As soon as I’m in my office, I call Ceci. We talk for a few minutes. Alicia jumps in with her usual cheerful hello, but Ethan isn’t around—or at least, that’s what Ceci says.
As soon as we hang up, I throw myself into work for the rest of the day.
I get home early in the evening, and silence greets me. I order dinner and wait for Ceci to call. The last time we spoke, she said she’d video call later.
A little after eight, my phone rings. I answer, and Alicia’s face fills the screen, smiling.
“Hey, Daddy. Today was really great,” she says, smiling.
I smile back. “Yeah? Tell me about it, princess.”
I recognize the background immediately, the kitchen at the Hamptons house. She starts talking about her day from the moment she woke up, moving easily from one detail to the next, until something she mentions makes my chest tighten.
“What were you saying about a fish?” I ask, keeping my tone light.
She laughs. “Oh. Mommy’s friend brought us a fish today. It was huge. Ethan said it was bigger than my head.”
“Mommy’s friend?”
“Yeah,” she says, like it’s obvious. “He was nice. And he has a dog—a golden retriever. His name’s Sam.”
Her voice stays easy, unaware, while the sound of blood rushing in my ears grows louder.
Is that why she didn’t want me there yesterday? Why she brushed me off so quickly?
“Alicia, is your mom around?” I ask, forcing my voice to stay calm.
“Yeah, she’s right here,” she says. “Hold on.”
She pulls the phone away, then hands it over. Ceci’s face appears on the screen. She smiles at me, but it isn’t one of those smiles meant just for me.
I don’t waste a second.
“Who’s this friend Alicia was talking about?”
Chapter 16
Not in this lifetime
Cecily
The tide is coming in, a rhythmic pulse against the shore. I sit there for a long time, watching the Atlantic swallow the shoreline inch by inch, the salt air clinging to my skin. Behind me, the sound of Alicia’s laughter drifts on the breeze.
I turn to see Ethan, his tall, sixteen-year-old frame silhouetted against the sun as he chases his twelve-year-old sister. He carries a gravity beyond his years; even this morning, after I told the kids we were coming to the Hamptons and asked them, last minute, to pack whatever they wanted for the next couple of days, he paused.
“Are you okay, Mom?”I had kissed his forehead, offering a smile that I hoped looked steadier than I felt. Now, watching him splash through the surf to make Alicia laugh, I feel a pang of gratitude. He’s giving me the space he knows I need.
I know I’ll have to call Colin later. The thought sits like a stone in my stomach. He’ll be frustrated by the impulsiveness of this trip. He prefers order, schedules, and shared decisions. I can almost hear his sigh, the one that sounds more like a tired parent than a husband. Something in me didn’t just crack when he refused to come; it went still. A weary, heavy silence I couldn’t stay in that house with for one more hour.
I stand, brushing the damp sand from my blue linen sundress, and walk to the water’s edge. When it reaches my feet, the cold sends a sudden shock through me.
“Sam!”
A golden blur races past, and cold water splashes against my legs. I stumble back, nearly losing my footing in the sand, as a massive golden retriever skids to a halt in front of me. He’s panting, a tennis ball clamped proudly in his jaws, his tail wagging in a frantic blur.
I crouch instinctively, letting him sniff my hand. He smells like wet fur and the sea. I scratch the soft spot behind his ears, and for a moment, the tension in my chest eases.
"Are you Sam? You gave me quite a scare, boy."
