Prodigal Son (12 page)

“Peter,” he said simply, which meant nothing to Michael. There were a lot of Peters in town.

“Peter who?”

“Peter, your brother. He came in and bought a load of stuff from me. He says he’s working on the lake house. Maybe he’s getting ready to sell it. He hasn’t been here in all these years.” Michael knew that as well.

“That’s interesting,” Michael said coolly, showing none of the emotion he felt. It bothered him to know that his twin was in town, but he didn’t want Walt to know that. He wasn’t about to feed the gossip mills, it was a small town, and people liked to talk. There had been enough of that when his parents died, about the inequities in the will. “The prodigal son returns” was Michael’s only comment, but Walt could see that he wasn’t pleased by the news, and wondered if he should have stayed quiet. He didn’t like upsetting Dr. Mike, he was a good doctor and a nice guy.

“I’m sure he won’t stay long,” Walt said to reassure him, although he had no idea if that was true. Peter hadn’t told him his plans.

“Let’s hope not. This town’s not big enough for both of us. It never was,” Michael said, and helped the old man up and onto his feet. He gave him a pair of crutches to take with him. “Now you stay off that foot. And watch out for your new glasses until you’re used to them,” he reminded him, and said not another word about his brother. And Walt Peterson took his cue from him.

“Thanks, doc,” he said, and hobbled out with his employee’s help. And as Michael moved on to his next patient, he decided to put the unpleasant news out of his mind. As far as he was concerned, his twin brother was dead, and had been for fifteen years. And after all the trouble he’d given Michael when they were growing up, he had no desire to see him again.

Alana’s lawyer called Peter’s the following week, and his lawyer then called him. He told Peter that Alana wanted to file the divorce, but they had to work out their financial settlement first. She was willing to hold off on alimony until he was employed again, although she expected him to support their boys, and Peter had no problem with that. He wanted to support them too. He suggested an amount to the attorney, which sounded reasonable to him as well. And she wanted back alimony with interest once he had a job. Peter didn’t like that as much, and it sounded greedy to him, since her father was supporting her lavishly, but they had been married for fifteen years, and she deserved something for that. Peter thought the conversation was over after he made that point, but the lawyer said she had one more request. Peter couldn’t imagine what it was, as he waited to hear.

“She wants the Southampton house as a settlement,” he said simply. It was the only thing Peter had left of any value, other than the lake house, which was worth next to nothing compared to it. He whistled through his teeth.

“That’s pretty much all I’ve got right now.” There was very little remaining from the sale of the New York apartment, and she still wanted half of that. Peter was sure that her father was advising her. The Southampton house was a valuable piece of real estate, particularly if she kept it until prices went up again. Asking for it was a smart move. Peter was living off the monthly rental they were getting. It would hurt to lose that, particularly while he was unemployed.

“What if we split it when we sell it?”

“She says she wants to use it with the boys.”

“We can still split the proceeds when we sell.”

“I’ll try,” the lawyer promised. Other than that, it didn’t sound like there was much left to divide. He was handling several divorces like theirs, particularly of Bernie Madoff’s past clients who had nothing left at all. In March, Madoff had pleaded guilty to the charges of investor fraud against him and was waiting for sentencing in June.

The lawyer called Peter back the next day, after talking to Alana’s lawyer again. “No deal,” he told him bluntly. “She wants the house, no split. She wants it all free and clear. They sounded pretty tough about it, but we can put up a fight for it in court. Since it’s the only asset left, a judge is liable to give half of it to you.” Peter thought about it for a long moment, and about his boys and the years he had spent with her. He was angry at her for bailing on him, but he still loved her. And he felt bad to have put her through hard times when he went broke in the crash, but it certainly wasn’t his fault, and if that hadn’t happened, they’d probably still be married, although that was a damning statement about her. But he didn’t want to fight. She was a woman who was willing to be there for the good times, but not
the bad. She was spoiled. And he also knew that her father would help her fight like a demon to get what she wanted.

“Give it to her,” he said quietly. It was like emptying his pockets to make amends. After that, he had nothing left except the house at Lake Wickaboag, which was worth too little to fight about.

“Are you sure?” his lawyer asked him. “Why don’t you think about it for a few days? There’s no rush here. The final decree will only take six months once we get this worked out.”

