Surfside Sisters(80)
It was working, Keely thought. Keely’s presence on the island was cheering her mother, reviving her. She hoped the same was happening for her manuscript.
* * *
—
By Saturday, Mr. Maxwell had been moved from the hospital back to his house, where he insisted, in his own loud but clear way, he wanted to be.
When Sebastian called, he was distracted, clearly stressed out.
“Dad’s home, but they’ve put a bed in the dining room and moved all the dining room furniture into the den until we can have it stored. He has a portable toilet next to his bed! A portable toilet in the dining room! Poor Mom is nearly insane. We’re supposed to spend as much time with him as possible, helping him to speak clearly or remember stuff, and I’m doing that, but I can’t tell if it’s helping him or not.”
“What can I do?” Keely asked.
“Come to my house tonight.”
Keely smiled. “Do you want me to bring some dinner?”
“Sure. Anything. I just want to see you. Well, I don’t want to just see you—”
“I know what you want.” Keely laughed.
During the day, she barbequed spare ribs, coating them heavily in her special sauce. She took over some cold Whale’s Tale Pale Ale and bowls of guacamole and salsa and a giant bag of chips. They ate in front of the television, watching the Red Sox battle the Yankees.
Afterward, Sebastian said, “Man, it’s good to relax.”
“Do you want to talk about it? I mean, about your father?”
“No. Not tonight. He and Mom are in my mind enough. I want to be purely selfish. I want to focus on my own needs.”
“I think I can help you do that,” Keely said.
* * *
—
Later, as they lay in bed together, watching through the bedroom window as the light faded from the sky, they talked.
“Isn’t it odd?” Keely said. “I came home to help my mother, and now you’re helping your father.”
Sebastian groaned. “That’s the easy part for me. I don’t mind spending time with Dad or helping him into his wheelchair, eventually helping him do easy exercises so he doesn’t lose muscle. I’m glad to do that, and the doctors and nurses have been brilliant, telling us what to do.”
“What’s the hard part, then?” Keely asked, and she knew she was being vain when she thought, silently, that Sebastian would say the hard part was being away from her.
“Mom,” Sebastian said. “She’s not tolerating all this change very well. She’s angry—I think anger is often a kind of recycled fear. She…sometimes she’s not as patient with Dad as she should be.”
“Is there any way I can help?” Keely asked.
“I don’t know. Let me think about it. He’s known you since you were a kid, so he would probably feel comfortable with you. On the other hand, Isabelle might feel funny about you being there.”
“She knows you and I are seeing each other, right?”
“Yeah. She just needs more time to adjust to having you on the island again.”
“Well,” Keely said softly, struggling to keep any bitterness from her voice, “it’s not exactly her island, is it?”
Sebastian turned and burrowed his head into his pillow. “God, Keely, let’s not fight. I wish you and Izzy were friends again. It doesn’t feel right having you estranged. You don’t hate her because of Tommy, right?”
“Of course not. I don’t hate her at all.”
“I don’t think she hates you, either, Keely. I think she’s jealous of you, because you’re a novelist now. She hasn’t gotten anything published yet. I think she’s given up trying. I know she’s happy with Tommy and she’s crazy mad in love with Brittany. But I don’t think her life is complete without you.”
Keely ran her hand over his back, his beautiful, long, broad-shouldered, muscular back. “Okay,” Keely said softly. “Okay. I’ll think about what I can do…” She lay there quietly a moment, gathering her courage. “Sebastian?” She kept her hand on his back, keeping a physical connection between them. “We’ve all been so worried about your father, so I didn’t tell you, because really, it’s not worth bothering about, but Gray Anderpohl came here for a few days. I didn’t invite him. He came on his own. He had some leave from the hospital. He didn’t stay with me, he stayed at the White Elephant. I took him to a Maria Mitchell gala one night, and he took me and my mother to dinner at Topper’s one night.”
She felt Sebastian’s muscles tense as she spoke, but he didn’t say anything.
“I told him I didn’t want to see him anymore. I told him it couldn’t happen between us. He went back to New York the next day.”
Sebastian didn’t speak. He lay so still that Keely was afraid he’d fallen asleep. Could he really be so indifferent to her?
“Sebastian…say something.”
Sebastian turned toward Keely, pulling her against him so that her face nestled against his shoulder. He held her tightly, as a man would who was about to jump from a burning building. “I know you needed to tell me. But no more talk of Gray, okay? I can’t get through this summer without you. I can’t get through my life without you, Keely. I love you.”