Chapter Twenty

Shellfish Anyone?

 

 

Everyone was on their best behavior at the dinner table that first night. Although Claire and Alex petitioned relentlessly on getting dinner downtown, his mother insisted they all have dinner together in the dining room. Emily and Colin had worked on preparing a seafood melody of lobsters, fried oysters, and clams. Mallory was in charge of watching the children and setting the table. For the most part, she’d settled down after she called Jason and he sounded as though he wasn’t in bed with his brown-haired secretary. The one Mallory could’ve sworn was always checking him out when she’d go visit him at work.

She placed Alexander at the head of one side of the table and Colin at the other. She sat close to Colin and Emily, and Alex and Claire filled in the other chairs. The children sat at the same small table they all sat at when they were younger. It was adjacent to the windows looking out toward the water. Colin had engraved his initials on the bottom side of it when he was twelve. Claire figured she could spend the whole evening staring straight ahead at Evie and Mallory and not get caught once gazing in the direction of Colin. Look not, feel not.

“Alexander, would you pass me the coleslaw?” Evie asked her husband.

He reached past the dinner rolls and handed them to her.

“Oh, it seems Claire didn’t get a lobster. Alex, get your wife a lobster. There’s one down on that platter by you.” She pointed to the last crustacean on the oversized white platter, sitting in front of Emily.

Emily picked up the plate to hand it to him. Colin rested his hand on hers, forcing her to stop. “Claire doesn’t eat shellfish.”

Alex, with arm still extended, darted a look to Colin that could’ve killed. It could’ve been anything he’d said that would’ve elicited a pounding from Alex, but something about his wife called for death.

“Go ahead and hand it here, Emily. Claire likes lobster.”

Colin’s brow furrowed. “No she doesn’t.”

By now everyone had stopped chewing except for the children, and began looking at the two men, intrigued by the shellfish discussion. Did Claire like shellfish, or didn’t she?

She patted her lips with her napkin, trying to swallow the piece of roll she’d just taken a bite of. Thoughts were racing through her mind. What was she going to do about this?

“Thank you,” she said. “Please go ahead and pass it down.”

“Claire, since when do you like lobster?” Colin placed his hand on his hip. He needed validation on the shellfish topic. He knew Claire better than this yahoo. He wasn’t even sure at this point that Alex even knew when her birthday was. Maybe he arbitrarily picked a day and decided to celebrate it.

She swallowed before she answered. “I guess it wasn’t too long ago. It seemed every event we attend in New York, they’re serving lobster rolls. It was either take one and eat it or appear to society you’re a lobster snob, I guess.”

Alex looked pleased with himself, smiling and stabbing an oyster to put into his mouth.

“It’s just that you used to get on us, telling about how dirty oysters were, and clams were nothing more than one huge muscle. You never used to touch lobster and you’d even said shrimp were the cockroaches of the sea. Although you would eat them when Frieda fried them up crispy.”

Take that, Alex. Colin felt he’d known Claire way before he did. He could even tell you about the time she’d come home from laying in the sun on the public beach and she and Mallory were hit on by some local boys. Of course, that’s when his mother said they couldn’t go back, but the point was, he knew Claire longer and better than Alex.

“What can I say, I’ve changed some of my tastes. Alex and Pearl love seafood. I’m trying to swim with the current and not against it.”

She looked down at her plate and not at him when she tried to explain her mysterious new taste buds. She winced a bit while she cracked open its shell. Alex turned to her and asked whether she needed help.

“No, thank you. I’ve got it.”

She managed to pull the red creature apart and dip the meat in butter, seemingly enjoying it. Although he watched her carefully and guarded as to where no one would be suspicious. He knew Claire hated shellfish.

“What’s so funny down there? Have you finished your oysters, Bailey?” Mallory asked her daughter.

“Not yet, Mom.” The little brown-eyed girl answered her mother. Her wet hair from the shower was drying and the frizz of her curls looked like a cotton ball on her little head.

“What has your attention, then?”

“Pearl has a toy.”

Pearl’s eyes shot up from the floor and she’d sucked in both her lips until the redness faded to white. Her hands stayed hidden beneath the pale-blue table linen.

“Pearl, what do you have?” Claire looked to see whether it was something she’d be in trouble for.

“Something I found. I’ll put it away and eat.” She shoved something into her pants pocket and took another bite of her cabbage salad.

“It’s a plane and she won’t share,” Carson blurted out.

Pearl elbowed him and little evil eyes took front and center between her scrunched-up nose. “Big mouth.”

“Pearl,” Alex scolded. “Don’t call people names.”

“Well, he’d better keep his mouth shut then.” She glared at the little boy next to her.

“She stole it and now she won’t let us hold it and see it.” Carson folded his arms and stared back at her with anger.

“You stole it? From who? What is it, Pearl? Let me see it now.”

She didn’t answer right away. She took her time, like earlier when her mother paused before answering about the shellfish. Obviously, she needed to formulate a good answer.

“Well, I found it in the closet, up in the room.” She twisted her lips, still not bringing forth the contraband she had hidden on her lap.

