widened. “That’s awful!”
Sunny shrugged, then grinned. “He messed with the wrong dock kid,” she said.
“What did you do?”
“I told him if he didn’t shut up, I’d tell everyone he was this big.” She held her forefinger and thumb three inches apart. “Man, was he mad. But he didn’t want my story to spread, so he stopped saying anything about us sleeping together.”
Kaitlyn stared at her. “You’re a genius.”
“Yeah, that’s why I’m cleaning toilets.” Sunny held up a hand. “I’m not complaining, believe me. This got me out of sorting and culling, and it pays.”
They finished that room and moved on to the next, talking about school and Navy and the kids in Kaitlyn’s new classroom. Sunny asked her about her family, especially Dad. “I wish he wasn’t blind,” Kaitlyn said. “I mean, of course I wish that for him. But he used to be, like, this big mean-looking cop, and no one would mess with me once they saw him. Now...nobody’s afraid of him.”
“That stinks.” Sunny squatted down to extract a used tissue from the floor under a desk. “But he seems like a pretty good guy.”
“Yeah. He’s just trying to figure it all out, and he’s, like, oversensitive. That’s why he was kinda rude to the captain.”
“Eli will get over it. If he even noticed.”
“Is your dad around, like, part of your life?” Kaitlyn asked. “Sorry if that’s a rude question,” she added quickly.
Sunny waved a hand. “Not rude. I don’t know my dad.”
“Oh.” Kaitlyn didn’t know whether to express sympathy or ask more questions.
Sunny grabbed the vacuum, then paused. “Mom’s a little... Well, she’s not exactly traditional. None of us, not me and not my older brothers, know our dads. None of them stuck around.”
“That’s awful!” Kaitlyn’s heart hurt for the family. Plus, she was a little shocked because it sounded like Bisky’s kids all had different dads. “Your mom seems so strong. I wouldn’t think she’d let men treat her bad.”
Sunny laughed. “She wouldn’t. She doesn’t want them to stick around.” She turned on the vacuum cleaner and started pushing it vigorously around the room.
Kaitlyn pondered that. Mostly, she’d seen boys dumping girls, or men leaving women. Or at least, women who were wrecked about a relationship ending, like Mom after the divorce. To think that women could happily leave men behind, and go on proud and happy like Bisky, was kind of mind-blowing.
Kaitlyn was heading into the bathroom—two separate rags and buckets in hand—when her phone pinged with the tone that meant a social media message. She didn’t get too many of those these days, so she stopped, pulled out her phone and tapped the notification.
You shouldn’t have blocked me. Love, TomDickandHarry.
Her heart started pounding. How had he gotten to her when she’d deleted her account and started a new, private one?
Your dad’s getting some print photos in the mail today.
Kaitlyn’s breath whooshed out of her, and then she was panting. “I gotta go to my dad’s,” she called over the noise of the vacuum cleaner. “Now.”
“What’s wrong?” Sunny stopped the vacuum cleaner.
Kaitlyn’s phone pinged again.
I have the digital ones ready to go.
Kaitlyn was breathing so hard she thought she might faint. “Somebody sent bad pictures to my dad.”
Sunny came over and took the phone out of Kaitlyn’s hand. “What pictures? And anyway, he can’t see them, right?”
“I have to go get them before he finds them and shows them to someone.” She grabbed her coat. “And his vision’s coming back some. He might be able to see them.”
“Wait up. I’m coming, too. We have to lock the room and tell your mom we’re taking a break.”
“There’s no time!”
“There’s time.” Sunny handed the phone back to Kaitlyn. “Text her.”
With shaking hands, Kaitlyn texted something to her mother, she barely knew what, and then they were running to Dad’s cottage.
What images did TomDickandHarry have? They could only be stills from the video, like the one Moses and Rod had shown her down at the docks; there was no other time she’d done anything that would be remotely interesting to a guy like that. And who was he, anyway?
She ticked through possibilities in her mind as she ran. It couldn’t be Chris. While he’d been the one to ask her to take off her shirt, he wasn’t shifty and cruel, or at least, she didn’t think so. Tyler and his other popular friends...it could definitely be one of them, but who? Would Tyler himself do it? Was he TomDickandHarry?
But Sophia was dating him, sort of. Would he really do something so awful to his girlfriend’s sister?
And then she thought of Moses and Rod, and the picture they’d tried to show her down at the docks. Had it been them all along?
