“Of course,” Ronnie said. Her voice was calm, but Sarah thought she could detect hurt.
“I’ll be back in an hour. Two at the most.” She hurried away before Eli could see her, closing the bedroom door just as above her she heard him slide the kitchen door open. She tapped out a quick text to Owen—I’m on my way—and grabbed her white linen cover-up from its hook in the closet. She slid her feet into new red sandals that matched her pedicure and let her hair fall down over her shoulders. She was a long way from eighteen, especially in the bright summer sunshine, but her heart lifted at the thought of Owen, waiting for her by the water; Owen, who loved her more than he’d ever loved anyone. Owen, who still thought she was beautiful.
Eli
After Rosa went inside, in search of Gabe, Eli trotted up to the kitchen, desperate to find his wife and deliver the most important and sincere apology of his life. He wanted to find Ruby, too. There was something tugging at the back of his mind—something Ruby had said? Something she’d asked him? He couldn’t quite call it into focus, but he wanted to be certain that his daughter was okay.
He found Ronnie standing at the stove, and Amanda and Ari sitting at the table. Ronnie wore a bathrobe belted over pajama bottoms; Sam, looking a little bleary, was in swim trunks and a T-shirt, standing by the coffee machine, waiting for the pot to fill.
“Good morning. Has anyone seen Sarah?” Eli asked.
“You just missed her,” Ronnie said. “She went for a swim in the pond.”
Eli smiled at his mother-in-law, his brother-in-law, Rosa’s sister, the boys as they went racing past on the deck. He felt ten years younger, twenty pounds lighter. He wanted to sing, to dance, to find his wife and hold her in his arms, pouring out all his shame and fear, telling her how much he loved her, how much he would always love her. He would promise he’d do better and make her believe him. He’d tell Sarah that he would never let her down again; that everything would be fine.
Eli was putting the half-and-half back into the refrigerator when he figured out what had been bothering him, like a piece of lettuce stuck between a second premolar and a first molar. It wasn’t anything Ruby had said; it was how she’d looked, back in Brooklyn, when they’d been loading the car. She’d laid her wedding dress flat on top of the suitcases in the trunk. She’d been smiling, Eli remembered; she’d teased him about his tux still fitting, and that had been fine, but the expression in her eyes when she’d turned away was the exact same way she’d looked when she was six years old and he’d taken her to Disney World and she’d insisted on riding Space Mountain by herself. Right after the safety bar had come down over her chest, she’d had that same expression—Get me out of here, Daddy. I don’t want to be on this ride after all.
“Oh, God,” Eli said out loud. He looked around wildly. “Where’s Ruby?”
More headshakes. “We got in pretty late last night,” said Amanda, with a broad wink. “Maybe the two of them are sleeping in.”
That was the moment that Gabe came up to the kitchen, moving at a brisk clip instead of his usual slow-motion amble.
“Um, guys?” he said. His sleepy eyes were wide-open, his typical half-smile replaced with a tight-lipped frown.
Ronnie and Amanda and Ari all stared at Gabe. Sam looked at him, then seemed to cringe and look away. Before Eli could make sense of that, Gabe rocked on his feet and cleared his throat.
“What?” Eli asked. “What is it?”
“Um. I—well.” Gabe shifted his feet again, shoved his hands in his pockets, and said, “The wedding’s off.”
A murmur of concern went up from the Levy/Weinberg/Danhausers. “Oh, no!” Amanda cried.
“Holy shit,” said Ari.
Thank God, thought Eli.
“What happened?” asked Ronnie.
“I don’t know,” Gabe said. “Ruby left me a note. She said she didn’t feel ready.” His gaze drifted from Ronnie’s face to a point on the wall. “Honestly, I don’t think either of us was ready. She was just the one who was brave enough to do something about it.”
Eli felt his chest expanding and his shoulders drop, as if another great weight had slid off them. Of course she didn’t want to get married, he thought. How could I have missed it? And, he wondered, what else did I miss? Ruby was probably with Sarah. He could imagine his wife comforting his daughter, telling Ruby she had nothing to worry about or feel sorry for; telling her that things always worked out for the best. She’d been such a good stepmother, the best of wives and women, and he’d been a fool to take her for granted. Which he planned on telling her, the minute he could get her alone. He’d lock the door, and light a few candles, and draw her a bubble bath for starters, and then—