Nantucket Nights (22 page)

When he got home, he found Kayla in the kitchen hulling strawberries. A platter of hamburger patties rested on the counter next to her. Jennifer sat on a bar stool combing out her long, wet hair, talking to Kayla about how she was saving her baby-sitting money to buy a really expensive pair of shoes from Vanessa Noel. Purple suede sandals, she said, with a three-inch heel.

“They sound pretty exotic,” Kayla said. “Can I see them before you buy them?”

Jennifer shrugged. “Sure,” she said. “You’ll like them. They’re tasteful.”

Raoul surveyed the kitchen. “Jennifer, can I talk to your mom alone for a second?”

“Why?” Jennifer said.

“Why?” Kayla said. “Is something the matter?”

“Everything’s fine,” Raoul said, although his voice had a serrated edge. He focused on Kayla’s hands, which were stained with pink strawberry juice. “I just need to talk to you alone for a minute.”

“We don’t really have a minute,” Kayla said. “The kids want to go to the movies tonight at eight, and they need to eat first. I was hoping you could light the grill. Theo should be home any second.”

As if on cue, the Jeep pulled into the driveway, and Raoul closed his eyes, listening to the
schluffing
sound of Theo’s flip-flops as he entered the kitchen.

“Hi, people,” Theo said jauntily, as if the scene at the Ting house with Raoul had never happened.

“Theo, honey, can you start the grill?” Kayla asked.

“Sure, Mom,” he said. He nudged Raoul aside as he retrieved the long matches from the drawer. “Hi, Dad. How was your day?”

Raoul nearly slapped the kid for his boldness.
Go ahead and tell her,
Theo was saying.
I dare you.

I’ll tell her later,
Raoul thought.
I’ll tell her when we’re really alone.

Later that night, Raoul tried again. The kids went to the movies and Theo offered to go as well so he could drive. Kayla stood at the sliding glass door as they pulled out. “Do you know
how lucky you are to have such good kids? You are so lucky. They love you and they love each other.” She put her arms around his neck and kissed him. “’Lucky, lucky man.”

“And they love you,” Raoul said.

“And they love me.”

“Kayla,” Raoul said. “There’s something I have to tell you.”

“Let’s leave the dishes for later,” she said. “Do you know how long it’s been since we’ve been alone in this house?” She ran her hands up the inside of his shirt. “You’re always working.”

“I know,” he said. “I’m sorry. But Kayla…”

“Make love to me,” she said.

He followed her upstairs and they made love sideways on their king-size bed. Raoul thought of Theo and Antoinette engaged in the same act, and he was ashamed at how it excited him. The idea of their lust made him lustful. He made love to Kayla as he hadn’t in a long time. It was the best sex he’d had all year, in several years—with their naked bodies sweating, sticking together, pulling apart, sticking together. Kayla cried out as loud as she could without alerting the neighbors through the open windows, and Raoul groaned his pleasure. Sex—that’s all this thing with Theo was about. The kid was eighteen, having fun.

When it was over, Raoul collapsed in a heap. His legs were shaking.

“Heavenly,” Kayla said. “I love you.”

“I love you, too,” he said.

Lucky, lucky man.
his whole life, people had been telling Raoul that he was lucky. He was the only child of Ignacio and Sabrina Montero, who had money and good connections. They loved Raoul, and they loved each other. Lucky. Raoul graduated from Syracuse University, he spent a year in Breckenridge, Colorado, skiing bumps, and he moved to Nantucket at the start of the building boom. Lucky. He was lucky in small, funny ways, too. He once bought a scratch ticket at Hatch’s on his lunch break and hit for ten thousand dollars. He always seemed to have sunny weather when he needed to build outside and gray weather when he needed to sit in his office doing bills. He always found a parking spot; he never missed a flight or ferry. He won door prizes and raffles; he won the Super Bowl pool three years in a row. The one time he visited New York City, he sat next to Mick Jagger on the subway and they talked about
Beggars Banquet
and Mick took Raoul to a bar and bought him a beer.

He was lucky.

Raoul tried to tell Kayla about Theo and Antoinette a third time a few weeks later, after Theo started acting out. Raoul figured the love affair must be running out of steam, frustrating his son. Kayla was so upset by Theo’s foul words, by his staying out late, that she made an appointment with Dr. Donahue, who prescribed her sleeping pills. Round pink pills that looked like candy. Kayla took one each night before she climbed into bed. She fell asleep before Raoul turned off the light and slept without stirring until after Raoul left the house at quarter to six in the morning.

