Winter Solstice (Winter #4)(60)
“That’s Harrison’s thing,” Potter says. “Not mine.”
Ava nods. She doesn’t say that she thinks the FaceTiming is an effective strategy. “What time are you headed over there?”
“In a few minutes,” Potter says. “That’s why I called now.”
“Is Trish a good cook?” Ava asks.
“Terrible,” Potter says. “Harrison does all the cooking, apparently. He invites the friends, he sets the table, he parents the child… he does all the domestic duties while Trish reads and writes and critiques and lectures.”
“I’m sure you’ll have a good time,” Ava says.
“I’m sure I’ll have a terrible time,” Potter says. “I never want to celebrate another holiday without you.”
This makes Ava feel good. “Me either.”
“Which brings me to the real reason for my call,” Potter says. “I want you to agree to go to Austria with me at Christmastime. We’ll spend time in both Vienna and Salzburg. An old friend of Gibby’s has a son who works for the ambassador, and he has gotten us two tickets to the Hofburg Silvesterball on New Year’s Eve, and I’ve already booked a room at the Grand Hotel Wien.”
Ava gasps. She has seen photographs of the balls in Vienna; they’re like something out of a fairy tale—men in white tie and tails, women in gowns and tiaras, a full orchestra, endless waltzes.
“I need a dress!” she says.
“So I take it that’s a yes?” Potter says. “You’ll go?”
Ava refrains from biting her lip because Potter can see her and he’ll interpret that as a sign of hesitation. What about her father? Ava decides that she will fly back to the United States on New Year’s Day and come right to Nantucket. She doesn’t start teaching again until January 8, so there will be time for a nice visit.
“I’ll go,” she says. She gives Potter her brightest smile. The Grand Hotel Wien! A ball at the palace! “Of course I’ll go!”
EDDIE
As predicted, Grace wants to start their Thanksgiving dinner with a glass of champagne (Perrier-Jou?t, twenty-six dollars per glass), and she orders one for Eddie as well. Then, since she can’t decide between the foie gras appetizer and the Nantucket bay scallops, she orders both and adds the caviar option to the scallops for an additional thirty-five dollars.
Eddie is sweating. Grace wanted him to look “nice,” so he is wearing a shirt, a V-neck sweater, and a blazer. He removes his blazer and wipes his brow with his napkin. He has two hundred fifty dollars in cash on him, but they are going to exceed that, so Thanksgiving dinner is one more thing that will go on Eddie’s sagging credit card.
He tries not to panic. He tries to be grateful. He’s grateful he has a credit card. He’s grateful he has a wife and two healthy daughters.
He needs to sell the Christys a house. He needs to find a different buyer for the Winter Street Inn.
He should never have gone into real estate in the first place, he thinks. It’s too risky, too uneven; it’s boom or bust. Why did he go into real estate? He has been a broker for over twenty years, but only now, Thanksgiving Day 2017, is he questioning his life’s most basic decision. He should have gone to the Benjamin Franklin Institute of Technology and learned HVAC. HVAC guys never have to worry about their next paycheck; HVAC guys are buying land on Vieques in Puerto Rico and building vacation homes.
Grace raises her glass of Perrier-Jou?t. “This is really nice,” she says. “Just the two of us.”
It is really nice, although Eddie is surprised to hear Grace say so. She doesn’t tend to celebrate being alone with him—and can Eddie blame her? All he does is think about work and obsess about money.
“How did it feel, seeing Benton today?” Eddie asks. “Was it… weird?” Weird isn’t quite the word he’s looking for, but he doesn’t have a developed emotional vocabulary, as Grace will be the first to point out. What Eddie wants to know is: Does any part of Grace wish that she and Benton were still together? Does she miss him? Did she see his strong, muscular torso today at the Turkey Plunge and feel desire? Did she look into Benton’s soulful brown eyes and feel love?
“Eddie,” Grace says. “There’s something I have to tell you.”
Here it comes, Eddie thinks. The answer to all of those questions is yes. And didn’t Eddie sense that this morning? There was no way that was the first time Grace had seen Benton Coe. She has been secretly meeting him ever since Benton got back. When Eddie saw Grace on the Polpis bike path, she was riding home from a secret rendezvous. She probably wanted to go to the Turkey Plunge just so she could see Benton do the stupid, pointless, masochistic swim.
At that moment Grace’s appetizers arrive, and because the table is small, one is placed in front of Eddie—the scallops topped with black, glistening clumps of caviar. Why not add some gold leaf while they’re at it? And yet Eddie would buy every appetizer on the menu if that would make Grace love Eddie instead of Benton.
Once their server leaves them to enjoy the appetizers, Eddie says, “What is it?”
“I’ve been talking with Benton,” Grace says. “He called with a proposition when he got back from Detroit, and I’ve met with him three times to discuss it.”