Page 20 of Against the Current

“It’s about how nobody wanted me to marry Trisha. It’s about how she doesn’t feel welcome in this family. It’s about…”

Robin pressed the heels of her palms into her eyes and moaned. Ryan remained quiet.

“Do you really think this is the most important issue at hand right now?” Robin asked.

Ryan recognized how selfish he was being. Robin had lost her grandfather. Robin was grieving. He folded his lips and added, “I just hope you’ll help me make Trisha feel welcome.”

Robin sighed. “You know I love Trisha. I didn’t say a thing against her. I told Grandma to calm down when she brought the issue up.”

Ryan’s curiosity piqued. “You did?”

“Sure. But you know Grandma. She’s stuck in her ways. And now that Grandpa’s gone? I can’t imagine she’ll do any soul-searching any time soon.”

Ryan knew his sister was right.

Suddenly, there was a knock on the door. It startled them both.

“Kids?” Jackie called. “We need to head to the funeral home.”

Maybe to add insult to injury, Trisha decided on purpose to be late to Grandpa Jeremy’s funeral. Perhaps she wanted to “stick it to the Suttons.” Ryan didn’t know. What he did know was that she slunk into the service a full eight minutes after the pastor had begun, muttering a quiet apology as she sat in the chair he’d saved for her. Ryan was too upset to look at her. When she took his hand, his remained limp.

The ceremony ended with a wake at the Sutton Estate. By some twist of fate, a few of the caterers had also been working at Ryan and Trisha’s wedding last weekend, which made Ryan feel uneasy. This time, they didn’t pass out glasses of champagne. This time, they wore black instead of forest green. This time,they didn’t smile or wish anyone well. They faded into the background, just as Grandma Dana wanted them to.

Ryan made the rounds, talking to as many of his grandfather’s friends as he could. Sometimes he spotted Trisha talking in the midst of Nantucket locals, but other times, he caught her off by herself, scrunched in a ball on the sofa and staring into space. He made up his mind that someday soon he would make it all up to her. But in order to do that, she had to play the game a little bit. Didn’t she?

When he passed through the crowd, he overheard his grandmother talking to a friend of hers, saying, “We’ve already looked into annulment and divorce lawyers. I recommended a very good lawyer out of Manhattan to Ryan. He’s living here for the summer. A brilliant career. He handled some high-profile cases.”

“It’s good Ryan has you,” Grandma Dana’s friend said.

This was a flat lie, and it left Ryan breathless. From a distance, he watched his grandmother, hoping to catch her eye. She appeared to be glowing, as though her lies fueled her and made her ageless. Ryan’s hands were in fists.

But suddenly, he felt a hand on his shoulder. It was Robin. Her eyes echoed compassion. She’d overheard, too.

“Just let her talk,” Robin muttered. “She just lost Grandpa.”

Ryan swallowed the lump in his throat and told himself his sister was right. When a caterer came by, he grabbed a glass of wine and drank it too quickly, overwhelmed by the crowd and the ache in his heart. He was slowly coming to terms with the fact that his grandfather was never coming back.

Suddenly, he spotted Trisha in the corner, talking to none other than Grandma Dana.

Ryan’s heart stopped.

Trisha’s face was blotchy with tears. Grandma Dana looked as though she was having a field day. She looked as though shewas throwing Trisha into the air and bouncing her around, like a cat to a mouse. Ryan bolted through the crowd to get to them, overhearing Grandma Dana’s final words. “And darling, that’s just the way things go. Pick yourself up. Leave the island. People like you don’t belong here. But there are plenty of places you belong.” There was kindness in Grandma Dana’s tone. It was like getting stabbed with a knife with a fuzzy pink handle.

Suddenly, Ryan was there beside Trisha, glaring at his grandmother.

“Ryan! So nice to see you. I’ve been so busy trying to talk to everyone, and I’m missing out on the people I love the most.” Grandma Dana’s smile was beautiful.

Beside Ryan, Trisha was shaking so hard that some water spilled from her glass.

Ryan felt foolish. He asked, “What are you two talking about?”

Trisha flared her nostrils and waited. Maybe—like Ryan—she was curious about what Grandma Dana would say next.

“Trisha and I were having ourselves an important chat,” Grandma Dana said. “Weren’t we, Trish?”

“You could say that,” Trisha said.

Ryan willed himself to say something. He willed himself to tell his grandmother to take a hike. But this was his grandfather’s funeral! This was the Sutton Estate!

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