She didnʹt reply. ʺIf Beth, who wasnʹt even hospitalized, had gone for a follow-up appointment and arrived home three hours after you expected, wouldnʹt you have worried?ʺ
ʺOkay, fine, you win,ʺ Ivy said, hoping to end the discussion. Will looked up from his work, his anger gone, but his deep brown eyes troubled. ʺIʹm not trying to win. Iʹm just trying to understand whatʹs going on.”
ʺMe too,ʺ Ivy replied honestly, and headed into the cottage.
ʺBUT YOU LIKED TO KAYAK ON THE RIVER AT HOME,ʺ Ivy said to Beth at noon on Sunday. With only a few guests staying past the weekend, they had finished work and were returning to the cottage, following the stone path through the garden. ʺBillingsgate Island sounds so mysterious, rising out of the water at low tide — and that sunken ship!ʺ For the past week, Beth had been complaining of writerʹs block. ʺTheyʹll inspire you,ʺ Ivy added encouragingly.
ʺI guess,ʺ Beth replied without enthusiasm.
ʺMaybe itʹs not the kayaking,ʺ Ivy said, after a moment of thought, ʺbut the person youʹre doing it with. Has something happened since the ice‐cream date with Chase? You seemed to really like him then.ʺ
Beth shrugged. ʺHe texts me a lot.ʺ
ʺMeaning too much,ʺ Ivy concluded. ʺAnd youʹre too nice to tell him to back off.ʺ Beth turned to Ivy.
ʺYou know youʹre too kindhearted,ʺ Ivy said, smiling at her friend. ʺYou donʹt even swat at flies.ʺ
ʺI might swat this one,ʺ Beth said as she entered the cottage. Ivy retrieved a paperback mystery, one of the many left behind by visitors to the Seabright, and carried it around to the innʹs porch.
Oceanside, running the length of the inn and wrapping one comer, the porch had its own special light. In the early morning it was an airy room adrift in the marmalade and yellow of the sunrise, but gradually it became as cool and blue as the distant streak of sea. When no guests were around, Ivy liked sitting there.
Tilting back in a wooden rocker, her feet up on the porch railing, she gazed past the green edge of Aunt Cindyʹs yard to the ocean and cloudless sky, her mind drifting.
Itʹs such a great feeling, Ivy. Do you know what itʹs like to float on a lake, a circle of trees around you, a big blue bowl of sky above you? Youʹre lying on top of the water, sun sparkling at the tips of your fingers and toes.
She had pictured it so many times, floating with Tristan at the center of a sun-spangled lake, that the dream had become as tangible as the real memories she carried of Tristan.
Why had she thought that escaping to Cape Cod would put distance between her and her memories? There was water everywhere, and everywhere that there was water, she thought of Tristan.
Ivy sighed, opened her book, and stared at the words without reading them. A week ago she had awakened in the hospital certain that she had been kissed by Tristan.
That had been no comforting dream as Beth had suggested; rather, it had made her long all the more for Tristan! And it made painfully clear the difference between what sheʹd had with Tristan and what she felt for Will. The weekend visitors and full work schedule had helped her and Will get through the last few days, but now that they had time to be together, she had been relieved when he said he was headed into Chatham to shop for art supplies.
ʺHey, girl, get off your sweet bum and come running with me,ʺ Kelsey called to Ivy, shaking her out of her thoughts.
Kelsey had trotted around the side of the inn and jogged in place for a moment.
Her auburn hair was pulled high on her head in a bouncy ponytail.
Ivy smiled at the invitation, which she suspected wasnʹt real, and shook her head no. ʺHow far do you run?ʺ
ʺToday Iʹm doing five miles on the beach, which is like ten on the road, then twenty minutes of hard swimming and an hour of biking. Iʹm thinking of doing a triathlon in September.ʺ ʺYouʹre amazing,ʺ Ivy replied. ʺYou donʹt have to tell her that,ʺ Dhanya said, stepping onto the porch, carrying a bowl of frosty‐looking blueberries leftover from the innʹs breakfast. ʺKelsey already thinks it way too often.ʺ
ʺKnows it,ʺ Kelsey corrected, then adjusted her iPod and took off for the stairway to the beach. Dhanya sat down. ʺBerries?ʺ she asked Ivy, holding out the bowl. ʺThanks.ʺ Setting the bowl on a small table between them, Dhanya rocked back and forth for a moment, then put her feet up on the railing, studying them.
ʺLavender polish looks good on you,ʺ Ivy said.
Dhanya wrinkled her nose. ʺIʹll never have pretty feet. Dancers donʹt — we abuse our toes.ʺ
ʺDo you do ballet?ʺ
ʺAnd modern, and jazz, even tap. I used to do Indian, but my teacher was old and strict — she had this thing about attitude. Discipline, Dhanya, discipline.ʺ
Dhanya imitated a British‐sounding accent, and grimaced. ʺWant to come with Kelsey and me to Chatham today? Max is having a group of friends over from college.”
ʺThanks, but Iʹm headed out to Provincetown with Beth and Will this afternoon.ʺ
Dhanya sighed. ʺYouʹre so lucky — Willʹs greatʺ ʺMmm,ʺ Ivy replied, and changed the subject. ʺTell me about Max.ʺ Dhanya rolled her eyes. ʺKelsey said you liked him,ʺ Ivy added. ʺKelsey would like me to like him. Somehow she thinks heʹs perfect for me, which is kind of insulting. She keeps telling me Iʹm a snob. Do you think so?ʺ
Ivy was surprised by the blunt question. ʺI think most of us are snobs in one way or another. We just donʹt see our own prejudices.ʺ
ʺYes, but some people really are nose‐in‐the‐air types,ʺ Dhanya asserted. ʺI hate that. Especially when they do it to me.ʺ
ʺSo, whatʹs Max like?ʺ Ivy asked.
ʺRich.ʺ Dhanya pointed her toes, then relaxed her ankles. ʺI need to stop digging my feet in the sand. Theyʹre paler than my legs. . Max is rich and tacky, into stuff like cigarette boats and gaudy sports cars. He may have lots of money, but he acts so… blue collar.ʺ
Ivy bit her lip to keep from laughing. Before her mother married Andrew, they had lived in blue‐collar Norwalk.
ʺHis father owns a chain of discount clothing stores,ʺ Dhanya added.
Ivy cocked her head. ʺSo?ʺ
ʺMax looks like he buys his clothes from his father. I want someone as rich as Max and as classy as Will.ʺ
ʺMaybe that guy will show up at Maxʹs beach party,ʺ Ivy replied, trying to hide her irritation— she didnʹt need anyone to remind her that Will was a great guy.
ʺDid you date someone you really liked in high school?ʺ
ʺNo, but I have a Facebook boyfriend,ʺ Dhanya said. ʺOf course, itʹs hard to take a guy from Australia to the senior prom.
After a long silence, Dhanya added, ʺThanks for not saying, ʹGet real, Dhanya/
Kelsey says I live in la‐la land. She says Iʹm afraid of real guys.ʺ
For a moment, Ivy felt bad for Dhanya. ʺKelsey has a lot to say about you.
Maybe she should focus on herself, and leave you alone for a while.ʺ
Dhanya smiled a little, “Yeah. Maybe she should. More berries?ʺ
ʺNo thanks”
Dhanya scooped up the last handful, then picked up the bowl and headed back to the cottage.
Opening her mystery. Ivy read the first chapter — read it twice before she had absorbed enough to go on. But eventually the sea, salty air, and sunny porch faded, and Ivy was creeping with the hero down a dark backstreet of London.