“I’m sure.” He wanted it over now. If all she wanted was the house and back alimony with interest, it was a business deal now, not a marriage. It was over for him now too. Fifteen years down the tubes, just like everything else. He felt like a failure across the board. At least he could make one last grand, elegant gesture with the Southampton house. “She can have it.”

“Do you want some kind of restriction put on it that she has to keep it for the boys?”

“No, it’s hers.” Peter knew that his father-in-law would provide handsomely for Ben and Ryan in his will—he didn’t need to worry about them. And one day, he would be solvent again too. Maybe not as rich as he had been, but you never knew what could happen. He had a lot of years left to earn big money, if that was what he wanted to do.

“That’s it then. I’ll send you the papers to sign,” the lawyer said simply.

“Thank you,” Peter said quietly, and hung up. It was a strange feeling suddenly. Unencumbered. Unfettered. He had nothing left, except the house he was working on. He went back outside and repaired the loose boards in the front steps. His life had suddenly become
very simple, and for now, he liked it that way. There was something very symbolic about it, and very Zen. It was 180 degrees from his old life, and the passion he had had for making money for twenty-one years. Now he was giving it all away.

Two hours later he got a text from her. All it said was “thank you,” just those two words. He knew what it meant. The house meant more to her now than their marriage, or him. The only thing they had left in common was their boys. The rest was gone. And in the end, it came down to money for Alana. It was a sad thing to learn about her. Success meant everything to her and her father, and Peter had failed. He had lost his grip on the brass ring and fallen off the merry-go-round. Alana was still on it, but Peter wasn’t. For now, he was living in a whole other world, one that Alana wanted no part of. She would have died if she could see the house at the lake. There was nothing grand or elegant about it. But Peter was proud of the work he had done on it with his own hands. The place was starting to look good again. It was flourishing with his attention and hard work, and there was satisfaction for him in that. His life was really down to the basics.

Peter went into Ware again the next day, to buy groceries and get more cleaning supplies. He drove to the supermarket in his new truck, and as he parked it, he saw a woman sitting in a car in the space next to him. She looked familiar, sitting in the passenger seat, and he realized instantly who she was. She looked older and more fragile, but the minute she smiled up at him, she looked the same. It was Maggie. Lisa had taken her for a ride, when she went to buy groceries for them. Maggie loved getting out on the rare occasions she could, and she looked at Peter now with disbelief.

“Is that you?” she asked, smiling in delight. She had been no part
of the battle between the two brothers, and she’d always been sorry it ended so badly for both of them. Peter had been a good friend and date for a while when they were kids, and she often wondered how he was.

“No, it’s just a ghost,” he said, laughing, getting out of the truck. He bent down into the window and kissed her cheek. She looked frighteningly frail, and he could see how thin she was. Her hand resting on the open window looked transparent, it was so thin. “How’ve you been? Any better?”

“I’m fine,” she said with a shrug and a rueful smile. “Michael manages to keep me together.” She didn’t tell Peter about the Parkinson’s, but he could see that her hand on the window was shaking.

“Are you going in?” Peter asked her, gesturing toward the supermarket. He would have helped her if she needed it. He didn’t ask about his brother, but he had always liked Maggie. Even when they were younger, she’d been a lovely person.

“No, I’m waiting for my daughter. She does the shopping for us.” And everything else, Maggie thought but didn’t say. Lisa was more of a wife to Michael than she was, with all the help she gave them both. She felt guilty about it often, but there wasn’t much she could do, lying on her bed, other than surf the Internet, and Michael didn’t like her to go out. There was too much risk for her, especially with the Parkinson’s in the last two years. He was terrified she’d get pneumonia, and knew she might not survive if she did. Even a cold was a danger to her. “What about you? Married? Kids?” She was smiling at him, obviously happy to see him.

“Yes to both. Well, sort of.” He hesitated. “I have two great boys, Ben and Ryan, they’re nine and fourteen. They just moved to L.A. with their mother. She’s filing for divorce. So, married, but not for
long.” He shrugged, looking embarrassed and feeling like a loser as he said it. “How is your dad?”

“He died two years ago.”

“I’m sorry. He was a nice man.”

Maggie nodded, looking sad for a moment. “Yes, he was. I really miss him. It’s weird to see the lumber mill in someone else’s hands now, after three generations. Michael and I had to sell it after he died. None of us knew how to run it. Times change.” Peter nodded in silent agreement. They certainly had for him as well, in a major way.

