“Tensions are high this holiday season,” Lola said. She walked toward Tommy and wrapped an arm around his lower back, huddling against him. Her eyes peered around Everett and found Charlotte’s in the back room. “You all right in there, Miss Wedding Planner?”
“She’s in the middle of planning its demise,” Everett said as he tore through another bit of croissant. “I’ve never seen someone want to fail so badly. She thinks it’ll get more press that way.”
“Don’t jinx me,” Charlotte said, giggling as she shot up from the bed to join the others. As she walked past her phone, several more messages from Ursula rang in. For the moment, she would ignore them. Ursula would have her full attention later.
Chapter Ten
Everett had been in the game long enough to know that it wasn’t always so easy to meet someone new.
No: that wasn’t exactly it.
In actuality, it was easy to meet someone new. There were hundreds of thousands of someone-news all around you at any given point. These someone-news always had backstories, jobs, families, cats, dogs, favorite songs, favorite books, foods they hated most of all. Everett ran into someone-news all the time, at bookstores, at concerts, at events he was hired to photograph.
The rare thing about it all was meeting a someone-new who made you feel like the self you always wanted to feel.
To put this more plainly: Everett never felt like himself. He always felt a little like an outsider, even in his own body. No matter how many people liked him or wanted to befriend him, no matter how many jobs he got or phone numbers he was given, he never felt completely whole.
But the moment he had peered into Charlotte’s eyes, something had clicked into place. The light in that empty space turned on.
He had known exactly what jokes to make.
He had known exactly what to say.
He had watched her bloom before him, as though, all that time, she’d been waiting for him in that little spare bedroom.
The wedding planner.
Charlotte.
What a gorgeous name.
Unsure of what to do, Everett collected a handful of MMs and sat again in the corner near Audrey. He hardly ate them, and the colors of them stained his fingers and palm. Charlotte snuck out of the room and whispered something in a girl’s ear, one who looked to be around fourteen or fifteen years old.
“Abby? Gail?” the girl said. “Would you mind helping me set the table?”
“There they go. Our servants,” Susan said, teasing them.
The girls set to work. Everett heard them muttering about which side the salad fork went on and where to put the napkins. There were so many of them there for dinner that that larger guy, Tommy, came over to place another leaf in the table. This led to even more conversations about where to put the extra chairs and plates. By the time the table was set, Everett’s stomach had set up a little performance of back-flips. He was hungry.
Lucky for him, Everett found a way to cut through the bubbling family and sit beside Charlotte at the dinner table. Charlotte adjusted in her chair and clutched her hands together anxiously. Everett wondered if he was the one who made her nervous. He didn’t want that. Or did he? It was certainly interesting, this tension brewing between them.
“Shall we pray?” Trevor, Charlotte’s father, asked from the head of the table, which he shared with Wes.
Everyone bowed their heads. It had been a long time since Everett had heard a prayer. His mother wasn’t the most religious, and she had slowly faded prayer out of their dinners after his father’s death.
“Everlasting Father,” Trevor began, “We come to you today more thankful than yesterday. You’ve gifted us with countless blessings over the previous year. You’ve watched over Susan throughout her diagnosis and treatment. You’ve brought all three of the Sheridan sisters back to the island after twenty-some years away. You’ve given my daughter, Charlotte, prosperity in the wake of disaster. You’ve honored Steven’s son, Jonathon, with a beautiful new marriage. You’ve given Audrey the gift of life.”
At this, Everett was pretty sure he heard Audrey snort. It wasn’t like a college-aged student to give thanks for an accidental pregnancy, he supposed.
“And you’ve blessed Christine with the ability to be a mother through Audrey’s service,” Trevor continued. “Beyond that, you’ve brought Stan Ellis and his step-son, Tommy, into our lives. They’re some of the kindest people we’ve ever met. They complete our lives much more than we could have fathomed. We ask you, Lord, to continue to bless my brother-in-law, Wes, as he continues on with his treatment and refines his mind each and every day. Thank you, dear Lord, for the mother of my beautiful children, my darling Kerry—and give our best to Anna up there in heaven. Tell her we miss her, we love her, and we’re doing everything we can to keep this world spinning down here. Amen.”
