Eleanor closed her eyes and leaned back in her chair.
“Enough, children. I’m going to shuffle off to my room now. My poor weak mind needs to rest. Our dinner reservation is for eight. I’ll see you around seven forty-five. It’s only a short drive.”
Ari watched her mother shoot Uncle Cliff a worried look. Eleanor never shuffled and her mind was far from weak, so she was being sarcastic, and when she was sarcastic, hot anger was never far away.
Uncle Cliff offered his hand. “Let me help you up.”
“Oh, Cliff, for God’s sake,” Eleanor snapped, and slapped his hand away, rising in one smooth, graceful movement.
The family sat in uncomfortable silence as Eleanor made her way into the house. Uncle Cliff started to get up and open the door for his mother, but obviously thought again and stayed put.
When Eleanor was out of earshot, Alicia murmured, “That went well.”
Uncle Cliff said, “That’s the way it would always have gone. Mom would never have jumped for joy at the proposal. Let’s give her some time to process the idea.”
“I suppose you’re right,” Alicia agreed.
Ari stood up. “I’m going to my room to start unpacking.”
“Oh, that’s right!” Alicia rose and took Ari in her arms. “Ari, you are our secret weapon. You can work on her this summer in your own adorable way to convince her to take this offer.”
“Don’t put me in this position, Mom,” Ari said.
Her mother smiled her most angelic smile. “Darling, you were born in this position.”
That night at Le Languedoc at the birthday dinner for Eleanor, the family was slightly subdued. Stiffly polite. No one wanted to bring up the Gold Sand Resort offer for Eleanor’s house, but of course it was all anyone could think about. Ari tried to keep a conversation going.
“Dad, tell me how many operations you did last week. And what kind? And how long did they take?”
Her father looked astonished at her question. Usually no one paid much attention to him. He glanced over at his wife.
“Oh,” Alicia had said, “we don’t want to talk about all that medical stuff while we’re eating.”
“I’d love to know,” Eleanor had said, leaning forward eagerly. “Phillip, you perform so many miracles with your skills and you never talk about it.”
Ari’s father brightened. “Well, Eleanor, it is rather exciting. Over the years, we’ve advanced so much in surgical techniques. We now have minimally invasive surgery, with computer-assisted spinal navigation. We can travel in and out of the spine on a computer—”
“Really, Phillip,” Alicia said. “This is a bit too much information. Mommy, you can talk privately with Phillip if you’re really interested.” She aimed her lovely blue eyes at Ari. “And you! You’re now a college graduate. The world is yours. What are your plans?”
For just a moment, Ari had almost reverted to the monster child that lived within her, who would have said, I’ve only told you a million times and you’ve only said you wished I would do something classier. Instead, Ari smiled. “I’m going to work here all summer and pile up money for living expenses when I go to grad school to study early childhood education.”
Alicia returned the smile. “I do hope your father and I can come up with the money for tuition. We’re fairly wiped out after paying for four years of college.”
Fortunately, the waiter arrived to set their entrees in front of them, and Ari became fascinated with her salmon en croûte.
The delicious food and wine helped lull the family into a semblance of tolerance. When the waiter brought out the birthday cake with eight large candles—one to grow on—that Uncle Cliff had called in and ordered, a kind of magic happened at their table. Eleanor blew the candles out in one powerful breath, and everyone clapped, including all the other diners, which especially delighted Ari’s mother, who nodded at them all with aristocratic pleasure. Uncle Cliff had also ordered a bottle of Dom Pérignon that was the perfect accompaniment for the chocolate truffle cake.
“I feel as if I’ve been drugged,” Eleanor said when she set down her fork and patted her mouth with her napkin.
“I feel like I’ve gained ten pounds,” Alicia said.
“Mom, you’re beautiful,” Ari said, squeezing her mother’s hand. At that moment, full of good food and wine, everyone seemed beautiful.
Eventually, Uncle Cliff, in his artful way that assured that everyone saw what he was doing, gave the waiter his credit card and then signed the check. They all rose, still feeling rather glowy with each other, and went down the stairs, out onto the street, and into their two cars. Eleanor had ridden in with Ari, but whispered to her, “I’ll ride home with your parents and Cliff. We’re all too cheerful to fight now.”
When they arrived back at Eleanor’s house, Uncle Cliff suggested a nightcap, but it had been a long day, and everyone wanted only to sleep.
Five
When Ari woke, the room was full of light. Had she overslept? She glanced at the clock. Five after seven. Good. Now she could hear movements in the hall and the light murmur of voices. She sighed, wondering how this day would go. She rose, showered and dressed, and joined the rest of her family, who were in the kitchen drinking coffee.
“Good morning, everyone,” Ari said, going to the coffee machine. She kissed each member of her family on the cheek before pulling out a chair and sitting at the kitchen table.
“Don’t get too comfortable,” Uncle Cliff said, with a wicked grin. “It’s First Saturday.”
Years ago, when Ari was just a child, Eleanor had decreed that the first weekend the family was together on the island, they would breakfast at the Downyflake, where they enjoyed sinfully hearty breakfasts of bacon, eggs, pancakes, and hash browns. After that, they went as a family to one of the island’s museums—the Whaling Museum, the Maria Mitchell
