“That’s right,” JP says. “I married Vivi.”
“And had us,” Carson says. “Your beloved grandchildren. If Dad had married Savannah, we wouldn’t be here, Grammy.”
The silence that follows seems interminable.
Leo gets up to use the restroom, then Carson and Willa disappear as well. Seeing his chance, Rip slides over next to Marissa. “I hate to talk business at dinner,” he says in a low voice. “But I need to give you a heads-up that insurance isn’t going to cover your Jeep at all, not one penny.”
Marissa shrugs. “I didn’t think it would.”
“Does your mother know that? Because she’s threatening to sue our agency.”
“She’s just blowing smoke.”
“She doesn’t have a leg to stand on; the coverage is spelled out. But it looks bad—for us, for your mom—and we pride ourselves on being an island business with excellent customer service. Having your mom going around complaining about how poorly she’s being treated is unfair.”
Marissa turns to Rip with an expression halfway between a smile and a snarl. “I just want to move on. My mom has plenty of money. She bought me a new Jeep, and the incident is ancient history. I apologized.”
“You apologized for intentionally trashing your perfectly good Jeep.”
“Yes. She knows I was upset because Leo broke up with me. She understands.”
“She understands. That’s good for you, I guess. And the thing is, it’s not a total loss in the end; she can still sell it. The engine wasn’t as corroded as you’d expect for a car that sat in the Bathtub overnight. The mechanic said it looked like the Jeep had been in the water for an hour, tops. But you drove it into the Bathtub Friday night, right? And called the tow truck on Saturday?”
Marissa swallows and casts her gaze down at her butter plate. “Right.”
She’s lying, Rip thinks. But what else is new? He’s in claims. People lie to him every day.
Willa and Carson use the “secret” bathroom on the second floor, across from the Commodore Room, which is for private functions only. This was at Willa’s suggestion.
“I have something to tell you,” she says. “But you can’t repeat it.”
“You’re in luck,” Carson says. “I have no friends and barely any acquaintances.” Normally, Carson would guess that Willa is pregnant, but she ordered wine at dinner, so that’s not it. “Does it have something to do with Brett Caspian?” Carson asks. “Because he said on TV that he’s been in touch with ‘Vivi’s family,’ except it wasn’t me and we both know it wasn’t Leo.”
“I told you I heard from this guy,” Willa says.
“You didn’t.”
“I sent a group text to you and Leo telling you about the segment. You didn’t respond.”
That’s right, Carson thinks. She saw the group text come in from Willa and deleted it without reading it. “I’ve had a rough couple of weeks.”
“Why?” Willa says. “What happened?”
“Nothing.”
“Just tell me, Carson. I know I’ve been self-absorbed—”
“Yes, you have been, but that’s okay.”
“What happened?” Willa reaches out and touches Carson’s hair. She used a curling iron tonight and her hair falls in long barrel curls; it looks very extra. Willa can’t believe she made such an effort for Lucinda’s birthday. And what is up with her drinking ginger ale? “You can tell me.”
Carson wishes that were true. She’s always wanted Willa to be the kind of big sister she could confide in and conspire with. But Willa is sanctimonious and judgmental. She thinks she’s better than Carson, morally. And, okay, maybe she is, but she doesn’t have any compassion for people who are flawed.
“You brought me up here to tell me something,” Carson says. It’s nice being sober and having a clear head. “I’m ready.”
Willa takes a breath. “Okay.” She glances at the door and lowers her voice to a whisper. “Pamela thinks Zach is having an affair.”
Carson gasps—which is good because Willa interprets this as Carson is shocked because this is such juicy and unexpected gossip rather than Carson is shocked because she’s been caught, or nearly. Carson wonders if this has anything to do with the night last week when she and Zach had sex in the Bridgemans’ living room. Carson won’t lie; she was so deeply spooked that she hasn’t had a drink since that night and she hasn’t contacted Zach at all.