"Did you really expect that to change?"
I reached into the back for the beer and wine I'd brought along. My mother didn't stock either. She didn't need it with all the weed she consumed. "Not sure what I expected from you." I didn't give her a chance to volley back, saying, "Stay with me, would you? There are no fewer than forty pumpkins on the walkway and I don't want you tripping over any of them in those shoes."
"These shoes have managed through more than a couple of pumpkins," she replied with a motion toward her fancy heels. "You need not worry about me tripping over anything."
With my free hand, I reached for her waist. "You say this yet I'm still going to hold on to you."
"Go ahead." She beamed up at me. "But do it because you want to, not because you've contrived some sense of obligation."
I didn't argue with that. Not because I didn't want to but because there were a fuckton of pumpkins on the walk and the front steps, and one of us was liable to knock a gourd over if we didn't pay attention. I led her inside and down the main hallway toward the kitchen, knowing everyone would be congregated there.
My sister Magnolia was seated at the table with Ash's fiancée Zelda beside her as they pored over some documents. Magnolia's husband Rob was perched on a stool at the island, his phone in one hand and a vegetable peeler in the other. My mother was busy inspecting a selection of sweet potatoes and didn't notice us arrive.
"Hello there," Magnolia drawled. "Hi. I'm Magnolia and I'd get up but it would take me five minutes and I'd break out in a sweat so I'm going to do everyone a favor and stay put."
"Hi. I'm Jasper. Congratulations," she said, motioning to my sister's belly.
My mother whirled around. "Linden! You didn't tell me you were here!"
"We just walked in," I said.
"Oh, I'm so thrilled you came!" My mother elbowed me out of the way to wrap Jasper in a warm hug. She leaned back, her hands still clasped on Jasper's upper arms, saying, "This green, it's such a smart color on you. I love it, I just love it. And I have to say, I cannot get over how beautiful you are."
I wouldn't have noticed if I hadn't been watching closely but Jasper flinched at those words. Her jaw locked and her smile turned hollow, and it was like she blinked herself away in the moment. I didn't know why or what it was about my mother's enthusiastic delivery but it didn't work for my girl. Not in the least.
"Mom," I said, edging them apart. "Pace yourself, would you? We just got here. You have all night to suffocate Jasper."
"No worries," Jasper said. "I'm okay, Lin."
"Oh my god, she calls him Lin," Magnolia whisper-yelled. "It was totally worth the drive down here to watch this live."
"Does that include the two stops we had to make?" Rob asked.
"One of them was for a bathroom," she replied.
"What was the other for?" Zelda asked.
"I needed an ice cream sandwich," Magnolia said.
Zelda nodded. "Fair."
I handed off the drinks to Rob and draped my arm around Jasper's shoulder, steering her toward the table. "Jasper, this is Zelda. She's my brother's fiancée."
"This probably sounds crazy but I've heard so much about you," Zelda said as she shook Jasper's hand. "When Ash came home from meeting with Linden that day, he had all the stories in the world. I hope that's not too weird for you. Now that I say it, I feel like it's pretty weird and I'm making this awkward."
"Well, isn't that nice," Jasper replied. "I'd be surprised if he didn't have some stories after that very special turn of events. I mean, there were about a million bats flying out my front door. That was awkward."
She gave one of her fake laughs, the ones I hated so much, but Zelda didn't seem to realize it was fake. None of them seemed to realize because they were laughing. How did they not hear it? How did they not know?
"And this is Magnolia's husband Rob," I said, moving the introduction train along. "He does very boring things with money and handles my sister's ice cream sandwich requirements with a limited amount of complaint."
"That is extremely true," Rob said as he held out his hand to Jasper.
"Now, Jasper," my mother started, "we were just talking about Magnolia's shower—"
"I don't need another shower," Magnolia interrupted. "Rob and I've both had work showers and we've had a friend shower too. I don't need the church ladies and your teacher friends throwing me a shower. We don't need anything else."
"I'm the grandmother. I get to throw a shower if I want to," my mother insisted.
