The Fifth Avenue Story Society

by Rachel Hauck

  Never mind that her arm still hurt and living with a long arm cast was nothing short of a prison sentence.

  She wanted to cry. But crying changed nothing.

  “Thank you. The recipe is rather simple.”

  “Jett, you okay?” Coral again.

  “Yeah, why?” He shoved a forkful of meat into his mouth.

  Lexa glanced over at him. What happened to us, Jett?

  But why open a coffin to ask the body why it died? There was no answer. The marriage ended as marriages do.

  Move on.

  She’d decided looking for a new job was not running but advancing. As all people needed to do from time to time.

  The Bower clock tick-tocked, serenading the muted sounds of plastic forks cutting against paper plates, and the hum of eating.

  The light from the sconces shed a warm light across the walnut hardwood, and for a moment, Lexa could’ve sworn the sounds from beyond the window were the clip-clop of horse and carriage.

  “How are things at CCW?” Ed to Coral.

  “I spoke with my father for advice, and today I commissioned an auditor he recommended. We have a sales meeting next week where I’ll ask the hard questions. But I’m almost convinced my CEO is right. Pink Coral must go.”

  “Coral, hey, I bought one of your lip glosses.” Lexa set her plate on the table Jett brought over for her. She’d forgotten all about her purchase. “At a drugstore by the doctor’s office.” Lexa produced the product, still in the packaging.

  “There was one there? Where?” Coral reached for the lip gloss. “Diamond Dust. My favorite. And it’s supposedly doing the worst.”

  “The cashier said they couldn’t keep the product stocked. She said they sell out.”

  “She told you that?” Coral furrowed her brow and passed back the gloss.

  “Yeah, so there’s at least one store where it sells.”

  Coral tapped on her phone. “I’m sending a text to Blaire, and also Sal, VP of Sales. She really said they couldn’t keep it stocked? Which store?”

  Lexa told her and Coral sat back with a generous, stunning smile. No wonder the prince had fallen for her.

  “Thank you, Lexa. I feel like I’ve taken my first deep breath in a year.”

  Coral’s relief changed the library’s atmosphere and Lexa soaked it up.

  “Coral, when did you take over CCW?” she said.

  “Four years ago. My grandmother and I were on our way to Paris for the fashion season and she dropped dead in her apartment. Heart attack.”

  “I’m so sorry.”

  “Did you want to be the head of the company?” Chuck.

  “Someday. But not at twenty-nine. I’d been working with Grandmother since high school. After college I officially joined the executive team, but I was not ready to occupy her corner office. I wonder if that’s why the company is struggling.”

  “You’ll figure it out,” Lexa said, her cheer genuine. “Didn’t your great-grandmother start the company at twenty-five during the Depression?”

  “You know my company.” Coral’s smile shone in her eyes. “Great-grandmother Coral Ruth started CCW in thirty-four.”

  “Did you know her?” Jett said.

  “I did. I have this image of her, larger than life, the grand dame of cosmetics commanding everyone to do her bidding. And they did. Even the men. She died when I was seven. My Dad took me to see her at the hospital a few days before she passed, and there she sat, barking orders at her hair stylist and critiquing CCW’s new red lipstick as her assistant took notes.” She laughed softly. “I knew I wanted to be just like her when I grew up. But I’m pretty sure I’ve let both grandmothers down.”

  “Naw, you haven’t.” Chuck flicked his hand against her arm. “You just got distracted by being the princess of the wrong kingdom. You’re a cosmetic duchess, not a princess of Lauchtenland.”

  “Chuck, such wisdom,” Jett said.

  “I’m not as dumb as I look, Wilder.”

  “You know I applied at CCW when I moved to the city,” Lexa said.

  “Really?”

  “Yeah, but I didn’t have much experience, being fresh out of college. And none with the cosmetics world.”

  “And we overlooked you?”

  “Didn’t even get called for an interview.”

  “Our loss is Zane’s gain. How are they surviving without you?”

  “Well enough.”

  Detailing her run-in with Zane would spoil the mood. Besides, every time she tried to put the encounter into words, she sounded like she’d been eating bitter grapes.

