The Husband Hour(23)

“Can you try to be positive for once?”

“Howard, no. I’m not moving to Florida.”

“You can’t even be open to the idea? Give me one good reason why not.”

“For one thing, I have work. The foundation—”

“Let Lauren get more involved! She needs to get off this damn island. If you stop enabling her, maybe she will.”

She shook her head. “You just get to make all the decisions, don’t you?”

“Do you have a better idea?”

“Maybe I would have if you’d leveled with me sooner! And what about Ethan?”

“What about him?” Howard said blankly.

“Don’t you want to spend time with your grandson?”

“Of course I do. But Beth, you and I have to rebuild. And Stephanie’s going to have to step up. And you know what? Lauren has to get on with her life. Even if we weren’t selling the house, she should be looking for an apartment. It’s outrageous to heat this place all winter for one person.”

“You’re so hard on them,” she said, feeling heartbroken. “You’re not perfect either, you know.”

“Never said I was. But I did say, from day one, that Lauren was too young to get serious with that boy. Didn’t I? She was so bright, had so much going for her. Now look at her.”

“She’s going to be fine,” Beth said, a whisper.

Howard shut the dishwasher, pressed the buttons so the room filled with the hum of the machine.

“I’m leaving next Thursday. Flight’s at noon out of Philly,” he said, tossing the sponge behind the sink. “I hope you’ll be with me. But I’m going either way.”



Matt didn’t feel like he had a ton of reasons to pat himself on the back lately, but getting the footage of that kid was a stroke of genius.

He barely noticed that the room had fallen dark as the sun set, the only light coming from his screen. Again, he played the clip of Ethan kicking the soccer ball around the beach, the sun-dappled ocean behind him, seagulls fluttering nearby like birds in a goddamn Disney film. Of course, it would have been a thousand times better if he’d been able to get footage of Rory playing ball as a kid, but he’d lost that opportunity when Mrs. Kincaid died shortly after he interviewed her. She’d kept promising to send him some childhood photos and video clips, but it never happened. At least now he could use this kid as juxtaposition. It wasn’t perfect, but it was a good enough work-around.

He jumped to footage of Rory’s high-school athletic field: General H. H. Arnold Field, named after aviation pioneer Henry Harley “Hap” Arnold, the only officer to hold a five-star rank in two different U.S. military services.

Matt couldn’t have scripted it better.

ENTER TO LEARN, GO FORTH TO SERVE. Matt had filmed the words carved into the entrance to Lower Merion High School the day he interviewed Rory’s coach and he’d looked at the footage again and again since then, the coach’s haunting question now his own: How many thousands upon thousands of kids have walked through the doors of this school over the years, and how many have actually taken that motto to heart?

He switched back to the clip of Ethan. A pounding on the door startled him. He blinked in the darkness.

“Matt, open up. Henny told me you’re in there.”

He stood from his desk chair and walked slowly to the door. The external door, an add-on to the original house, didn’t have a peephole.

Knock, knock, knock.

“Okay, calm down.” He swung open the door to find a sweaty and disheveled Lauren Kincaid. She wore a Nora’s Café T-shirt, running shorts, and sneakers. Her hair was loose, damp tendrils clinging to the side of her face. Her cheeks were flushed.

She marched into the room and closed the door behind her.

“Can you turn a light on?” she said.

He was already reaching for the switch. When he turned back, he found her standing with her arms crossed peering at his computer screen.

“Can I help you with something?” he asked. The screen was paused on a shot of the beach. Ethan wasn’t in the frame.

“You have some nerve. I tell you I don’t want to do your movie and so you start harassing my family?”

“In my defense, I didn’t harass your sister. I ran into her by chance at a bar and when I told her what I was doing in town, she was game for an interview.”

Lauren leaned back against the desk, facing him. “I don’t know how people like you sleep at night.”

“I’m not doing anything wrong, that’s how. Honestly, Lauren, I’ve gone into this project with the best of intentions. I admired your late husband. I want to pay tribute to him.”

“Mm-hmm. And who does that benefit? Not Rory. You. It benefits you.”

“This film will benefit a hell of a lot more people than it will me.”

“I highly doubt that.”

“Of course you do. Because that justifies you stonewalling me.”

Her mouth dropped open. “And, what, you think my sister has some pearls of wisdom for the greater social good?”

“Hey, she wasn’t my first choice. But you said no. I’m doing the best I can here.”

Lauren seemed to consider this. He waited for her to take the bait. It was difficult not to smile when she finally asked, “What did Stephanie say?”