Page 27 of Willow in the Wind

“I didn’t want to pry.”

Bruce adjusted his glasses. “Did you ever talk to her at school?”

“A few times,” Stella admitted. “In the halls at parent-teacher conferences. At sporting events.” She’d spoken to Bruce’s ex just as much as she’d spoken to any of the other parents. She didn’t have any clear memories of anything they’d said.

Bruce nodded.

“She must have left ten years ago?” This was Stella’s rough calculation.

“Nine,” Bruce said. “Simon was nine years old.”

Stella couldn’t imagine leaving her children behind at all, let alone when they were only nine years old.

“Karina was half-French,” Bruce said, taking another step across the sand. “She was raised in the States but spent summers in France with her grandparents.”

“I didn’t know that,” Stella said.

“I think her plan was always to graduate from a university here in the States and go to France permanently. She talked about the Sorbonne, extending her education. She was a genius.”

This was no surprise to Stella. Bruce was incredibly intelligent. Their son was always at the top of his class.

“But life happened,” Bruce continued. “She got pregnant, and I asked her to marry me. We agreed to live in Nantucket for just a little while and then decide where we wanted to go next. Maybe France. But my job became more and more advanced. I was making real money.”

Stella glanced back at Bruce’s massive house along the water and thought,You sure did.

“Karina’s job played second fiddle to mine,” Bruce said. “I’m not proud of letting that happen. Her career was incredibly important to her. Although we had nannies and outside help for the house, there was a lot of pressure on her shoulders to be the perfect mother and choose her family before her job. I should have known how unhappy that would make her. But I was busy with work. I thought things would balance themselves out soon enough.”

Stella thought,We always think things will go back to being the same, but they never do.

“When Karina told me about the job in Paris, I was angry,” Bruce said. “I couldn’t understand what she wanted. I worked so hard. I thought all that work was for us. But she felt left behind—career-wise and romance-wise—so she left.”

Stella filled her lungs. It was a horrible story.

“At first, we said we’d make a plan so that Simon could spend summers with his mother,” Bruce said. “But I was soannoyed with her for leaving. I made things very difficult for her to arrange. I signed Simon up for camps and things he wanted to attend here in the States. And Karina got more and more involved in her life in Paris, obviously. So at first, her every other day phone calls to Simon became weekly, then monthly, then every six months. She sent him presents on his birthday. But Simon and I were both resentful.”

Bruce’s cheeks were hollow. “I know how I sound in this story. I sound cruel.”

“No. You sound injured,” Stella said. She touched his shoulder and offered a soft smile.

Bruce looked down at the sand. Stella thought,I can’t tell if he’s breaking up with me or not. I wish he’d just get it over with.

It was too much at once.

“Karina reached out at the end of Simon’s senior year,” Bruce said. “She sent him gifts and well wishes and invited him to come to Paris this summer to spend time with her. I figured he’d say no because he’s never been, and she’s been so distant. But he’s really curious about his mother now. Like I said. It’s been nine years.”

“Nine years,” Stella repeated. She hung her head.

“He asked me to go with him,” Bruce said. He clenched and unclenched his jaw. “It surprised me. I figured an eighteen-year-old guy would want to go to Paris by himself. I figured he’d want to sow his wild oats.”

Stella smiled. “He’s frightened.”

“He’s still frightened,” Bruce agreed.

“Eighteen is not so old,” Stella said. “Sometimes I look at Logan and think he’s still a little boy. That I need to help him to make his sandwiches.”

“Society dictates that eighteen-year-olds make big decisions and go their own way,” Bruce said.

“When has society ever been right about anything?” Stella asked. There were tears in her eyes, but she blinked them away.

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