Woah. When Everett opened his eyes, he witnessed nearly every member of the extended family on the verge of tears. Trevor’s wife, Kerry, placed a hand on her husband’s shoulder and whispered, “That was beautiful, Trevor. Thank you.”
Everyone else murmured their agreement.
After a strange pause, Trevor extended his arm toward Everett and said, “Goodness! I forgot to add. Thank you, oh Lord, for bringing a stranger into our midst. For it’s only with a stranger by your side that you realize there are no strangers in this life at all. Only people you haven’t met yet.”
“Thank you,” Everett said sheepishly. “That means a lot.”
Dinner was served. Zach looked on proudly as everyone dug into the turkey, which was seasoned perfectly and not even too dry, the stuffing, the cranberry sauce, the dinner rolls, the sweet potatoes, and the kale salad. Admittedly, most everyone avoided the kale salad altogether. Everett placed a bit of it on his plate, paying homage to his California existence. I’ll get back to you later, kale.
Conversation bubbled on freely, as did the wine-pouring. Throughout it all, Everett thought back to Trevor’s prayer. What exactly had he meant about Charlotte’s disaster? It stood to reason, he supposed, that something had happened to her husband? Something like that? Although, when she cut her head back in beautiful laughter, she looked light and free, nothing like the kind of woman who’d lost her husband.
Of course, grief came in a number of different packages.
Susan made a loud, “Mmm,” sound as she tore through her stuffing with a fork. “I am so glad my appetite came back after all that stupid chemo. This is some of the best Thanksgiving food I’ve ever had.”
“True,” her daughter, Amanda, chimed in. “We always did okay back in Newark, but this really takes the cake.”
“You were living in Newark before this?” Everett asked.
Susan nodded. Her eyes shone with happiness. “I lived in Newark from age eighteen, too, well, June of this year.”
“That’s a long time,” Everett said.
“My babies still live there, although I would love to get them back here,” Susan said. “Speaking of babies, where are the twins?” She turned toward Kristen, her daughter-in-law.
“They finally passed out upstairs,” Kristen said.
“This is the first meal I’ve eaten in a long time where I haven’t been covered in toddler food,” Susan’s son, Jake, said.
“I remember those days,” Lola said with a funny laugh.
“Me too,” Charlotte said. She reached across the table and squeezed her daughter’s wrist. “Rachel was never so messy, though. She was always ladylike.”
“Ha.” Rachel’s cheeks burned with embarrassment.
“What about you, Everett? Any kids of your own?” Trevor asked.
Everett shook his head. “Never got around to it, I’m afraid.”
“You must have quite a career,” Trevor said.
“Something like that.”
“He’s traveled all over the world taking photographs,” Christine said, lifting her glass of wine. “I Googled you. That photo you had featured in National Geographic...?”<
br />
“Wow. Even I know that magazine,” Trevor said.
“That was a long time ago,” Everett said. He palmed his neck, suddenly sheepish. “I traveled to Peru for a story with a journalist I was friends with at the time. We got some great shots that day. It was only the first of two times I was featured in National Geographic. I mostly make money photographing events, weddings, parties that really rich people throw.”
“Like this one?” Trevor said, stretching his arms out toward the holiday before them.
Everyone laughed. But suddenly, Everett stood, walked toward his camera bag, and positioned his camera up toward his chest. Everyone looked at him like deer in headlights.
“Do you mind? You all look fantastic. And the photo will turn out better if there’s still some food on your plates,” Everett said.
“He knows us too well already,” Claire affirmed.
“Very well. Take it,” Trevor said.
