Twillyweed (17 page)

“Claire?”

“I'm sorry, what?”

“We were just talking about the big regatta coming up. It's great fun. Anyone can enter.”

“And anyone does,” Oliver put in. “People build their own tubs. Kids. Teenagers. They rig up anything that floats. Some fall apart halfway through! Do you sail?”

“No, sorry, never learned.”

“Too busy pursuing the life of the mind,” Teddy volunteered.

I looked up. He offered me his smile. He had sharp little canines. I liked that idea, the life of the mind. I liked him.

“I do.” Jenny Rose raised her hand as if she were in school.

“You can tag along with me, then,” Glinty said before Teddy had the chance.

“All right,” Jenny Rose agreed without thinking, jumping right in.

“How good are you?” He narrowed his eyes.

“The dirtier the weather, the happier I am,” she boasted, then thought better of it and looked at Oliver doubtfully. “If I might have that as my day off?”

Paige shrugged. “Oh, Mooney can stay with Wendell. Or Radiance, providing she's well.”

“Providing she's not depressed,” Morgan threw in.

“I really wanted Radiance to crew for me,” Oliver frowned, lolling slightly.

Morgan turned to me, explaining, “She can sail, that girl. But she can't get into the club. She can work there, but she can't be a member. They'll tell you she could never afford it, but they'd waive those fees for a good sailor like her if her name were Coventry or Brickworth or Davenport.”

“Not if she couldn't swim, they wouldn't,” Glinty said.

“You mean if she were a shade lighter.” Paige smiled unapologetically. Then, “Morgan is our Democrat.”

Morgan's jaw dropped. “I'm an independent,” he corrected. “And I won't be pigeonholed, thank you. Anyway, I don't give a crap about all that. The environment is my issue.”

“Oh, here we go!” Paige raised her eyes heavenward.

“Did you know”—he leaned forward—“there's a glut of plastic the size of Texas in the north Pacific?”

“It can't possibly be that big.” Oliver looked up over his drink.

“Well, it is. And it's all because of your plastic water bottles and plastic containers—”

“That's horrifying!” Jenny Rose cried.

“There will be no fish on the planet at all in twenty years if nothing is done,” he said.

“Yes, we know all about that,” Paige said as she slammed her drink down, “but the way we dealt with the extinction of the dinosaurs, we'll deal one day with the extinction of fish. We'll find something else to eat. Anyway, we have problems right here and now, children who need homes—”

“I'd be happy to stay with Wendell for the race,” says arbitrary me. “Really.”

There was silence. “Well, then,” Paige said, “that would be lovely.”

“I'd love to learn to sail,” I added.

“Oliver will take you out in high winds! You can learn later in the season, when the wind dies down,” Paige advised. “Otherwise you'll get turned off.”

“I'll take you out soon.” Oliver, with his eyebrows raised, had his scotch decanter perambulating above my glass. “I'll see to it you don't get turned off.”

“No, thank you.” I had to firmly cover mine with my hand. “No, really! I'm a rye and ginger girl, actually.”

“Mr. Piet! Get Ms. Breslinsky a rye and ginger, will you?” He looked around. “Where is he? Oh, yes, of course. He's gone back to the hospital to check on Radiance.” He turned to Morgan. “Rye and ginger. There's an old-fashioned drink for you.”

Taking the hint, Morgan got up and made me my drink.

Teddy cleared his throat. “Not to belabor the point. But can anyone get back to what Radiance was doing out on a boat before dawn in the first place? Because I still don't get it.”

Glinty twisted his earlobe and leaned to one side. “These locals are a bit mad. They're all for the fishing.”

“Except that Radiance doesn't exactly fit into that category,” Paige remarked wryly.

“Of course there's always the obvious reason,” Oliver said, leering. At first I didn't know what he meant but then I took it he meant sex and I guessed everyone else did, too, because Paige frowned in a disproving way, “You're disgusting. No wonder Annabel left you.”

