Santorini Sunsets by Anita Hughes Page B

he came down with the flu and couldn’t leave his bed for a week. I was so worried, I took him chicken soup and his mother said he was at the club. He’d been taking secret tennis lessons because he couldn’t face me until he was sure he would win.”
    â€œDo you know why you’re competitive?” Daisy asked. “Because when you and Nathaniel are together no one else exists. You might challenge each other but he would defend you against the rest of the world. I hate losing a sister but you are perfect for each other.”
    â€œDo you really think so?” Brigit asked.
    Daisy picked up a Barbie doll and stroked its blond hair. She looked at Brigit and her eyes were suddenly bright. “I’ve known it since I was ten years old.”
    *   *   *
    Brigit sat at her dressing table, brushing her cheeks with powder. It was almost seven p.m. and in a few minutes she’d walk over to the Cabots’ lawn for the rehearsal dinner. She slipped on diamond earrings and fastened a gold necklace around her neck. She gazed at the blue Dior cocktail dress and tried to stop her heart from racing.
    She heard the door open and turned around.
    â€œWhat are you doing here?” she demanded. “We promised we wouldn’t see each other in private until the wedding.”
    â€œI brought you something,” Nathaniel said. He wore a crisp white shirt and tan slacks. His blond hair touched his collar and he wore a yellow silk tie.
    â€œWe’re not supposed to exchange gifts until just before the ceremony.” Brigit took the square box wrapped in silver tissue paper.
    â€œYou know how impatient I am with presents,” Nathaniel replied. “I left a dozen roses on your desk in physics class at Dartmouth because I wanted to surprise you on your birthday. Your professor was allergic to flowers and tossed them in the garbage.”
    â€œYou bought two dozen more and sent them to my dorm room.” Brigit smiled.
    â€œOpen it,” Nathaniel urged.
    Brigit untied the silver ribbon and opened the box. She drew out a yellow plastic bucket and two orange shovels.
    â€œJust because we’re getting married, doesn’t mean we will stop having fun,” Nathaniel said. “We can still go ice skating on Town Pond and eat crab at the Chowder House. We can spend whole weekends reading trashy novels and listening to nineties music on SiriusXM.”
    Brigit glanced at Nathaniel and her eyes filled with tears. He knew her better than anyone and everything was going to be perfect.
    â€œThere is something inside,” Nathaniel whispered.
    Brigit took off the lid and saw a black velvet box. She snapped it open and discovered a diamond-and-ruby pendant with an antique clasp.
    â€œEven when we’re eating cotton candy on the Fourth of July, I think you’re the most desirable woman in the world.” Nathaniel fastened the pendant around her neck. “And a beautiful woman deserves exquisite jewels.”
    Brigit glanced in the mirror at the glittering diamonds and rubies and gasped. She turned and kissed Nathaniel softly on the mouth. He ran his fingers over her breast and slipped one hand under her panties.
    â€œDaisy could walk in at any minute.” Brigit giggled, feeling the familiar warmth spread through her body.
    â€œI told her you have a craving for Ben & Jerry’s Pistachio Pistachio ice cream.” Nathaniel drew her onto the bed. “I checked, you don’t have any in the fridge. She’s going to have to go all the way to Montauk.”
    *   *   *
    Brigit heard laughter coming from the library and inhaled the scent of cigar smoke and jumped. She glanced at the yellow bucket and orange shovels and felt a pain in her chest.
    Why had Nathaniel been the one who seemed stuck in college? In the second year of their marriage she woke at five a.m. to go to Equinox before she went to the office, while he stayed up