Between the Tides Read online

  “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

  eBooks may be purchased for business or promotional use. For information on bulk purchases, please contact Macmillan Corporate and Premium Sales Department by writing to [email protected].

  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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