“And here’s the final picture. The daughter’s hiding the coat. But she knows that one day she will be with her mother.”
Both girls are crying.
“Nooo! Nooo! Matilde, there’s a coat for me too. Draw the coat for me too. For the same day. To be with the mommy too!”
“Claire, listen, there is one sheet left in my sketchbook.” Matilde reaches for her book bag on the floor and takes out crayons and pencils. “Take the black pencil. You start drawing the second sealy coat for the younger daughter. Add it to the page.”
Claire is holding the pencil.
“Then we’ll do the rocks and the mommy and her daughters together. On this page we can also fit the sky—and I’ll do the ocean. We’ll use the blue crayons for that, okay?”
Claire squeezes close to Matilde and takes the azure crayon in her free hand. “Okay, Matilde.”
The cold air burns on my cheeks. Who will console these motherless girls?
* * *
Early the next night, two Coast Guard officers arrive and Matilde and Claire huddle together outside the den door. The first guard—his name is Chip—sounds nervous when he tells Charles that the day has been unsuccessful. “These bodies, they move with the tide for weeks,” Chip says. “Nothing is decided, Dr. Morris. We’ll keep searching. We won’t make any promises.”
Their boots move thickly on the flagstone path outside and the children appear.
“You must be hungry,” I say. “If you go into the kitchen, Mrs. Higgins will feed you. It’s dinnertime. Come.”
Mrs. Higgins is sobbing on her cell phone when we walk in.
“The dead,” says Mrs. Higgins, “they take a piece of your heart, they take a piece of you with them.”
Matilde slips outside a few minutes later and faces the waterfront to the west. The gale is dying down slowly and the stars are vivid enough to seem alive or as if they’ve been painted on a sweeping canvas. Dusk has settled and I use the flashlight from my iPhone to walk to where she stands.
“This must be the worst for you, Matilde,” I say.
“Mom isn’t dead, Jess. I’m okay.”
I could tell her that she’s wrong, that everyone knows. Instead I place my hands on her shoulders.
“C’mon, let’s go inside. There’s macaroni and cheese.”
Matilde and I walk up the wooden path with the water behind us, slicing at the bulkhead. The kitchen window is lit up and there is Tom standing at the sink and Charles beside him with Jack on his shoulders. Charles moves to the right and next Tom bends down, reappears with Claire in his arms. Matilde and I are almost at the house and we hear Claire laughing. “Put me down. Put me down!”
“They must be dividing cookie dough,” I say.
“Claire’s smearing it over her face,” Matilde says.
Liza and Billy come to the door and wave to us. “Matilde, Mom!” Liza shouts. “Hurry up!”
Matilde pauses as she’s about to enter the house, and then Tom comes toward her. “Everyone’s waiting for you, Matilde.”
Matilde follows him inside.
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
I am grateful to Alice Martell, my agent, for her tireless and brilliant suggestions; Jennifer Weis, my editor, for her insights and steadfast belief in the story; Jennifer Enderlin and Sally Richardson, my publishers, who encouraged me to write fiction. At St. Martin’s Press: Dori Weintraub, Paul Hochman, Sylvan Creekmore, Bethany Reis. Rebecca Stowe, for her wise edits; my writing group: George Bear, James Parry, Jonathan Stone. Those who listened or read pages: Brondi Borer, Helene Barre, Katinka Matson, Jane Shapiro, Meredith Bernstein, Barbara Shindler, Helen Metzger, Meryl Moss, Lindsay Shepherd, Thomas Moore, Mark Shapiro, Judy H. Shapiro, Patti Himmelberger, CB Whyte, Kara Ivancich, Tina Chen, Linda Berley, Sandra Leitner, Sally Robinson, Jessica Soule. Neil Rosini, sage lawyer. Jack Van Dalen for his Cape May expertise. Jennie and Elizabeth—muses. My father, who has always navigated the shoreline; my mother, constructive critic and staunchest supporter. Howard Ressler, truest believer and partner.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
SUSANNAH MARREN is originally from Long Beach Island, New Jersey. She currently lives in Manhattan with her family and still spends her summers on the Jersey Shore. Between the Tides is her first novel. You can sign up for email updates here.
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Contents
Title Page
Copyright Notice
Dedication
Epigraph
Part 1: Lainie
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Part 2: Jess
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Part 3: Lainie
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Part 4: Jess
Chapter 12
Chapter 13
Chapter 14
Chapter 15
Part 5: Lainie
Chapter 16
Chapter 17
Chapter 18
Part 6: Jess
Chapter 19
Chapter 20
Part 7: Lainie
Chapter 21
Chapter 22
Part 8: Jess
Chapter 23
Part 9: Lainie
Chapter 24
Chapter 25
Part 10: Jess
Chapter 26
Chapter 27
Part 11: Lainie
Chapter 28
Chapter 29
Part 12: Jess
Chapter 30
Chapter 31
Part 13: Lainie
Chapter 32
Chapter 33
Part 14: Jess
Chapter 34
Chapter 35
Part 15: Lainie
Chapter 36
Chapter 37
Part 16: Jess
Chapter 38
Part 17: Lainie
Chapter 39
Chapter 40
Part 18: Jess
Chapter 41
Chapter 42
Chapter 43
Acknowledgments
About the Author
Copyright
This is a work of fiction. All of the characters, organizations, and events portrayed in this novel are either products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously.
BETWEEN THE TIDES. Copyright © 2015 by Susan Shapiro Barash. All rights reserved. For information, address St. Martin’s Press, 175 Fifth Avenue, New York, N.Y. 10010.
www.stmartins.com
Cover design by Ervin Serrano
Cover photographs: woman by Plainpicture/ALT6/Louis Perreault; brushstrokes by Inna Astakhova/Shutterstock
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The Library of Congress has cataloged the print edition as follows:
Marren, Susannah.
Between the tides: a novel / Susannah Marren.
pages cm
ISBN 978-1-250-06693-2 (hardcover)
ISBN 978-1-4668-7462-6 (e-book)
1. Married women—Fiction. 2. Suburban life—Fiction. 3. Domestic fiction—Fiction. I. Title.
PS3613.A76874B48 2015
813'.6—dc23
2015015601
e-ISBN 9781466874626
First Edition: July 2015
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