Page 65 of The Glass Dolphin

Alice could do this. She wasn’t going to let the cove swallow her friendships, and she wasn’t going to let anyone slip through the cracks.

Not this time. Not her.

“I’m a lawyer,” she said. “Contention doesn’t bother me as much as some people. But…we had a heated discussion at the hospital a few weeks ago, and now it’s like everyone has…moved on.”

As she spoke, she realized that was what bothered her the most. AJ had said her piece and now she was just going to march forward in her life. She was headstrong enough to do it, but Alice also knew once she cooled off, she could be reasonable.

She’s probably embarrassed, Alice thought. AJ had pushed the conversation hard at the hospital, going so far as to force them to vote their opinions. The problem was, Alice agreed with Robin. The op-ed piece had been too black and white. AJ’s opinion had been far too obvious. It wasn’t a fair and balanced report of the issues—Alice doubted she’d even seen such a thing.

“How do I get them back together?” she asked.

Della reached over and patted her hand. “Sometimes you can’t.”

Alice wasn’t going to accept that. She’d text them all individually if she had to, the way others had done for her when she just couldn’t be on the group text.

She picked a color for her summery toes—Sunset Sorbet—which reminded her of the cold, sweet treats summer would bring, along with the glorious sunsets she could look forward to. She sat next to Della. They chatted about this and that, the conversation moving to something less stressful and totally neutral.

As Alice’s legs got massaged, she picked up her phone and texted Robin.We need a plan to get everyone back on the same page.

Is that possible?Robin asked.

We don’t have to agree, Alice said.We just have to talk.

Lunch?Robin suggested, but Alice shook her head. This had to be more than lunch. It had to be more than just getting all twelve of them in a room and expecting everyone to magically come to an agreement.

Her mind worked and worked, but the solution didn’t come easily or quickly. She needed to talk to Robin face-to-face, and she texted,Let’s you and I go to lunch and discuss some ideas.

I’m in, Robin said.I’m also dying to know what you and Arthur got for the play. Why haven’t you told us?

Alice knew why, and she quickly thumbed out,Because I didn’t want to get on after days of silence like nothing big has happened between us. It feels cheap, and then all the responses will be Yay, Alice! or Can’t wait! and then we’ll fall into the abyss again.

You don’t know that, Robin sent back, and Alice almost rolled her eyes.

“Fine,” she muttered, and she left Robin’s solo text string to navigate over to the group one. She told everyone what parts she and Arthur had gotten inKiss Me, Kateand when the dates were.I’ll have a link to buy tickets later, she ended, and then she sat back, ready to prove her point to Robin.

Sure enough, the texts started coming in. One from Laurel, whom Alice had spoken to a few times. Then Eloise, then Clara, then Julia. A minute passed before Robin responded, and that meant she’d deliberately waited so she wouldn’t be first, or even second.

Kristen and Jean and Maddy all said the exact same things—Congrats! Can’t wait!!—right down to the exact number of exclamation points, and that shot annoyance straight through Alice.

Kelli responded, and so did Tessa, whom Alice would’ve sworn had dropped off the face of the planet in the past few months. Apparently, her boyfriend hadn’t been able to retire as much as he’d like, and he still spent a lot of time in Nantucket. Therefore, Tessa did too.

“That leaves AJ,” Alice said, staring at her phone, almost willing AJ to respond.

She didn’t, and no one else picked up another topic. They had no news. Nothing to share with the group, when normally, Alice had two dozen messages from the time she stepped into her home office at nine a.m. until she broke for lunch at noon.

She didn’t need to go back to the private string with Robin and point out the fact that she was right. Robin texted and said,Lunch tomorrow. The Glass Dolphin? Eleven-thirty.

I’ll come pick you up. Then Alice sighed, leaned her head back, and closed her eyes. She hoped together, she and Robin would be able to come up with something that would rebuild the bridges that had been swept away.

Something sharp and needled poked at the back of her mind, saying,Sometimes bridges are irrevocably damaged.

A chilling gust of realization swept over her as she suddenly understood the truth of that thought, echoing like a prophecy in the caverns of her mind. But what bridge was she about to cross, or perhaps already had, that could never be mended?

ChapterTwenty-Four

Julia leaned into the railing that marked the edge of the outdoor waiting area at the north Diamond Island ferry station. Her eyes drifted closed all by themselves, the sunshine glorious and warm against her bare skin.

Maddy would be thrilled that the weather had turned from stormy to something better, and Julia prayed it would hold for another couple of weeks until the wedding had been gloriously beautiful, bright, and absolutely unforgettable.

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