Kaitlyn’s lungs burned by the time they got there, and images of Dad’s disappointed face kept flashing through her mind. She couldn’t let him see how badly she’d screwed up. For Mom to see it would be bad enough, but Mom already knew Kaitlyn was far from perfect.
Dad still thought she was his little princess, and though it was stupid, she wanted it to remain that way.
The mail at Dad’s cottage came through a slot in the door and landed on the floor. Thank heavens she had a key. Thank heavens he didn’t seem to be home.
She unlocked the door and saw the mail scattered over the floor, and her tight shoulders relaxed a little. Navy rushed into the entryway to see what was going on, letting out one sharp bark. Then she stretched, back end in the air, front half forward, and gave a yawn that came out like a little groan.
While Sunny fussed over the dog, Kaitlyn fumbled through the mail until she spotted it: a big manila envelope with Dad’s name and address in block letters. No return address. “This has to be it,” she said, holding it up for Sunny to see.
Sunny looked up from rubbing Navy’s belly. “No postage. Dude must have stuck it through the door himself.”
“What a complete, total jerk.” Kaitlyn was catching her breath now. Relief washed over her. They’d gotten here in time. Dad hadn’t had a chance to see it, or show it to someone who could describe it to him.
“Aren’t you going to open it?”
“Yeah, I guess.” She sat down on the floor in the entryway, leaned against Navy and ripped open the envelope.
There was an eight-by-ten photo of her in the midst of taking off her shirt. The same one Rod and Moses had shown her, and it made her cringe. Instinctively she held it where Sunny couldn’t see it.
A note was paper-clipped on. “If you don’t want your parents to see this, come back and finish the job. We like you better than your sister.”
Confusion made Kaitlyn dizzy. What did they mean? What did Sophia have to do with it?
“Kait?” The voice came from upstairs, then the sound of rapid footfalls. Uh-oh. Dad was here, and he was coming down. “Is that you, honey?”
He came around the corner as Kaitlyn attempted to stuff the envelope under her shirt.
“Hi, Mr. Martin,” Sunny said, stepping in front of Kaitlyn. “I’m Kait’s friend Sunny. You met my mom before?”
Thank you, Kaitlyn tried to project to Sunny.
“It’s nice to see you,” he said, reaching out a hand, which Sunny clasped and shook vigorously. “What are you girls up to today?” He tilted his head back. “Is that the mail?”
“Um, yeah.” Kaitlyn quickly grabbed up the flyers and circulars and handed them to him.
“Anything look interesting?”
“No,” she said, too quickly. “I mean, probably not. It’s just ads.”
“We wanted to see if we could train Navy a little,” Sunny said.
“Or at least play with her,” Kaitlyn added, knowing Dad wanted to keep her active. They’d talked about taking her to some agility classes up the shore, but so far, Dad hadn’t signed Navy up.
The manila envelope chose that minute to fall out of her shirt and onto the floor. Dad spotted it, or heard it, she wasn’t sure which, and held out his hand. “More mail?”
Kaitlyn froze, looking at Sunny.
“No, that’s my notes about dog training,” Sunny said, taking the packet from Kaitlyn. “Is it okay with you if we take Navy down to the beach for a little while? It’s not that cold out.”
“Navy would love it. The more activity she gets, the better she feels.”
“Great!” Sunny clicked her tongue to Navy. “Where’s her leash?”
Dad pointed her toward the hook on the wall and helped her get Navy’s harness on, while Kaitlyn stood by with her skin hot, feeling dizzy. She’d come so close to being caught.
“We’ll be back in an hour. C’mon, Kait!” Sunny took her arm and practically dragged her toward the door.
Outside, they walked down the path to the beach.
“You saved my butt. Thanks,” Kait said to Sunny.
“I’m good with adults. And dogs,” Sunny added, putting her hands on Navy’s back and rubbing down her sides, causing the dog to tip back her head with what looked like a big smile.
“Did you see the note?” she asked Sunny.
Sunny nodded. “What did they mean, finish the job? Finish taking off your clothes?”
Kaitlyn’s heart sank. “That’s probably exactly what it means.” She bit her lip, then knelt to pet Navy, too, needing the comfort. “What am I going to do?”
Sunny’s brow wrinkled and she lifted a hand, palm up. “We’ll think of something.” Her voice didn’t sound certain.
Kaitlyn was drawing a blank, too, but she knew she had to take action and stop this jerk. It would kill Mom and Dad to find out.
