“Wasn’t about to get wrapped up in details,” he told her, and then he rolled off the raft and into the water. She stood up to follow him, pulling her bathing suit back down over her bum before diving in beside him. “Hello, Missus,” he said to her, cheeky, wet, and handsome. His affection was so unabashed that it continually charmed her.
“Hi,” she said, then started swimming, and together they returned to shore.
—
“You two are cute,” said Jess after dinner.
“Cute?”
“I remember those days. Lifetimes ago. When you’re still all swoony. It’s sweet,” said Jess. “Don’t forget to enjoy it. I’m just saying.”
“Saying what?” asked Clara, getting glasses down from the cupboard and trying hard to hold them all in her hands. Precious stems, and clinking crystal—though it probably wasn’t really crystal. It was surprising they were even glass.
“That it’s a good time,” said Jess. “Before things get complicated.” She slipped out to the porch where the guys were, with Clara behind her.
“No signal?” she asked Adam, who was waving his phone in the air again.
“I can’t believe there’s still a place on earth—” he was saying.
“You’ve been here twenty-four hours and there hasn’t been a flicker,” said Clara. “What are you expecting?”
They’d set up a game at the table, the sun going down before them like a show. They’d been playing old CDs on the stereo, all the female singer-songwriters who were the soundtrack to the years Jess and Clara lived together. When the sun disappeared, the sky was indigo and a triangle of stars was visible, the first of the night. They’d gone through bottle after bottle of wine while playing a popular game, cards inscribed with vulgar words and dirty ideas that incited players to be as disgusting as possible. The game was bringing Adam out of his shell. He won a round with a card labelled “Seeping Taint” and another with “Butt Guster.”
“I bet you didn’t know you married a total sicko,” Clara said to Jess. She was delighted that Adam was loosening up.
Jess was irritated. “You don’t need to make a thing of it.”
“Clare thinks she knows everything about everybody,” said Nick. “And what’s even worse is that she’s usually right.”
“She has remarkable insight,” Jess said drily, and then downed the wine in her glass. “But not all the time.” She poured herself another drink. “She thinks she knows everything about me too.”
“Don’t I?” said Clara, who hadn’t had this much to drink in a long time and was feeling especially defiant. “I’ve known you since you were a tadpole. I knew you back when you still had a tail.”
“You,” said Jess, sipping again, “don’t have a clue.”
“Oh, come on.” Getting up from the table, Clara began gathering glasses and plates. “I know who you are.”
But Jess wasn’t finished. “No,” she said. “You act like you’ve got it all figured out, but you’re just seeing what you want to.” She looked at Clara wilfully with an expression Clara had never seen on her face before. “You disappeared on me—poof! Remember that?” This was no joke, Clara realized. Jess was angry. “You were gone for four years, and you seem to think that all that time, while you were out there getting lost and getting found, I was just here waiting, right where you left me, ready to be summoned at your command. To your wedding. Yourwedding,” she emphasized. “Remembermywedding, Clara? Remember that?” She stared her straight in the eye, waiting; this question was clearly not rhetorical. Clara finally shook her head in the tiniest gesture. “Of course you don’t. You weren’t there, and you didn’t even care that you weren’t. You have no idea what I’ve been going through.”
Nick and Adam were both quiet, staring off into the distance. Clara was sure that, just like she was, they were wishing they were anywhere but here.
“I cared,” Clara said, leaving the plates and sitting back down again. “Of course I cared. I want to make up for all that. Isn’t that the whole reason we’re here?” Jess was quiet, looking away now. Clara continued, “All I’m saying is that I know you. The fundamentals don’t quit.”
“Well, the tadpole would probably argue with that,” said Jess. “Have you ever seen a tadpole? Metamorphosis.” She stumbled on the syllables.
Clara said, “I know that.” Of course she did. Jess was a wife now. She’d created aperson.
“I mean, we’ve all come a long way,” said Jess. “Think about it—just five years ago, you were screwing Ferber.” This was even worse than the game, which had opened up such twisted possibilities for things that were permissible to say. There was silence. Jess said, “Oh, come on now, guys. I am sure Nick knows thatClarehad a sex life before him.”
Adam finally came to life and stepped in. “Jess, maybe that’s enough.”
“I mean, Nick haschildren,” said Jess. “So clearly this isn’t his first rodeo either.”
“I think the game is officially done,” said Nick, gathering up the cards.
“You’re so drunk, Jess,” Clara said. This was a big mistake. It was all her fault. Adam had resumed the plate-clearing she’d started, he and Nick apparently eager to see this discussion finished.
Jess said, “So are all of you.”
