“I’m here!” Gussie called.
Anna stopped in her tracks and looked around the pier wildly. Gussie could tell it was taking her a moment to locate her voice, amid all the commotion, so she called to her again. “Over here!”
When Anna laid eyes on Gussie, her face flooded with relief but then it was as if a curtain came down over her features. Her eyes narrowed and her mouth pinched shut. She walked straight over to Gussie and without saying a single word, slapped her across the cheek.
No one had ever slapped Gussie. She was so surprised by what Anna had done that she didn’t even think to cry out.
“I thought you had fallen off the pier and drowned.”
“I was just looking for—”
“I’m not finished.”
Gussie rubbed her cheek.
“I am sorry you are having a rotten summer. A rotten year, really. Hyram, Florence, your mother’s hospital stay, your father. You don’t deserve any of it.”
“I was just—”
“I said I wasn’t finished. You have every reason to be angry and your grandparents have every reason to want to coddle you. But when you are with me, you will never disappear like that again. Do you hear me?”
Gussie was too embarrassed to say anything, so she just nodded. Was it possible that everyone on the pier had heard Anna’s rebuke? How many of them had witnessed the slap? Gussie felt her face grow warm and suspected her cheeks were flushed. Anna looked at her for what felt like ages and then did something unexpected. She grabbed Gussie by the shoulders and pulled her close.
Anna’s body was warm and damp with perspiration but being locked in her arms wasn’t an entirely unpleasant feeling. Her embrace wasn’t so different from that of Gussie’s mother. Or even Florence. Their hugs had always felt sturdy and sure. Gussie rested her head against Anna’s shoulder and allowed the pounding in her chest to slow.
“What’s wrong with my father?” she finally asked.
“Oh, forget I said anything,” said Anna as she pulled back to get a better look at Gussie. “If we hurry, do you think we’ll still make the finish?”
The fastest swimmers had already arrived on the beach by the time Anna and Gussie exited the pier and made their way back onto the sand. The swimmers stood with their hands on their knees, catching their breath, and enjoying the occasional pat on the back from an excited spectator. “Well done!” Gussie shouted in the direction of three girls in Ambassador Club swimsuits.
“Is that their uniform?” Anna asked, nodding her head toward the bathing suits all three girls were wearing.
“Yes,” said Gussie, giving Anna a curious look. It was an odd question, and Anna seemed struck by the answer.
There was still time to cheer on the finishers in the middle of the pack, and most definitely the stragglers, so Gussie and Anna spent the next quarter of an hour screaming at the breaking waves and the people who rode into shore on them.
As Gussie cheered, she thought she could hear Stuart’s voice, strong and deep, over the collective shouts of the crowd but she didn’t dare turn around to find him. Partly, she worried she’d upset the peace—so newly established—between Anna and her. And partly, she didn’t like the idea of looking at a person who didn’t want to look at her.
When the last of the swimmers had reached the shore, the race’s dignitaries began testing the megaphone and clearing their throats. A man in a three-piece suit stepped gingerly onto the podium, which was just a large wooden box decorated with flowers and bunting. “Who’s that?” Gussie whispered to Anna as the crowd surged forward but she simply shrugged.
Now it was harder to ignore Stuart, who stood directly in Gussie’s sight line. She caught his eye, and he gave her a small wave and a half smile. Her heart swelled. Maybe he had liked the marriage proposal just fine and she had worried for nothing.
Gussie looked over at the podium where last year’s winners—three men and two women—had gathered. Were they going to be asked to announce the awards? Distribute the medals? Gussie felt Florence’s absence sorely then and reached for Anna’s hand, expecting a gentle squeeze of acknowledgment.
But Anna wasn’t paying any attention to Gussie, and her hand hung limp by her side. Anna was looking at Stuart, and when Gussie turned back to him, she realized that his eyes, which looked sad and maybe slightly confused, were locked on Anna’s.
Surely Stuart didn’t love Anna? In Gussie’s opinion, Anna wasn’t always even all that likable. Stuart had told Gussie on the beach that day that she was free to marry someone her own age but he hadn’t said anything about himself. She hadn’t even considered the fact that Stuart might fall in love first, before Gussie had a chance to grow up. Her heart started to beat hard in her chest and she crouched down in the sand so she could think more clearly.
Gussie was so distracted that she might have ignored all the speeches entirely but for the mention of her aunt’s name. Florence Adler. She looked up at the podium. What had the man with the megaphone said? Now he was asking people to bow their heads, to observe a moment of silence.
“What did he just say?” Gussie whispered, rising to her feet.
“He said the committee wanted to honor Florence’s memory.”
“What does that mean?” she asked, rubbing her cheek, which still stung.
Anna was already pulling her in the direction of the apartment. “It means everybody knows.”
Esther
After Anna and Gussie had left for the pageant swim and Isaac had made his own hasty escape, Esther washed and dried the breakfast dishes and put them away.
In
