How to Keep a Secret

“That’s not going to happen.” Swift and sure he propelled her out of the Sail Loft and into his pickup. He opened the door for her and she slid inside, conscious of the delicate ache in certain parts of her body.

“I feel guilty.” Because of Ed or because of her sister? She didn’t know.

“Don’t.” He started the engine and glanced at her. “We are going to talk about this, but not now.”

“Scott—”

“For the record, this isn’t over. And I don’t regret what we did.”

Did she regre

t it?

She didn’t know. All she knew was that her life was a complicated mess, and she’d just made it a whole lot more complicated.

29

Nancy

Maternal: feelings or actions typical of those

of a kind mother towards her child

Earlier that day Nancy had loaded the last of the boxes into the trunk of her car and driven them to the Goodwill store.

She’d found Susan round the back, sorting through another load of donations.

“Here’s a few more for you.” Nancy dumped the boxes by the door and resisted the temptation to kick them.

“Good gravy, Nancy.” Susan counted the boxes. “Are you clearing out your whole life?”

“Something like that.”

Susan opened the first box. “Oh, Nancy—these are Tom’s things.”

“They are. Twenty-seven boxes of junk.”

Susan checked the box underneath and pressed her hand to her chest. “You’re giving away his precious golf clubs. Is that a mistake?”

As if all Tom’s possessions could have fallen neatly into the boxes by accident.

“No mistake,” Nancy said. The mistake had been hanging on to them for this long. Or maybe the mistake had been not swinging one of his precious clubs into his head after he’d confessed to his first affair.

“Are you sure? I know how particular he was about his trophies. He had a real talent for the sport.”

Yes, he was good at getting his balls into a hole.

Nancy gave an unladylike snort, which she turned into a cough.

Susan looked at her nervously. “You told me once that he didn’t even allow you to dust them.”

“And that was a relief because I never was much of a housekeeper.”

“It must break your heart to give them away.”

“It doesn’t. I should have done it a long time ago.” Tom had been taking up space in her life for far too long. She almost shared that thought aloud, but then decided there were some things better left unsaid. Not because it was a secret, but because if she started talking about it everyone would start sympathizing. They’d expect her to talk and the last thing she wanted to do was talk about Tom. He’d had enough of her time and energy.

Are you watching this, Tom?