Eddie says, “Well, I think you look great.” And she does! Her skin has a healthy glow; she’s trim and fit, and it seems like she’s been sleeping better at night. She also went to RJ Miller and had the gray taken out of her part. Eddie didn’t notice this per se, but he did see the charge come in on the credit card—two hundred sixty dollars!—and when he asked Grace what it was for, she pointed to her hair and said, “Isn’t it obvious?” And Eddie was so chagrined he hadn’t noticed that he decided not to give her any grief about the expense.
Grace stays even-keeled when Allegra announces that she’s eating Thanksgiving at the Winter Street Inn with the Quinns, and she even remains sanguine when Hope calls from Bucknell to say that she isn’t coming home for Thanksgiving either. Instead she’s going to one of her pledge sisters’ houses in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, because it’s closer to school and Hope needs to get back to campus Saturday; her jazz ensemble has been invited to play at a local coffeehouse.
“Wait a minute,” Eddie says. “Neither of them will be home?”
“They’re growing up,” Grace says.
“What are we going to do?” Eddie asks. “Eat by ourselves?” The idea seems small and sad, especially considering they don’t have a proper dining room. When Eddie considers how little space they have, he thinks it’s no wonder the girls want to celebrate elsewhere. Eddie needs to sell the Christys a house, take his commission, and buy his family a decent-size place to live.
Grace shrugs. “We can either eat with Glenn and Barbie—”
“They’re going to Napa,” Eddie says, but even if they were staying on Nantucket, Eddie wouldn’t want to eat with them. He has to see them every day at the office. He could use a break.
“Okay, then, we’ll go out,” Grace says. “I’ll make a reservation at American Seasons.”
“American Seasons?” Eddie says. It’s a romantic restaurant and the food is dynamite, but… it’s not cheap.
“Yes,” Grace says, leaving no further room for discussion.
It’s only that night as Eddie is trying to fall asleep instead of obsessing about money ($260 for a haircut and color, Thanksgiving dinner at American Seasons, which will necessarily include champagne and nice wine, and Hope’s second-semester bill at Bucknell), the Christys, the Winter Street Inn, the ways his life would be easier if he could manage to sell the Wauwinet house to the Christys and the inn to someone else, that Eddie wonders about Grace’s new exercise routine and her newly colored hair and, most puzzlingly, her easy acceptance of the news that neither twin will be home for Thanksgiving, historically the most sacred of Pancik family holidays.
It’s almost like she doesn’t care, he thinks. Like her mind is somewhere else.
On Thanksgiving morning Grace announces that she’s going to walk to Children’s Beach to watch the Turkey Plunge. The Turkey Plunge is where hundreds of crazy people race into the water to benefit the public library, known as the Nantucket Atheneum. Grace and Eddie have never attended the Turkey Plunge, because when they lived in Wauwinet, it was simply too far out of the way; it started early and the girls wanted to sleep in. Grace always used to cook an elaborate meal—not just turkey, stuffing, and mashed potatoes, but also a crab cake appetizer, caramelized Brussels sprouts, Parker House rolls from scratch, and, instead of pie, a gingerbread and poached pear trifle, served in her grandmother Harper’s etched-crystal trifle dish. Madeline, Trevor, and Brick Llewellyn used to join them, as well as Barbie, back when Barbie was single. Eddie carved the turkey and broke out his best vintages of zinfandel, which is the only wine that pairs acceptably with turkey, in his opinion. Between dinner and dessert, Eddie and Trevor used to smoke Cuban cigars out in Grace’s garden.
Eddie’s heart aches for his old life.
Now that they live in town, they can stroll over to Children’s Beach in a matter of minutes, so why wouldn’t they go? It makes perfect sense, Eddie tells himself.
At the plunge he sees people he knows, of course. There are land mines—Eloise Coffin is present with her doltish husband, Clarence, and Eddie steers clear of them, pulling Grace along by the hand. He isn’t sure how Grace managed in the aftermath of his indictment. How did she survive both the news of her affair with Benton Coe and a husband convicted of running a prostitution ring? How did she hold her head up?
Eddie sees Addison and Phoebe Wheeler talking to Chief Kapenash. The chief waves, and Eddie thinks about joining them for a chat, even though he doesn’t much care for Addison.
Grace says, “We can just stand here and be observers, Eddie. This isn’t a networking thing.”
“Oh, I know,” Eddie says. He lets Grace lead him over to a tree where they have a good view of people lining up, preparing to charge the water. Eddie sees Rachel McMann dressed in a black tank suit and a bathing cap decorated to look like a Pilgrim hat. Of course. He sees Blond Sharon and Jean Burton and Susan Prendergast and Monica Delray and Jody Rouisse, Grace’s former garden club cronies. Does Grace still talk to them? he wonders. He should ask her. Whom is she friends with now? Whom does she confide in?
The whistle blows. The swimmers race into the water, shrieking and laughing.
“That looks like fun,” Grace says. “Maybe we should do it next year.”
Eddie would rather eat glass. “Maybe,” he says.
After the plungers have dried off and are enjoying hot cider and doughnuts, Eddie sees a man heading toward them. He’s wearing a black Speedo, the kind that competitive swimmers wear, and has a towel hanging off his shoulders like a cape. Because he’s dripping wet and more than half naked, it takes Eddie a moment to realize it’s Benton Coe.
“Eddie,” Benton says. He offers Eddie a hand, which Eddie shakes as firmly as he can. “Grace.” He bends over to kiss Grace on the cheek.
“How was it?” Grace asks. “Cold?”
Eddie doesn’t bother listening to Benton’s response; he doesn’t care if it was cold or not. All Eddie cares about is Grace’s tone of voice and her facial expression. She sounds calm, normal. At first Eddie feels gratified by this; Benton’s presence doesn’t seem to fluster Grace one bit. But then Eddie realizes that the only way Grace could nonchalantly converse with the man she had a red-hot affair with, who has returned to the island after an absence of two and a half years, is if…
Grace has seen Benton before, Eddie thinks. She has talked to him before.
“It wasn’t as bad as I thought,” Benton says. He wraps the towel around his waist, shielding his lower half, thank God, but giving both Grace and Eddie a wonderful view of his broad shoulders and rippling abdominal muscles. “So anyway, how are you guys? Happy Thanksgiving.”
JENNIFER