Maine - J. Courtney Sullivan [180]
Eventually, they pulled a couple of magazines out of the beach bag and started talking about celebrities, pointing out funny stories to each other. They passed an hour pleasantly this way. And then, as if sensing Ann Marie’s tranquillity, Kathleen came along to shatter it.
Ann Marie hadn’t even noticed someone had approached them until Linda said cautiously, “Hello there.”
When she looked up, Kathleen was hovering overhead in shorts and a T-shirt. She had a rolled-up towel under her arm, one of the threadbare brown ones from the linen closet in the cottage. Ann Marie never used those—she bought new towels almost every fall at the postsummer sales, and brought them from home the following season.
She felt like telling Kathleen to buzz off, but instead she said, “Linda, meet my sister-in-law Kathleen.”
“Oh!” Linda said, putting a hand over her heart. “I didn’t realize you two knew each other! You scared me there for a minute!”
The scariest part is that we do know each other, Ann Marie thought.
“What are you up to?” she asked, trying to sound cheerful.
“Taking a walk,” Kathleen said. “You don’t mind if I take a walk on the beach, do you? It being July and all.”
Good Lord, here we go.
“Why don’t you sit with us for a bit?” Linda said.
Kathleen raised an eyebrow. “Okay.”
She spread her towel out in front of them and sat with her back to the ocean.
“Wine?” Linda asked.
Ann Marie cringed, but Kathleen seemed to have come without her soapbox.
“None for me,” she said politely. Well, that was a shock.
“Where’s Maggie?” Ann Marie asked. She turned to Linda and, by way of explanation, added, “My niece.”
“My daughter,” Kathleen said. “She’s up at Alice’s house, working. I had to get out of there. Between Maggie talking on the phone about murder victims and Alice smoking like a chimney on the porch. Well, let’s just say it’s cramped. So! How do you two know each other?”
Ann Marie had already told her they were neighbors, but she replied, “We live on the same block.”
“Ah, fellow Newtonians,” Kathleen said.
Maybe you had to know her to know that she was being snide, because Linda said cheerfully, “That’s right. We’re in the same book club, and we’re on the ladies’ council together at our country club. And we organize a wine and cheese night with the other neighborhood moms once a month.”
Kathleen scooped up a handful of sand and then let it fall through her fingers. “Sounds like you two like to get away from your menfolk,” she said.
“Sometimes a girl needs it!” Linda said, smiling. “Am I right?”
“Oh, I don’t know. I actually enjoy spending time with my partner.”
That did it! Kathleen was being rude to Ann Marie’s guest. And why had she used that word, partner? It made it sound like she was a lesbian.
“Kathleen’s not married, so her perspective is a little different from ours,” Ann Marie said. “Her boyfriend is a lovely guy.”
“Oh, thanks,” Kathleen said. She looked straight at Linda. “I hate that term, boyfriend. We’ve been living together for ten years, but everyone in the family treats us like we just wrapped up our third date.”
Linda seemed unsure how to respond, poor thing. Finally she said, “I was telling Ann Marie how jealous I am that you all have this beach to yourselves. It’s wonderful.”
Kathleen shrugged. “Personally, I’m ready to leave.”
Ann Marie was relieved that Kathleen hadn’t steered the conversation toward the topic of Alice giving the house away.
“When are you planning to leave, anyway?” she asked, hoping Linda wouldn’t pick up on any friction between them.
“Not sure yet.” Kathleen gave her a meaningful look, as if to say, Just you wait.
They sat in silence. Ann Marie looked out at the water and wondered when Kathleen would let them be.
A few minutes passed before her sister-in-law got to her feet.
“It’s been lovely, gals, but I’m going to take that walk now,” she said.
“It was nice to meet you,” Linda said. “We’ll see you later.”
Unless you get washed out to sea, Ann Marie thought. She gave Kathleen her