Elin Hilderbrand - Winter Stroll

Roxanne finishes her glass of red wine and sets it on the bar and beams. “I’m ready for anything!”

She is exquisitely beautiful, Ava thinks. And she’s fun. On Ava’s best day she isn’t half as beautiful or as fun-loving as Roxanne Oliveria. No wonder Scott is so captivated.

Scott says, “Okay, let’s go then.” He uses his assistant principal voice to get everyone’s attention. “We’re headed across the street to Ventuno!”

The group gives a cheer and puts on coats, hats, and gloves. Ava checks to make sure no one has left behind his or her songbook.

Jennifer approaches. She says, “I think this is where I peel off. The boys are probably driving Kelley batty.”

“Daddy’s fine,” Ava says. “He loves hanging out with the kids. He told me he was going to teach them to play cribbage.”

“Yeah, but it’s three against one. They’re probably teaching him to play Assassin’s Creed. I should save him.”

“I want you to stay,” Ava says. She needs to tell Jennifer about Nathaniel.

Jennifer runs a hand through her short, dark hair, and gives Ava a weary smile. “I’m beat, Ava.”

Ava hugs her sister-in-law. Jennifer puts up such a strong, implacable front that it nearly masks the fact that Patrick is in jail and Jennifer has been left to handle everything in his absence. She has, essentially, become a disaster specialist and a triage nurse. She dealt with the state’s attorney office and the local media blitz; she stood by Patrick publicly and privately. She has kept life as normal as possible for the boys, and she’s managed to proceed with two massive interior design projects.

“Go home and get some sleep,” Ava says.

“I’m stopping at Murray’s for a couple bottles of chardonnay on the way home,” Jennifer says. “Your mom will probably want a glass when she gets here.”

“Good idea,” Ava says. Kevin is normally in charge of making sure there’s alcohol in stock at the inn, but since the baby was born, he has, understandably, lapsed in his duties.

Jennifer leaves the bar and Ava waits for Shelby and Zack and Scott-and Roxanne. She can’t help herself from turning around one more time to look at Nathaniel.

Come over, he mouths, pointing to his watch. Later.

Ava smiles and shakes her head.

Ventuno is so close to the Boarding House that Ava can throw a softball at it. And yet, the second they embark on the journey, there is drama.

Roxanne falls down in the cobblestone street. She starts screaming.

Ava and Scott rush over to where Roxanne is huddled in a heap, clutching her ankle. Ava sucks in her breath. The ankle is twisted at a gruesomely unnatural angle. Broken.

Scott whips out his phone and dials 911.

Elliott the saxophonist says, “We need to get her out of the street.” He looks to Zack. “Should we carry her over to that bench?”

“You’re not supposed to move her,” Barry the groundskeeper says. “Leave her be until the ambulance gets here.”

“I think that’s only the case with head trauma,” Shelby says. “I think we should get her out of the road.”

Roxanne is howling with pain and Ava’s skin prickles beneath her scratchy sweater. Scott is kneeling next to Roxanne, holding both of her hands in his, murmuring words of comfort. Ava shuts her eyes. That ankle does not look right; just thinking about how the doctor will have to set it makes Ava cringe. Roxanne will most likely have to have surgery, which means she will be taking the Med Flight to Boston.

The ambulance arrives with sirens blaring and lights flashing antagonistically amongst all the holiday lights. The Ugly Sweater carolers are gathered in a loose knot around Roxanne but when the paramedics hop out, they disperse.

Shelby squeezes Ava’s arm. “I hope the heels were worth it.”

It was, by anyone’s standards, a poor choice of footwear, but Ava can’t even blame Roxanne for her vanity. Roxanne shrieks as the paramedics lift her onto the stretcher. There is no way she is exaggerating for Scott or anyone else’s benefit. The woman is in serious pain, and Ava thinks, Oh please, please let her be okay.

The paramedics load Roxanne into the back of the ambulance-and away they go to Nantucket Cottage Hospital.

Scott finds Ava in the crowd. “Bummer,” he says.

“Huge,” she says. The Ugly Sweater Caroling party has come to a crashing halt. There will be no Ventuno, no Town, no Dune, no last call at Lola, and no “Joy to the World.”

Ava says, “Should we go to the hospital?”

Scott says, “I’ll go and make sure she gets admitted. You don’t have to come.”

“I feel responsible,” Ava says. “This was my party. If I hadn’t organized it, Roxanne wouldn’t have broken her ankle.”

“ I feel responsible,” Scott says. “I’m the one who invited her. And I was going to offer to help her cross the street, but I thought you’d get angry.”

“So that makes it doubly my fault,” Ava says.

“It was Roxanne’s fault for wearing those silly heels,” Scott says. “She couldn’t walk in them sober, never mind with a glass of wine and a shot of Jameson in her.”

“Shot of Jameson?” Ava says.

“Kevin offered her the flask,” Scott says. “While you were in the bathroom.”

While Ava was in the bathroom.

“I’ll come with you to the hospital,” Ava says.

“You don’t have to,” Scott says. “Really. You have a big weekend and your mom is coming tonight. You should go home. I’ll text you and let you know what the doctors say.”

“But-”

“Ava,” he says. He holds her chin in that way he has, and he kisses her. “I’ll text you.” He swats her butt before he starts walking down the street toward his car. Ava realizes then that he doesn’t want her to come, not even to keep him company. He wants to be the hero for Roxanne alone. Or, possibly, because he’s an administrator and Roxanne is a teacher he feels he must go and serve as a lieutenant to one of his troops. Or, he is really, truly thinking of Ava. Does she want to spend the next three hours sitting in the emergency room? No.

However, Scott has left her without a ride home. Has he even considered this? True, Winter Street is only at the top of Main, but it’s pretty cold out for that kind of walk. Ava will have to get a ride from Shelby and Zack, but when she looks around, they’re gone.

Ava pops back into the Boarding House to see if they’ve gone inside to warm up but Ava doesn’t see them. Shelby gets tired easily, and she’s not drinking; Ava bets they’ve headed home.

Ava’s eyes dart to the corner of the bar. Nathaniel’s seat is empty.

He left.

Ava’s heart drops an inch. It might have been nice to have talked with him without Scott right there. She could have told him what little she knows about Bart.

Ava considers having a drink by herself, a hot toddy, something to combat the frigidness of her impending walk home, but she’s the elementary school music teacher and thus has a certain image to uphold, plus she doesn’t want to grow reflective about Nathaniel, or maudlin about Bart.

She bundles up and heads back outside. She makes it as far as the corner of India and Main Street when a truck pulls up alongside of her.

Nathaniel’s truck. The passenger window goes down and Nathaniel says, “Need a ride?”

Actually,” Ava says, “I do.” And without giving it another thought, she hops in.

He knows Jennifer has been having a hard time with Barrett, the oldest of the Quinn grandchildren, who is the spitting image of Patrick and in many ways, the spitting image of Kelley himself. Part of what Jennifer is dealing with is regular eleven-year-old-boy sullenness, but on top of that, the kid’s father is in jail. Barrett is angry, he’s embarrassed, humiliated, ashamed, and he wants to know why he has to follow the rules if his father didn’t.