But Oliver, ignoring her, went on expansively, “Mr. Piet—first name Gilles—originally came from Guadeloupe. He was a vacation guide there. Had his own sloop.” He finished his drink and ran his finger around the rim of the glass, warming to the story. “He fell in love with a tourist. That was Radiance's mother. Margaret, or something. She was a Dutch tourist. No, Margriet. That was it. Beautiful woman, apparently. Well, obviously. One only has to look at Radiance and her long legs. Anyway, the woman, Margriet, went home but when she saw the baby was black, she returned to Holland and left Radiance with Mr. Piet. Well, not black. Sort of cocoa.”

“Oh, really, Oliver!” Paige exclaimed.

“Truth's the truth. Morgan”—he thrust a presentational arm toward him—“our Morgan here, was down there when all this happened, dropped anchor there for a while when he'd needed repairs and Mr. Piet helped him with his engine so he got to know the story, isn't that right, Morgan?” He kicked the sole of Morgan's foot with his own. Morgan didn't answer him but he didn't say no and so Oliver went on, “He told Mr. Piet about Guardian Angel House up here in Sea Cliff—they'd just opened in a little house over on Kitchen Lane—and suggested he bring her here. But once Mr. Piet got here, he found he didn't want to give her up. She's been with us almost every summer since she could walk, really.” He fished around for the bottle at his feet and poured the last of it into his glass. “She didn't always look like she does now, though, did she, Paige? Gawky, toothy thing she used to be. Shot up all of a sudden.”

“So … she's worked for you all her life?”

“I wouldn't say
worked
. More like made trouble one way or another. …” His eyes twinkled. “She's always acting up. No mother, of course. They used to live on Guadeloupe, but he brought her up here for good after a while. She always lodged at Guardian Angel House because it was convenient for everyone. She would stay on long after the infants were adopted because Gilles worked here for us. It's not an orphanage, you see. More like an exchange place. Aboveboard, of course. No scandal anymore. The girls know before their babies are born where they will go.” He sighed. “As a result, Radiance's education has been a bit catch as catch can. She'd just get settled up here and he'd take her back. He has a villa, he says.” He lowered his voice. “But they all say that. Personally I suspect it's more like a hut, but you wouldn't want to insult him. He's very learned, really. He just doesn't get a word in edgewise with Patsy Mooney around.”

“Nobody does,” said a grinning Morgan.

Glinty said, “It's no wonder her husband used to belt her.”

“Oh, be quiet, Glinty.” Paige flung her cardigan at him. “You're incorrigible!”

“Anyway, they used to go back, but she won't anymore.” Oliver lowered his voice. “Wants to make it as a dancer, you see. Wants to be a Rockette.”

“She's certainly attractive enough,” Jenny Rose piped up.

“And she speaks four languages,” Morgan added.

“So does every taxi driver in New York,” Oliver pointed out.

“I hate it when you say things like that,” Paige said. “It's so unkind.”

“It's not unkind. It's the truth. The whole trouble is she's turned into something of a bombshell. Thinks she's entitled to all sorts of amenities. She should be pursuing some sort of job at the United Nations, not the cattle calls in the back pages of
Variety
.”

“That was another of Annabel's bright ideas,” Paige said scornfully.

I took my new drink from Morgan and sipped it, then sat there swimming happily in my alcoholic buzz. I actually like to be around snobs because I have the feeling if I listen carefully, I'll learn something.

“Don't suppose anyone feels like chess,” Teddy said hopelessly once he'd reorganized the board.

“Oh, I'll play.” Jenny Rose jumped up. “What a magnificent set! Can I be the Moors?”

I knew what she was up to, making herself more attractive to Glinty by not talking to him.

She and Teddy hunched together at the games table and I couldn't help thinking how good they were together, young, healthy, laughing, and natural. Oh, I knew she didn't care for Teddy in that way—which was probably why she could be so easy and fun filled with him—but maybe later, once she saw Glinty for who he really was … I crossed my fingers.

“How's work at the Locust Valley Inn, Teddy?” Morgan asked him.

I said, “I thought you worked at the Once Upon a Moose.”

“She just fired me,” he said, shrugging, not particularly penitent.

Oliver shook his head. “Teddy's had more jobs than anyone I've ever known.”

Paige said to me, “He'd have his real estate agent's license, too, if he'd go take the darn test. But between waiting tables and showing houses for me, he has hardly any free time at all.”

“And then there was the club,” Teddy put in.