  “Ed, how’s your memoir?” Jett said, his gaze meeting Lexa’s as he moved his attention to the old man.

  Thank you.

  “Same. Thinking through what you told me, Jett. I just can’t seem to remember any of the hard times. Seems it was always good with Esmerelda.”

  “Then tell us that story, Ed. Inspire the rest of us. Write about your daughter, your family life, holidays, and traditions. Did Holly get along with Esmerelda?”

  “They were thick as thieves.”

  “It’d be interesting to have her perspective on your relationship in the book,” Lexa said.

  “She’s got a point, Ed. What do you think?” Jett again.

  “I just had in mind to tell our story. Esmie’s and me.”

  “Tell you what I want to hear,” Chuck said, munching on the rabbit food, as he called his salad. “Stories of Jett climbing mountains and shooting rapids with his old man.”

  “Dude, that’s another world.” Jett stuffed a dripping, juicy bite of meat in his mouth.

  “Don’t you want to go with your old man now that your brother is gone?”

  Jett looked up, flaring. Lexa felt the heat of his nonverbal response. “No.”

  “Too scared?” Chuck, merrily eating meat and lettuce.

  “Too smart. Can we change the subject?”

  Chuck looked up, surprised, a thin pink on his cheeks. “Yeah, sure.”

  “Chuck, what’s going on with your kids?” Jett asked, trying to steer the conversation.

  “Nothing. Well, maybe something.” He dropped his plate between his booted feet and wiped his lips. “I saw my son.”

  “Saw your son?” Coral turned her attention on him. “Don’t you see him regularly?”

  Chuck clapped his hands together, arms on his thighs, head down. “No. The ex filed for a restraining order, and being as her family practically owns Woodbridge, I didn’t stand much of a chance.”

  “She can’t file for no reason, Chuck,” Lexa said.

  Week by week, the group had solidified. Become a bit closer. And lowered barriers.

  “What makes you think she had no reason?” Chuck snatched up his plate and moved back to the pot roast. “Can we get potatoes with this next time, Ed?”

  “Can we get more than pizza from you?” Jett said.

  “You’re welcome to take my place. Can’t wait to see what you bring, Prof.”

  “Stop.” Lexa said. “We don’t need your sniping. We had some good news with Coral so let’s soak it up, okay?”

  “I don’t know if I’d call it good news,” Chuck grumbled.

  “It’s a lead and I’ll take it.” Coral nodded at Lexa.

  “Ed, the pot roast and salad were perfect,” Lexa said. “Chuck, I’m sorry about your kids. And just because Storm Wilder died piloting off the Eiger in a wingsuit doesn’t mean Jett is afraid.” She glanced about the circle. “Anything else?”

  “Sorry, man.” Chuck popped Jett on the shoulder as he passed back to his chair.

  “Yeah, me too.”

  “Were you there, Jett? On the Eiger?” Coral said. Between her soft voice, her silk blouse, and her wide-leg trousers, she seemed to float.

  Jett choked on his food as he reached for his water. “I was, yes.”

  The confession blanketed the Bower. Coral stretched her hand to Jett’s, giving him a squeeze.

  “Getting real now,” Ed said, more to h
imself than the others.

  “I caught my wife cheating.” Chuck’s voice broke the reverie. “Didn’t go well. That’s why I can’t see my kids.” He raised his gaze. “Guess I’m the mess of the group.”

  “Don’t hog the moniker for yourself,” Jett said.

  The society fell silent again. Seemed the spirit of confession was moving as it willed.

  After a minute or two, Coral began to clean up. Lexa gathered her own trash and started to help.

  “In other news,” Jett said, “I’m about to submit my dissertation for publication. Tomorrow, in fact. But there’s a manuscript in that back corner I’m going to inspect first.”

  “In this library?”

  “Congratulations, man.”

  “I’ll buy a copy,” Ed said through gruff emotion.

  “I don’t think this will be a book you’d want to read, Ed. More for academic eggheads. But thanks. And yes, Coral, an old, unpublished manuscript of Gordon Phipps Roth.”

  “I bet my ancestors had something to do with that. How nice. Jett, a novelist and a scholar. I feel honored to be in your midst.” Even in her compliments, Coral was clever and elegant. And the way she looked at Chuck . . . with tender adoration. Or was Lexa imagining things?

