Page 1 of Summer Rush

ChapterOne

This far from shore, it was easy for Janine to forget everything about her life— what had come before and what awaited her after. Weightless, the ocean breeze shimmying through her white dress and her long, gray-streaked hair, she flowed languidly across the sailboat, adjusting sails and ropes, following Henry’s lead. For more than two years now, Henry had been her rock, her guide, and her love— an essential and powerful force after everything that had happened in the spring of 2021. And now, as his sailboat rocketed across the blue of the Nantucket Sound, he turned to her, took her hands in his, and said, “Baby, are we ever going to get married?”

The question brought Janine back down to planet earth. Laughing, she tossed her head and cuddled against him, overwhelmed with the promise of the approaching few months. When Henry had asked her to marry him, she’d agreed whole-heartedly. But that had been before both Maggie and Alyssa had gotten pregnant within months of one another, before Maggie and her husband had decided to divorce, and before another onslaught of chaos had come up to greet her, reminding her that, eternally, life was to be lived— and there was no rest for the weary.

“I love you, Henry,” Janine breathed into his white shirt.

Henry kissed her on the cheek. “I love you, too.” He paused. “Why do I get the hint there’s a ‘but’ coming?”

“It’s not a ‘but,’ exactly. It’s just that, well. You know. The girls.”

“The girls!” Henry laughed and sat down along the railing of the sailboat so that Janine could curl up beside him, then dropped anchor so that he could pour them two glasses of champagne. It was hard to believe it was August, the tail-end of yet another gorgeous summer on Martha’s Vineyard. Winter seemed like an impossibility, something Janine understood in another life. But always, it approached, just like your next breath, and it was only a few months away now. And blissful summer days like this would feel just as impossible.

Janine accepted her glass of champagne and sipped, studying Henry’s face for signs of anger and sorrow. But nothing like that was reflected back.

“I worry about them so much,” Janine offered. “Especially now that Hunter is coming to get Lucy. They’ve taken such good care of that girl for the past year and a half, almost. Maggie especially has turned her life upside down for her.”

“You don’t have to explain it,” Henry assured her, his tone slightly dark but his eyes soft, filled with assurance. “I know how much you love Lucy, too. She’s been your stand-in granddaughter.”

Janine blinked back tears. It was true what Henry said. In the spring of 2022, Alyssa’s high school boyfriend, Hunter, had gone to rehab and left his beautiful toddler, Lucy, with Alyssa and Maggie. After he’d gotten out of rehab, they’d assured him they could care for Lucy until he was stable, with a steady income and a good place to live. For a little while, Janine, Maggie, and Alyssa had settled into the idea that Lucy was a part of their family now— not his. Until two weeks ago, when Hunter had made the call to say he was ready, healthy, and it was time for him to take Lucy back, to be the father she deserved. They’d wept for hours.

“I know it’s a good thing,” Janine said to Henry now. “I’ve known Hunter since he was a little kid, and I want the best for him. I certainly don’t want him to miss out on his daughter’s life.”

“It will be difficult to say goodbye,” Henry said gently. “But the three of you have done exactly what you set out to do. You’ve protected and loved that little girl. And Hunter will always be grateful.”

Despite their distance from shore, Janine was surprised to feel her phone vibrating in her pocket. A glance at the screen told her it was her lawyer calling. This was a rare thing indeed, especially after her ex-husband, Jack’s death of a heart attack back in November of 2021. After his affair with her best friend, an official divorce had never been necessary, although sometimes, Janine wished she’d legally distanced herself from him. What a messy time that had been.

“Go ahead and get that,” Henry said breezily. “We have all day out here.”

“It’s probably just something insignificant, another tether to my old life. Maybe we finally sold that vacation house in Singapore. I don’t know why Jack ever wanted to buy that in the first place,” Janine offered.

But already, Henry reached for his paperback, a Jack London novel, and nodded at her phone. “Just answer it. Don’t worry about me.”

Janine sighed and forced herself from this world and into her lawyer’s. “Hello? This is Janine speaking.”

“Hello, Janine!” Janine’s lawyer was named Mike Gladstone, and he was fast-talking and incredibly Manhattan, the type of man who would do anything for a buck and knew his way around the loopholes of the legal system with expert agility. This was why Jack had liked him so much, Janine knew. For her part, she’d never demanded he look for any loophole.

“I’ve just received some news,” Mike went on. “Regarding your mother-in-law.”

Janine arched her eyebrow. Jack’s parents had never been particularly fond of her. In their eyes and the eyes of the rest of the world, she’d been a two-bit Brooklyn waitress Jack had picked up and impregnated. They’d always seen her as the floozy who’d ruined Jack’s life.

“And by that, I mean Jack’s biological mother,” Mike went on excitedly.

“Teresa?” Janine’s voice was higher than she’d planned for, but that was due to shock. In all her years of marriage to Jack, she’d never once met Teresa, his father’s first wife, who’d been raised in Italy and then returned there after Jack’s father’s affair all those years ago. (Like father, like son.) Despite the circumstances, because Teresa had ultimately abandoned her son, Jack had never liked talking about her— and Janine hardly knew anything about her at all.

“Teresa Cacciapaglia,” Mike affirmed. “She recently passed away in her home in Venice, Italy. I’m sorry for your loss.”

Janine struggled to comprehend why Mike would say he was sorry for her loss. Teresa was a stranger.

“She was really sick the past few years,” Mike went on. “I don’t think she was fully coherent when Jack died. She never updated her will to reflect his death, anyway. But, due to the legal wording in said will, it seems that everything that was supposed to go to Jack now goes to Maggie and Alyssa, Jack’s only heirs.”

Janine’s jaw dropped. Henry closed his paperback and gave her a strange look.

“Um. What do you suggest we do?” Janine stuttered.

Mike laughed openly. “Well, let’s see. I suppose, if I were you, I would head over to Venice to see the will and villa for yourself. Make a vacation of it. Heck, why not? Venice is probably the most romantic place in the world.”

Janine’s mind swirled with questions. On the one hand, both of her daughters were pregnant— Alyssa, nearly six months and Maggie, nearly four. But as long as the doctor cleared them for travel, it wasn’t too late to fly over to Italy, was it? Plus, this would be their final vacation without babies, which was probably essential bonding time.

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