“You wouldn't have so many jobs if you could hang on to one for any length of time,” Oliver chided Teddy and this time there was an edge to his voice. “You could have made plenty of money this summer caddying if you hadn't broken Doctor Spiegel's putter in two!”

“He had it coming.” Teddy yawned.

“That's not your place to judge!” Oliver reprimanded, turning red. Then he added for my benefit, “We all belong to the sailing club, you see.”

“Only I'm hired help, not a member,” Teddy grinned good-naturedly. “And I don't wait tables at the Locust Valley Inn,” he asserted. “I'm tending bar there, now, Paige.” His hand went to his head. “I almost forgot. When I go back I've got to put away those beer deliveries. I'll have boxes all over the place!”

“You don't think I could come and get some, do you?” I ventured. “I never have enough.”

“Sure. But don't bother. I'll bring some up to you. Noola's cottage, right?”

“Oh,” I said, “that would be wonderful! Are you sure it's no trouble?”

He moved a knight cautiously forward and right then caught my eye. “Not a bit.”

Oliver parked himself beside me and took the opportunity to change the subject. “I'm unable to draw a straight line myself, not like Jenny Rose here. Or Glinty. But then Glinty can't really create art, he can only duplicate it. …” he added maliciously.

Glinty winked, indicating unashamedly the truth of what Oliver was saying.

“But I
value
art,” Oliver went on, “art and”—he put an arm behind me—“beautiful women.”

I caught Glinty's dejected, off-guard expression and for a moment I felt sorry for him. I wondered if his brashness was all bravado. “Oh, good,” I said with a laugh, pretending to misunderstand Oliver. “You'll be happy when my beautiful sisters come to visit me, then.”

“If they're as lovely as you,” Oliver began, but I stood up, unnerved. I'd enjoyed his tributes at the table, but this fast work at close quarters was, to my mind, a little much. And to be honest I didn't think he meant it. There was a sort of overkill about his flirting, a desperation that made me feel more pity than caution. I ambled over to the bar as if for another drink.

Jenny Rose and Teddy began to sing a pleasant Dave Matthews song none of us middle-aged folks knew the words to and so we all watched and listened. Then Glinty moved in and gave them a three-part harmony, turning a spontaneous, youthful outburst into a professional-sounding song. He really had a good voice, I admired grudgingly.

My tights had meanwhile meandered their way down my thighs and if I didn't pull them up soon, I was going to have to hop home. I waited until all their backs were turned and then I hoisted them up, only to see Oliver catching me at it. His eyes popped open happily.

Embarrassed, I looked at my watch. It was nine o'clock. I wondered what trouble that kitten had gotten into by now. Also, I wouldn't want to keep Mrs. Dellaverna waiting when she'd been so kind. All I had to look forward to was her couch, but, reluctantly, as they finished their song, I announced, “I'll be on my way, then. Thank you so much for dinner.”

“Where's that old guitar of Oliver's?” Glinty called out to Paige.

“Just
please
don't haul out that banjo.” Teddy shuddered.

“Sure you're all right to drive?” Oliver frowned, concerned, and stood with a wobble.

I liked him at that moment. He wasn't a bad guy, just hurt and uncertain. “Oh, I'm not driving. I walked.”

“The Irish walking girls.” Paige laughed, linking her arm into mine. “You'll lose that weight in no time here.”

Gosh, I thought. What had I done to deserve that? But she'd said it so sincerely, with such kindness and consideration. And I was just a vain old coot to be offended—for who was it I didn't like to hear that, but her fiancé? Yes. I was foolish and calculating. I realized it. And all she was doing was pushing her brother forward because she loved him and wanted him to be with someone who would love him, not leave him. It stood to reason that in her mind the two losers, the two who'd been left so recently, would find each other.

Then she said, “Come over again soon, Claire. You can be our fourth for Scrabble on Wednesdays. Morgan, Oliver, you, and me.” And she fluttered out of the room to go look for that guitar for Glinty.

You see?
I reprimanded myself.
She's just blunt and friendly and helpful
.

Morgan Donovan stood. “Come,” he said gruffly, with that infuriatingly attractive Scottish burr, “we'll be needing to talk about your duties. I'll walk you on my way to the marina.”