Summer Friends by Holly Chamberlin

Author:Holly Chamberlin
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Kensington Publishing Corp.
Published: 2011-05-30T16:00:00+00:00

29

At Maggie’s suggestion the women met for a picnic on the beach that evening. She had brought sandwiches from the Village Food Market and, as a treat, two brownies from the Bread & Roses Bakery. She wasn’t sure if alcohol was permitted on the beach, so she had brought two bottles of Pellegrino instead. Delphine brought a large, slightly threadbare blanket; she didn’t own beach chairs. Maggie was wearing the periwinkle sweater she had bought from Delphine. It really did look good with her blond hair. Delphine was wearing a well-worn green sweatshirt.

The tide was coming in, so they sat well up the beach, close to the dunes. Most of the families with small children were long gone back to their hotels to shower, change, and find dinner. Only a few older couples and a scattering of teens remained.

“I can’t remember the last time I did this,” Delphine said when they had settled. “Had a picnic on the beach.”

“I think if I lived in Ogunquit I’d come down to the beach every day, rain or shine.”

Not if you had a life like mine, you wouldn’t, Delphine thought.

They ate for a while in companionable silence. Delphine was always hungry and finished her sandwich quickly. The brownie didn’t last long, either. She hoped that Maggie would eat only half of hers and pass the other half on.

“Tell me about Harry,” Maggie said when she’d finished her sandwich. “I don’t know anything about him, other than his last name and that he lives on Agamenticus Road. And why haven’t I met him yet?”

“No reason,” Delphine said. “He’s just been really busy with work. He drives a truck for Charron Lumber. Besides that there’s really not much to tell. We’ve been together for about ten years. I think I told you that already. He’s a good man. He helps my father around the house when he can, you know, with the bigger stuff, shoveling snow in the winter, raking the leaves in autumn. Dad doesn’t like to get on a ladder anymore if he can help it, so he calls Harry if Joey or Dave Senior aren’t around.”

“Well,” Maggie said, “that’s good of him, to be there for your family. So, are you planning on getting married someday? I know you don’t live together, but it sounds like you have a pretty domestic kind of relationship.”

Delphine had known this moment would come. And why shouldn’t Maggie know the truth? Everyone else in Ogunquit did. “Harry,” she said, “is already married. His wife is in a nursing home. She had a really bad car accident about twelve years ago. She wasn’t found for kind of a long time, so there was oxygen loss. She has traumatic brain injuries. I really don’t know all the details except that she can’t function on her own.”

“Oh.” Maggie paused. “That’s so terribly sad. But if she’s incapacitated . . .”

“He won’t divorce the mother of his children. He still loves her. He visits her once a week. So . .

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