“Well, what is it, for goodness’ sakes?” Evie asked, impatiently.

She brought her hand up to rest on the tablecloth. In her tight-fisted grip, she unhinged her fingers and showed them all a tiny toy plane. It looked old, some of its blue paint worn off the sides and the little front propeller missing one of its blades.

“Oh my gosh. Bring that here. I think that’s mine.” Colin held out his hand until she made it to him with the plane.

She stood next to him, holding the model aircraft. He took it and examined it with a smile. A look of nostalgia rested on his face. It was from when he was a little boy. In fact, there were others in the pack with it that his mother bought him in New York. He was unable to find this one by the time it was ready to go that one summer. He’d thought it was cut up by the mower a long time ago. He always used the back walk as the airstrip for his cargo planes to take off and land on.

“Do you know, I had five other ones like this? The others were different colors, though. I thought I’d lost this blue one.”

Pearl’s eyes grew large. About as large as her mouth. “Where are they? Do they all have wings and tiny doors where you can get in and fly them?”
      Claire’s fork dropped on her plate. The sharp ringing made everyone look. She quickly scooped it back in her hand. Alex watched his little girl with intense eyes, standing there so close to Colin. As if he was the spider that’d eat her alive if she’d stepped a half inch closer to him.

“Yes, they all did. One was even a helicopter. That one unfortunately got dropped too many times so I had to put it away in a drawer. But I didn’t care. I liked the plane the best.”

She put her small fingers on the propeller. “May I have this?”
      “Pearl, don’t ask for things that belong to someone else.” Claire spoke up loudly.

Colin’s attention drew to Claire as he answered the little girl. “I don’t mind at all if you have this. I have no use for it now.”

Claire sighed. “What do you say, Pearl?”

“Thank you, Mr. Prescott.”

He smiled and handed it back to her. “Call me Colin, please. And you’re very welcome.”
 

∞ ∞ ∞

 

Claire and Alex cleaned the dishes. It was something they’d all decided on when it was agreed Colin and Emily were making dinner. They barely said much to each other during the stretch of plates from the sink to the dishwasher. Claire knew it was bothering Alex to be in the same house as Colin. About as much as it was eating her alive as well.

Going out to the set of lawn furniture in the backyard, as opposed to the veranda, was a welcomed suggestion by Mallory. Claire and Alex left the others in the house and stepped out to the cool evening. The humidity of the day had all but disappeared with the sun. Mallory had found some jars and the children were busy catching lightning bugs.

Mallory rested her head back on the white Adirondack chair. “That was us not too long ago, Claire.”

“I know. I wish I could go back. See Mom and run and sit on her lap, showing her the wings light on the tiny backs of those bugs. She’d point to each of them, giving them names. She swore I’d caught an entire family in that jar. The Joneses, she’d say. Then she’d point to the little brother, Billy; sister Millicent; mother and father, and then she’d say their cranky ol’ grandfather Baron was in there. That way, if one of them died before I set them free, she’d tell me it was Baron and he was old and cranky anyway.”

Claire drew up her legs on the chair and stared out at the stars. She was happy to have had all those memories stored away of her mother. Maybe it wasn’t so bad that she’d agreed to have Pearl spend time with her cousins and grandparents.

“Alex, did Claire tell you I think Jason’s cheating on me?”

It was clearly not the direction Claire wanted to take the evening conversation. Perhaps some more memories, some talk of the weather, or maybe future weather, but not about cheating. Especially when she had memories of that also floating around in her mind.

“No, she didn’t.” He perked up in his chair and leaned forward to give his full attention to Mallory.

Claire saw his head turn toward her. She acted indifferent, staring out at the children. Seemingly more interested in what they were doing at the moment. Running and holding the mouths of their jars open, swatting at the unsuspecting bugs. She shared in the bug’s desire to fly higher and not be caught.

“What makes you think he’s cheating?” he asked.

Mallory gathered her hair and pulled it around to her shoulder. “He’s just been acting differently. You know, like not himself. He even canceled our vacation to go to his parents’ house. We’d been planning it since they visited for Christmas.”

“What was his reason for canceling?”
      “He just said something came up at work. Some new contract or something.”

“Maybe it did.”

Mallory raised her chin, pinching her lips tightly. Something was working in that brain of hers. “No, I have my doubts.”

“Well then,” Alex continued, shifting on the wooden chair. “There are other signs to look for, I suppose. Do you ever see him staring off into the distance, say when you’re eating together? Like he’s a million miles away?”

She thought about it. Claire glanced at Alex while keeping her head in the direction of the dancing children on the lawn.

“I think so. Now that you mention it, I have to repeat myself like three times when I’m having a conversation with him. It’s like he’s not there. He claims I mumble and it’s difficult to understand me at times, but I think he’s somewhere else.”

