Page 36 of Against the Current

“Remember how you said all those previous clients dropped you spontaneously, opting instead for properties on Martha’s Vineyard?” Ryan asked.

Jackie furrowed her brow. “Of course.”

“It happened again the other day,” Ryan said. “I was in contract negotiations with a couple from Los Angeles. They told me they wanted to spend their summers out east. I showed them a house they really liked, and we got along great. We even had dinner together at the Sutton Estate. Out of the blue, they dropped me. I didn’t think much of it. But I did some digging to learn they bought a property on Martha’s Vineyard instead. During their viewings, they didn’t mention the Vineyard to me once. It was just Nantucket, Nantucket, Nantucket.”

Jackie broke a chip in half. She was so grateful her son was in on this with her.

“Any chance you found out who their real estate agent was?” she asked.

“I have a name,” Ryan said. “Sarah Strong.”

“Huh. Doesn’t ring a bell,” Jackie said.

“I can’t figure out how or why she swoops in like that,” Ryan added. “I’m going to keep digging.”

“In the meantime, we have to focus on the positives,” Jackie said.

“Yes. But if we don’t get to the bottom of that—a dramatic hole in our profits—we will still have to sell the Sutton Estate,” Ryan maintained. “Trisha, the kids, and I don’t need such a massive house. And I want you to be able to retire within two years. Tops.”

Jackie’s heartbeat slowed. “But it’s home,” she said simply. It was where the Suttons were meant to be.

It would break her heart if another family moved in.

“I know that,” Ryan said. “I’m going to do everything in my power to keep it.”

But he sounded resigned. Had he given up?

“Summer’s around the corner,” Ryan said. “Sales will pick up even more, probably.”

Jackie and Ryan finished their basket of chips and salsa and margaritas and paid up at the counter.

“We can walk, right?” Jackie asked.

“I’d love to walk,” Ryan affirmed.

Together, they stepped into a strangely balmy late afternoon and headed east toward Nantucket Elementary. At the corner, Jackie studied Ryan’s face, hoping to read his mind. But now that he was a man—a man who’d had a decade of life experiences in Chicago—she found it all the more difficult.

“I can’t wait for tonight,” she told him finally. “I’ve been talking everyone’s ear off about it.”

Ryan smiled nervously and raised a hand. “There’s Dad.”

Jackie followed his gaze to the parking lot in front of the elementary school, where Josh got out of his car and unzipped his coat. “This weather, huh?” he called back.

Jackie hurried over to hug and kiss her husband.

“The kids ready for the gig of a lifetime?” Josh asked.

Ryan laughed. “They haven’t stopped performing the songs back at home. I know all of them by heart.”

Tonight was the annual elementary music pageant. Although Rudy and Willa had only been attending Nantucket Elementary for a month, they’d easily slipped into the fold and learned their choir songs and dance moves. Unsurprisingly to Jackie, the elementary school teacher was a celebrated musician, and the joy and know-how she brought to the music program invigorated the students. Even Willa, who Ryan had said had had difficulties in music classes in Chicago, showed realpromise. She’d recently asked Ryan about learning to play the piano—the one that sat unused in the Sutton Estate.

This had pleased Jackie to no end. “Your grandmother would be dizzy with joy.”

Ryan didn’t know what to say about his grandmother, so he hadn’t answered.

Now, Josh, Jackie, and Ryan entered the elementary school auditorium and searched for Trisha and Gavin. They were seated up front, Gavin with his headphones on and Trisha burrowed in her phone. It looked to Jackie as though Trisha’s cheeks were more sunken in than they’d been a few weeks ago. She didn’t bother to smile, but she did get up to hug both Josh and Jackie, which Jackie appreciated. After all, she’d invited people to attend the performance. A few of her friends were a few rows away. She couldn’t be seen not hugging Trisha. Everyone already knew how strained it was.

But Jackie was bent on rewriting history. She was bent on telling people just how lovely her daughter-in-law was. She wasn’t sure her friends believed her yet. But life was long. Maybe in a year or two, Trisha would join Ryan and Jackie for post-work margaritas. Perhaps they’d share dinner recipes. Maybe they’d be in cahoots.

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