The House on Mermaid Point

Chapter Thirty-seven

Babe?! Maddie was back at the houseboat with no idea how long she’d been there when Kyra, Dustin, Avery, Deirdre, and Nicole got back, all of them chattering about the holiday.

Maddie hugged Dustin, then the others, but her mind was elsewhere. Specifically on William Hightower and the night they’d spent together. He’d been a skilled and generous lover, his attention so focused on her that if her hands had been free she would have pinched herself.

After far too little sleep she’d woken afraid he’d be unable to hide his disappointment when he saw her in the harsh light of day, but he’d surprised her again. And then Hudson had arrived—an embarrassment she might have gotten over if only it hadn’t turned William Hightower into a complete stranger. The kind of “player” who relied on faux endearments like “babe” so the wrong woman’s name wouldn’t spill out at a critical moment.

“Are you okay?” Deirdre was looking at her oddly. So was Kyra.

“Sure.”

“How was the weekend?” Avery asked.

“Good.”

“What did you do?”

“Oh, you know. Not too much.” If you didn’t count monkey sex with a man you’d been fantasizing about through most of your formative years. “I just took it easy. Laid around and napped in the hammock. Took a dip in the pool. Nothing special or particularly newsworthy.” She thought about Will’s It wasn’t all that big a deal. “You know, nothing anybody would consider important.”

She felt herself flush at the lie and with what she wanted to be irritation but which felt more like humiliation. Which was ridiculous. What had been a fantasy come to life for her had probably been more like . . . scratching an itch for him. She closed her eyes briefly and wondered what on earth she had expected.

“You look kind of tired for someone who spent the last two days relaxing.” Avery was studying her as if she’d never seen her before.

“I’d much rather hear what you all did. Let’s go up for sunset.” Maybe some fresh air would clear her head.

“We’re hours from sunset.” Now Deirdre was looking at her closely.

“Well, then let’s fix dinner and you can tell me about your holidays.” Maddie moved toward the houseboat kitchen.

“That would be great, Mom. Except there’s no potential dinner food here. I mean, I see one pretty nice-looking steak. We could probably get a bite each.”

“I meant to get out to the store today, but time just . . . got away from me.” Maddie was careful not to wince at the understatement.

“Well, fortunately I stocked up on snacks on the way back from Key West.” Avery patted two grocery bags.

“And I smuggled some Ted Peters smoked fish spread back from St. Pete.” Kyra pulled a brown paper bag out of her backpack. “I’m pretty sure we’ve got crackers here to put it on.”

“I may have a loaf of Cuban bread tucked in my suitcase,” Deirdre added, as if the crusty concoction might have found its way into her bag on its own.

“I’ll fix PB and J for Dustin and myself.” Kyra turned to the others. “Anybody else?”

Nicole poured rum into their soft drink cans. It was on the tip of Maddie’s tongue to tell them the “no alcohol” mandate wasn’t as critical as they’d thought, that Will knew they’d been spiking their sodas, but it was her greatest hope that none of them would ever know that she’d slept with him.

They put everything edible they could find on the table then arranged themselves on the banquette that surrounded it.

“So how was Key West?” Nicole reached for a plastic knife and the fish spread. She’d set out a tin of biscotti Joe’s mother had sent back with her.

“It was great, but packed with tourists. It felt practically claustrophobic after living on a private island.” Avery popped a Cheez Doodle into her mouth. “And it turns out Chase is very popular with drag queens.”

“You’re going to have to give us a little more than that.” This came from Kyra, who had settled Dustin on her lap.

“A lot more than that,” Nicole agreed.

Maddie felt a little of her tension begin to dissipate, though she wasn’t sure if it was the alcohol or the women surrounding her.

“Okay, so we went on this great sunset cruise and had a late dinner at a little Spanish restaurant called El Siboney. Then Sam, Chase’s friend, said we really had to take in a drag show.”

“But of course you did.” Deirdre nodded.

