Starlight on Willow Lake

by Susan Wiggs

  “Let’s go fix something special for cocktail hour,” Alice said to Faith. “We can have a little welcome party for Regina. I’ll explain how to make a strawberry rhubarb fence hopper.” Ever since finding out about the nerve detour surgery, Alice had been in a good mood. She’d already sailed through the preliminary screenings and was optimistic about the upcoming meeting at New York Presbyterian.

  “Sounds delicious,” said Faith. “Lead on.”

  First they went to the raised kitchen garden to gather some fresh strawberries and rhubarb stalks, a few sprigs of mint and sweet woodruff. She also picked some sweet peas, which had just started to bloom. Bella, who was never far from Alice, trotted along happily, sniffing the area. Her tail ticktocked like a metronome.

  “The garden is looking great,” said Faith, checking out the early yield of beans and peas, cherry tomatoes, marigolds and nasturtium.

  “I have your daughter to thank for that.”

  “Ruby?”

  “I wasn’t much interested in gardening, but she talked me into planting a little of everything.” When she spoke of Ruby, Alice’s expression softened.

  “I used to love to garden with my mother,” said Faith. “She wasn’t well, so she did most of the planning, and I did most of the work.”

  “Sounds familiar.”

  “Did you and your kids keep a garden when they were little?” asked Faith.

  “No. I was usually too busy doing something with Trevor or planning something with Trevor. Knowing what I know now, I’d kick myself if I were able-bodied.”

  “Alice—”

  “It’s true. He was my main focus, and now I wish I’d been more present for my children. When I think back through the years, it seemed I was always rushing off somewhere with Trevor, either leaving them with a sitter or dragging them along without bothering to check and see if they wanted to come.” She sighed. “I was not the best mother in the world.”

  “Quit being so hard on yourself. I’ve seen the way you are with Ruby. You’re a wonderful mom.”

  “Maybe now I am. Could be she’s my second chance.”

  “Maybe you’re hers,” said Faith.

  “Nice to hear, but I don’t know what you mean.”

  “This has been our best summer in a long time, Alice, and I give you credit for that. Ruby will always have her quirks, but thanks to you, she swims in the lake and made friends with a dog. She’s stopped sleeping with the lights on. We might even get her to accept third grade without a fight.”

  “You’re very kind, you know that?”

  “What a nice thing to say. If you keep talking like that, you’ll never get rid of us.”

  Alice grinned and turned her chair toward the house. “Let’s go fix some cocktails.”

  They went to work at a small bar area in the lounge room. The bar had a rustic beam counter outfitted with a small fridge and ice maker, a sink and an array of whiskeys, cordials and exotic ingredients. Faith recognized the bottle of Lagavulin Mason had shared with her when she’d first arrived, but found herself bewildered by the liqueurs, aromatics and simple syrups lined up like soldiers for inspection.

  “You’ll need the shaker and the muddler,” Alice said. “That wooden thing that looks like a small baseball bat. The ingredients are fresh strawberries and rhubarb, Becherovka—that’s a special liqueur from Prague—vodka and sparkling elderflower water. The sweet woodruff and mint blossoms make a nice garnish.”

  Within a few minutes Faith had assembled all the ingredients and concocted the most glorious-looking pitcher of cocktails she’d ever seen. She made a smaller supply, minus the alcohol, for the girls. Alice wanted to serve it on the deck to welcome Regina.

  “It’s nice of you to include us,” Faith said as she got out the good glassware. “However, it’s really not necessary.”

  “I’m aware of that,” Alice said. “But you’re still on the clock.” She laughed at Faith’s expression. “And besides, I’m remaking my life. Isn’t that what I’m supposed to be doing? Surrounding myself with people who make me feel secure and supported.”

  “That makes perfect sense to me.”

  Bella, the service dog, whipped her tail as if she understood.

  “Just so you know, I wasn’t happy when you told Mason I tried to kill myself.”

  “I didn’t think you would be.”

  “I’m still not happy. But I understand why you did it.”

  “How are you doing, Alice?” asked Faith, adding cubes to the silver ice bucket.

  “Better,” she said. “And not so long ago I would have choked on that word. Since then, I’ve learned that life can get better. Now, let’s get everything set out, and I’ll send Ruby to find her sister and Mason and Regina.”

  Outside, Faith placed some shell-pink-and-white sweet peas in a jar on the table. “I’ve never done much entertaining.”

  “I used to enjoy it quite a lot,” Alice said. “Of course, it all depends on whom you’re entertaining.”

  “That’s the key, isn’t it?”

  Ruby came to join them, dropping down in the grass to pet Bella. “Cara’s not home. She’s at the PAWS shelter working on some project with Milo. Mason said he and Regina would come in a minute. They were having a serious discussion.”

