“Good to see you at home today,” he said. “I came back from the city early hoping to see you.”
“So you’ve seen me,” she said sulkily.
Tom narrowed his eyes and, at the last moment, remembered I was there. Sometimes, having a witness around was enough to remind him he was a good man with a foolishly temperamental wife, and even if Daisy didn’t agree, I liked it better than the other options.
“I was thinking we could go to eat at the Bay Harbor tonight,” he said. “Fresh scallops, something cool for all this heat, don’t you think?”
Daisy’s expression went from sullen to positively mutinous, and I shifted a little.
“Oh, let’s not,” I said indolently, though fresh cold scallops sounded good. “Let’s just stay in and watch the shadows travel across the lawn. It’s just about the only thing I can stand to do when it’s this hot. And Tom, of course you’re going to have to fan us to keep us cool, that would be a perfect job for you since you’re so fresh from the city, don’t you think?”
Tom smiled at me peaceably, since after all, I wasn’t the one he was married to.
“I’m no woman’s coolie,” he said affably. “But why don’t you let me call someone from the house? I bet I can find someone slacking who wouldn’t mind the work…”
“Don’t be ridiculous, the pair of you,” Daisy broke in. She was in a slightly better humor, even if she twisted easily away from Tom’s hand when it came to rest on her shoulder. She had a cat-like way of doing it, something that you couldn’t take offense at. Touching Daisy was largely a privilege, even, and sometimes especially, to those closest to her.
“Let’s call for food tonight,” she said. “We could have the chef from Bay Harbor come up, and then we would never ever have to leave the house ever again. Wouldn’t that be grand?”
Tom eyed her suspiciously as if unsure whether he should take her seriously.
“Of course, Daisy, whatever you like best.”
“Of course,” she echoed, slightly acid.
Later that night, in my bed with the windows open and a stray sea wind blowing over us, Daisy’s eyes were unfocused but gleaming.
“I’ve called for him,” she said. “Nick, I mean.”
“Well, good,” I responded. “I’ve been wondering what he’s up to.”
I hadn’t had the inclination or the determination to go chasing after him in the wake of Chinatown. I was a little disappointed that he hadn’t come chasing after me. If Daisy brought us together again, that would soothe all the necessities of pride. I had missed him.
“And he’s bringing Jay, of course.”
I turned my head to look at her. She stretched out flat on her back, eyes staring at the ceiling. If I looked hard, I imagined I could still see the fingerprints we had left on the plaster when we’d used a Greek charm to float up close to the ceiling earlier in the season.
“Why are you doing that?” I asked, vaguely alarmed.
“Oh Jordan, may I tell you a secret?”
I nodded, and she pressed a little closer, her dark hair settling spider-like over her pale cheek.
“I’m leaving with Jay,” she whispered. “We’re going away, far away.”
“Greece?” I asked; it was popular for that kind of thing.
She looked dreamy.
“First Greece,” she said. “And then London, and then Oslo, and then France. And then I think I should like to settle in Philadelphia. I know all his family are dead, but it is where he’s from. I could love a place if Jay came from there, I think…”