Tim rubbed the stubble on his chin and smoothed his bed head hair. “Out Christmas shopping. You just missed her.”
“Shopping? I wish she had told me. I would have gone with.” She unbuttoned her winter coat and slipped out of it with a shimmy. Beneath it she wore a tight red sweater that showed off her figure and a black pleated skirt that rippled as she moved about the room, tidying as she went. “Husbands,” she said, but the tone was amused, not exasperated. “Maybe you forgot? She agreed to have Nick over for the day. Is that okay by you, or do you two have plans?”
Tim looked for his son, but the boys had disappeared, already at play in another room. “Free as a bird. Do you have time for a cup of coffee?”
She nodded and followed him into the kitchen, taking a seat at the table for two tucked in the breakfast nook. Through the bay window that overlooked the ocean, she watched the few stray flakes spin wildly, launched upon the wind. With the insouciance of a waiter at a café, he set down the ceramic bowl filled with sugar cubes, the dairy creamer in the shape of a cow, and her coffee in a cup and saucer.
“Something out there caught your fancy?” He took the seat opposite.
“The sky, the sea. Funny, same as my underwear. Black on top and blue on the bottom.”
He was not sure if she was flirting with him, but he decided to try his luck. “You are looking especially gorgeous. All dressed up this morning.”
“Christmas party,” she said. “Fred’s work. He’s already at the office in his Santa suit for the little frights. Bad as their mommies and daddies. I’m skipping all the early folderol and am timing my arrival to coincide with the annual spiking of the eggnog. I can barely stand the people he works with. We would have taken Nick along, but he’s such a pill these days. Too old, he says, for Santa Claus. You’re sure it’s no inconvenience to have him here?”
“No trouble at all. Jip lives for the company.”
Red lipstick marked the edge of her cup. She leaned across the table and took his hand in hers.
“You are an angel. You both are, and I can’t thank you enough for taking Nick for the holidays. Fred and I need to get away. Some time to ourselves, patch things up a bit. You know how it can be, sometimes you just want to start all over. And, failing that, a few days on the cruise will make the winter that much shorter.”
He squeezed her fingers and then withdrew. For the length of a cup, they talked about the Caribbean trip, the ports of call, the likelihood of shuffleboard and endless buffets. Her excitement bubbled along, and he found himself watching how she spoke instead of what she actually said. He’d give a nod now and again, a smile to keep her there. He remembered that same contented look from years ago, animated by their secret. At last she looked at her watch, let out a sharp gasp, and said a hasty good-bye. From the open door, he watched her go, standing at the threshold long after she had driven away, an ache small and persistent in the pit of his soul. He waited till he caught himself shivering when the chill crept up his pajamas.
The boys did not answer when Tim called them, and he had no idea where they might be. In Jip’s room, most likely, but perhaps they were prowling around below in Tim’s workshop. He went to tidy the kitchen, pausing to look at the beach through the bay window, his thoughts drifting back to that summer’s day, the last time all of them had been outside together. Holly lost in a paperback on a distant rock, Fred asleep on a bright yellow towel. The boys, seven that year, were down in the water, as usual. A gull or two, white as paper, roamed the blue skies. Nell was stretched out facing him, a gesture intimate but guileless. Her maroon bathing suit clung to her curves, and they were talking of summer’s end, idly chatting in that circuitous way they spoke to each other, saying nothing that was not coded in a language of longing. No one saw what happened. No one could say for sure when precisely Jip and Nick had gone missing.
He turned from the view of the water, and there the boys had suddenly appeared at the kitchen table, intent on a notebook. In unison, they looked up at him and flashed two grins. The tip of Nick’s nose was red from sniffling, but they otherwise seemed quite normal. How had they managed to sneak in without his notice? He shook the befuddlement from his brain.
“You’re like a couple of ghosts. Time for me to hit the shower, boys. You two be all right without me?”