Page 75 of The Castaways
“What?” Andrea said. She tried to keep her voice level, because the twins were right there at the breakfast table eating Cheerios, wiggling with excitement about going to seeVunderkids 3,off-island, with Auntie Dee and Drew and Barney. In a real theater with Dolby surround sound and real popcorn with real butter --
“It’s not real butter,” Kacy said.
“—and big boxes of Milk Duds and Junior Mints. And huge cups of Sprite.”
“Auntie Dee lets us get whatever we want,” Chloe said.
Andrea pulled Kacy into the hallway. “What were you thinking?”
“Delilah said it was a tradition.”
“How can anything be a tradition after only doing it twice before?”
Kacy huffed. She was lovely. Her brown hair was glossy, her face was golden with the sun, the acne across her forehead had cleared up. After thirty months of braces, her teeth were straight and pretty; she brushed with whitening toothpaste four times a day. She had been so, so helpful with the twins. She had essentially been their nanny all summer, and she hadn’t asked for a penny. She looked at her mother and said, “If you don’t want them to go, please call Delilah yourself. And then tell the twins yourself.”
“You should have asked me,” Andrea said.
“You leave me in charge to do everything except make decisions? Even you, Mom, can see that’s unfair. It sounded fine to me. They’re leaving after camp, and they’ll be home on the last plane. I’ll be here to wait for them because you and Dad are going out.”
“No, we’re not,” Andrea said.
“Yes, we are,” said Ed, emerging from the bedroom in his uniform. “The party starts at seven. And if you don’t have anything to wear, I suggest you go out today and get something new.” He was using his police chief voice. He was not suggesting anything at all; he was demanding it.
Andrea glared at her husband, then at her daughter. They walked away, Ed out the door to work, Kacy into the kitchen to gather the kids for camp. Andrea retreated to her bedroom. She started to shake. Shecould not handle this!Everyone else was ready to pick up and move on—go to the movies, go to cocktail parties—but Andrea was not ready! She did not want to move forward a single step without Tess.
She picked up the first thing that caught her eye, the swimming trophy that she won in the city championships her senior year in high school. She had broken the record for the 200-meter butterfly. She threw the trophy against the wall, leaving a hole in the plaster the size of someone’s head. Andrea collapsed on the bed. She had been doing so well.
DELILAH
It was just a movie, she told herself.
It had not even been her idea. Drew had seen the trailer forVunderkids 3on TV and come charging into Delilah’s bedroom while Delilah sat on her bed, staring out the window at the summer rain, staving off the demons in her mind, and said, “Mom! Mom!Vunderkids 3!We’re going, right? You’ll take us on Friday?”
“Vunderkids?”she said. News of this monumental event had slipped past her. She was full of holes. She asked Drew, mother to oldest son, if he would understand if they didn’t go to the premiere this summer. Would it be okay if they went in a few weeks, when she was feeling up to it?
“But Mom,” he said, “it’s a tradition.”
And then Barney skated in, wearing only boxers and socks, and contributed his two cents. “Yeah, Mom, tradition. Wehaveto go.”
Delilah eyed her two sweaty sons. Drew had defined biceps and Barney had lost the baby fat on his cheeks. They were growing, but they were still kids. They were vunderkids. They did not need to be dragged down into the pathologies of adulthood. They needed to be lifted up. It was true: flying to the mainland to seeVunderkidsin a proper theater was a tradition. Delilah decided, on the spot, that they would go. On Friday. Friday night was Phoebe’s event, Phoebe would never forgive Delilah if she missed it, and so Delilah would fly back with the kids at nine, drop them with a sitter, change her clothes, and then hightail it to the event. She would tell Phoebe that that was her plan, or she would have Jeffrey tell Phoebe so that Delilah wouldn’t have to deal with the inevitable complaints.
Delilah set it all up. She bought the movie tickets online, she rented a car, she booked the plane. She called Kacy—Chloe and Finn had to come, it was part of the tradition—and she asked Kacy to baby-sit after they got home so Delilah could head out to Phoebe’s event. Kacy agreed. They were all set.
It was just a movie. But Delilah’s wheels started spinning. She did laundry, she called the cleaning ladies to come, and the carpet cleaner, and the landscapers to mow the lawn. On Thursday she grilled a rack of ribs and made her famous squash dish and her blue-cheese coleslaw and the four of them ate as a family for the first time in weeks in a clean house on a tended yard, with a little Crosby, Stills and Nash for background music. Delilah cleaned up and saved the leftovers in Tupperware while Jeffrey read to the boys. (Delilah had fallen into the habit of allowing the boys to watch the Red Sox until they fell asleep on the sofa. But Thursday night she said, “Up to read, boys. You’re in serious need of some Dad time.”) When Jeffrey came back downstairs, Delilah was in their bedroom with the candles lit; she had put on a camisole. They made love, and afterward Delilah went to the kitchen and brought back a piece of blackberry pie smothered with whipped cream. When the plate was devoured to a few purple smudges, Delilah fell back into her pillows and said, “I love you, Jeffrey Drake.”
Jeffrey said, “Tonight was really nice.”
She agreed. It had been really nice. But it wasn’t quite real. “Don’t forget, we’re going to the movies tomorrow,” she said. “You have to go to Phoebe’s event by yourself, and then I’ll meet you there, okay?”
“I’ll just wait for you,” he said. “We’ll go together.”
“No!” Delilah said. Her eyes flew open.
“Why are you shouting?’
“You have to go to Phoebe’s event at seven. You have to go, no matter what. Promise me.”
Silence. She punched his arm. “Promise me.”
