The Husband Hour(22)

Beth sniffed. She was a pastry snob. But Ethan’s eyes lit up.

Her father stood and began clearing dishes.

“Wait. Before you go, Dad, there’s something I wanted to mention to all of you.” She didn’t know if she should bring it up, had been debating doing so all dinner. But she couldn’t shake the feeling that the filmmaker showing up at Nora’s house hadn’t been a coincidence. And even if it had, he was getting too close for comfort. All day she had braced herself for him to appear at the restaurant. He didn’t.

Still, not wanting a false sense of security, she texted Henny and asked if her renter had left yet. He’s here for the week, she wrote back. Why? Do you know someone else who wants the room? Give them my number.

If Lauren wasn’t talking to him, what was he doing in town all week?

“So, um, this annoying thing happened at work the other day and I just wanted to tell you guys so we’re all on the same page.” Her mother and sister looked at her expectantly. “It’s not that big of a deal but this guy tracked me down at work and said he’s doing a documentary. About Rory. Obviously, I told him to leave me alone, and hopefully that’s the end of that. I doubt he’d approach any of you but if he does, I just want you to be prepared.”

Her mother looked horrified. “Oh, Lauren. How intrusive!”

“Everyone’s out to make a buck,” said her father.

“Prepared for what?” Stephanie said.

Lauren looked at her. “To tell him to leave you alone—that you’re not talking to him.”

“Why is it your business if I talk to him?”

“Why would you want to talk to him?”

“I just wonder why you think you get to dictate who we talk to. We knew Rory too, you know.”

Lauren’s heart began to pound. “This has nothing to do with you, Stephanie, and you know it. So just stay out of it.”

“If someone wants to talk to me, then clearly they think it does have to do with me. You don’t own what happened, Lauren.”

“Fine, you knew Rory too. So you know the last thing he would want is some exploitative film about him.”

“Girls, please,” Beth said. “This is not worth arguing over. Lauren, of course you’re right. The last thing you need is someone dredging all of that up again. Stephanie, you have to respect your sister’s wishes on this.”

“Well, it’s too late for that,” Stephanie said, looking pleased with herself. “I already spoke to him.”

Lauren stared at her, dumbfounded. “No, you didn’t.”

“Yeah. I did.”

“You better not be serious, Stephanie.”

“Ethan, buddy, come with me to see if there’s any ice cream in the freezer,” Howard said.

“I am serious.”

“You’ve really crossed a line this time!” Lauren turned to her mother. “I’m sorry, but she has to go. I can’t live with her all summer.”

She pushed herself up from her chair so hard it toppled to the ground.



Howard made it so damn hard for her to admit when she was wrong.

He didn’t say anything while they put away the dinner plates, but his silence spoke loud and clear to Beth. This was a big mistake.

Fine. Maybe she was naive to think a summer under the same roof would magically make the girls best friends again. Maybe she shouldn’t have insisted Stephanie move into the Green Gable and then insist to Howard that they do the same. But the reality was that they wouldn’t have had to move at all if Howard hadn’t lost their home. She’d spent decades working beside him in that store, the last few years strategizing with him on how to keep things afloat. And yet he never thought to mention he’d taken out a second mortgage.

That was the thanks she got for giving up her dream of having her own catering company to join him in his family business. To stand by his side like a good wife.

“I bought tickets to Florida for next week,” he said suddenly.

“What? Why on earth would you do that?” Beth, stacking dishes in the cabinet, stopped mid-reach. She set the plates down on the counter.

“Bill and Lorraine invited us. They’re having a retirement party. Bill just bought a boat.” Bill and Lorraine were friends from the country club they used to belong to. Howard and Beth had dropped out of the club a few years earlier. Money had become tighter, and Beth stopped enjoying the annual cycle of social events after losing Rory. She had suddenly become high profile, exposed. It was a fraction of what her daughter experienced but enough to take away her pleasure in large gatherings. Bill and Lorraine had also left the club, trading their house in Villanova for a home on a golf course in Frenchman’s Creek, Florida.

“Why didn’t you talk to me about it first?” There was no way she was flying off to Florida. She didn’t want to travel, and she certainly didn’t want to go put on a happy face when everything was falling apart. “This isn’t a good time. We have so much to figure out.”

“I know. But now I’m thinking Florida might be worth looking into.”

“Looking into? In what sense?”

“We’d get more for our money out there. And there’s no income tax.”

“Well, we have no income. So that’s not a huge plus.”