Dr. Donahue also prescribed dinner out, just the two of them—and so one night Kayla persuaded Raoul to leave the site early and they ate at Company of the Cauldron on India Street. This was Kayla’s favorite restaurant—candlelit, decorated with copper pots and dried flowers, and graced by a harp player. Raoul wore his navy blazer, which he hated; it made him feel like some dumb yachtsman. But the food was delicious, and Kayla looked happy again.

Over the appetizer—roasted corn chowder with smoked salmon, poured into their bowls table-side— Raoul said, “You should be careful with those pills.”

“They help me sleep.”

“Yeah, no kidding.”

“I can’t deal with Theo like this,” Kayla said. She sipped her merlot and lolled her head back. “He’s so angry all of a sudden. He hates me. I keep wondering if I’ve done something, said something, you know, unintentionally. But he won’t talk to me.”

Raoul stirred his soup. “What’s happening with Theo has nothing to do with you, Kayla.”

“How do you know?”

“Because I know.” Raoul collected himself. Now was the time to tell her. They were alone, Kayla was relaxed. Maybe here among the lilting notes of the harp, the news wouldn’t seem so bad.

“What are you staring at me like that for?” Kayla asked. “Do you know something that I don’t?”

His path was clear.

Tell her,
he thought.

But he was afraid. What if she made a scene?

Besides, Raoul told himself, Theo was an adult.

If Raoul ignored the situation, it would clear up on its own. He was doing Kayla a favor, really. Sparing her pain.

And he had always been lucky.

“No,” he said. “Of course not.”

…

Regret
was too mild a word for what Raoul felt now. He should have told Kayla the truth, that was all there was to it. Never in a million years could Raoul have predicted the turn of events: Antoinette missing, Theo hiding in his room, whimpering with pain, and Kayla somehow caught up in die middle of the whole thing.

As soon as Kayla and Jacob left the house for Great Point, Raoul began to think about sleep. He’d drunk a six-pack of Corona, and then Jacob coaxed him into switching to vodka, and now he actually felt kind of drunk. But Raoul waited until Jennifer and Cass and Luke got home from the Clam Shack before he went to bed. He’d made them walk in the dark because the exercise would do them good, and they liked to do adult things like have dinner by themselves. When they got home, they were bickering and irritable. Cassidy B.’s face was shiny with perspiration and food grease. Luke scratched a mosquito bite on his ankle until it bled.

“You should have reminded us to wear Off!” Luke said. “I got seven more bites.”

“You counted?” Raoul said.

“Jennifer didn’t eat,” Luke said. “She’s keeping her share of the money to buy makeup.”

“You didn’t eat?” Raoul said.

Jennifer swatted Luke on the side of the head. “Brat.” She took a rubber band out of her dark hair, releasing her ponytail. Her hair rained down her back and into her face. Such pretty hair, Raoul thought. She would be his next worry, and in the none-too-distant future. “I’m upset about Mom,” Jennifer said. “Plus the food at the Clam Shack is so greasy.”

“I had a hot dog,” Cassidy B. said. “That wasn’t greasy.”

“Do you know what they put in hot dogs?” Jennifer said. “Ground up pigs’ ears. Anyway, you had fries.”

“Shut up,” Cassidy B. said. She looked at her father. “Where’s Mom? Is she home from the police station?”

“She got home from the police station a little while ago,” Raoul said. “She went to run an errand.” He checked the clock, thought of Kayla out at Great Point again tonight. She must be exhausted, delirious even, and he hoped she didn’t do anything stupid. “Okay, so … you guys get ready for bed. I’m about to turn in, myself.”

“What would you like us to do about washing?” Luke asked.

“Whatever you normally do.” Raoul was embarrassed to not sound more authoritative. He hadn’t been home to supervise bedtime in months.

“Jennifer showers in the morning,” Luke said. “Cassidy and I take baths at night. But not together. We take separate baths. Mom tells us who goes first.”

“Who went first last night?” Raoul said.

“Whoever’s dirtier goes first,” Luke said.

“You can go first tonight, Luke,” Cassidy B. said. “I might shower instead.”

“It’s only nine o’clock, Dad,” Jennifer said. “Okay if I watch TV?”

“Saturday night,” Luke said. “Mom says TV is okay on Saturday night until ten.”

“I know that,” Raoul said.

“What’s up with Theo?” Jennifer asked. “Is something going on?”