SUNDAY AFTERNOON, the day after Kaitlyn and her friend ditched their cleaning job at the motel—which actually made Ria happy, because it meant Kait was making friends—Ria opened the door of her house and welcomed in her mom; Erica and her sister, Amber; and Mary. Another car was pulling in the driveway, and a tall woman got out and headed toward them.
Ria had realized that the girls were spending the afternoon and evening at Drew’s. That meant there was no one to eat the big pot of minestrone she’d made.
Nothing to stop her from ruminating on the fact that she and Drew had kissed so sweetly, so intensely, that she’d relived it in her mind, over and over.
She’d looked out the window at dark skies and a cold, steady drizzle, built a fire in the fireplace and called her woman friends. A little hitch of hesitation and she’d called Sunny’s mom, too, and invited her. It was good to know the families of your kids’ friends. Surprisingly, the woman, known as Bisky, had said yes.
Everyone brought something: salad, bread, dessert, wine. They all crowded into the steamy, fragrant kitchen together and soon sat down at Ria’s big kitchen table. They ate and talked and laughed, getting louder as the wine flowed.
Ria rejected offers to help with the dishes. “Let’s go sit by the fire for coffee and dessert,” she said, so they all went into the den. She was glad of the big wraparound couch she’d splurged on, as everyone nestled in. The fireplace radiated warmth, and gathered here, the cold outdoors seemed safely distant.
“How’s your sweet Kaitlyn doing?” Mary asked.
Ria laughed. “Sweet wouldn’t be my word to describe her, most days,” she said.
Bisky let out a snort of agreement. “Teenage girls. I got combat pay when I was in Iraq, but I swear I need it more now.” She looked at Erica. “You teach over at the school, right? I don’t know how you deal with them every day.”
“They’re better with me than with their parents, at that age,” Erica said. “As for Kaitlyn, she seems to be doing pretty well in the classroom. Gets along with the other kids, and wow, is she ever smart.”
Ria and Julie exchanged little glances of pride. They’d both always thought Kait had a wonderful mind.
“I’m glad Kait’s become friends with your daughter,” Ria said to Bisky. “She’s a lovely girl. Good manners and a terrific work ethic.”
Bisky smiled. “Thanks. I’m proud of her.”
Amber emerged from the kitchen carrying big slices of the chocolate turtle cheesecake she’d brought. As she handed plates to Julie and Mary, Erica jumped up to help her.
Amber waved Erica back to her seat. “Sit down,” she said. “I’m doing well, remember?”
Erica bit her lip. “Of course you are,” she said and sank back onto the couch. But her eyes followed her sister as she returned to the kitchen, and Ria saw her mom and Mary exchange glances. Amber had fought a major battle with cancer and had been skinny and frail when the sisters had come to the island. She seemed to be doing much better now, with an energetic walk, blooming cheeks and a head of short, thick hair. But it seemed Erica didn’t feel completely confident of her health yet.
Amber emerged again and held out a plate to Ria.
Ria studied the gooey chocolate and the caramel topping, then forced herself to look away. “That’s okay. I’m full.” And she didn’t want to gain an ounce, just in case she and Drew...
“No one’s too full for cheesecake,” Mom protested.
“Hear, hear,” Bisky said, forking up a big bite.
Mary reached out, took the plate Amber was waving in front of Ria’s nose and set it down on the coffee table. “Don’t force food on the poor woman. Let her make her own decisions.”
“You’re right,” Amber said. “Sorry. If it’s for you and for your health, then do what you need to do.”
“On the other hand,” Bisky said, “if you’re trying to lose weight to impress a man, forget about it.”
The others nodded approvingly. Although six-foot-tall Bisky earned her living on the water, with a career much different from those of these in-town business owners and teachers, she seemed to fit right in.
“Ria has no need to watch her weight for a man,” Mom said. “She’s got someone hanging on her every word and eager to spend every minute with her.”
“Ooh, who’s that?” Amber looked up from her cheesecake with interest. “There are, like, zero attractive single men in this town.”
Erica raised her eyebrows. “Thought you weren’t interested in dating.”
“I wasn’t. But a lady’s allowed to change her mind. Who’s hitting on you?” she asked Ria. Then she added, “I promise, I won’t poach.”
“It’s her husband. Ex-husband,” Mom corrected herself. “Drew’s still crazy about you, from everything I’ve seen.”
Ria looked down, her insides churning in a half-pleasant, half-sickening way. She’d relived her kiss with Drew so many times since their hike. It had been amazing, had shown her that the spark between them hadn’t died at all; instead, it seemed to have grown to a higher flame.