Everyone became very quiet and smiled. This was the problem with photographing people: they never knew how to act naturally unless you made sure you took the photo when they weren’t watching. Still, the photo turned out very nice: a portrait of many, many people who mostly all looked vaguely alike, beautiful in their own right, all simmering with love and compassion for one another.
After dinner, Christine asked if anyone was ready for pie. The collective groan was louder than a plane engine.
“Let’s take a walk first,” Lola suggested.
“It’s not that we don’t want to eat your pie, Christine,” Susan said delicately. “It’s just that we don’t want to explode while doing it.”
“Okayyyy,” Christine said.
“Maybe we could head into the woods for a walk? I’ve been meaning to check out the birds today,” Wes said. He rubbed his palms together with anticipation, his eyes sparkling.
Everyone agreed it sounded like a good idea. Everett watched as Charlotte glanced back toward the bedroom. As everyone hustled up to grab their coats and shoved their feet into snow boots, Everett nudged Charlotte and said, “I hope you’re not thinking about heading back in there to do some work.”
Charlotte blushed. “I just need to call her back.”
“Is there any reason to call her besides easing her crazy mind?”
“No. I guess not. I have everything arranged. And if everything goes as planned, there won’t be anything to worry about,” Charlotte said. “She’s just panicked and taking it all out on me.”
“That’s what I thought,” he said. “And it’s not fair.”
Charlotte pressed her hands over her cheeks and blinked down at her half-eaten plate. Obviously, she had been too nervous to finish her food like the rest of them had.
“Just a short walk,” he said. “Through the woods. It sounds so beautiful. And I don’t think I could do it without you.”
Charlotte arched her brow playfully. “And why not?”
Everett shrugged. “Because I’m afraid of nature. I’m a city boy. Isn’t that obvious?”
Charlotte gave a begrudging look, “Fine,” then stood to grab her coat with the others. As she yanked her red gloves over her hands, she blinked at him and said, “You don’t have anything warm to wear, do you?”
Everett admitted he didn’t. Everyone made a big fuss about this, which was exactly what Everett hadn’t wanted. Susan ruffled through the back closet until she dragged out one of Wes’s old hunting coats, which looked ridiculous on Everett.
“You’ll look the part of Martha’s Vineyard in no time,” Charlotte said teasingly.
“It is warm. I’ll give it that,” Everett said.
“I haven’t worn that coat since the winter of 1977,” Wes announced.
“I swear. Your memory works in mysterious ways, Dad,” Susan said as she wrapped her arm around him and nestled her head against his upper arm.
She and Wes walked up ahead of Everett and Charlotte, which allowed Charlotte to say, “You can probably guess that it’s been a traumatic year in our family.”
“I guess so.”
“Susan had breast cancer. She’s in remission now and slowly growing that gorgeous head of hair back. She keeps complaining about the streaks of silver in it, but I think she looks beautiful,” Charlotte said.
“Agreed,” Everett said. “She looks proud. Confident.”
“Like a woman who’s been through hell and come out the other side,” Charlotte agreed.
Everett glanced her way again, wondering about the disaster that had befallen her life.
Of course, Charlotte chose instead to linger on everyone else’s stories, instead of her own. She explained about Wes’s dementia, Anna’s death way back in 1993, Audrey’s baby and her decision to have Christine raise her until she graduated from Penn State, along with Christine’s newfound love in Zach, her previous high school nemesis.
“It’s so much drama,” Everett finally said with a laugh as they neared the edge of the woods. Their feet crunched at the top of the snow, then slid through to the soft white snow below.
“It’s been a lot to keep up with,” Charlotte agreed.
“I guess it makes for a lot of things to be thankful for,” he said.
She glanced at him and held his gaze for a long moment. Just then, Wes whispered harshly, “Everyone! Look! There’s that cardinal up in the tree yonder. Do you see him? He sees us. He doesn’t know what to make of us. But isn’t he the most beautiful thing you’ve ever seen?”
