That’s something else that works Gabe’s last nerve—Wendy doesn’t like to let a conversation go by without a reminder that she went to Yale.
“Are you feeling more pressure now that you have the gallery?”
“A bit, but I so prefer running my own show. Of course, what I do comes down to helping very rich people sell pictures to other very rich people, as opposed to, say, trying to solve the climate crisis.”
“Well, what would the world be without art?”
“Ah, thank you, Summer. By the way, Blake told me about your play. It sounds brilliant.”
“Well, I don’t think I’d use the word ‘brilliant,’ but I’m excited. It was great, by the way, to catch up a little with Blake last night. It’d been way too long.”
“Yes, he’s been crazed at work, too. Sometimes I sense that he’d like to bag it and never look at another squamous cell carcinoma again. As long as he can still get his hands on Botox, I’m fine with that,” she says, grinning, and I notice the lack of lines on her high, smooth forehead.
“Ha, I’m going to need that myself before long.... Do you know if anyone’s still at the breakfast table?”
“Keira and Hannah were both having coffee when I left. They might still be there.”
Okay, that’s interesting—Keira sharing a meal with her husband’s ex. I wonder what that must be like for her.
“Oh, good, I’ll join them.... It’s nice, isn’t it, that Nick could bring someone out for the week?”
I know I’m fishing here, but it’s just a line in the water, to see what bites.
“Yes, though frankly, I’ve started to lose track of the names of some of his objects of affection.”
I quickly glance around the area, making sure we still have it to ourselves. “I noticed you sat near Hannah. Did you have much of a chance to chat with her?”
“I did actually. And of all things, we ended up talking aboutdressagefor a while. It turns out she trained, too, so it gave us a lot to discuss.”
Dressage.Until I was about twenty-five, I thought it was French for putting on fancy clothes for a night on the town, but it’s actually a kind of horseback riding. Apparently, Wendy studied it as a kid, part of her equestrian training. Though she didn’t grow up in a family nearly as well-off as the Keatons, Gabe heard no expense was spared on her and her brother when they were young.
“That must have been fun to connect over.”
“It was. I almost never meet people who’ve done it.”
“Well, I’d better hightail it to breakfast. See you later.”
“You bet. Ciao.”
I return to the path and close the distance to the house. Through one of the side kitchen windows, I spy Claire at the table, glued to her iPad. She wouldn’t mind me dropping in, but over time I’ve noticed that she likes to have this part of the day to herself, or to spend with her husband. Usually Ash is sitting next to her, but not this morning.
As I round the corner, I spot Keira at the table on the patio, and Hannah standing to the side of her, dressed in white shorts and a cropped yellow top. She’s even more svelte than I realized last night, as if she hasn’t consumed a bad carbohydrate in her adult life. She finishes her conversation with Keira and leaves a moment later without appearing to notice me.
“Morning, Keira,” I say, approaching the table.
“Morning. Sleep well?”
“Yup; you? You’re in the main house, right?”
“Yes, in the guest suite at the far end of the second floor.”
“You didn’t want to give the carriage house a try?”
She presses her lips together. “I don’t love being away from the main house. And there’s a little kitchenette in the suite, with a toaster oven and a half fridge, so we can fix stuff there if we need to.”
I’m not sure why they’d need a toaster oven—there’s one here on the sideboard, along with a Nespresso machine and a carafe of brewed coffee. There are also bowls of strawberries and raspberries, baskets of croissants and the bagels Gabeand I brought, a wooden cutting board topped with artisan bread, a large glass jar of granola, as well as small containers of yogurt set in a basin of ice water.
After making a cappuccino and grabbing a yogurt, I join Keira, who’s wearing a white cover-up over a bathing suit that looks damp.