“So we ended up at this place on Duval called La Te Da. And the first number, this performer who looked exactly like Marilyn Monroe, only possibly prettier, comes up and puts her arms around Chase and kind of buries his face in her chest. And then she looks at me and says, ‘I know I’m his type, honey. Because I look more like you than you do.’”

There was laughter.

“Chase couldn’t quite bring himself to stick a bill in her bra or her garter, but he was a pretty good sport. And after that he was like catnip. Honestly, they were gorgeous. And talented. I was afraid if I didn’t hold on tight they were going to carry him back to the dressing room and ask him what he saw in me.”

They all laughed as they tried to picture it. Maddie took another sip of her doctored Diet Coke.

“What about you, Nikki?” Deirdre asked.

“Well, as far as I know there were no female impersonators at the Giraldi family reunion at Joe’s. Though come to think of it his Nonna Sofia does have a bit of a mustache going.” Nicole smiled and shook her head. “They’re really great people and I don’t think they understand what Joe sees in me—his mother hasn’t given up on him giving her grandchildren—but I could tell they know he’s proposed and they seem to want Joe to have what he wants. For some unknown reason that seems to be me.”

“They’d be lucky to have you in their family,” Avery pointed out.

“And you could adopt, you know. There are fertility options.” Deirdre slathered fish spread on a cracker.

“I really don’t see that happening. Though Nonna Sofia waved a raw chicken leg at me before it went on the grill and muttered something in Italian and I’m kind of afraid it might have been a fertility curse. Which, given the age of any remaining eggs, would be like trying to turn the Colosseum into a McDonald’s.”

There was more laughter but Nicole was no longer smiling. “Even if my eggs hadn’t already reached their expiration date, I’m pretty sure that the job I did raising Malcolm proves I’m not parent material.”

“His behavior was not your fault,” Maddie said, relieved to be talking about someone else’s issues. “Any more news about him?”

“Joe kind of keeps tabs. He’s apparently been a model prisoner. And the environment seems to agree with him. He’s dropped twenty-five pounds, works out every day, and spends his free time working on his autobiography.” Nicole pushed away her plate of crackers and spread.

“Is he allowed to sell his story?”

“Unclear. But I hope not. I’m sure he’ll find some way to turn himself into the hero of the piece. I don’t expect to fare so well. And I don’t believe that if he were allowed to, the advance or any profits would ever reach his victims,” Nicole said.

“That would be us.” Avery’s mouth was now rimmed in orange.

“Yes, it seems like he may just be using the whole thing to look good to a parole board. But he seems to be really writing it. And even if he can’t sell it—if it includes our childhood, well, I feel like I’ve been dragged through the dirt enough already without everyone having to know just how hand-to-mouth our life was.”

“Maybe you should write your story yourself,” Kyra said with a swipe at Dustin’s peanut-butter-smeared fingers. “Just clear the air once and for all.”

“I don’t know.” Nicole sighed. “There are way too many things I’m not sure about at the moment. I’ve never been this indecisive. I always knew what I wanted, what I was trying to achieve. I spent so many years trying to escape my beginnings and create financial security—but control of our destiny—it’s just an illusion. And I can’t help feeling that if I couldn’t even see my brother, my own flesh and blood, for what he was, how qualified am I to make serious life choices? I want to be with Joe. We choose to be together. But I don’t really see why marriage needs to be a part of it.

“Okay, enough about me.” Nicole turned to Kyra. “How was Bella Flora?”

“Yeah,” Avery said. “I’m almost afraid to ask. Were there any signs of housal abuse?”

“No.” Kyra tucked a stray lock of hair behind her ear. “She hasn’t been touched at all. And given the number of homes they have I’m hoping Tonja Kay will just sort of forget about it.”

“Well, the more you stay out of the picture the more likely that will be,” Maddie couldn’t help adding.

“Yeah.” Kyra dropped her gaze and busied herself cutting Dustin’s remaining half sandwich into quarters.

Maddie knew that tone and recognized the posture. Her daughter had slept with Daniel Deranian. Again. She might have given her some grief about it if she didn’t now understand just how easily that could happen.

