Something To Be Brave For by Priscilla Bennett

Author:Priscilla Bennett [Bennett, Priscilla]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Endeavour Press
Published: 2017-04-03T07:00:00+00:00

8

Nantucket

Spring 1997

Gillian called the day before I left for Nantucket. Though I still saw her from time to time, I wasn’t able to tell her anything truthful anymore. For a long time she had been the one with the impossible schedule; getting together usually had to be on her timetable. But after a while I was the one who could never get together. I feared her finding out what was going on, even as I secretly wanted her to know.

“Hey, Katie, I really miss you. Can we meet in the afternoon for a movie again soon? Gaslight is playing – you know, where Charles Boyer is trying to drive Ingrid Bergman out of her mind to get her aunt’s jewels.”

“Yes, and he almost does. Well, darn, we know how it ends!”

We laughed, and I felt how much I’d missed her company.

“Thank goodness for Joseph Cotten,” I said. “How do you have time for a movie in the middle of the day? Aren’t you supposed to be incredibly busy?”

“For you, Katie, I’ll always make time.”

“I wish I could,” I said, “But I’m leaving tomorrow for Nantucket.”

“Nantucket? But… it’s only spring, and it must still be cold over there. How come? I’m surprised Claude’s even letting you go,” said Gillian.

“He’s not thrilled about it, but there are so many thing he wants me to have done before the summer season begins.”

“Like?”

“Like having the broken pipe in our bathroom fixed, painting the laundry room, adding bookcases in the bedroom, other stuff. Decorating and gardening. It’ll start warming up soon.”

“Maybe I’ll get a break and come up,” she said. “We can check out the sailing school and maybe even catch a movie at the Starlight.”

I didn’t answer – it was either yes or no, or another equivocation. And whoever said lying was harder than telling the truth was right.

“Okay, then,” she said, shifting gears, “there’s something I’ve wanted to ask you, and here goes. Is everything okay with you and Claude?”

“Why do you ask that?” I said. I felt my heart accelerate. Why was she so persistent? There was nothing she could do to help.

“I don’t know,” she said. “It’s just that you seem kind of distant. I mean, really, more than kind of. Different from the way you used to be. And now you’re going up to Nantucket this early for the summer?”

“No, I’m fine,” I said. “Everything is fine. I just want to get away with Rose. We love it on the island, and there’s so much to do – things I couldn’t do last summer because Rose was just a baby. I guess I’m older now, Gillian. I’m a mother,” I added, as if motherhood rendered me more wise than I had been when I was childless and far less able to go see a film in the middle of the day. I would have given anything to go to the movies with Gillian, to sit beside her in a creaky old seat and eat popcorn and not think about my unhappiness.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.