Good for You: A Novel (60)

In September, thought Aly, I’ll be nowhere near here. But she couldn’t say it; not with the way Wyatt was looking at her.

Tim and Harry had said Beckett would need a nap soon after they left, and sure enough, his lids were already beginning to sag. Wyatt warmed up his bottle, and after Beckett drained it, they took him upstairs to his crib.

Wyatt lay Beckett down and rubbed his belly, and within moments, he was asleep. He turned to Aly and drew her into his arms. “This isn’t that bad, is it?” he murmured.

She didn’t know if he was talking about taking care of Beckett, or them being together, or the house. Probably all of it. “No,” she whispered.

It wasn’t bad at all. In fact, she would miss it terribly after she returned to New York. But the fact was, she had places to be and things to do—a life to live. And now that Luke was gone, Aly understood the privilege she had in a way she had not before. She would not—could not—waste it by playing house and pretending that this thing between her and Wyatt would last.





THIRTY-ONE


They set out for Oval Beach later that afternoon, hoping to swim and sun themselves. After they were settled, Wyatt and Tim wandered off while Harry and Aly stayed behind to keep an eye on Beckett, who dozed peacefully on a blanket in the corner of the tent they’d set up for shade.

“Harry,” said Aly in a low tone.

“Uh-oh,” said Harry, fanning himself with the copy of All Good that Aly had packed, hoping it would help get her in a work state of mind. “I know that voice. What’s up?”

Aly shot him a tight smile. “I have to tell you something, but you have to promise not to say a word to anyone.”

“Not even Tim?” said Harry.

“You can tell Tim,” she said. “But no one else. And you can’t bring it up when we’re around other people.”

“What about the Wild Thing?” said Harry. After even just a short while in the sun, his freckles were starting to stand out from his olive skin.

“He already knows what I’m about to say—and for the record, you absolutely have to stop calling him that.”

“He does look rather tame with his facial hair all neat and tidy,” said Harry, taking a sip from his can of sparkling water. “Have you two used the L-word yet?”

“No,” she said, more defensively than she’d intended to. In a softer tone, she added, “This is a fling.”

Harry arched an eyebrow. “That’s what I said about Tim. Eight years later, here we are, drowning in diapers and domestic bliss.”

“Sure, but this is different.” Aly’s eyes scanned the beach. Wyatt had decided to jump in the water to cool off, but she couldn’t see him anywhere. She had to remind herself not to panic. There was no lifeguard on duty, but there were dozens of people, maybe even a hundred, around. Someone would spot him if he’d been pulled under.

Wouldn’t they?

“I like being with him,” said Aly. “That’s not the same thing as loving him. Also . . .”

“What is it?” pressed Harry.

“I think he knows something about Luke’s death. Something he isn’t telling me.”

“Hmm.”

“I hear disapproval in your hmm,” said Aly, leaning back on her elbows.

“I just wonder if anything good can come of starting down that path,” said Harry.

Good? Good wasn’t the goal. The goal was to get the truth, so she could . . . well, if not feel better, then begin to get over Luke’s death. “Anyway, that’s not what I was going to tell you. The big news is, Wyatt just informed me that the thirty thousand he handed me was chump change compared to the life insurance I’m about to inherit. It’s like a million. Dollars, Harry. A million dollars!” she said, then clamped her hand over her mouth when Beckett shifted. “Sorry,” she whispered.

“Whaaaaat?” Harry’s eyes were bulging. “That’s . . . I don’t even know. Awful? Amazing?”

“Both,” said Aly glumly. “Bad enough that Luke left the house to me and Wyatt. But now a pile of cash? It’s just all so . . .” She couldn’t find the words to express how she felt. “I just don’t want any of it. I want my brother back.”

“I know you do, love,” said Harry, squeezing her arm lightly. “I do, too. But this gives you choices. Choices that you never had before—ones that most people will never have. There was a little magical thinking on my part when I told you to stay longer, but Al—” He widened his eyes. “Now you can actually do that. Isn’t that crazy?”

“Yeah. Maybe a little too crazy,” said Aly, looking out at the beach. She still saw no sign of Wyatt, unless he was the swimmer breast-stroking through the waves out beyond the designated swimming area—and she hoped he wasn’t, as that didn’t seem particularly safe. She wasn’t especially risk-averse, but she didn’t trust the water. Really, she needed to stop coming to the beach. It might be beautiful, but it was nothing if not a death trap. “Anyway, Meagan called me the other day.”

“And I trust you hung up on her.”

“I did not. She wants to hire me.”

Harry’s eyes widened with surprise. “At All Good? How is that even possible?”