“Is he being punished finally?” Luke asked. “He disobeys Mom ail the time and never gets punished.”

“Theo isn’t being punished,” Raoul said, although of course Theo
was
being punished, in the worst kind of way. “He’s just tired and he doesn’t feel well.”

“Was he out drinking?” Jennifer asked.

“No, he wasn’t out drinking,” Raoul said. “Anyway, it’s none of your business.” He and Kayla needed to come up with something better than that, but for the time being—well, that was all the information they were going to get. “Jennifer can watch TV and you two work out your baths. As for me, I’m going to bed. Knock on the door if you need me.”

Raoul went into his bedroom, stripped to his underwear, and crawled in between the sheets, which smelled of Kayla. He heard the rush of water, the buzz of the TV, and fell asleep.

He woke again an hour later. No Kayla. He kept his eyes open long enough to consider driving up to Great Point after her. He listened to the house; the TV had been shut off. He should at least check on the kids to make sure they’d gone to bed. And Theo, he should check on Theo. But his head ached with the alcohol, and the house was dark and quiet, and Raoul fell back to sleep.

He woke when Kayla crawled into bed. His mouth was dry, his eyes caulked shut with sleep. Where had she gone again? It took a minute to remember. Great Point.

“Did you get the Jeep?” Raoul asked. The sentence was barely intelligible to his own ears.

Kayla was crying. God love her, she’d had a hell of a day. Raoul tried to sit up, but it was like his head had been nailed to the pillow. Were his eyes open? He could just barely make out the figure of Kayla sitting next to him cross-legged on the bed.

“They’ll find her,” Raoul said. “The police and Jack and all those guys, Kayla, they’re doing the best they can.”

“Things are so screwed up. Oh, God, my life is over.”

“Your life isn’t over, Kayla.”

Suddenly, Kayla flipped on the light. Raoul shielded his eyes. “Whoa,” he said. “I wasn’t ready for that. Hold on.” He gave himself a second for his eyes to adjust; meanwhile Kayla moved off the bed and paced the carpet between the bed and the door.

“What’s wrong, sweetie?”

“You didn’t tell me!” she said. She burst into a fresh round of tears. “You knew about Theo and Antoinette, and you kept it from me. And we agreed long ago to operate as a team. Didn’t we?”

Raoul tried to focus. At first he fixated on the soft marks Kayla’s footprints left in the plush, light green carpet. Ghost footprints. Then he raised his eyes. She was wearing a dress, the same dress she’d had on all day, only now the dress was wrinkled and one strap hung loose. Her hair was tangled. Her nose and eyes were red.

“We did,” Raoul said. “Listen, you look tired. Will you please come to bed?”

“You lied to me, Raoul!” She was practically shouting, and Raoul wondered if she would wake the kids. This wasn’t like her. “You and Theo and Antoinette and
Val”

“Kayla?” he said. “What happened at the police station?”

“Today was a living nightmare,” she said. “I can’t even begin to explain.”

“All right, let’s talk about it in the morning,” Raoul said. He began to visualize the light switched off, his head hitting the pillow. “Things will be better tomorrow.”

“I won’t be able to sleep,” she said. But she disappeared into the bathroom and Raoul heard water, the toilet flush, Kayla’s noisy sobs. He thought he smelled marijuana. When she emerged, she shut off the light. Raoul succumbed to gravity and lay back down.

The phone woke Raoul in the morning. His cell phone, which chirped like a shrill, annoying bird. Raoul’s head was throbbing, but he managed to put two feet on the floor and stumble to the chair where he’d left his clothes in a pile. The cell phone was in the pocket of his jeans. Kayla was still fast asleep, so Raoul took the cell phone into the bathroom and shut the door. He lifted the toilet seat and peed.

“Yeah?”

“Raoul, man, it’s Carter.”

Carter, his tile guy. Who was lagging behind— with the Tings’ indoor pool and seven bathrooms, it had been only too easy to fall behind. Carter told Raoul he was going to make up time this weekend, finishing the master baths. God, Raoul hadn’t thought about the cathedral in twenty-four hours, some kind of record.

“What’s going on?” Raoul asked.

“Man, I just thought you should know … something happened here.”

“Spit it out, Carter.”

“The place has been wasted, man. I mean, mostly just the living area? But it’s ugly. Looks like someone took an axe to the walls. The walls are history.”

Raoul flushed and sat down on the toilet seat. His brain ached. “Vandals?”