31. Heart-to-Heart
Brooke is so happy, she has to make sure her feet are touching the ground.
Yes, yes, they are; her feet are in the wet sand at the water’s edge. Dru-Ann has asked Brooke to go for a walk, just the two of them. Brooke wishes Caroline were filming them right now; she feels like a character in a movie.
The afternoon sun has mellowed and the breeze off the water has picked up; the waves froth at their ankles, and the bottom of Dru-Ann’s ivory caftan is getting damp but she doesn’t seem to care, just like Brooke doesn’t care that her stomach is pooching out because she showed so little restraint at lunch.
Brooke and Dru-Ann are both facing forward, which somehow makes it easier to talk. Watching Dru-Ann dress down Charlie was beautiful, nearly arousing.
Now Dru-Ann is saying things like You don’t need to put up with a guy like that, someone who doesn’t respect women, who has an inflated sense of entitlement just because he has a penis, he doesn’t deserve you, Brooke, you are sweet and kind and pretty, there are lots of men out there who would treat you better.
Brooke has doubts about this. She’s fifty years old with no career and a poor self-image. If she leaves Charlie, he’ll find someone else within minutes —men always do—but Brooke will be left to create a profile on a dating app where she’ll meet men old enough to be her grandfather with plasticky- looking dentures and hair growing out of their ears. She’ll give up quickly and either move down to Boca to live with her mother or stay put in the Poet’s Corner house while Charlie shacks up in the Seaport with his new girlfriend (she’ll be named Callie or Brianna and she’ll be either a newscaster or one of the Patriots cheerleaders), and Brooke will have to find a way not to be a burden to Will and Whitney as they finish college and launch their own fabulous lives. Leaving Charlie has never been a realistic option because life without him has always seemed a touch less appealing than life with him.
Except now, on this walk, having what can only be described as a heart-
to-heart with Dru-Ann, Brooke starts to see things differently. She’s sorry when they turn around to go back.
“What about you?” Brooke asks. “Do you have a special someone?”
“Ah,” Dru-Ann says. “That’s complicated.”
Everything is complicated; this Brooke has come to understand. But her emotions at this moment are delightfully simple and straightforward. She’s happy! She’s liberated! She pictures Charlie walking dejectedly down the hydrangea-lined driveway in his stupid FREE BRADY T-shirt and all she thinks is Good riddance, don’t let the door hit ya where the good Lord split ya, these boots were made for walking and all the other sassy sentiments expressed by people who have finally had enough.
Brooke’s good mood is dampened only a little when they get back to Hollis’s property and see Caroline waiting for them.
“I’d love to borrow Dru-Ann for a minute,” she says. “If that’s okay?”
“Of course,” Brooke says. Even her voice sounds different. Her tone is cool and casual.
There’s plenty of time to relax before the next item on the itinerary, which is predinner cocktails. Brooke decides to lock herself in the Board Room, stretch out on the bed, and make some magic happen.