"Can you make it a college savings account shower?" Rob asked. "We have way too many blankets and tiny socks. College savings accounts, we don't have any of those."
"Good luck with that," Magnolia said to him. "Since the gang's all here and I will not be able to talk Grandmazilla out of anything, I think this would be a good time for us to discuss the hot topic of partnership." She gestured to me. "Ash is in Dad's office, if you're up for it."
I stifled a groan. This damn partnership. With a glance to Jasper, I said, "This won't take too long."
"Of course it won't," Mom said. "Your father should be back from the golf course any minute now and we're eating a tad earlier than usual because Zelda has a very early class tomorrow. You'll be finished with business soon enough to help me set the table for supper."
"Off you go," Jasper said.
I headed down the hall to my father's home office, Magnolia a few steps behind me. "We don't have to do this," she said, slightly breathless. "Not if you don't want to."
"Let's just get it over with," I replied. "I want to get back to Jasper."
"Zelda and Rob run a tight ship. They won't let things get out of hand," she said.
There was something deeply amusing about Jasper joining the ranks of Rob and Zelda. I couldn't explain it, I just knew I liked the sound of it. "I know that. I know she'll be fine."
We stepped into the office to find Ash standing beside Dad's desk, a file open in his hands. He glanced up, saying, "Are we ready?"
"Let's do this," Magnolia said.
I dropped into one of the armchairs in front of the desk. "Why does this feel like an ambush?"
"Because you and I didn't discuss this like we'd planned last month," Ash said. "Remember? Our meeting was interrupted by a series of unlikely events."
I nodded. "I do remember that."
Ash settled into the desk chair with an uneasy glance around the room. "It's strange being on this side," he murmured to himself. "Anyway. The purpose of this meeting is to discuss potential partnership terms as well as the implications of this on projected profit over the next five years. Any questions?"
I didn't have specific questions though I knew I was uncertain about teaming up with Magnolia. It had nothing to do with her but my general unwillingness to commit to a big new thing that had the potential to disrupt my way of life. What if this meant I had to sit through meetings about finances and human resources? I'd hate that. I'd hate everything about it. And I didn't care what kind of paper we used to mail invoices or the design of our logo. I just didn't care about any of it and I knew I'd be agitated if I had to park my ass in an office and hear about it all the time.
This was why I tuned out my sister's questions about cost centers and ownership shares. It wasn't my language and I didn't want it to become my language.
"What about you, Lin?" Ash asked. "Any concerns about this schedule of terms?"
I didn't even know which schedule we were talking about. "I don't think so."
"That's probably because you haven't been listening," Magnolia said, the humor heavy in her words. "I mean, I'm sorry, dude, but you don't hide it especially well."
Ash leaned back, propped an elbow on the armrest. "What's holding you back here, Lin?"
I shook my head. "I don't know. I'm just not sure. It's a big move, you know? Maggie, you've been working with a whole staff for years, but it's just me. I don't work with anyone."
"And that's exactly why you should work with me," she
said. "You're assuming responsibility for equipment, insurance, everything—and if we teamed up, you'd wipe out nearly ninety percent of those costs. The economies of scale are too great to ignore."
"You sound like Ash," I muttered.
She laughed. "Between Ash and Rob, I have money men on either side of me. I can't help it."
"Here's what I see," Ash said, pointing his pen at me. "You are spread very thin right now. You are on the road every single day and you're going from the North Shore to the South Shore to the Cape. And then you manage all of your record-keeping and invoice reporting by hand. It's a lot of time not spent on your core competency of—"
"Oh my god." I shoved my fingers through my hair because what was this bullshit? "What are you trying to say? Can you tell me that?"
"I'm saying you're not able to use your time as effectively as you could," he said. "And we might have a solution for that."
"I'll go a step further," Magnolia said. "You're doing things you don't like just because it's worked well enough for the past few years. You're doing things you don't like just because you've been doing them a long time and change seems excessively complicated. Like, dude, I'm sure you're thinking of the dozens of things that could go wrong and all the ways it will be different from your current situation, which is not actually that bad."