  Then Coral turned to her when she joined her at the table, wadding up the empty salad bags and capping the dressing bottles.

  “I thought I heard something in your voice when I asked about Zane. What’s up?”

  “Nothing. Well, we argued.” Lexa handed the trash to Jett as he snapped open a garbage bag. “The short of it is I’ve uploaded my résumé to job sites. Going to reach out to headhunters next.”

  “You’re leaving ZB?” Coral handed Ed the paper products for the back closet.

  “If I can find the right job, yes. Maybe.” The words tasted like dust. Not so much because she confessed to leaving Zane, although the idea did rattle her sense of security, but because she might leave the city.

  Leave Jett.

  “But you’re staying in Manhattan, right?” Coral said. “Our little society is just getting started. And hey, maybe CCW HR will find your résumé and call you in for an interview. I could put in a word—”

  “Coral, no, really, I’m not telling you because I want a favor. I want a CEO position or something executive. And I know food, not cosmetics. You have an amazing CEO in Blaire Boreland. I studied her success with Glitter Girl. And yes, I’d like to stay in New York, but to be honest, I’ve never lived anywhere longer than four years. I think I’m getting restless. Maybe it’s time to move on, spread my wings.”

  “You moved a lot as you grew up?” Chuck started folding up the food table.

  “My dad was in the air force. A doctor. So yes, we moved a lot.”

  “What was your favorite place?” Ed said.

  “Satellite Beach, where I went to high school.”

  The words high school sparked a conversation reminiscing of their younger days, and before Lexa knew it, they’d passed the last half of the hour expounding on stories of friendships and hardship.

  It was easier to be honest about the past than the present.

  Ed announced he didn’t have a lot of friends but was thick with the guys on his block. They ran together all four years of high school.

  Chuck was a jock and Mr. Popular with a ton of friends.

  Coral, believe it or not, was not popular and often found herself on the outer edge of the in-crowd at her elite private high school.

  “I was shy and bookish,” she said.

  “I was bookish, but not shy. I liked sports as much as I loved studying,” Jett said.

  “Lex, what about you?” Chuck had relaxed, reclining in his chair, and his easy, loping smile reminded her of an Old Hollywood actor. The kind Grandma talked about when she was a kid. Like Rock Hudson or Charlton Heston. “I bet you were popular.”

  “Actually, no.”

  “Jett, is she telling the truth?”

  “I’m not sure.” Their eyes met and she softened under the power of blue. “She was friends with the in-crowd but left in the middle of her senior year for college. She surfed and made lattes at a coffee shop.”

  “You surfed?” Coral lit up with fascination. “Out with it, Lex.”

  “Out with what? I surfed and worked at a coffee shop. Nothing to tell. Nothing to see.”

  “Surfed? Did you see sharks?” Coral glanced at Chuck. “I’ve always wanted to surf.”

  “Then do it. What’s holding you back?”

  She frowned. “I’m not sure. I can ski. But surfing? Lexa, how’d you learn?”

  “Bought a board and went out on the water. Met some kids who were kind enough to show me the ropes. We’d moved to Satellite Beach right before my sophomore year, and I was eager to dig in, make central Florida my home. Dad promised we wouldn’t move again before my sister and I graduated.”

  “You just did it? Hopped on a board and rode a wave?” Coral mimed surfing, wobbling from side to side with her arms out and knees bent.

  “I wish. The waves rode me for the first few weeks. But I kept at it, going out early every morning, praying for waves. I stayed out until Mom sent Skipper to bring me home. Maybe eight, nine hours.” She grinned at the memory. “I lost twenty pounds in like a month—”

  “Those were the days.”

  “And even with my reddish coloring, had the most gorgeous golden tan.”

  Chuck whistled. “So, you were the hot new girl?”

  Lexa laughed. “Yes, okay, but I was still the new girl.”

  “You two met in college?” Ed pointed at Lexa then Jett. “Why’d you get divorced?”

  “Now that’s a dark story,” Jett said.

  “How dark?” Chuck said.

  “Too dark for tonight.” Jett again. “Coral, you said no one asked you to your prom?”

