When Fray left for college in Burlington, he and Leland broke up for the first time. She was still only a junior in high school and they both agreed the mature decision was to split up and see what happened. What happened was that they spent a small fortune on long-distance calls, and there were plenty of conversations that ended with one or the other of them slamming down the phone. But every time Fray returned to Baltimore, his first stop would be the Gladstones, even before his own house.

Frazier Dooley had loved Leland Gladstone. She was a key part of his personal history. Last night on the beach there had been nothing to stop them from making out on the blanket like the crazy kids they once were before standing up and going back inside to lock themselves in Mallory’s bedroom.

Fray’s phone rings again when he’s underneath the covers gently nibbling on Leland’s hipbone, a sex move he feels he invented because Leland says, “God, nobody has done that to me in decades. Please don’t stop.” He hears the vibrating of his phone on the nightstand and when Leland says, “Who’s ‘Dead to Me’?” Fray tells her to ignore it.

After making love, they decide to go out for breakfast. Leland scurries into the bathroom to freshen up and Fray checks his phone. Anna didn’t leave a message. It’s nine thirty in the morning on Nantucket, six thirty in Seattle. He clicks on her texts, in case there’s an emergency with Cassie, their ten-year-old daughter.

You’re unbelievable.

Talk about a HYPOCRITE.

Check Page Six.

Whaaaa? Fray thinks.

Leland comes out of the bathroom. She’s glowing—as luminous as he’s ever seen her. “Everything okay?”

“Yeah,” Fray says. He plucks his underwear from the floor.

“Let’s not bother showering,” Leland says, tousling his hair. “We’re just going to swim when we get back, anyway, and I’m starving.”

“Me too,” Fray says. “I just need to stop and get a copy of the New York Post on our way.”

Leland laughs. “I thought I was the only person I knew who read the Post,” she says. “Fifi used to give me so much jazz about it.”

“Everyone reads the Post,” Fray says. “But only the brave admit it.”

Coop is passed out on the sofa and Jake is nowhere to be found, so Fray jots a note saying he and Leland are taking the Jeep to breakfast. He drives to the big mid-island grocery store and leaves Leland in the car as he runs in to get the newspaper. Page Six? Is he on Page Six? Talk about a HYPOCRITE. What does that mean?