“Youcame tomytown!” Louisa spits back. “And you followed me in Hannaford. You bumped into my cart.”
Kristie’s head wobbles uncertainly. “That was an accident. I didn’t mean to bump into your cart.”
“You came to my house. You left a note.”
“I didn’t mean to. I didn’t know that he’s sick. The note fell out of my pocket. After I found out he’s sick I wasn’t going to leave it.”
“Well, youwrotethe note,” counters Louisa. Kristie squeezes her lips together. “My son found it. When I asked my mother about it—that’s when she told me about you. And it’s, what, some sort of coincidence that you’re dating someone who works at our house?”
Kristie seems to be weighing two different options in her mind. “It’s not like that,” she says.
“What’s it like, then?”
“What it’s like is, I met someone and now I’m with him. Which I don’t need anyone’s permission for.”
“I know you don’t need my per—”
“What it’s like is, your father didn’t do right by my mother. That’s what it’s like. What it’s like is, my mother died. I’ve got nobody left in the world, except your father.Myfather. Ours. Whatever. Whose existence I just found out about. I’m just figuring things out. I didn’t know where else to go. This is all new to me too! That’s what it’s like.”
Louisa touches her throat, feeling for a necklace that isn’t there—it’s Annie’s gesture, adopted. “Your mother died? When?”
“In May.” Kristie flings the wordMayat Louisa like it’s an arrow and she’s going for the Olympic gold in archery.
A woman rushes by and says, “Kristie! That box isn’t going to unpack itself, is it?”
“Nope,” says Kristie. “It’s not. Sorry, Diana. This is me, getting back to work.” She waits for Diana to disappear and says, “I have to finish this up. So you should probably go. I can’t afford to lose this job too.”
Louisa stands there for another long moment, until Kristie crouches down by her cardboard box. Louisa wants to protect her family, of course, but Kristie’s mother died inMay?May was only two months ago, and so she wants to protect Kristie too.
“Okay,” says Louisa finally. It’s an inadequate response, and she knows that, but she’s not sure Kristie wants anything more from her. If she does, Louisa can’t figure out what it is. She goes to find Claire by the pool noodles. Keys, car, windows down. She turns onto Route 1 earlier than she should, and the driver of a pickup bearing down on her leans on his horn. She wants to curse at him but she holds her tongue, for Claire’s sake.
“We forgot to get the lobster pajamas,” Claire says sadly from the backseat.
“I’m sorry, Claire.” Louisa does hate to break a promise. “Next time, really. We’ll go back. Soon.”
“That’s okay,” says Claire with resignation. “I didn’t really need them.” She emits a small, heartbreaking sigh. A few minutes later she says, “Are you mad?”
Louisa thinks about this. “Not mad, exactly. Maybe a little sad.”
“I thought she was nice,” says Claire.
“She was nice. Is nice. That isn’t the problem.”
(What did Kristie mean, that she “should have guessed from Danny that it would go like this”? What had Danny told Kristie about Louisa, or about any of the Fitzgeralds?)
“So what’s the problem?”
“The problem, I guess, is that I don’t think that was how I wanted it to go.”
“How’d you want it to go?” asks Claire.
“I don’t know,” says Louisa truthfully. She sighs and takes the turn onto North Shore Drive a little too fast. “Claire Bear, I just don’t know.”
Dear Daddy,
I have really big news. We have a new aunt! She is a secret aunt who Mommy didn’t even know she had as a half-sister. I didn’t know you could get a new aunt at my age. My new aunt works at Renys and has tattoos. This is according to Claire, who met her in person. She was our server at Archer’s at the beginning of the summer but we didn’t know at the time that she was our half-aunt. I wish I knew. I would have gone to Renys too.
This is much more exciting than Sabrina’s trip to Italy or Shelby’s dad’s new Tesla.
