‘The children seem to roam quite freely here,’ Nina said, not quite managing an offhand tone.
Laurie raised an eyebrow as she munched a slice of toast.
‘You should have left your preconceptions back in the UK,’ Tammy replied. ‘Kids here are wholesome. They enjoy simple pleasures.’
‘The girl yesterday that I told you about. She was out very late. And she acted kind of strangely.’
‘You said she gave you a shock?’ Tammy said, though without any suggestion of sympathy.
‘Well, not exactly. I tried to check on her, but a bird surprised me. I feel silly about looking so rattled by something so tiny. It must have been nesting behind one of the buildings at the harbour, I guess.’
Abram came to life. ‘What did it look like?’
Nina blinked. ‘I don’t know. Small. Mottled wings, as if they were dusty. Black patch on the top of its head.’
He nodded enthusiastically. ‘Blackpoll warbler. Should be nesting up in the woodland, never on the coast. It has this lovely song.’ He raised his chin, then released a series of high-pitched tsi sounds.
Without understanding why, Nina shivered. But she would have preferred the bird making its call rather than that panicked rush of tiny beating wings. The sound echoed at the back of her mind even now.
‘How are you feeling, Mum?’ Laurie said.
Nina felt a pang of shame at her daughter’s almost maternal concern. ‘Bit fuzzy. You don’t have any jet lag?’
Laurie shrugged. ‘I never have. Dad doesn’t either. He says it’s made up, like homeopathy.’
Rob never seemed to fall ill or experience ailments of any sort. By willpower alone he staved off jet lag, colds and hangovers.
‘Ever since I was a kid, I’d always get ill on the first day of holidays,’ Nina said. ‘Your grandparents – your other grandparents, the ones you never met – were teachers. I think it’s genetic.’
She wished her own parents were still alive, to provide Laurie with an alternative template for adulthood. They had been good people, but frail. They hadn’t even stuck around to see Laurie born.
Laurie smiled. ‘You realise that’s the first time you’ve said that word? Holiday, I mean.’
‘That’s ridiculous.’
‘It isn’t. You’ve been calling it a sabbatical.’
Nina felt acutely aware of Tammy watching their exchange. ‘Well, it is. A month off work is a big thing, you know.’
‘It is for you.’
Nina’s executive producer hadn’t so much as raised an eyebrow when she had requested the time off. ‘About time,’ he had said with a grin. A month off would hardly make a dent in the holiday entitlement she had accrued over the last five years.
Tammy raised her eyebrows. ‘A month? My word.’ She raised her voice to speak to her husband. ‘Do you hear that, Abram? We’ll have Laurie with us for a whole month. We can celebrate Easter together at the Sanctuary, how wonderful. That’ll show narrow-minded folks what’s what.’
This was exactly the sort of discussion Nina had hoped to avoid. She had successfully avoided the subject of religion during their previous encounters, and had instructed Rob to remain vague if Tammy ever enquired. Confessing to atheism might drive a permanent wedge between her and Tammy. Despite everything, she would prefer to have her on her side. It would help in the long run.
‘No,’ she said forcefully.
Tammy’s eyebrows lifted higher still. ‘No?’
‘We’ll be staying for no more than a week.’ Long enough to drop the bombshell and then escape.
Laurie threw down her slice of toast. ‘Mum, but you said—’
‘I said we’d still be coming to Hope Island, and here we are. But I had the idea that we’ll travel around a bit, see more of Maine and maybe other states too.’
Tammy sat up straighter in her chair. ‘Hope Island is America at its finest, I guarantee you that. The grand, great outdoors, honest people, real food, none of your McDonald’s and In-N-Outs. You’ll find nothing in New England to rival one of Si Michaud’s lobsters.’
‘I’m sure you’re right,’ Nina said, ‘but I want Laurie to see more of the world.’
When Nina had discovered the flight booking printout in the cabinet on Rob’s side of the bed, her plan had seemed so clear. She wasn’t coping, and this opportunity ticked every box. She could escape from the bustle of work and the city, reconnect with the real world, come to terms with everything that had happened recently, spend enough time with Laurie to soften the blow when she delivered the news. Hope Island was important to Laurie, a safe space. Being here would lessen the impact. As a bonus, there was always the chance of Nina establishing some kind of a relationship with Tammy and Abram before giving them the lowdown on what a shit their son really was.
However, in the days leading up to their departure from Salford, the instinct to evacuate Hope Island at the first opportunity had become stronger.
‘I’m right as rain here on the island,’ Laurie said.
Right as rain. Since when did a fourteen-year-old use a phrase like that?
‘I do like an In-N-Out burger,’ Abram said thoughtfully. His upper lip still bore a stripe of cream. ‘If anyone’s going.’
Tammy rolled her eyes. She reached across the table and grasped Nina’s hands. In a tone more like an announcement than conversation, she said, ‘So it’s settled then. You’ll stay with us until Eastertime. Exciting!’
Nina withdrew her hands and sipped her cold coffee. She nodded noncommittally. When she finally mustered the courage to tell Tammy that her perfect son Bobby had abandoned his partner and his firstborn child, Tammy would be stunned, weakened, and more than happy for Nina to get out of her sight.
But things had to be in the right order. Laurie must be told first. She had to hear the truth from her own mother.
‘It’s Sunday, isn’t it?’ Nina said, genuinely uncertain. ‘Tammy, will you be busy attending a service this morning?’
Tammy’s forehead became a collection of tight wrinkles. Distantly, she said, ‘Bobby could have been a choirboy if he’d wanted. The most beautiful voice, as a child.’
Abram began humming a hymn that Nina couldn’t place. It grew louder and louder as Abram fidgeted with something below the table.
Nina clung to her line of reasoning. ‘So, Laurie and I will head off after breakfast, just the two of us.’
Tammy began clearing away the dishes. ‘No. I mean, there aren’t any Sunday services on the island.’
‘Oh.’ Nina looked to her daughter, trying to appeal to her silently. ‘Still, I’d enjoy it if you’d give me the tour of the island, Laurie. It’s my first time here and I know it’s meant a lot to you over the years. I’d love to see the place through your eyes.’
Laurie shrugged. Good enough.
‘Don’t mind us,’ Tammy said. ‘Feel free to use the cottage as a base camp. You’ll show up when you get hungry.’
Nina would have to learn the cues that signalled Tammy’s true emotions – she had no idea whether her tone indicated nonchalance, offence having been taken, or a vindictive streak. How many times had she met Tammy and Abram in the past? Four, five? But all the meetings had been brief and scrupulously polite, and all had been in England during European tours that culminated in visiting Rob. Nina had only met them once since Laurie had been born; she had been away during Tammy and Abram’s final jaunts. Then, following Laurie’s sixth birthday, Rob had begun carting her all the way over to Maine each year and Nina had always managed to make her excuses.