Page 5 of Footprints in the Sand
“I did not,” Dimitra said. “I’m fifty-three and still a little frightened of my mother.”
“We have to keep things to ourselves sometimes,” Rachelle agreed.
Dimitra tapped her fingernails across the counter. “How’s Rome? Sometimes I wish I’d stayed a little bit longer.”
“I’m not in Rome, actually. And I’m calling you for a different reason. More than birthday greetings.”
“What’s up?” Dimitra’s anxiety spiked.
“It’s nothing bad,” Rachelle assured her. “I’m back home in Nantucket Island, and I have a proposition for you. Do you have an open mind?”
Dimitra laughed. “You know I do.”
“That’s true.” Dimitra could hear Rachelle’s smile over the phone. “Are you ready to hear the opportunity of a lifetime?”
Dimitra didn’t pause. “You caught me at the perfect time.”
Whatever it was, she was ready for change. She might die if things stayed this way.
Chapter Three
Nantucket Island - May 2025
Rachelle’s idea had sounded outlandish at first. Downright insane, actually.
It had happened on the afternoon of the Coleman family barbecue, the same afternoon during which Eva had discovered the truth about Finn’s bad investments and her, apparently, terrible relationship.
Eva arrived at the ferry to meet Aunt Oriana, Uncle Reese, her cousins, plus her brother, mother, and father and had immediately stamped down her feelings surrounding Finn, pretending to be fine. She didn’t want to deal with her mother’s questions or Aunt Oriana’s judgments, didn’t want to explain and explain again and again why she’d wanted to merge bank accounts with Finn in the first place. She knew what they’d say. He didn’t ask you to marry him yet! He didn’t deserve to merge his account with yours!
She couldn’t tell them it was a modern world anymore. Apparently, in Finn’s mind, it wasn’t so modern. He felt as aman it was his right to dip into Eva’s hard-earned money and do whatever he wanted with it. How fun!
On the ferry over to Nantucket Island, Eva and Theo hung over the railing and watched the water. Theo was going through yet another breakup, but he seemed okay about it and excited even about another summer of being single and seeing what happened. Theo was twenty-six years old and a guy, so getting married wasn’t important to him. He still had aspirations of moving abroad or going to New York City for a while. To Theo, he was still young and had his entire life ahead of him. To Eva, she was old and washed up. How depressing.
“You good?” Theo asked as the ferry skidded to a halt at the Nantucket docks.
“What? Yeah, I’m fine,” Eva lied, gathering up the bags of wine and snacks she’d bought for the barbecue. She wanted to jump into the water and swim away.
The Coleman family party was held at The Jessabelle House, a gorgeous spot on the Siasconset bluffs that had once belonged to Grandpa Chuck’s first wife’s sister, Jessabelle. After her death, Jessabelle had gifted the house to her great-niece, Samantha, a social worker who worked primarily with people with an addiction, helping them to get back on their feet. Eva adored Samantha, her half aunt, or whatever she was, and always felt welcome at her house. Rachelle, the chef, was Samantha’s youngest daughter. She was seated as the guest of honor on the veranda, surrounded by family members who were eager to hear her stories of Rome.
To Eva, who’d gone to Italy with Finn two years ago, Rachelle looked every bit like the Italian women she’d met during her trip: beautiful and olive-skinned and rich with promise. Rachelle got up to hug Eva hello and told her to grab a seat near her. “I want to hear what’s been going on!” Rachelle begged. “It’s been ages since I was here, and I feel like I’ve missed so many stories.”
“We already asked her if Finn asked her to marry him,” Aunt Oriana piped in, annoyingly. “She won’t talk about it.”
Rachelle wrinkled her nose for a split second. “I’m sure there’s so much more to talk about than silly old love.”
Eva suddenly adored Rachelle more than any of the other Colemans and wanted to throw her arms around her and sob. Instead, she poured herself a glass of wine and sat down, listening as Rachelle spoke about the restaurant, about dancing all night in Italian discos, and about the heat in the city and how she was fighting it, often, at the shore.
The other guests at the party were people Eva had learned to adore through the two years since the Coleman families had come together. Her grandfather was there, of course, eagerly asking Rachelle as many questions as he could, sipping iced tea and eating Samantha’s cookies till someone cut him off. Roland and Grant, her grandfather’s sons, were both there, hanging out off to the side so they could talk about everything from stocks to sports. Plus, there were all of Grant’s and Roland’s children and their children and their children, so the entirety of the veranda was packed, as was the yard and the bluffs below. The laughter of the Coleman families echoed along the bluffs.
Often during that afternoon, Eva had to tell herself to pull it together.
As the sun began to drop over the Nantucket Sound like a glinting red coin, several of the Martha’s Vineyard-based Colemans began to gather their things and hit the road. The final ferry left at eleven, but they didn’t like to push it that long. Eva’s mother and father and Oriana’s family gathered up their things and began to hug everyone goodbye, but Eva stayed right where she was, as though she were glued to her seat. Theo hovered between them, giving her a quizzical look.
How could she describe what she was feeling? She couldn’t possibly go home to Finn. She couldn’t possibly go home and face what he’d done.
Maybe she could spontaneously move to Nantucket Island and never tell anyone in her family what had gone wrong? Then again, she didn’t have a bank account beyond the one Finn had stolen from. Oh, she felt foolish! She couldn’t take it!
She managed to hold it together enough to tell her mom she would catch the later ferry.
