Page 41 of Against the Current

With each state or city they said aloud, a new image flashed up in Ryan’s mind: Trisha and Ryan on a ski slope; Trisha andRyan in a log cabin; Trisha and Ryan at the end of the world, together.

Trisha finally squeezed his hand. “Why don’t you look for jobs and see what’s out there?”

So that was what Ryan did.

Ryan spent the next three weeks looking. He applied for jobs in Manhattan, Los Angeles, Seattle, San Francisco, and Boston. He applied far and wide. He got three interviews, two in Chicago and one in Seattle, and performed well over the phone for each. By December, he had an in-person interview for a large advertising firm in Chicago.

By Christmas Eve, he had a job offer.

On Christmas Day, Ryan went to the Sutton Estate to celebrate the holidays and announce his departure. Trisha didn’t go with him. He couldn’t blame her. They were on a different path now. She didn’t need to take any more of their abuse. She didn’t have to sit in rooms with them and make false conversation and compliment their nice things.

Trisha spent the day at the Reed Estate—telling them of her plans to leave. She told Ryan later that she had no idea what happened to the car. She wasn’t going to bring it up. It felt too ridiculous.

When Ryan announced his plans, Grandma Dana had what Ryan thought was a pretend panic attack. “I can’t believe you’d do this to me,” she said before disappearing upstairs to cry loudly.

Jackie hugged Ryan for a long time. Her eyes were red. Maybe because of anger, perhaps because of sorrow, or maybe because of an emotion Ryan couldn’t fathom yet because he wasn’t a father, Jackie said, “I didn’t raise you to be so selfish.”

The statement took Ryan totally off guard. He gaped at his mother, then glanced at his father, searching Josh’s face for some sign that he’d heard what Jackie had said. Nobody couldlook Ryan in the eye. He departed, having eaten nothing and opened none of his presents. Back at home, he found Trisha in a heap, took her hands in his, and said, “That’s over with. Let’s start again.”

It was all they could do.

In Chicago, they got new phone numbers. They stayed off social media. They didn’t pass on their home address.

This was how they launched brand-new identities for themselves.

This was how they got rid of the Suttons.

And in early 2011, Trisha was miraculously pregnant again. She gave birth to Gavin on January 2, 2012. Ryan wrote it was the happiest day of his life on a notepad he kept for advertising ideas. And it was. But his life wasn’t over yet. So much darkness—and light—awaited them. He hoped he’d be ready for anything when it came.

What he didn’t want to admit, not even to himself, was how much he missed Nantucket and his family. He never mentioned this to Trisha. It was as though Nantucket had been wiped from the face of the planet.

Chapter Fifteen

March 2025 - Nantucket Island

It was the weekend after the elementary school concert. From the room he’d decided to make his office upstairs, Ryan listened as Trisha woke up the kids, knocking on their doors gently and saying, “Who wants breakfast?” in a tone that made his heart ache. Since the incident at the concert—when Trisha had called out his mother for her embarrassment over Willa and their entire family—Trisha had been especially icy. She hadn’t even slept in their bed last night. She felt like a stranger.

Ryan still wore his pajamas and was trying to get in another few hours of work before he pledged his time and energy to his family. On the screen of his laptop, he’d pulled up numerous screenshots, spreadsheets, contracts, and emails from the now two clients who’d dropped him abruptly and purchased homes in Martha’s Vineyard instead. There didn’t seem to be anything in common between the two clients. How had the real estate agent Sarah Strong gotten to them? Had she purposely dragged them away from Sutton Real Estate? Ryan’s head buzzed.

Finally, he texted his mother.

RYAN: I think we should go to Martha’s Vineyard and ask some questions.

Jackie sent back a thumbs-up.

JACKIE: Any chance the kids would want to go to the Sutton Book Club this afternoon? There’s a kids reading event. Maybe it’s too old for Gavin, but there are also plenty of teen books there.

Ryan pressed his lips together. He knew his mother wanted as much time as she could get with the grandkids, and he knew, more than that, that she wanted to resolve things with Trisha. But the past felt like a permanent shadow, darkening even the sunniest of Jackie’s attempts.

RYAN: Good idea. I’ll ask.

Downstairs, Willa, Gavin, and Rudy were at the kitchen table over platters of pancakes, bacon, and eggs. The smells were intoxicating. Trisha looked beautiful in her soft robe, one Ryan had gotten for her during happier and more prosperous days. She didn’t make eye contact when he came in. He had an instinct to ask,Would you rather be in that crappy kitchen back in Chicago?But he swallowed it down.

He knew her answer was yes. She’d rather be in Chicago. She’d rather be destitute than take anything from the Suttons.

Had Ryan forced her to come here? Would she ever forgive him for that?

Right now, memories of when they’d hatched a plan to move to Chicago felt foggy in his mind. It felt as though they’d beenconcoctions made by two bright-eyed teenagers (rather than a twenty-five and twenty-one-year-old).

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