Page 43 of Golden Girl
“No,” Carson says. “That sounds like Willa’s kind of thing.”
“Have either of you heard of a boyfriend your mom had in high school named Brett Caspian?”
“Negative,” Leo says.
“Mom didn’t have boyfriends in high school,” Carson says. “She was a total nerd.”
“That’s the story she always told me too,” Savannah says. “But this guy is insisting he dated her for most of their senior year and into the summer before she left for Duke. He says he has pictures.”
“Ask him to send the pictures,” Carson says. “Because I’ve never heard of any guy named Brett Kardashian.”
“Caspian,” Savannah says. “He wants to talk to someone about the new book.”
“Crackpot,” Carson says. “Dead-celebrity chaser. But ask for the pics.”
“I think I will,” Savannah says. “Your dad has never heard of him either. He saidhewas your mother’s first boyfriend, wink-wink, nudge-nudge.”
“Can we not talk about this anymore?” Leo says.
Savannah leaves envelopes filled with cash for them to divvy up.
Marissa takes some of the money and does a grocery-shop for the house. Leo is relieved. If he goes to the Stop and Shop, he might see Cruz working. He wants to ask Marissa if she saw Cruz when she went, but he doesn’t.
He can’t even say Cruz’s name out loud.
Leo eats a lot of toast with peanut butter. He gets takeout, but he has to avoid the Nickel, even though all he’s craving is a corned beef Reuben on marble rye with Joe’s homemade Thousand Island dressing. Leo knows thathe’savoiding the DeSantises but he’s surprised, even hurt, that neither Cruz nor Joe has swung by the house to check on him and that Joe hasn’t dropped off a platter of sandwiches even though he does this every time someone on this island so much as breaks a toe. Aren’t they worried about him? Don’t they care?
Willa and Rip have moved out to Smith’s Point, but Willa stops by every once in a while to check in. Rip is handling the police investigation because he’s used to logistics and following up in his job for the insurance company. He handled the claim for the Jeep Marissa totaled the night before Vivi died. She was so upset about Leo breaking up with her that she drove the Jeep right into the Bathtub out at Eel Point.
“How did you get home, then?” Leo had asked.
“I walked.”
This seemed very unlikely and Leo said so, then Marissa admitted that she’d hitched a ride with some rando coming down the Madaket Road. She couldn’t call anyone because her phone had been in the car. This explained why her calls stopped that night, and it also meant that Marissa hadn’t seen the photo from Peter Bridgeman.
Rip had Marissa’s Jeep towed and taken off-island. Marissa’s mother, Candace, not only replaced Marissa’s phone but bought Marissa a brand-new Jeep, an outlay of fifty grand, at least.
“Wasn’t your mom angry about the Jeep?” Leo asks. “You ruined it yourself.”
“So?”
“So it seems like another parent might have made you deal with the consequences of your actions.”
Marissa shrugs. “I was upset about our breakup. She understands.”
Leo and Marissa have been together long enough for Leo to realize that Candace Lopresti is the kind of mother who wants more than anything to be friends with her daughters. She never created any rules, mostly because she wasn’t home to enforce them; she was always traveling for work. She gives Marissa and her older sister, Alexis, whatever they want whenever they want it. A brand-new phone and a brand-new Jeep to replace the ones that Marissa willfully trashed is Candace’s way of sayingI’m here for you, honey.
Nothing is normal, nothing will ever be normal again, but Leo tries to immerse himself in work at the Boat Basin—the clients, his golf cart, his walkie-talkie. He smiles and chats like everything is just dandy; for all the boat owners know, Leo is a cheerful, friendly Nantucket kid who is heading to the University of Colorado in the fall and doesn’t have a care in the world. Every time he pockets a tip, he thinks to himself,I deserve an Oscar.
Then, one morning when he’s at work, Marissa calls to say that Alexis had news. Vivi’s running shoes, which had mysteriously gone missing, were just found in the trash can of the Stop and Shop break room. The custodian who takes out the trash noticed them because—and no one was happy to hear this—he sometimes went through the trash looking for things of value that people threw away. He found Vivi’s sneakers, which he thought might be worth saving until he saw they were stained with blood. Then he called the police.
“I hate to say this but it’s not looking good for Cruz,” Marissa says.
“Why would you automatically think of Cruz?” Leo says. “Other people work at that store, you know.”
“Leo,” Marissa says. “Come on.”
Vivi