And with that, Lisa got back to the car, pushing a cart piled high with their groceries in bags. She looked startled to see a tall, handsome man talking to her mother, and she was struck immediately by his resemblance to her father. Her mother looked happy to be talking to him. The two adults exchanged a look, and Maggie decided to tell her the truth. They had nothing to hide. Even if Michael didn’t acknowledge his existence, Peter was still her uncle, after all, and she had a right to know it. Maggie never liked secrets.

“This is your uncle Peter,” Maggie said simply with a gentle smile, as Peter smiled at the niece he hadn’t seen since she was an infant in his arms. She was a beautiful girl and looked a lot like Maggie, except that she had her father’s eyes. Lisa stared at him in amazement and then broke into a smile.

“I’ve always wanted to meet you,” she said shyly. “You look a lot like my dad.” Except that he was taller and better looking, but Lisa didn’t say that. She adored her father and would never have been disloyal to him. And she thought her father was the handsomest, smartest, nicest man in the world. But Peter looked pretty cute to her too.

“Are you visiting?” Maggie asked him then.

“I’m cleaning up the lake house. It needs a lot of work.” They had had some good times there as kids. Maggie had been the water-skiing champion at the lake every year. It was there that their high school romance began, over a hot summer. He had kissed her after they swam to the raft. But the infatuation had only lasted the summer, and then he left for college, and two years later so did she. And after that she had the accident, and everything changed radically. No one had been more surprised than Peter when Michael started dating and then married her. But he was happy for them both. Peter wouldn’t have been able to take on a responsibility like that at the time, or maybe even later. As a doctor, Michael was perfect for her and just the husband she needed.

“Are you moving back here?” Maggie looked surprised at that. He had outgrown Ware years ago, and he’d been in New York for a long time.

“I got caught in the market crash. The investment banking firm I worked for closed. The rest is history, and so is my money and my marriage. I’m taking a breather, and when things calm down, I’ll go back. Right now, I’m happy here, except I miss my boys.”

“I miss mine too,” Maggie admitted sadly. “Bill did his junior year in London two years ago, and never came back. He swears he never will. He’s a lot like you,” she said, without expanding further on the subject. “He’s only been back twice since he left.” She looked sad when she said it, and Peter helped Lisa load the car. He wondered who was going to help her when they got home. She seemed like a very capable girl, mature far beyond her years. Having an invalid mother had probably made her grow up faster. She seemed to have everything in control as she thanked Peter. He was upset to see how fragile Maggie looked and how pale. She looked as though she never
got out and she probably didn’t. She had been a shut-in for years, and Peter had always thought that Michael was overprotective of her. Peter would have gotten her out more, and tried to give her a normal life, but maybe then she wouldn’t have lived as long. It was hard to know. Maybe Michael was right if she had survived this long. But Maggie looked like a ghost from another world. Only her smile was the familiar one he knew so well.

“I hope we see you again sometime,” Lisa said shyly. He would have invited them to come out to the lake, but he knew Michael would have had a fit over their visiting him, and he didn’t want to cause trouble for Maggie or her daughter.

“I’m sure we will,” Peter said warmly and kissed Maggie on the cheek again. “It was nice to meet you, Lisa. You make your uncle very proud.” She giggled and got in the car. Maggie waved as they drove away a moment later. It had made Peter happy to see Maggie, and sad at the same time. She looked as though she were clinging to life by a thread.

Before Peter went back to the lake, he stopped and had a hamburger at the diner. He’d been hungry for one for several days, just the way they made them. The diner had been, and still was, the main teenage hangout in Ware. And everyone else in town went there too. Workers, truckers passing through, people stopping in for their lunch break, or having breakfast before they went to work. Most of the police department usually ate there, single men who had no one to cook for them, families that wanted an easy night out, or women who didn’t feel like cooking. Just about everyone in town was a patron of the diner at some time or other. And they mainly featured good home-cooked meals—meat loaf, pot roast, roast turkey, and Irish stew were main features, with great fries and mashed potatoes,
and their hamburgers were famous in the region. And their fish dishes were always good on Friday. Peter had been longing for a meal there or a hamburger since he’d been back. He finally wandered in right after he saw Maggie. And when he looked around at the packed diner, he felt like it was a time warp and he had never left. It was the middle of the afternoon, and in spite of that, half the town was there. Peter slid into a small back booth, and a waitress in a pink nylon uniform with a frilly apron took his order for a burger and fries.