Page 41 of Unspoken Tides

Hilary had never wanted Ingrid to be an actress. But Ingrid had fallen in love with Isabella Helin’s old films. She’d begged to go to acting classes as a little kid. She’d been the star of every ballet recital. She was born for stage and screen.

Ingrid told her the plan for the Swiss film. “I’m playing the daughter of a diplomat,” she said, as though she knew what a diplomat was, “and it takes place in the year 1930, which means I get to wear really fancy clothes.”

Hilary imagined what kind of clothes she would have selected for the film. Her fingers itched. How she missed costuming! Should she get back into it? Oh, but she’d just found solid ground on Nantucket Island. She’d just discovered her (as yet unnamed) Salt Sisters.

“I’m sorry about your father and me,” Hilary said after they reached a pause.

“All of my friends’ parents are divorced. Janice says that people aren’t meant to mate for life.”

“Who is Janice?”

Ingrid gestured toward her agent, who didn’t look up. Hilary had forgotten that her daughter’s agent was named Janice.

She wanted to tell Janice not to put such horrible ideas in her daughter’s head. But she didn’t want to make a scene during her only outing with her daughter in ages.

“Do you want me to come visit you in Switzerland?” Hilary asked.

Ingrid shook her head. “Daddy will be there the entire time. I’ll be fine.”

Hilary knew that meant that Rodrick’s girlfriend would be there, too. She guessed that Ingrid was fascinated with Rodrick’s actress girlfriend. Ingrid probably wanted that sort of career.

Hilary’s eyes filled with tears. She reached for her daughter’s hands. “Honey, I love you so much. Do you know that?”

“I know that, Mom.” Ingrid looked stricken, then immediately fixed her face. She was a cool costumer and a brilliant actress. Hilary had no idea what was going on behind those eyes.

“Maybe you could come to Nantucket this summer and hang out with me?” Hilary suggested. “You love that house, remember?”

“The one you and Daddy were married in.”

“Yes.” Hilary felt a stab in her gut.

“I’ll have to see. Janice says that this Swiss film might lead to another historical film. We might have to hire a tutor to travel around with us. Pretty soon, Daddy wants to produce a film set in World War II France, and he wants me to play the star.” Ingrid beamed.

Hilary felt the edges of her life unraveling. She wrung her hands and remembered what it had been like to watch Ingrid sleep when she’d been a baby. Hilary had almost always wept with love for her. Rodrick had teased her. “You’re in over your head,” he’d said.

“So you’re not going back to the boarding school?” Hilary asked.

“Probably not,” Janice answered for Ingrid.

Hilary sighed and considered her options. She wondered if she could pick Ingrid up, put her on her hip, and take her back to the hotel the way she could have ten years ago.

“I want to see you more, honey,” Hilary said, hating how embarrassing she was in front of Janice.

“I want to see you, too, Mom. But Janice says this is our moment, and Daddy agrees. We have to ride the coattails of Curious Agent.”

“You’re eleven years old,” Hilary said. “You should be a kid.”

But Ingrid was no longer a child, not really. She was a marketable entity. She was an actress.

Hilary finally managed to get Ingrid on the phone after Rose left that afternoon in May.

“Hi, Mom.” Ingrid sounded tired.

“Baby, hi!” Hilary leaped to her feet on the veranda, surprised she’d gotten through. “How are you?”

“I’m great,” Ingrid said, her tone flat. “I’m probably going to get this HBO show. It’ll be filmed this summer.”

“In LA?”

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