The Identicals(24)

Drew says, “She said you were having an affair with Dr. Zimmer. She said she has proof.”

Harper’s insides freeze with fear. Proof?

Harper pulls Drew by the arm back to the front door. There’s no sign of a vehicle.

“How did you get here?” she asks.

“I had the chief drop me off.”

“The chief?” Harper says. “Chief Oberg?”

Drew nods. “When we started dating, he tried to warn me about you. He told me you used to be a coke dealer.”

Harper shakes her head. “Not even close.”

“But you did something wrong.”

“If I had, Drew, the last person I would admit it to is you.”

“I want you to confess that you were having an affair with Dr. Zimmer.”

“No,” Harper says. “There was a misunderstanding.”

“That’s crap.”

“Please don’t go around talking about what happened at my father’s reception,” Harper says. “People love to gossip on this island, Drew. Even good, well-meaning people like Chief Oberg.”

“Why would Sadie Zimmer act that way if she didn’t have proof?” Drew says. “You were having an affair with Dr. Zimmer. You’ve been lying to me, Harper. I thought we were exclusive. My aunties made lobster stew for you!”

“Please,” Harper says. “Please, Drew, do not talk about this to your family.” She closes her eyes as she imagines Drew’s four aunties and his mother, Yvonne—Oak Bluffs’ all-time favorite selectman—gathered around the kitchen table with their coffee and their homemade cinnamon rolls, one minute thinking, Isn’t it nice that handsome child Drew found a woman he likes, even if she does live in Vineyard Haven?, the next minute learning that the woman is a cheat, sleeping with nice, kind Dr. Zimmer, who prescribes their blood pressure medicine, and as it turns out the woman is not only a cheat but also a former criminal, which escaped their previous notice because Joey Bowen only sold drugs to white people. Once the aunties and Yvonne get hold of the story, it will spread like a raging forest fire through the Methodist campground, through their church, through the town administration building, the public library, the hair salon, the Steamship Authority terminal, and finally to the Lookout, where every local person Harper knows likes to go for a drink in the summer. The influence of the Snyder sisters knows no bounds.

“People are going to find out no matter who I tell or don’t tell,” Drew says. “I’m an officer of the law. I can’t date a woman with a reputation like yours. We have to break up.”

This pronouncement comes as an unexpected relief.

“Okay,” Harper says.

“Okay?” Drew says. “You’re just going to let me go?”

“You don’t trust me,” Harper says. “You believe the talk. There’s no hope for a relationship without trust, Drew.”

“But—” Drew says.

“I’m too old for you, anyway,” Harper says. “Find someone younger. Get married. Have a baby.”

“I don’t want a baby,” Drew says. “I want you.”

“Don’t second-guess yourself,” Harper says. “You’re doing the right thing.”

“But I think I might be in love with you,” Drew says.

“I’ll call you a cab,” Harper says.



She and Fish eat the rest of the tea sandwiches for dinner, and Harper throws back a six-pack of Amity Island ale. The beer makes her brave, at least temporarily. She turns on her cell phone.

She sees the eleven voice mails from Drew. There is also a voice mail from her boss, Rooster, and a voice mail from a local Vineyard number that Harper suspects is Sadie Zimmer’s cell phone. There are seven text messages from Drew and a text from Reed. This last message is the only one she cares about.

It says: Sadie on a rampage, telling everyone about catching us at Lucy Vincent. I just got a call from Greenie. Pls don’t contact me for a while. I’m sorry.

Harper squeezes her eyes shut. It’s over with Drew, and now it’s over with Reed. Greenie, Adam Greenfield, is the president of the hospital’s board of directors. Uncharted horrors and humiliations lie ahead. How did Harper not understand this three days ago?

Her phone rings, and she thinks: Reed. He loves her; of this she is certain. She felt it most keenly in the parking lot. It was more than sex. It was love. Would it be naive of Harper to believe that Reed might leave Sadie for Harper? Reed and Sadie don’t have children—they don’t even have a dog—so what reason would there be for Reed to stay?

But when Harper checks her display, she sees that the person calling is Tabitha. Harper groans. Nothing from the woman in fourteen years, and now she’s blowing Harper up. What are the chances that Pony is calling to check on Harper, see how she’s doing, ask if there is anything she can do to help? What are the chances that Tabitha is calling for any reason other than to thank Harper for mucking up her own life so badly that Tabitha became a victim?

Zero chance, Harper decides. She lets the call go to voice mail.





TABITHA


She hopes things will get better once they leave the golf club and are on their way home, but instead things get worse. Once the taxi driver—who doesn’t know where he’s going and nearly gets into three separate wrecks—delivers them to the ferry, Tabitha and Ainsley go to the office to exchange their tickets so they can take the earlier boat, and Eleanor wanders away like a person with Alzheimer’s.