Places by the Sea by Jean Stone

Author:Jean Stone [Stone, Jean]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 978-0-307-78535-0
Publisher: Random House Publishing Group
Published: 2014-05-13T04:00:00+00:00

Once on the pier, Rita flashed her resident’s ID and her precious Sunday night ticket. Thankfully, they gave her no flack.

She quickly crossed the pavement and climbed up the steep stairs of the passenger entrance, hoping beyond hope that Joe’s wife had not changed her schedule again, that she would, as usual, be booked on the six-fifteen. Rita never understood why the woman didn’t fly back and forth to Boston, but then she’d learned long ago not to question the motives of tourists.

Moving quickly to the upper deck, she pressed her way through the people and stood by the rail. There was no need to search for Joe’s wife yet: there would be plenty of time once they were under way, and no chance of Joe spotting Rita among the crowd, in case he’d come to see his darling wife off. He would, after all, never expect to see Rita here: he would assume she was doing her islander duties of serving up hamburgers and curly fries, staying out of the way of those more fortunate.

“This time,” she whispered into the wind, “you’re wrong.”

Without turning around, she sensed the crowd behind her swell. The level of laughter and talking rose; the sounds of feet shuffling and cameras clicking were all around her. She gripped the rail and waited for the engines to roll over, hoping, beyond hope, that she would not puke. For someone brought up by the sea, it always amazed her that seasickness seemed welded into her genes. She reassured herself that as long as she stayed topside, she’d be fine.

The engines, at last, rumbled. A veil of smoke spewed from below. Rita closed her eyes and counted to ten, trying to remember to look off to the horizon, to not look down, to not panic. She took a deep breath, just as she felt the floor beneath her move. She gripped the rail harder.

“Rita?” came a voice from behind her.

She quickly opened her eyes and turned around. The air around her swirled. Facing her were the Martins.

“We tried to call you,” the missus said. “You weren’t home.”

Rita touched her churning stomach, then forced a smile and tried not to think about the dizzying air. “No,” she said, “I’m not home. I have to make an emergency trip to Falmouth.” She looked over their shoulders, scanning the other passengers. Joe’s wife was not among them.

“When we didn’t hear from you we assumed …”

“I can’t tell you more, other than that my trip has to do with locking up your deal.” She looked off to the right. Still, no one who resembled Joe’s wife.

“Oh, how wonderful! We were afraid …”

Rita held her hand to her lips. “There’s nothing to be afraid of. It’s just taking a little longer than I hoped. Can you come back next weekend?”

“We hadn’t planned …” Mr. Martin said.

“I’ll pick up your tab,” Rita said quickly. “A room at the Charter House, complete with ferry tickets.” If she’d been a Catholic she’d have said a

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