“How about you, Deirdre?” Maddie asked too brightly. “How was it with Jeff and the boys?”

“It was far more enjoyable than I’d expected. Jeff’s having a hard time accepting his current limitations and I understand that. It must be so difficult to feel your world shrinking around you, but there is something really fabulous about taking care of others.” Deirdre shot a look at Avery. “I ran away from that once, and now I understand that I not only hurt the people I loved and left, I missed out on something that would have made me a far better person.” Deirdre paused. “Okay, I didn’t mean to get quite so heavy.” She looked around the table, studying each of their faces. “Something’s going on here. In fact . . .” She sniffed, as if trying to catch a whiff of something. “I have the weirdest feeling that I’m the only woman here who didn’t have sex this weekend.”

“Right!” Kyra laughed. “On that unlikely note, I’m going to put Dustin down for the night.” She waited while he gave his Geema a kiss.

Maddie watched them head to their cabin, glad for the subject change. When she turned back to the table, Deirdre and Avery were exchanging glances. They contemplated her out of identical blue eyes. “So nothing special happened here this weekend?”

“Nope.” Maddie put on what she hoped was a poker face.

“So this couldn’t have anything to do with you?” Avery slid a piece of newspaper toward her. It was a grainy black-and-white photo of two people in a major lip-lock in what was clearly William Hightower’s hot tub on what was clearly William Hightower’s island. “I saw it in the Key West Citizen.”

Nicole leaned closer to study the photo. “Well, that’s Will all right. And the woman does have wet dark hair about Maddie’s length, but even from the back you can tell she’s naked . . .”

Maddie’s heart was beating so hard she was afraid they’d hear it. She pulled the photo closer and studied it carefully while she willed her heart to slow and tried her hardest not to squirm in her seat. She’d been so focused on Will and what was happening at the time, she hadn’t even thought about photographers or their telephoto lenses. “It’s awfully blurry. It could be Bigfoot or the Loch Ness Monster. I mean, you can’t see anything except the back of her head and her arms.” Thank you, God.

“Any idea who Will had here on the island, Maddie? Did you meet her?” Avery’s eyes were glued to Maddie’s face.

“No. But then, it’s a pretty big island and—”

“He should be more careful who he brings here,” Deirdre said slowly. “Because I think she must have helped herself to your bathing suit and your cover-up.”

“Why do you say that?” Maddie could feel the situation spiraling out of control.

“Why? Because I found them on the pool deck right next to the hot tub when I went to put some things in the pavilion refrigerator,” Deirdre said. “They’re on your bed.”

Nicole’s eyes telegraphed her surprise. She was looking from Deirdre and Avery to Maddie and back again like a fan watching a tennis match.

“You might want to file a missing clothing report.” Avery raised a brow in a perfect imitation of Deirdre.

“Oh, no, those aren’t my . . .” Maddie shook her head for emphasis, but her voice trailed off.

“It’s okay, Maddie. There’s no judgment going on here. In fact, I find myself tempted to say, ‘You go, girl.’” Deirdre smiled.

“I agree.” Avery looked over her shoulder to make sure Kyra’s door was shut then gave Maddie a quiet high five. “I’m guessing most women just out of a quarter-century marriage would be way too timid to take a ‘walk walk on the Wild Will side.’” She handed the photo to Maddie. “You’ve got guts.” She and Deirdre gave Maddie almost identical smiles. “You can throw it away or put it in a scrapbook. That’s entirely up to you.”

Deirdre nodded in agreement. “We’ll refrain from asking for the gory details.”

“Unless you feel a need to share them?” Nicole added.

Part of Maddie would have loved nothing better than to dish with the women who had become her closest friends. But she could hardly process what had happened let alone talk about it. And her walk on the wild side had been brief and ended badly. Maddie shook her head quietly. “I don’t think I’m ready to kiss and tell. I’m still kind of absorbing the whole thing.” She wasn’t sharing any story that started out so magically and ended with being called “babe” in such an impersonal and dismissive way.