Mack stood behind James and took the razor. He began to shave him gently.
“Do you like baseball, James?” Mack asked.
“Yes,” James said, automatically.
“Do you hate baseball?” Mack asked.
“Yes,” James said.
“You can’t like it and hate it,” Mack said. “You can’t do both. Do you understand that, James? You can’t like baseball and hate it.”
“I like it in person,” James said. “I hate it on TV.”
Mack smiled as he shaved under the curve of James’s chin. “Maybe I can get you some tickets to see the Orioles,” he said. “How would you like that?”
“Yes,” James said.
Mack shaved James’s upper lip. “When you do this on your own, you have to be careful of your lip. You don’t want to cut your lip or you’ll bleed for hours. There, you’re all done.” Mack stepped back. “I want you to rinse your face,” Mack said.
James turned on the water, splashed his face and dried it with a towel.
“What do we do after we rinse, James, can you remember?” James stared into the mirror.
Mack picked up the lotion and squirted some into James’s palm. “Rub this into your face. We don’t use aftershave, do we, James?”
“No,” James said.
“You’re going to have to remind your mom of that. No aftershave, just lotion. And stand up for yourself. I’d hate to think of you walking around smelling funny.”
James rubbed in the lotion. “All shaved,” he said.
“All shaved. You’re ready to go, then.” Mack reached for the latch on the bathroom door, but then stopped short. “Do you like me, James?” he asked.
“No,” James said. His green-gray eyes were a blank slate. “I love you.”
Before Mack left the room, he watched Andrea pack. “Your son’s smooth faced again,” he said. “But I don’t think I taught him a thing. I’m sorry.”
Andrea held a sweater under her chin and folded in the sleeves. “Don’t worry about it,” she said.
“Okay, then, I’m going,” Mack said.
“I’m afraid I don’t have the energy for a big emotional good-bye,” she said.
“Me either,” he said.
Andrea narrowed her eyes. “You aren’t beholden to me or anyone else, Mack. You’re your own person. A good person. But will you think about what I said, about Maribel?”
“I already have,” Mack said.
Andrea slid one of James’s flip-flops onto each of her hands. “I guess it’s ridiculous to think I’ll never see you again.”
“I’m beginning to believe nothing is ridiculous,” Mack said. “Let’s just say so long for a while. You might see me again, but it won’t be where you think.”
“You’re leaving here?”
“I promise I won’t show up on your doorstep,” he said.
“You’re really leaving here?” Andrea said.
Mack gave her a squeeze. “Safe travels tomorrow.” He inhaled the smell of her hair, but again, he wasn’t as sad as he expected. He made a point of not saying “I love you,” but Andrea seemed to hear it anyway.
“I know,” she said.
Mack drove to the basement apartment. He knocked tentatively on the door, but heard nothing. Then, he knocked a little louder. After a second, Maribel swung the door open.
“Oh, God,” she said. Her tan face went pale, as though she were going to be sick.
“Mari, I’m sorry, I have to talk to you.”
“Talk?” she said.
“Can I come in?” Mack asked.
The skin above her eye twitched. “I guess,” she said.
She pushed the screen door open for him and he stepped into the apartment. Jem Crandall was sitting at the dining table eating pizza from a box. He, too, looked sick when he saw Mack. He stood up.
“Jem,” Mack said. “Hi.”
“I’m going,” Jem said. “I’m out of here.”
Mack tried to hide his surprise. It was hard enough to see Maribel, but then to have one of his bellmen sitting at the dining table eating pizza?
“I don’t get it,” Mack said. “What are you doing here?”
“We’re friends,” Maribel said. “Get over your surprise. You don’t know what my life is like anymore.”
“No,” Mack said. “Obviously I don’t.”
Jem moved toward the door, taking the piece of pizza he was eating with him. “I’ll let you two hash this out,” he said. Then he turned around. “But if you hurt her, Petersen, if you lay a hand on her or you make her cry with something you say, I’ll kill you.”
“Great,” Mack said. Now both his bellmen wanted to kill him.
“I mean it,” Jem said. “And I’m saying this despite the fact that you’ve been pretty cool to me. But you did a bad thing to Maribel, and if you do anything else, you’re in trouble.”
“Okay,” Mack said. He repressed the urge to smile. “I’ll keep that in mind.”
Jem bit into his pizza. “Yeah,” he said, his mouth full. “Do that.”
After Jem left, Maribel sat at the dining table. “So, you’ve reclaimed your turf,” she said. “Why don’t you tell me what you want. You want closure? I figured as much, but I’d hoped you’d call first.”
Mack looked around the apartment. He missed it. Even the shag carpet and the moldy, old-sponge smell. “I love you,” he said.
“You don’t cheat on someone you love. You don’t perpetuate a lie for six years with someone you love. Okay, Mack? Do you see how your credibility has worn thin?”
“Yes,” Mack said, “but I do love you.”
“Ha.”
“I asked Bill to profit-share,” he said.
Maribel raised her eyebrows. “Really?”
“He turned me down,” Mack said. “He and Therese both. They said…well, do you know what’s going on with Cecily?”
“That she’s deferring a year from school you mean? To be with the boyfriend?”
“It has them really upset. And they won’t profit-share with me because they think if they do Cecily will be more likely to leave. They think she’ll be glad I’m taking care of the hotel for them, and she’ll feel free to go.”
“They’re absolutely right,” Maribel said. “Cecily’s said as much. So it sounds like you’re out of luck.”
Mack looked at his hands. “I did ask, though.”
Maribel fidgeted with the corner of the pizza box. “You’re too late, Mack.”
“We only broke up two weeks ago. How can I be too late? And another thing I’d like to know is what Crandall was doing here.”
“He likes me,” Maribel said. “I could go out on a limb and say he’s in love with me.”
“Great,” Mack said. “He’s too young for you, you know.”
Maribel snorted. “That isn’t for you to decide.”
“So you’re an item, then? You’ve fallen for Mr. November?”
“I don’t know what I’m doing, Mack,” Maribel said. Her voice was sad now, not angry, not sarcastic. “I’m thinking of leaving the island.”
“Why?” he said.
“Because I’m finished here. I gave it a shot and it didn’t work. Six years ago, you and I had a summer romance and I decided to stay. But it was always a summer romance, wasn’t it? The kind of romance that’s so thrilling because you know it’s going to end.” She flashed her blue eyes at him. “And guess what? Our summer is finally over.”
“I agree. Our summer is over.”
“Plus, I think people who live on islands…well, I’m beginning to think there’s something wrong with them. It’s like they’re hiding from something. It’s like they’re afraid of the rest of the world and so they isolate themselves, surrounded by all this water.”
“What are we hiding from?” Mack asked. “What are we afraid of?”
Maribel tore the pizza box into tiny pieces. “I don’t know,” she said. “I’m afraid that you don’t love me enough. You’re afraid that I love you too much. Or maybe we’re each just afraid of ourselves.” She started to cry.