interlude

Kate was sitting outside the bagel shop feeding crumbs to the sparrows when Bobby passed by on his way to the boat. She waved, but he didn’t see her. She was stalling, she realized, but she was going to have to face her sooner or later. Might as well be now. She threw her coffee cup in the trash barrel, picked up Bobby’s bike and walked it slowly up the hill, past the liquor store and the antique store, to the Surf. She parked it in the bike rack and walked past the brilliant blue hydrangeas without seeing them, up the steps to the porch. She could see the ferry just coming in. As she walked through the door, a handsome man with gilt blond hair was coming out.

     “Finally,” he said. “My sexy niece!”

     “Jerry,” she said with distaste. She had forgotten about him. But she should have known he’d be here. He did not move aside to let her through the door, so she stepped back out onto the porch. “Catherine around?”

      “Yes,” he said. “And your room is right next to mine. I knew you’d be pleased. When did you get here? You weren’t on the first boat this morning, because I was, and I didn’t see you.”

     “I got here yesterday.”

     “Staying with the fuck buddy?”

     “Jerry, that’s crude. And rude. Let me past.”

     He stepped away from the door with a bow and gestured to the door. “Milady.”

    “Fuck you.”

    “I will make excuses for your language because you are grieving.”