The Lost Summers of Newport by Beatriz Williams

Author:Beatriz Williams
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: HarperCollins
Published: 2022-05-17T00:00:00+00:00

Chapter Sixteen

Andie

Newport, Rhode Island

September 2019

The diamond-paned windows in the library shook as the sky shouted with thunder and the leaden clouds unleashed a deluge. I closed my laptop on the desk and put my head in my hands. The unpredictable weather was not only slowing down the production, but seriously messing with my mood. As if I needed reasons other than choosing between losing my livelihood and retaining my personal integrity.

“Hey, did you see this?” Meghan said from behind me.

I lifted my head and blinked, my eyes scratchy and raw from staring at the computer screen for too long. We’d given Luke the excuse of waiting until the rain stopped before going home, and he’d said we could wait in the library. Our main purpose in delaying our departure was to run into Teddy, but apparently the storm was too much even for him. He’d never arrived, and the rain hadn’t stopped. At some point we’d have to brave the elements and leave before Luke discovered that we were still there.

We’d spent the time flicking through the thick file of news clippings and watching vintage newsreels on YouTube and from other corners of the internet. At first, I’d only half-heartedly looked for anything relating to the family, scanning through a story quickly, and then dismissing it as irrelevant to the restoration of the house. Anything more would be considered prying and against everything I was. The mere fact that this was what I’d been instructed to do by the producers had me simmering with unexpressed rage.

We’d even tried searching for Joanie Sprague, hoping both that we found nothing, and that we found exactly what we’d need to make our show the most fascinating thing on television since the infamous brawl on one of the housewives shows.

Most of what was online was about Joanie’s wild life as a rock star groupie before her marriage and after her divorce, with only brief footnotes about Stuy’s mysterious disappearance. I had tried to skip over those, feeling as if I had discovered a hidden diary full of salacious details not meant for public consumption. Not that we had discovered anything more revealing than speculation as to what had really happened. Regardless, we were left with no more information than what Joanie had told me—Stuy had either run off with another woman or had fallen off his boat in a drunken stupor, accidentally or on purpose. It was only after I’d found myself suggesting an on-screen staged fistfight between Meghan and me that I’d given up all hope of rescue.

“Searching for personal information about the Spragues feels icky to me. Kind of like watching The Crown. I mean, these are real people, and they have expressly asked us not to talk about the family. This is just . . .” I motioned toward the stack of clippings. “Icky,” I repeated, unable to think of a better word.

“Hey, did you hear me?”

I turned to see Meghan pulling a book from a bookshelf. “Prunella Pratt Schuyler Potts—Cultural Icon and Society Doyenne: Memoirs of a Great American Heroine and Survivor of the Lusitania.

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