“You’re Blaine and Porter’s father,” Vicki said, rising from bed. She felt light-headed and nauseous. “You are not, however, my father.”
“You’re sick, Vicki.”
Vicki thought of the circle of human beings that comprised her cancer support group. They had warned her this would happen:
“So what?” Vicki, lung, stage two, said to her husband. “I’m an adult. I can do what I want. I wanted to have fun with my sister and Mel. Fun is al owed, you know. Even for people with cancer.”
“You need to take care of yourself,” Ted said. “Have you been eating kale, or broccoli? I noticed you left your vitamins at home. Dr. Garcia said . .
.”
“You don’t know what this is like for me,” Vicki hissed. She marched into the other room, past Brenda and Blaine, to the kitchen counter, where she snatched up Porter’s bottle. It was amazing how as some things fel apart, others came together. Porter had taken a bottle the night before for Josh, and another one this morning for Vicki, just like that, without a peep. Vicki stormed back into the bedroom and closed the door. Ted was bouncing Porter around, trying to get him to stop crying.
“Here’s his bottle.”
“Wil he take it?”
“He took one last night from Josh and another one this morning from me.”
“Who’s Josh?”
“The babysitter.”
“A guy?”
“A guy.”
“What kind of guy?”
“He’s going to be a senior at Middlebury. We met him at the airport the day we got here and now he’s our babysitter.”
Ted sat down on the bed and started feeding Porter the bottle. “I don’t know how I feel about a male babysitter.”
“You’ve got to be kidding me.”
“What kind of guy wants to babysit? Is he a pedophile?”
“Do you honestly think I would hire someone like that? Josh is extremely normal. Athletic, handsome, trustworthy. He’s a dol , actual y.”
“So you’re trying to replace me?”
“Stop it, Ted.”
“Was this Brenda’s idea?”
“Wel , sort of. But please don’t . . .”
“Ha!” he said. “I knew it. Your sister’s a pedophile.”
“Ted, stop it!”
“She’s going to have sex with the kids’ babysitter.”
“Ted!” Strangely, Vicki felt jealous. Josh didn’t belong to Brenda! Last night when they got home, the three of them stood over Josh as he slept with Porter on the bed and they did everything shy of coo and cluck. Then Josh opened his eyes and startled—he was like Snow White waking up to the curious gazes of the dwarfs. Vicki had started to laugh, then Brenda laughed, then Melanie asked Josh if he wanted her to walk him out to his car and that made Vicki and Brenda laugh so hard they nearly peed themselves. Josh had seemed mildly offended, or perhaps just embarrassed that they had found him asleep, but he woke up enough to give Vicki a ful report and she was so happy about Porter taking a bottle that she gave Josh a hundred dol ars and good feelings were restored al around. She did not want to be attacked for hiring a male babysitter, and she did not like anyone’s insinuation that Josh was somehow around because of Brenda.
“Just please be quiet,” Vicki said. She stopped herself from asking,
Later, when it cooled down a bit, they went for a walk.
Vicki and Ted put the kids in the double jogger and headed up Baxter Road, past the grandest of the island’s summer homes, homes they had long fantasized about owning and now could probably afford, toward Sankaty Head Lighthouse. Ted was pushing the kids, Vicki was trying not to let on how much the simple walk winded her.
“Do you remember the poker game?” she said.
“Of course.”
“It was like a lifetime ago,” she said.
“I’l never forget you in those leather pants,” Ted said. “Taking everyone’s money.”
