“How about on Annie’s side?”
Alec made a sound of disgust. “They never even met them,” he said bitterly.
“Bad topic,” Olivia said.
Alec set down his fork. “Annie’s parents had her life planned out for her. She had to do the whole routine— private schools, the debutante ball. They’d picked out the guy they wanted her to marry and no one else would do. They completely cut her off when she married me, not just financially, but emotionally as well.” Alec picked up his fork again, holding it above his plate. “I tried to contact them. I called them several times, but they wouldn’t even come to the phone. I wrote them letters using the animal hospital as a return address so Annie wouldn’t know, but I never heard a word from them. Finally,” Alec smiled at whatever he was remembering, “I came up with what I thought was a foolproof plan.”
“What was that?”
He leaned toward her across the table. “This was about five years ago, during one of Annie’s bouts of withdrawal. I always figured those moods of hers were connected with her thoughts about her family. So I went to Boston, armed with pictures of Annie and the kids, and I made an appointment to see Annie’s father, who was a cardiologist.”
“You mean, a medical appointment?”
Alec laughed. “Pretty damn clever, huh? You should have seen his office. Incredibly posh. A lot of gaudy antique reproductions. It was nauseating. So his nurse took me into one of the examination rooms and asked my why I was there. I told her I’d been having chest pains, and she made me take off my shirt to do an EKG, which had not been in my plans. I had not planned on having to meet my father-in-law for the first time half naked.”
Olivia smiled, remembering exactly how he looked shirtless.
“So, of course I had this perfectly normal EKG. The nurse left and then Dr. Chase himself came in. He asked me what my problem was, and I said, ‘I’m not sick. I’m your son-in-law.’”
“What did he say?”
“He turned purple, and he told me in no uncertain terms to get the hell out of his office. He left and slammed the door in my face. I left too, but before I did, I gave the nurse the envelope with the pictures in it and asked her to give it to him.”
“Did he get them? Did you ever hear anything from him?”
Alec ran his fork through the crabmeat on his plate. “The next thing we heard, he had died of a heart attack. An old friend of Annie’s wrote to tell her about a month after it happened, and when I figured out the date he died I realized it was the day after I’d gone to see him.”
Olivia shifted back in her chair. “Oh,” she said.
“So, of course, I never told Annie what I’d done. She was so upset she hadn’t known in time to go to his funeral. Jesus.” Alec shook his head. “Her mother had the audacity to show up at
She laughed, and Alec smiled. “How did I get on the subject of Annie again? Back to Olivia. Are you all set for your debut as a connoisseur of the Kiss River Lighthouse tomorrow?”
“I think so.”
“I’ll pick you up around ten.”
The waiter cleared their plates away and they ordered coffee. Olivia watched Alec drop two lumps of sugar in his cup. He was smiling to himself.
“Alec?” she said.
“Hmmm?”
“You’re different tonight.”
“Am I? Is that good or bad?”
“It’s wonderful,” she said. “You seem happy. Even when you’re talking about painful things, like Annie’s parents, you seem removed from the sadness somehow.”
He nodded. “I feel better. Every day’s a little improvement from the day before.” The candlelight flickered in his pale eyes. “I owe a lot of how I feel to you. You’ve let me talk, let me cry on your shoulder, or at least in your kitchen. Going in to work today topped it off. Thank you.”
She felt his knees touch hers beneath the table, and this time she didn’t bother to move away.
Outside, the air was filled with screams and music from the amusement park next door. The sky above the rides was lit up from the colored lights. Alec rested his hand lightly on Olivia’s back as they crossed the parking lot to the Bronco, and she was exquisitely aware of every fingerpoint of pressure.
Three teenagers walked toward them, probably cutting across the parking lot to get to the amusement park, and they were very close before Olivia recognized them as Lacey and her two friends from the emergency room.
“Dad?” Lacey stopped, frozen, a few yards in front of them.
Alec stiffened at Olivia’s side, dropping his hand quickly from her back. “Hi, Lace,” he said. “Jessica.” Alec stared at the boy walking between his daughter and her friend, while Lacey stared at Olivia, nothing short of stark terror in her face.
Olivia broke the silence. “I like your haircut, Lacey,” she said. “It really looks different than it did back in December.” She looked hard into the girl’s eyes, letting her know she had said nothing to Alec about Lacey’s visit to the emergency room.
“This is Olivia Simon, Lacey,” Alec said taking a step away from Olivia. “Do you remember her?”
Lacey gave a quick nod, but Alec didn’t seem to notice. He thrust his hand toward the boy. “I’m Lacey’s father,”
