“You wouldn’t have given her to me to treat if you thought so,” Zee said. “Admit it. She was as much part of my treatment as I was of hers.”
“Interesting theory,” Mattei said.
“You knew she reminded me of my mother. You thought I could treat her and make it turn out differently. Hell, that’s what I thought.”
“As in, ‘They all lived happily ever after’?”
“As in, ‘Work out some issues.’” Zee was clearly getting agitated. Her hands were shaking. She clasped them together, trying to steady them.
“Take a breath,” Mattei said.
Zee looked frustrated. But she obeyed. She took a deep breath and held it as long as she could. Then she slowly exhaled.
“Are you okay?”
Zee nodded.
“This is all very predictable. You just lost a patient. One who was important to you. You broke off your engagement. Your father is very ill. I don’t want you to underestimate any of this,” Mattei said.
“I’m not,” Zee said. “I’m well aware of the effect all this is having on me. I just think that we should tell someone about Adam.”
“‘We’ already have.”
“Then we should tell them again.”
“Again, let’s think it through,” Mattei said, more forcefully this time. “Think of the family. Do you really want to put them through more than they’ve already suffered? Lilly was having an affair with Adam. And from what the police told us, there were other men she was involved with as well. Is this really something you want to pursue?”
Zee remained silent. Mattei was right.
“If it’s any consolation,” Mattei said, “you were right. I didn’t see it coming.”
There was a sound at the kitchen door. Someone was on the deck. Jessina let herself in with her key, then looked at them.
“I’m sorry,” she said. “Do you want me to come back later?”
“No, you’re fine. Jessina, this is my friend Mattei. Mattei, this is Jessina. She takes care of Finch.”
“Nice to meet you,” Mattei said, extending a hand.
“I was going to make cookies for him,” Jessina said, holding out a bag of flour she’d brought.
“Jessina is a great baker,” Zee said.
“From scratch, not a mix?” Mattei asked.
“I never use a mix,” Jessina said.
“Very impressive,” Mattei said.
ZEE AND MATTEI MOVED OUTSIDE to the deck off the kitchen. From here there was a great view of the harbor, only partially blocked by the boatyard to their left. The house straddled two streets, Turner and Hardy. It was long and narrow, with an entrance on either end.
“This is a really old house, isn’t it?” Mattei said, looking back at the twelve-over-twelve windows, the central chimney.
“Except for the deck,” Zee said. “And the widow’s walk.”
Mattei looked up. “I don’t see a widow’s walk.”
“Just the remains of one. See, up there? That flat part on top of the roof?” She pointed. “This house was purchased by a sea captain back in the late 1700s. Eventually he added the widow’s walk, then reportedly chopped it down in a fit of jealous rage.”
Mattei walked over to the historic sign posted on the side of the house: HOME OF ARLIS BROWNE, SEA CAPTAIN. “Wasn’t that the captain in your mother’s story?” Mattei asked.
“The very same.”
“Nice guy,” she said.
“Yeah, right,” Zee said.
A double-decker tour bus pulled out of the Gables’ parking lot and got itself stuck trying to make the right onto Turner Street. It backed up, then went forward, and then finally all the way back into the parking lot, where it did an exaggerated U-turn and exited the wrong way onto Derby Street, leaning precariously as it emerged, sending tourists scattering.
“There are a heck of a lot of tourists in this city,” Mattei said.
“Boston has tourists,” Zee said.
“Not dressed in witches’ hats, we don’t.”
They sat in silence for a few minutes, gazing out at the harbor. The sun was bright and playing on the water, making it look as if the light were emerging from the water itself, a million random bubbles of silver popping to the surface and then disappearing.
“What’s that over there?” Mattei pointed across the harbor.
“That’s Marblehead,” Zee said.
“Ah, the infamous Marblehead.”
Jessina brought out some lemonade and two glasses, placed them on the table without saying a word, and then turned to go back inside.
“You didn’t have to do that,” Zee said. “But thanks.”
Jessina smiled, closing the door carefully so it wouldn’t slam.
“She seems great,” Mattei said.
“She’s a treasure. Melville hired her. She was a nurse in the Dominican Republic. She’s raising a son by herself and trying to finish a nursing degree at Salem State. All that with English as a second language.”
“I’m in awe,” Mattei said. “Aren’t you?”
“Every day,” Zee said.
Mattei sat and considered for a moment before speaking. “So I take it Melville’s not coming back.”
“He tried. Finch kicked him out again.”
“Why?”
“I have no idea. I know they had some kind of disagreement, but Melville said it was an old argument that had been settled a long time ago.”
“Evidently not,” Mattei said.
“That’s exactly what I said,” Zee said.
“So that leaves you as caregiver.”
“Pretty much,” Zee said. “At least until I can figure something else out.”
Mattei looked at her.
“I want to do this,” Zee said.
“That’s very noble.” Mattei paused. “But caregiving is very difficult.”
“I have Jessina,” Zee said.
“Even so.”
“It’s been okay,” Zee said.
“And you’ve been doing this for what? A week?”
“Nevertheless,” Zee said. It was meant to end the conversation, and Mattei knew it.
“Just promise me one thing.”
“What’s that?”
“Promise me you’re not just hiding out here.”
Zee thought about it. “I’m not,” she said.
“Okay,” Mattei said. “Take a leave of absence. But I don’t want to lose you. You’re too good a therapist.”
“Recent evidence to the contrary.”
“Stop it,” Mattei said.
MATTEI LEFT ZEE WITH THE name of a caregiver-support group at Salem Hospital and a prescription for