Okay, so Claire knew where these questions were headed. Right to her front door. Claire, so far, was guilty of all he’d proposed to Mallory. So what if she was late a lot of days to go home—the nanny was there to get Pearl from school and their food on the table on time. Claire just didn’t want that extra time at home. Alex had been coming home an hour before dinner and he’d have expected to talk to Claire. And she only had enough conversation to carry them through dinner, most of it being about Pearl and how her day went.

Mallory answered his question. “Well, with this new contract, there have been evenings that he hasn’t made it home to tuck the children in bed. Maybe I should check his phone.” She smacked her head. “Can you believe it? Listen to me. I’m honestly thinking about waiting until he gets in the shower and then searching for recent calls and text messages.”

“It’s futile. Don’t waste your time, Mallory. People are too smart nowadays to get caught with their phone. They figure that’s the first thing you’ll check.”

Was that humidity returning to the evening air or was the flames of adultery hell reaching the bottoms of Claire’s feet, making her sweat? Then again, it could be the heat from the imaginary spotlight beaming onto her face. She wondered whether anyone else could see it. Probably not, but that’s what guilt did to a person. It started slow, just the flick of a match against the box. Then slowly it crept down the stick, the ember burning orange, moving down to the end of its existence, until it was all consumed, leaving nothing but black. Claire felt the embers in this conversation.

“I guess you’re right, but I’ve got to look. I need something to tell me to either stop worrying and obsessing and chalk it up to paranoia.”

“Have you confronted him with your suspicions?” Claire asked.

“Not yet.” She ran her fingers through her hair and bit on her nail. “I’m afraid when I do, he might tell me it’s true. And I couldn’t live with that.” She looked positively eaten with worry.

She stood up from the chair and inhaled deeply. Slowly, she exhaled it all. A switch flipped in her, taking her from a wife with a mission to a camp counselor for their children. “There’s nothing I can do now about it. I’m going to take all the kids with me to the guesthouse for a sleepover. I need the distraction. Pearl is welcome to come if she’d like, Claire.”

“No, that’s all right. Alex had to go and pick her up at the last one she tried to go on. She gets too homesick, I’m afraid. But thanks for asking.”

“No problem. Let me know if you change your mind. I brought the new Disney movie with that dog that can talk, and Colin picked up some popcorn and candy.” She shrugged. “Might as well let the kids have fun. I don’t want them to suspect anything’s up with me. Bailey already asked what was wrong.”

“Kids are so perceptive. Just try to get your mind off Jason for the evening and enjoy your time with them. I’m sure he’s home, tired from a long day at work.”

“I hope you’re right.” She ran her fingers through her hair and took a deep breath.

It didn’t take long to round up the kids. Mirabel ran inside and kissed her mom and dad good-bye. Claire sat on the chair and stared at the night sky. So much was racing through her mind. Pearl’s incessant nagging forced her to finally go inside. Claire didn’t bother mentioning the sleepover to her daughter. She looked forward to having Pearl share the room with her and Alex. They hadn’t made love in about a month and always managed to do so on trips. Sleeping with him was completely out of the question for that night, or for any other night for that matter, while they were sharing the same house at Colin.

“Well, good-night everyone.” Claire tapped Pearl on the shoulder. “Go and kiss Grandma and Grandpa good-night, honey.”

Evie broke from her conversation with Emily. It seemed they had a lot in common with their love of books. They were comparing notes on the latest one in a series they both were reading.

“You’re not going on the sleepover with the others, Pearl?” asked Evie.

“What sleepover?” She scrunched her nose.

“They went with Mallory to the guesthouse. I heard they’re watching a new Disney movie. Emily and Colin bought popcorn and candy for it. I thought you’d be there with them.”

Claire wanted to sink into the carpet. She knew what was coming next.

“Mom, can I go?” Pearl ran to her and laced her fingers together, praying her mother would agree.

“Sweetheart, don’t you remember the last time you tried a sleepover? It ended with your father going in the middle of the night to pick you up.”
      “Mom, I was like in the first grade. I’m not a scaredy-cat now. And plus, they were doing things to scare me. Rachel had this weird doll and she said it would eat our eyes out in the night.” Her eyes darted back and forth. “Please let me go tonight. It’s just in the backyard. If I get scared, I can walk back myself.”

Claire released a laugh. “Oh, you’d walk back, would you?”

“Well, no. But you could come and get me and it wouldn’t be that far away. Besides, I’m old now. I promise I won’t get scared.” She waited with both hands on her hips.

Claire thought about it. She couldn’t say no. What would the reason be? Anyway, all eyes in the room were on her to free this little bird from the agonizing fated cage of going to sleep early with her parents. Disney movie with popcorn and candy, or Mom and Dad? Really?

“Well, I guess we’ll give it a try, old woman.” She lifted the little girl’s hair and smiled. “I realize you’ve grown so much. I don’t know what I was thinking. Now let’s go up and get dressed for bed so you can go join everyone. Daddy will walk you down.” She patted her butt as the girl scampered in front of her. “And let’s hope no one has one of those dolls.”

Pearl turned around and squinted. “Mom, really.”

Claire grinned and followed her up the wooden staircase. Little did she know that the little innocent sleepover would lead to so much more.