Page 15 of Against the Current

“I’ll never forget it, man,” Scott said, then folded his lips. “Man, your family must miss you. Can you imagine if Willa, Gavin, and Rudy took off one day and never saw you again? Can you imagine what that would do to your soul?”

Ryan sighed. He considered saying that he would never judge their choice of life partner like his mother and grandmother did. He would never put them in the same position.

But at the same time, a voice in the back of his mind said,They made mistakes. So did you.

Not long after that, Alicia and Scott’s children fell asleep, strewn all over Trisha and Ryan’s house, over-sugared and exhausted. Alicia and Scott picked them up and carried them one by one to their cars, then hugged Trisha and Ryan goodbyeand went out into the night. This left Trisha and Ryan alone with their own sleepy children. They spent the next half hour getting everyone ready, then parted ways—Trisha into the living room and Ryan into the bedroom.

There, lying in the darkness, Ryan got on Sutton Real Estate’s website and found his mother’s phone number.

It was as simple as anything.

He tried to imagine what Jackie was doing right now. It was eight thirty in Chicago, which meant it was nine thirty in Nantucket—an hour ahead and plunged in darkness. Did his mother and father watch television together at night? Did they have a glass of wine? Were they preparing to retire, talking about the places they planned to travel to and the things they wanted to change in the house? With his mother at sixty-three, it was a surprise that she hadn’t hung up her hat yet. But Ryan remembered Jackie loving the real estate game. Maybe it was hard to pull away.

Taking a deep breath, Ryan dialed his mother’s real estate phone number and listened as it rang and rang across the continent.

Nobody answered.

Feeling foolish, Ryan threw his phone to the end of the bed and put his hands over his face. His heart throbbed with pain.

That’s it,he thought.I’ve exhausted all my resources. It’s over.

What now?

Chapter Six

January 2025 - Nantucket Island

Financial planner Sandy Tomkins came highly recommended, but that didn’t mean Jackie would trust her right away. Jackie had already been burned, given a wide range of horrific financial and business advice that had plunged Sutton Real Estate into debt. As she added a final coat of lipstick and assessed herself in the mirror, she saw her mother’s formidable demeanor play out across her face and thought,Good. Let me be Dana Sutton for a little while. Let the world fear me.

Josh waited for Jackie in the living room, his hands clasped on his lap and the television off. He looked pale. Did he think they were going to get bad news? Or was he frightened of how Jackie would react to said potential news?

Don’t fear me, my love, Jackie did not say. Who knew what it was like to be married to Jackie? She certainly didn’t envy Josh sometimes.

“You ready?” Jackie forced a smile.

“Let’s get this show on the road!” Josh sounded far happier than she wanted him to. It was all an act.

Josh drove them to the Historic District of Nantucket and parked near the diner that still sold two-dollar milkshakes despite everything else skyrocketing in price. From there, they walked two blocks to the financial planner’s office and sat in the foyer until they were called. From the plush mustard-yellow chair, Jackie could see her reflection in the mirror on the wall and make out the top collar of her expensive suit—a suit she’d bought during more lucrative times. The real estate business was funny like that. You had to dress to impress; you had to dress to look successful, even if you weren’t. People could smell desperation on you, and you had to do everything in your power to distract them.

Sandy called them into her office. Jackie and Josh sat down with perfect postures and perfect smiles, greeting this stranger, a woman who was relatively new to Nantucket, having just moved here last summer to “tend to her clients’ finances and settle in paradise.”

“It really has been a game changer,” Sandy said. “I’m happier than I’ve ever been!”

This happiness was not something Jackie could relate to. “That’s great to hear. We love our little island.”

“As you should.” Sandy folded her hands.

This woman had already taken a fine-tooth comb to Jackie and Josh’s finances. She’d already assessed Sutton Real Estate’s books. She’d already peered into Jackie’s financial soul.

It felt invasive. But it was her specialty.

Jackie didn’t want to waste any time with pleasantries. “Okay. Give it to me straight. What can I do today to get my business back in the black? How can I retire in five years or less?” Jackie hated how stiff her tone was. But this was serious. It was life and death.

Sandy seemed to appreciate Jackie’s inability to do much small talk.

“Right. Let’s get started,” Sandy said, flicking a remote control to pull up a series of slides on the wall directly behind and to the left of her. The first showed a graph of the dramatic dip in income due to Jackie having lost numerous high-rolling clients a few years back. “I imagine this graph is difficult to look at,” Sandy said.

“I know it like the back of my hand at this point,” Jackie admitted.

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