"You're not wrong about that," I admitted.
"And you don't like working with the country clubs and golf courses because most of them only care about keeping their fairways pretty and they don't give a shit about much else," she continued. "How many times have you bitched up a blue streak to me about country clubs planting a dozen hosta or liriope around the base of oak trees? Or pruning the hell out of some dogwoods and wondering why they stopped flowering?"
I lifted my shoulders. I really hated when they choked the base of trees with plants because—apparently—trees weren't impressive enough on their own. I really hated it when they dug up perfectly good land and filled it with tightly packed flowers and bushes for the sake of creating interest only to turn it all over two months later. "Maybe a few times."
"But the retainer is nice, isn't it?" she continued. "That's nice, steady money."
Even if I did grumble about the country clubs, it wasn't that bad. I could handle it.
"I don't disagree with you," I said.
"The heart of this plan is giving you more time to do the things you're really, really good at and giving me access to your skills," she said. "That we get to reduce our costs and—most likely—increase our profits is a very nice added bonus." She reached over, squeezed my forearm. "I think it would be really cool to work with you. Even though I've had a staff, it's always felt like it's just me. It wouldn't feel like that with you."
"I'm not saying no," I said. "I just need time to think it over. That's all."
"Okay," Magnolia said, her hands on either side of her belly. "I need to stand up because I can't take a deep breath in this position and I'm also ready for food. Why don't we give Linden some time with the documents. It's not like I'm in any rush with this."
I helped her to her feet while Ash shuffled the papers back in the file. "It would be nice to get this resolved before year-end," he said.
"That doesn't mean it's going to happen," Magnolia said. "Come on. We need to get back out there before Mom plans anything else."
16
Jasper
I didn't know if I was allowed to, but I loved Diana.
She was hysterical. Really, truly hysterical. She was all out of fucks but also a fireball, and I liked that combination. Hell, I wanted to be that combination.
"Hot plates, hot plates," she said as she carried two dishes to the dining room table.
I'd offered to help, obviously, but she banished me to the table with Zelda after we transferred some roasted vegetables to a serving plate and tucked the napkins through beaded rings. She'd made those herself, Diana informed us, offering a detailed origin story of the beads and how she crafted the rings. She could make us some, if we liked.
"We're not waiting on your father," Diana sang as she settled the dishes on trivets. "If he's late to supper, he'll eat leftovers."
"Isn't it almost dark out?" Magnolia asked. "How is he still golfing?"
"It doesn't have to make sense, dear," Diana replied.
"How about a drink?" Linden asked from the doorway, several bottles of wine and beer cradled in his arm.
"Yes, please," Rob said, holding up his glass. "Whatever you're pouring, give it to me."
"You make it seem like your life is dreadful and requires drowning in any available liquor," Magnolia said.
"That is not it at all, my love," he said. "More like I just spent half an hour talking someone out of hosting a gender reveal party."
"But everyone knows we're having boys," Magnolia said.
"I know." Rob nodded aggressively. "I know. She wants to do it anyway. At the very minimum, there will be a baby brunch."
"What the hell is a baby brunch?" Magnolia asked.
Rob stared at her. "Does it even matter?"
"Oh my god," Magnolia groaned. She elbowed Ash. "Can't you just get married and distract her?"
Ash shook his head at her belly. "You got yourself into this. Get yourself out."
Linden pulled the cork on a bottle of red wine and filled Rob's glass. "To your health, my friend."
"What do you have for beer?" Zelda asked.
"I grabbed that white ale you liked last time," Linden said, showing her the label on a growler. "Does that work for you?"
"Oh yeah." She held up the wineglass beside her plate. "Should I get a different kind of glass?"
"I'll get it," Ash said to her, dropping a kiss on the crown of her head as he stood. To Linden, he said, "I'll take a glass of red."
"Red for Ash, red for Dad," Linden said to himself, "ale for Zelda, Diet Pepsi for Mom, black cherry seltzer and a splash of ale on the side for Maggie because she's weird and needs to smell beer, stout for me. That's everyone. Good. All set."