But they’d had plenty of attraction when they’d gotten together and in the early years of their marriage, and it hadn’t made for a successful relationship. She’d worried constantly about her weight, and although he’d never said one contrary word to her, she’d been sure Drew noticed and disliked it, as well. She’d seen pictures of his former girlfriends, and most were model thin.
“Drew’s hot,” Amber said.
Ria’s head jerked around to look at the woman, and Amber held up a hand. “Remember, I don’t poach. He’s all yours.”
“Well, he’s not mine. We’re divorced. And the twenty pounds I’ve gained in the past couple of years...” She shrugged. “Let’s just say it doesn’t make me super interested in a relationship.”
“A good man will want you to be happy and love you as you are,” Bisky said.
“Drew’s a good man,” Mom said.
“He is,” Ria admitted. “But he’s a man, and men care about looks.”
“Well,” Erica said, and the rest of them turned toward the thoughtful sound of her voice. “Trey overlooked a lot I thought was a deal breaker. The fact I couldn’t have kids,” she explained, looking at Bisky, probably the only one who didn’t know Erica’s story.
“And it didn’t strain him a bit to do it,” Amber said. “He still looks at you like you’re some kind of goddess.”
Erica blushed and shook her head, but with a smile on her face.
“Still,” Ria said, “you’re skinny. Men care about weight.” She hesitated, then added, “Look at my dad.” Then she bit her lip. She didn’t want to hurt Mom by bringing up the problems that had led to the divorce. And she certainly wasn’t going to tell her mother that Dad seemed to be cheating on his new wife.
Amber set down her empty plate and propped her feet on the ottoman. “Skinny isn’t all it’s cracked up to be,” she said, looking into the fire.
Her words struck Ria hard. Amber, about Ria’s age and the mother of a teenager just like her, had nearly died and wasn’t out of the woods yet. How foolish it was to worry about a few extra pounds in comparison to what Amber had been through. She picked up the plate of dessert from the coffee table—it had been calling her name anyway—and took a decadent, delicious bite, savoring the way the salty caramel contrasted with rich, creamy chocolate.
After a little more desultory chat, Amber stood up, and immediately Erica did, too. “I’m sorry to cut out early,” Amber said. “Still working on my endurance.”
“And I have papers to grade before tomorrow,” Erica said. “Thanks so much for this. What a treat.”
Ria hugged them both, saw them out, then returned to find her mother, Mary and Bisky discussing Amber’s health.
“She’s doing much better,” Mom was saying. “Starting to think about how to live the rest of her life, what her future might hold.”
“That’s good,” Mary said briskly. “We none of us know how much time we have left. We need to live life to the fullest.”
“Speaking of full, I’m way too much so,” Ria said. Without really noticing, she’d eaten the entire slice of cheesecake, using way more calories than her diet called for. “I should never have eaten that cake.”
“Stop it,” Bisky said. “You deserve a little treat every now and then. We all do.”
Ria didn’t answer that. Bisky had way more confidence than she’d ever have.
“Sometimes,” Mary said slowly, “I think we’d all be better off if we stopped thinking about how we looked to others, what they thought, and just focused on keeping ourselves happy.”
“Easy for you to say,” Mom said. “You’re tiny by nature. And gorgeous, too. Most of us have to struggle if we want to look good.”
“That’s if you care what men think,” Bisky said. “And you know what? You’d be surprised. Most guys aren’t as worried about size as you’d figure. I mean, look at me. I’m big enough to beat the tar out of three-quarters of the men in the USA, and yet...nobody seems to mind.” She smiled a little.
Curiosity struck Ria. Did Bisky date? But still... “Most men are visual,” she said. She knew she was repeating herself, being anti-feminist and self-defeating, but she also felt she could be honest among these women. “And they care how you look. And what’s pretty to most guys is skinny.”
Bisky shrugged. “Stick with that viewpoint if it makes you happy,” she said.
“It doesn’t make me happy, but it’s true.” Ria knew it was so.
“Then you can’t win, can you?” Mary asked. “And what are you teaching your girls?”
“Kaitlyn is starting to worry about weight,” Mom said and sighed. “It’s a shame. You were the same way, at her age,” she added, looking at Ria.
Guilt washed over Ria. Was she teaching a poor body image to Kaitlyn? She’d never said one word to Kait about her weight—not just because Kaitlyn looked perfect to her, but because she knew it was wrong. But meanwhile, she was always harping on her own weight in front of the girls. Teaching, and teaching the wrong thing, by example.
Ugh. Would she ever get this motherhood thing right?