Page 88 of The Identicals
“Edie, thank you,” Harper said. Tears had threatened again—tears of fear and confusion, because Harper wasn’t at all sure what her future held. Would she be with Reed or go it alone? Would she be able to find a job? Or would she have to rely on the eventual proceeds from the sale of Billy’s house? She tries to picture living on Chappy through the fall and winter. Would that be the worst thing? “I’m not sure what my plans include, but that offer means a lot. And who knows? I might take you up on it.”
“I hope you do,” Edie said. She had squeezed Harper’s arm. “Imagine. A baby.”
Harper drives to Tisbury, to her duplex, which is stuffy and hot. Harper runs around, opening windows, apologizing to Ainsley. Compared to the carriage house, her duplex is as underwhelming and anonymous as a suite at the Residence Inn.
“It’s fine,” Ainsley says. “I really just want to walk around, shop a little, see Vineyard Haven. Can I walk to town from here?”
“Youcan,” Harper says. “But it’s far. I’ll drop you off, then you can call me when you’re ready to come home. How does that sound?”
“Great,” Ainsley says. “Thank you.”
Harper lets Ainsley out at Five Corners. One thing she has not missed is the traffic. It’s insane, worse than Harper remembers—and it’s not even August! While she’s sitting in an endless line of cars waiting to turn, Fish asleep across the backseat, Harper eyes the road that will take her past Billy’s house. Should she do a drive-by? See what the place looks like and figure out exactly whom Tabitha found to do the work? Harper is freshly incredulous that Tabitha made such an enormous unilateral decision. Harper needs money, and she needs it soon! She has a baby on the way!
But Tabitha, of course, doesn’t know that.
Harper fights the urge to drive past Billy’s. In her fragile emotional state, she wants to avoid an in-person confrontation—because that is, undoubtedly, what it will become. This trip had one purpose; that purpose has been served. Harper will pick Ainsley up at seven thirty, take her to the Red Cat for dinner, and afterward go home to bed. Then maybe—maybe—in the morning, Harper will swing by Morning Glory Farm for a couple of muffins, just so Ainsley can experience one. Then back to Nantucket on the noon boat.
Harper pulls up in front of the duplex. There is nothing to do inside. Coming back to the Vineyard like this was a mistake: temptation is everywhere. Harper thinks about trying to find Drew so she can apologize. Will he appreciate that or find it patronizing?
And then there’s Reed. Reed. Reed. Reed. Reed. Harper visualizes herself driving past the hospital, past his house, past Sadie’s pie shop. She can drive out to Aquinnah on State Road and come back on South Road in the hope that maybe he’s riding his bike. Does he have a favorite beach? Lobsterville? Great Rock Bight? Harper has never asked him. He’s a doctor—maybe he doesn’t go to the beach.
Shewilldrive past Billy’s house, she decides. It’s the safest thing she can do.
She loops in the back way, hoping and praying that Tabitha is out so she can sneak in and get a better look. As she approaches, she sees a green truck pulling out of the backyard. It’s Tad, the Irish carpenter. Harper knows him from around. He used to date one of the other landscapers who worked for Jude, a girl named Cory, but Harper is pretty sure they broke up. She has seen Tad out at the Ritz and the Trampost but always alone. Isheworking on the house? How did Tabitha find him? Tad is friends with Franklin Phelps, but maybe that connection didn’t come up or didn’t matter. Maybe in the weeks since Harper has been away, everyone has forgotten about Harper and Reed Zimmer; maybe it wasn’t that big a deal to begin with. Now that Harper has been away, it seems possible. After all, summer is in full swing. There are ninety thousand people on this island—ninety thousand!—and surely there are more exciting things to talk about.
Harper waits across the street until Tad’s truck turns the corner, then she creeps along until she has a clear line of vision into the backyard.
Oh, my!she thinks. The backyard has been completely transformed. The lawn is now carpeted with green grass. There are beds of perennials and hydrangeas. All the scrub has been removed, and the vegetable garden is gone.Howdid Tabitha find anyone willing to do this? Harper didn’t think there was a landscaper on the island who was willing to work on a Frost house.
The house seems quiet. Curiosity overwhelms Harper. This is Billy’s house, and for her first ten years on the Vineyard, it was also her house. It’s her house once again, half of it willed to her. She doesn’t have to feel like a prowler or an intruder. She has every right to go inside—more than every right!
She marches up the back steps. The door into the kitchen is unlocked.
Astonisheddoesn’t begin to explain how Harper feels when she walks inside. She can’t—cannot—believe the transformation. Her mouth drops open as she runs her hand over the stone countertops and as she opens the cabinets, which are the color of burned honey. The hinges are like butter. The wood feels solid and true. The floor is still plywood, but the appliances are in—Sub-Zero fridge, Wolf range, Bosch dishwasher. There’s a separate ice maker! And a wine fridge! She blinks and turns in a circle. ThisisBilly’s kitchen, right? This is his house?
Harper steps into the living and dining area. The walls have been painted the color of custard, and the floors are random-width heart pine. Wasthiswhat was hiding under the carpeting all these years? The floors are sumptuous, and the overall effect of the room is bright, clean, elegant. Harper peeks in the powder room. Gone is theJawsposter and the unspeakably smelly toilet. The walls are pewter, and there is a sleek white glass column for a sink. Harper didn’t even realize sinks like this existed except in the pages of magazines.
She did it,Harper thinks. Instead of tearing down Billy’s house and turning it into a pile of rubble, Tabitha saved it. Harper feels simultaneously proud of her sister and ashamed of herself for being so shortsighted. Harper tries not to guess how much money Tabitha spent to make this happen. It’s not like she plunked the money down on a craps table in Vegas, though. Theywillsell this house; Harper can see that now. They will see a sizable payday. Harper isn’t sure why she’s surprised that Tabitha was right about this. Tabitha is always right.
Harper approaches the stairs. The crappy mustard-yellow Aztec-print carpet has been removed. The wooden treads are exposed and now feature a navy-blue wool runner with a white diamond pattern. Classic. Harper looks up. The world’s ugliest chandelier has been replaced by a simple blown-glass globe surrounding an Edison bulb. Gorgeous. A staircase that used to be merely a means to an end is now a work of art in and of itself.
As Harper climbs the stairs, she hears a noise.
“Tabitha?” she says.
Harper peers in the lavender room, which used to be her room. It has been painted a creamy beige; the little bedroom is now sage green. The bathroom between the two has a new pedestal sink and a glass shower stall; it’s in the process of being retiled.
The noise is coming from Billy’s room. It sounds like crying, but that can’t be right. Harper fears walking in on something.
“Tabitha?” she says a little louder.
The noise becomes clearer. Crying. It’s her sister, crying.
Harper pokes her head in the room. The floors are now a deep, rich cherry. Unlike all the other rooms, in which the furniture has been removed, Billy’s king-size bed remains, along with the stacked milk crates that he saw fit to use as a nightstand. Maybe Tabitha is crying because it’s so ugly, Harper thinks, and this makes her smile, although obviously something serious is going on, and Harper mentally prepares herself for the news that Eleanor’s condition has worsened.
“Tabitha?” Harper says, too loudly to be ignored now. “It’s Harper. I’m here. What’s wrong?”
Tabitha lifts her head out of the nest of pillows. Her face is contorted in anguish, her eyes are swollen, her face splotched, her hair tangled. She’s wearing a man’s Hot Tin Roof T-shirt and a pair of denim shorts. The shorts are Current/Elliott and retail for a hundred and fifty dollars at the ERF boutique. Harper congratulates herself for recognizing this, and it reassures her that this is, in fact, her sister before her.
