Winter Storms Read Online Free PDF Page A

left their father for George the Santa Claus. Yes, Ava is dating both Nathaniel Oscar and Scott Skyler. Yes, Kelley has prostate cancer. Yes, Mitzi came back to Kelley. Yes, Kelley’s cancer is in remission. What else is there? Kevin wonders if the rumor is about Isabelle. She has never once brought Genevieve to the park. He realizes the other mothers wonder about this.
    â€œDo I even want to know?” Kevin says.
    Haven twists her mouth. “Probably not. I’ve sat on this a couple days already. If you don’t want to hear, tell me to go away.”
    â€œWhat is it?” Kevin says. He pushes Genevieve and she coos with delight. Nothing Haven Silva tells him can ruin this moment.
    â€œIt’s about Norah Vale,” Haven says.
    â€œOh, come on,” Kevin says. Norah Vale is Kevin’s ex-wife, the person he cares about least in the world. He wouldn’t give her a second’s attention except that Norah has moved back to Nantucket for a seemingly indefinite period, so every time Kevin leaves the house—to go to the grocery store or the gas station—it’s like a game of dodgeball. He can’t bump into her, even accidentally. Isabelle will kill him. Every so often, Kevin will see Norah’s black pickup on the road, but he keeps his eyes straight ahead. He won’t bother to lift two fingers from the steering wheel in greeting.
    â€œI guess she’s got quite a drug-dealing operation going,” Haven says. “Pharmaceuticals.”
    Kevin shakes his head. “That’s so unsurprising, I can’t believe it even counts as gossip.”
    â€œShe has a bunch of high-end clients,” Haven says. “Apparently the ladies-who-summer are washing Vicodins down with those bottles of rosé when they have lunch at the Galley.”
    â€œGood for Norah,” Kevin says. He doesn’t even like saying her name out loud. “She found a niche market.”
    â€œThe story gets worse,” Haven says.
    Kevin closes his eyes.
    â€œI guess. And this is only what I
heard
,
Kev…”
    â€œWhat?” he says impatiently. He can guarantee he doesn’t want to hear the next sentence out of Haven Silva’s mouth.
    â€œOne of her clients is your sister-in-law.”
    â€œMy…” It takes Kevin a second. His sister-in-law? Which sister-in-law? No, wait, there is only one: Jennifer. “Jennifer? Patrick’s wife, Jennifer?”
    â€œThat’s what I heard,” Haven says. “I thought you’d want to know.”
    Kevin finds Haven’s tone so irritating that his first instinct is to tell her that she’s part of the problem. Probably she has shared this juicy nugget with all of the other mothers here at Children’s Beach. Norah Vale, his ex-wife, is purportedly selling pills to his sister-in-law, Jennifer. Jennifer hates Norah. Even when they were part of the same family, Jennifer didn’t have a nice word for Norah. And vice versa.
    But Kevin applies his verbal brakes. He can’t lose his temper with Haven Silva. First of all, she’s telling him only because he should know the rumor is out there. Second, and far more important, Haven’s uncle Chester Silva is one of Nantucket’s five selectmen, and if Kevin wants to lease the Surfside shack, he’s going to need Chester’s support.
    Kevin smiles at Haven and the smile is sincere. She named her son after her beloved younger brother, taken from them too soon. She is a good person.
    â€œI doubt it’s true,” Kevin says. He lifts Genevieve out of the swing and she squawks in protest. “But thank you for letting me know.”

JENNIFER
    P atrick’s release from jail is delayed by three weeks.
    Why? Why?
Jennifer wants to know why.
    â€œI’m not sure why,” Patrick says over the phone. “Maybe I understood it wrong to begin with? Janine in Processing was adamant. I get out the twenty-first, not the