"What about Jasper?" Magnolia asked, her brows pinched up like she was deeply offended on my behalf. "You didn't mention her."
He stepped away, grabbed a bottle off the sideboard table. "I've got Jasper covered." He dropped a hand to my shoulder and held out the bottle to me. "Is this what you want tonight? Or something else?"
It was my bottle. The same one I'd had the night he visited me on the back porch. The same one he'd pulled out of his refrigerator the night we ate stew and popovers, the night I'd assumed it was a great big coincidence.
"That's perfect," I managed. My cheeks were hot. So hot. They had to be glowing red right now. "Thank you."
"No problem, Peach."
"There you are," Diana said as an older man dressed in golf gear bustled in from the hall. "We almost sent out a search party." She gave me an aggrieved frown. "Jasper, this is Carlo. My very tardy husband."
"Sorry I'm late, sorry I'm late," he said as he settled into his chair at the head of the table.
"Where have you been?" Diana asked. "Your round was supposed to finish two hours ago."
"The group ahead of us was moving slowly. Everything got backed up." He lifted his hands and offered a sheepish shrug. "I'm glad you didn't wait for me."
"You know I don't wait around when the food is hot and ready," she replied. "Especially not when we have a guest. Carlo, say hello to Linden's friend, Jasper."
He glanced around the table as if he needed a minute to find me in the sea of faces. As soon as he did, I felt something twist inside me. Something ominous.
"Good lord, you're the woman from the television. The one with the senator from Georgia."
I'd forgotten. For the past few days, I'd put Timbrooks and my hot-mic moment out of my mind. I'd forgotten long enough to be caught off guard and now I couldn't move. I couldn't even breathe.
"Dad," Linden warned.
There was a long, pulsing moment when everyone was completely silent. It was like the quiet bet
ween dropping a glass and when it hit the floor.
Then it shattered.
"I knew you looked familiar," Magnolia shouted.
"Wait a second. You're the one who said—about the senator?" Ash asked.
"How do you even know my brother? I don't understand how they know each other," Magnolia said to Rob. "Nothing makes sense right now."
"Watch yourself, Maggie," Linden said.
I was frozen stiff. Didn't move, didn't blink.
"What did I say?" she asked. "I said I don't understand anything and I just want someone to explain how you know this woman who is the modern day Joan of Arc, as far as some circles are concerned."
That seemed unlikely. Highly unlikely.
Ash wagged a finger at his sister. "Honestly, yes."
"Let's pass the rice, please," Diana said. "I don't cook rice so you can eat it cold."
I nearly laughed at that because I already loved this lady and her whole no bullshit except for the bullshit I want vibe. If I hadn't been completely frozen in panic, I would've passed the shit out of that rice for her.
Linden leaned in, his arm hooked over the back of my chair. "Are you okay?"
I nodded. That was the best I could do.
"I had no idea," Ash said with a slow shake of his head. "That day at the house, I had no idea."
"Are we talking about the candidate who dropped out of the presidential race? Like, a couple of weeks ago?" Zelda asked.
"Same one," Magnolia said to her. "Can we back up a second? What are you doing now, Jasper? What brings you to Massachusetts? And how do you know Lin?"
Rob lifted his wineglass. "It's a pleasure to meet you, ma'am."
Carlo leaned forward, resting his forearms on either side of his plate. Diana rolled her eyes at that but didn't comment. Then he said, "Thanks for knocking that blowhard out of the race. I couldn't stand him."
After a beat, I laughed—hard. "You're welcome. I think."
"Okay, I really need the full story," Magnolia said. "Everything. Tell me everything."
"There is food on the table," Diana said. "And I did not invite Jasper here for you to grill her with your questions, Magnolia Lynn. As you're all well aware, we do not conduct business talk during supper. That goes for"—she glanced to me, her eyes politely dazed like she wasn't sure how to describe the squall I'd brought to her home—"political matters too."
The Belle and the Beard Page 20