Chapter Eleven
Hours later, Charlotte still managed to resist the allure of her phone, just beyond the spare bedroom door. Sometimes, when she caught a glimpse of it, the little light told her, Come find me! Fix this! Put out this fire! But each time, she turned her head back and fell again into reckless banter with Everett Rainey.
“That’s way too much!” she cried now, watching as Everett smeared a full slice of apple and a full slice of pumpkin pie onto her plate.
“You can’t get through Thanksgiving Day without having two slices of pie, Charlotte. Come on,” he told her.
“The man has a point,” Claire said from the couch, where she feasted on two slices, as well.
“You’re crazy. All of you,” Charlotte said. “Hey!” she exclaimed, as Everett filled up her glass of wine yet again. “You know I have to work tonight.”
“And I’m trying my hardest to make you forget about that,” Everett said, giving her another one of his crooked smiles.
“Sabotage,” she said, lifting her glass and giving him a fake-dirty look.
“And yet, here you go, drinking it all over again,” Everett said. “It’s too easy.”
Rachel slinked up and added a slice of pumpkin pie to her dessert plate. Charlotte realized that she had spent most of the past hour talking to Everett and Everett alone. She tapped a napkin across her lips and said, “Rachel! Have you met Everett yet?”
“Not really,” Rachel replied. “Hey. I’m this one’s daughter.”
“I can see the resemblance,” Everett said good-naturedly.
“What do you think of Martha’s Vineyard?” Rachel asked.
Charlotte was always so proud of how thoughtful her daughter was. Most teenagers (herself included, she thought) would have shrugged and walked away, rather than drumming up a conversation.
“I haven’t seen much of it, to be honest,” Everett said. “I just arrived last night, met your Aunt Lola and Aunt Christine at a bar, then collapsed at the Sunrise Cove Inn. I guess I have a lot of exploring to do, although I don’t know how much I’ll manage since the rehearsal dinner is already tomorrow.”
Rachel scrunched her nose. “It’s going to be such a mess. Ursula is a real... character.”
“Character is one word for it,” Everett said. “I photographed her once at the Oscars. She insulted almost every other photographer in line with me.”
“Not you?” Charlotte asked.
“For some reason, she gave me a pass,” Everett said. “I’ll never know why. To be honest, I’m su
re she had an insult ready to hurl at me, but then she had to move on down the red carpet.”
Rachel giggled. Charlotte slipped her fork through the cinnamon-baked apples and dotted a few of them across her tongue. She closed her eyes at the perfect sugary-sweetness.
“Christine. You’ve outdone yourself,” she said. “If that cake is anything like this...”
Christine scoffed. “Yeah, right. I took ages on that cake. If that cake isn’t one thousand times better than this apple pie, then I’ll eat my hand.”
“Baby, I love your hand. Don’t eat it,” Zach said playfully.
Just after eight-thirty, Charlotte admitted that she had to return home to continue work. Susan groaned and said, “You promised you wouldn’t work today!”
At this, Everett said, “Admittedly, I already found her hard at work in the spare bedroom.”
“Charlotte! You didn’t,” Susan said, feigning anger.
“I can’t believe you tattled on me,” Charlotte said. Fluidly, she wrapped a scarf round and round her neck, capturing her long tresses beneath. Her heart bulged in her chest, proof that she felt something. Then again, maybe it was just the wine.
Everett lifted his hands and said, “I would never tell a lie. Not on Thanksgiving.”
“What about Valentine’s Day?” Audrey said from the living area, where she was hard at work on what seemed to be her third piece of pie.
“Never,” Everett said. At this, his cheeks brightened to a funny shade of pink.
A silence widened between them. They studied one another for a long moment. Charlotte couldn’t believe it: she had just spent the previous hours joking and laughing with this really handsome, really successful man like it was any other day.
And she hadn’t really thought of Jason once.
What did that mean?
Did she regret that?
“I think I’ll walk back to the Sunrise Cove Inn,” Everett said suddenly.
In the corner, Audrey whistled.
That girl really had zero self-control.
“Oh?” Charlotte said.
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