I smiled at him. I had discovered the walls of my little reading room were thin; I heard every step taken in the hallway, along with every faucet turning in the bathroom across the way.
I did call Annie not long after we got home and was still thinking about the call the next day, during an afternoon playing “musical board games.” Scrabble, Monopoly, Clue, chess, and Chutes and Ladders were set up in the living room, and after playing one game for ten minutes, Peggy instructed us to switch to someone else’s seat at another game. I’d just abandoned Colonel Mustard to take up my dad’s Scrabble letters. He had four E’s.
As I contemplated my next word, I thought back to what she’d said. “What did you say your name was again?” she asked mid-conversation. I’d been telling her about lunch at the Lookout Tavern. Bryce had chugged a glass of milk after dumping Tabasco on his burger.
“Olivia,” I said. “It’s Olivia.”
“Oh, how pretty,” she said dreamily. “My gr—and—daugh—ter’s name is O—wiv—ia.”
Phone pressed against my ear, I closed my eyes. Hearing Annie trip over her words wasn’t new, but she’d never fumbled my name before.
I told myself that my grandmother was just exhausted. Tara had mentioned Annie hadn’t slept well the past few nights. Then she insisted on getting up at 6:00 a.m.
“Your turn, Olivia,” someone said, and I blinked to make eye contact with Ashley. She smiled gently at me from across the table, and I noticed she had just spelled out “bisque” on the board. I glanced down at my letters, having nothing prepared.
“Where is that SAT vocabulary, Miss Lupo?” Beth teased, but when I managed to use two of my dad’s stockpiled e’s to form “exuberant,” stealing the lead, she excused herself to refill her iced tea.
“My mother can certainly dish it out,” Ashley commented when it was just us, “but she can’t always take it.” She laughed as she jotted down my triple-word-score points. I loveexuberant.It’s what my grandfather-in-law always called Teddy.”
I shifted in my seat, “grandfather-in-law” ringing a bell loud and clear. The whole reason Connor was here this summer was because Ashley was helping her husband care for his Alzheimer’s-ridden grandfather. Did she know about Annie? Had Erica told her? They seemed pretty close.
“Exuberant definitely sounds like Teddy,” I tried to smile, then snuck in, “My grandmother has called Maisiespiritedever since the twins were born. Bryce islively.” I shrugged. “I guess there’s a distinction.”
Ashley’s nod was thoughtful. “And what about you? How does she describe her eldest granddaughter?”
“A snot,” I said before I could stop myself, eyes welling up. “She called me a snot.”
Yesterday, I’d hung up with less tact than usual. Bryce had started knocking on the door, asking me to play croquet with everyone, and as awful as it sounded, I found myself itching to end the call. And it must’ve been obvious. “You’re such a little snot, Ophelia,” Annie had said, disdain in her voice. “Wanting to say goodbye as soon as you have something better to do.”
“Well,” Ashley said after I told her. “Technically, she called Ophelia a snot, not you.” She gave me a sympathetic look, one that signaled she was in the know about Annie. “You know that woman calling you a snot is not your grandmother, right? It’s the disease?”
“Yeah.” I tried to blink away my hot tears. “I do, of course I do, but…” A lump rose in my throat. “Sometimes telling myself that doesn’t help.”
“I know.” Ashley reached across the table to squeeze my hand. “Believe me, I know.” Her voice dipped to a whisper. “I would give almost anything to hear Ed call Teddy exuberant again.” She smiled faintly. “And Finn noble.”
We sat there in silence together, until Beth returned with a fresh pitcher of iced tea. “Alright, alright, alright,” she said in a McConaughey drawl. It made me smile a bit. “You ladies better buckle up for a dramatic comeback…”
* * *
As much as I wished it would leave, my melancholy stayed with me the rest of the day, until Nick mentioned a bonfire after dinner. “We’re leaving in five,” he told me asEncantowas cued up for the twins. “Connor’s grabbing sweatshirts!”
It was him, Sage, Connor, and me. We climbed into the Boston Whaler with blankets and some beers and started across Oyster Pond. I could see the fire burning bright in the distance,and once we made it to the beach, I heard the crackle itself. It made the hair on the back of my neck stand up. Connor slipping his arm around me didn’t help.
A shiver swirled up my spine.
Beach blankets and chairs surrounded the fire; I recognized some members of the Fox family, but not others. Meredith sat in between her grandparents with a little dog asleep on her lap, and Christian Fox was intensely focused on a card game with his grandson.
I felt a twinge, thinking of Annie, Maisie, and their Sunday rummy games.
“Greetings!” someone called, and we turned to see Wit. Of all things, he wore a striped bathrobe and had a water pistol tucked into his waistband.
“No way!” Nick said. “I heard you were out.”
Wit shook his head. “Upon further investigation, a window equates to a door, and the shot was only six feet from the window.” He smirked. “I’m in it to win it.”
Assassin, I thought,is ridiculous.
But maybe a little fun.
