“Disappointing? She’s my niece. He disgraced her. He humiliated the family. I bought a new suit for this thing. Hugo Boss. You know what that thing set me back?”
“Where. Mom. Be?”
We both turned just as Ethan and Mindy, hand in hand, entered the foyer. “She’s coming, buddy,” Mindy said. “And there she is now. Momma Pajama.”
“Mom!” Ethan cried.
I looked up and saw Mary making her entrance down the staircase. As always, she was walking fast and with purpose, head up high. Her hair was back in a ponytail, and though I recognized a tired, tightness to her face, she looked, as I always thought, quite pretty.
“Hi, honey. Hi, honey!” She embraced Ethan at the foot of the stairs and held him for a long time, her eyes closed. When she let go, I saw her quickly wipe away a tear.
“Hey, Mom.” Mindy walked over, and Mary reached for her next.
“How’s baby girl?”
“Baby girl is fine. Just tired.”
“I don’t know how you made it this far. I don’t know what you and your father were thinking.”
“It was his idea,” Mindy said.
“Yeah, I thought that was crazy,” Sal said. “I told him.”
Mary finally acknowledged me. “John.” She hesitated, nodded once, then made her way over and, surprisingly, gave me a peck on the cheek. “I’m glad you’re here.”
“So are we. How’s Karen?”
“She’s in her room.”
“Hey, Ethan, let’s go outside and see the ocean,” Mindy said. “Come on. It’s nice outside.”
“Don’t you want to see your sister first?” I asked.
She avoided my eyes. “I’ll take Ethan out for a while. He’s been in the car all morning. Come on, buddy. Let’s check it out.”
“Bye!” Ethan happily scampered after Mindy.
“Hold on. I’ll go with you,” Sal said. “Show you around. I know every inch of this place.” He pointed a finger at me as he passed. “Rooms got AC and their own mini-fridge. But the fridge is in the bathroom—would you believe?”
“Unbelievable.”
“And don’t forget the TV in my room. They just hooked up the cable. Maybe catch the Cubs game. New York and Boston tonight too. Giants, LA is the late game. Rivalry week.”
“Sounds good.”
Mary and I watched them leave and then turned back to face each other. She gave me an ex-wife, remember-I-kind-of-still-hate-you-look, then said, “So.”
“So, how you holding up?”
She shrugged.
“Sal said Roger’s here. He’s not still staying in the Inn, is he?”
“No. Everett and Beth went back to Connecticut, but he’s in another hotel somewhere. I’m not sure what he’s hoping to accomplish.”
“Is anyone else here?”
“No. No one. It’s just us now. We caught most everyone in time. Some friends were here, the girls from college, but they left this morning.”
“What’s everyone saying?”
“Everyone’s sorry, shocked, blah, blah. What are they going to say?”
“Is there anything else we have to do?”
“Everything’s been taken care of. We called everyone.”
“Like it never happened.”
“Well, it never did.”
“How long are we going to stay?” I asked.
“I’m leaving tomorrow. I decided to go back after all.”
“Tomorrow?” My mind ignited. I would have to tell her about Ethan, the Overall Plan, tonight. “You sure? I thought we were going to stay a few days. What’s the rush? We paid for the rooms. We should all be together.”
“I want to go home. I’m sick of this place. I’ll take him back on the plane. I’ll give him a pill—he’ll sleep. Sal will sit next to him. It’s risky, but we’ll survive.”
“He hates planes, you know that.”
She gave me a hard look. “You have another plan?”
I swallowed. “All this is terrible. I feel bad for you. I know how hard it was. All the work.”
“Don’t feel bad for me, John. I didn’t catch my fiancé screwing in the pool.”
I was relieved she didn’t say, At least you did it in a hotel.
“At least you did it in a hotel.”
I nodded. The Jaw and me, fellow philanderers, blood brothers in adultery. The parallel was inevitable. “Anyway,” I said.
Mary straightened her white sleeveless blouse and looked off to the side. “I’m sorry. I’m tired. I know you’re upset. She’s your daughter. You should go see her. She’s on the third floor, 321. Knock.”
“All right.”
She turned and started back up the stairs.
“Are we going to get together for dinner?” I asked. “As a family?”
“Fine,” she said as she marched up the stairs, not looking back. “Fine.”
*