  “Nope. A couple of my rivals started a rumor that I refused to go with any guy in school. Another rumor said I had a date with a Yale man, which I did not. I was happy to not go but Mom insisted. She fixed me up with the son of a family friend who’d just finished OCS. In fact, she’s still trying to fix me up. Anyway, Tom was gorgeous, especially in his uniform, but ten minutes at a high school prom and he was out of there. I joined the wallflowers and ended up having a great time.”

  “I’d have asked you if I’d been at your school,” Chuck said. “I’d see the rumors as a challenge.”

  “Really?” For a moment, Coral was her high school self. At least to Lexa. She knew the expression she saw on her friend’s face. “I’d have said yes.”

  This story society had just crossed over into friendship. Into the beginnings of trust.

  “My senior year, I had a boyfriend who was the most popular kid in school,” Lexa said. “Super nice guy. Carnie.” She’d never told anyone outside the family the story brewing in her soul. Not even Jett. “But he stood me up for homecoming.”

  Ed slapped his hand over his heart. “What is wrong with young people?”

  A surprising sting of humiliation struck her bones. “I was seventeen and in love as you can only be in high school.” Each word was like heaving stones. Coral listened with a compassionate expression. Chuck, with large and curious eyes. Ed, poised as if to take notes. And Jett, with a dubious stare as if he didn’t believe what she was about to say. “Before me, Carnie had dated Babs—yes, that was her real name—this tall, gorgeous blonde who could’ve been on Baywatch. She was the most popular girl in school. The two of them were destined to be homecoming king and queen. However, they broke up the summer before our senior year. He and I started hanging out, surfing together, and one thing led to another.”

  “You never told me this story.” Jett turned toward her, giving her his full attention.

  “My thing was to fit in. Everywhere we moved, I just made myself useful to whoever needed or wanted me. Girl Friday, the second-best friend, the teacher’s pet, the organizer, the worker bee, whatever.” Once she started moving the stones, the rocks began
to tumble. “I remember being so afraid I’d never fit in or feel like I belonged. When we moved to Satellite Beach I made up my mind to make the most of high school. And I did. Then when Carnie and I started dating, I was the most popular girl in school. I’d done it. Found a way to be one of the in-crowd. Freshmen and sophomore girls were asking my advice, following me on MySpace.”

  “There’s a blast from the past.”

  “For the first time in my life, I was not the outsider. Or the foreigner in a small German community.”

  “Babs got jealous, right?” Chuck knew high school politics well.

  “But I didn’t know until homecoming. I was supposed to go with Carnie. Since I was the planner of our group, I organized a big homecoming pre-party at the officers club. We were to all meet there, our group of sixteen, have snacks, then go to dinner and the dance. My Mom and best friend Deily invested time and money to help me. It was supposed to be epic. Every event in our senior year was hashtag epic. We wanted to go out with a bang. I’d spent two hundred dollars on a new dress. I had my nails and hair done.”

  “I’ve seen pictures. She was beautiful.”

  Lexa glanced at Jett. “When did you see a picture?”

  “Your mom showed me a box of photos when you took me home the first time. But no one told me about Carnie.”

  “I bet you were stunning, Lexa.” Coral leaned into the story. “Go on. What happened?”

  “The pre-party was at four. My friends started arriving but by four thirty, most of the gang hadn’t showed. Those who did were huddled in corners, texting, whispering.” The memory of seeing Deily with her date, Marcus, staring at their phones, knowing what was going down, stung in her eyes. They never said a word. “People started making excuses to leave early. And I realized I was still just the air force kid who moved around and didn’t belong. And never would.”

  “Is that really how you see yourself?” Curiosity framed Jett’s expression.

  “Where was Carnie?” Chuck demanded.

  “I kept texting, asking where he was. He replied once. ‘On my way.’ By five, I stood alone at the officers club window. I didn’t want to mess up my dress, hair, or makeup, so I refused to sit or go outside. Five-o-five, he wasn’t there. Five-ten, no limo. I texted him again. No answer. At five thirty, I called. Nothing. Six, six-thirty. I could feel Mom watching me from the loaded food tables. There is no greater humiliation than failing in front of your parents.”