Free Sweet Salt Air by Barbara Delinsky Page B

of the island weekly. He lit up when he saw them, though he quickly focused on Nicole. “I heard your good news. A book, huh?”
    “Cookbook,” Nicole corrected with a plastic smile. Cornered was the word that came to Charlotte’s mind. She had thought it once yesterday, too.
    “Good for you,” the man said, “though I’m not surprised. Y’always had that little something special, right down to bringing that husband of yours to Quinnipeague. Say, I’d love to have a sit-down with the two of you to talk about your book—cookbook—and about his work. When’s he comin’ next? I’d do a story for the paper. This is front-page stuff. And hey, I’m sorry about Bob. He’ll be missed.”
    Nicole nodded. She neither blinked nor stopped smiling.
    The newspaperman barreled on. “He would have loved my doing a profile of the doctor and you—y’know, photo spread and all. Think Julian would agree to do it? Ahh, well of course he would. The paper’s just for us Quinnies, and he loves it here.” He reached for the door. “The wife needs elbows. She promised me lobster mac ’n’ cheese, and I don’t turn that down. If you want the best island recipes, you’ll need that one. I’ll tell her. She’ll be excited about being in a book. So will you let me know when the doctor makes his plans? I’ll come out to the house. That’s worth profiling all on its own, but now we have you two stars in it. Book, TV—you’re the power couple. Po-wer coup-le,” he repeated, marking each syllable with a fist, before proceeding into the store.
    Charlotte was thinking that it was true, when Nicole turned owl eyes on her. “I remember her lobster mac,” she brayed, “and if she wants her dish in my book, she’ll have to add something to it to make it different from every other mac ’n’ cheese recipe out there today!” Charlotte drew her away from the store, but Nicole ranted on. “Power couple? Power couple? He doesn’t know what he’s talking about.” She sounded frantic. “There are a gazillion cookbooks out there, I’m one of millions writing more, and Julian spends more time teaching than doing. Power couple ? That is such a crock of shit .”
    Language, tone, look—all were so unexpected that Charlotte couldn’t let it pass. Before she could ask, though, Nicole broke free and stormed off, away from the SUV and down the street.
    “Where are you going?” Charlotte called.
    Nicole stopped and looked around. Turning right, she headed for a cluster of rocks overlooking the pier. In summer, the rocks would hold visitors eating lunch, but on as cool a day as this, they were deserted. The only thing Charlotte could imagine was that she planned to jump.
    She ran, catching Nicole’s arm just shy of the rocks. “What is wrong ?” she cried, frantic now herself.
    Nicole’s eyes were large, her face nearly as pale as her hair. “Nothing! Everything’s fine!”
    Charlotte shook her. “What is it, Nicki?”
    Nicole put both hands to her head and pressed, her eyes suddenly confused.
    “Please tell me,” Charlotte begged gently.
    “I can’t.” A whisper, pleading. “I can’t.”
    “I’m here to help. I want to. It can’t be that bad.”
    Nicole exploded. “MS not that bad? ”
    Charlotte gasped. “You?”
    “Julian!”
    *   *   *
    The words echoed. Nicole looked around, thinking that someone else had said them, because if she was the one, it would be a betrayal of the worst kind.
    But the only person in sight was Charlotte, who couldn’t have known about this, and wouldn’t have yelled it at her anyway, and Charlotte’s face was blank.
    Nicole felt a great sinking inside.
    “He has what?” Charlotte whispered, cupping her shoulders.
    She couldn’t say it again. Julian hadn’t wanted her to tell anyone, least of all Charlotte. Hadn’t he specifically asked that last night? Now she’d gone and done it. She hadn’t planned to, but that didn’t matter.
    He would be hurt, disappointed, angry .