  “How do you know it was serious?” asked Alice.

  “Their faces looked really serious. Can I take Bella to play on the lawn?”

  Alice nodded. “Trouble in paradise?” she asked after Ruby was out of earshot.

  “I’m sure he and Regina miss each other now that he’s up here,” said Faith.

  “I’ve told Mason repeatedly that there is absolutely no need for him to stay here. He can move back to the city anytime he wants.” She tasted the drink Faith had set down in front of her. “But that’s not why he’s staying.”

  Faith’s heart skipped a beat. She sensed Alice was about to reveal something. But just then, Mason and Regina appeared on the path between the boathouse and the patio. As Ruby had pointed out, they looked serious. Somber, even.

  “It’s happy hour,” Alice announced. “Look happy, you two.”

  Faith busied herself pouring the drinks. “It’s called a strawberry rhubarb fence hopper,” she said. “You’ll have to ask Alice why.”

  Regina took a tentative sip. “Gosh, that’s sweet.” She set her glass aside.

  Mason downed a big gulp of his. “Delicious,” he exclaimed. “Good timing, too, because we’ve got something to tell you.”

  “Good Lord, are you pregnant?” Alice demanded, staring at Regina.

  “Jeez, Mom,” said Mason.

  “We’ve set a date,” Regina said.

  “For what?”

  “For the wedding, Mom. Third Saturday in October.”

  “A wedding?” Cradling the dachshund, Ruby came to join them. “I love weddings. There was one on InStyle TV that was filmed in Hawaii, and it was amazing. Are you going to Hawaii?”

  “The Pierre,” said Regina. “It’s a hotel in New York.” She glanced at Alice and quickly added, “We’re looking at venues around here, too.”

  “Where’s your ring?” Ruby asked.

  “Don’t pester Regina,” Faith said.

  “I just want to see the ring.”

  “We haven’t chosen one yet,” Regina said quickly.

  “I’m sure you’ll find something beautiful,” Faith said.

  “Well, then, a toast is in order,” said Alice. “To my son and his bride-soon-to-be.”

  Mason lifted his glass. “Thanks, Mom.”

  “I’ll clink your glass for everyone,” Ruby said, proudly taking charge.

  Regina took the smallest of sips. “Thank you, Alice.”

  “Congratulations,” Faith said. “That’s very excit
ing.” In a way, it was a relief to hear. This took him definitively off the market, and she could definitively quit wasting her time letting her mind stray to foolish places.

  * * *

  Mason tried to replicate the day on the lake with Regina. He had such great feelings about that incredible afternoon. He could almost pinpoint the moment he’d fallen in love with Willow Lake, a place so different from life in the city. His mother had been swimming, using her body to the best of her ability, and actually smiling about it. Faith and the kids had been practicing their dock-jumping poses, and Milo had managed to persuade the new little dog to come down the ramp and swim around. A certain song by Eddie Vedder had been playing on the stereo, and there had been something completely perfect about that moment.

  “I have a confession to make,” he told Regina.

  “Mmm?”

  “I’m falling in love with this place.”

  “It’s certainly scenic,” she said, lying back on a chaise longue in a pose of perfect relaxation. Maybe she was starting to love Willow Lake, too. Then she asked, “How are you going to live here? Your job is in the city.”

  “My buddy Logan’s going to share office space and an assistant.”

  “Logan? I didn’t know you had friends here.”

  “He was a client. I helped him fund a resort acquisition. He took over Saddle Mountain. It’s a local ski hill. He’s got mountain biking and a zip-line course set up for the summer. We should check it out.”

  “Zip lining? Mountain biking?” She laughed. “My favorites.”

  “Hey, you might like it.”

  “So this office space...and assistant. You’re saying you’ll be able to run Bellamy Strategic Capital from here?”

  “It’ll be fine. It’s temporary.”

  She took a sip of her sparkling water. “Everything is temporary with you. What about me? Am I temporary?”

  “Babe, you know better than that.”

  “Actually, I don’t.”

  “We just told my family about setting a date,” he stated.

  “We told your mother, not your family.”

  Everybody here felt like family, thought Mason, but he didn’t try to explain. She wouldn’t understand. “Hey,” he said, taking her hand and pulling her to her feet, “last one in is a rotten egg.”

  “Nobody says that anymore.”

  “I just did. Come on.” Keeping hold of her hand, he ran down to the dock with her. Donno was already in the water with Alice, and Banni was setting the picnic table with drinks and snacks.

  At the end of the dock, Regina balked. “It’s going to be freezing.”

  “Only at first. Trust me.” With that, he dived in and shot to the surface. The water felt amazing, a fresh sluice of crystal-clear coolness.

  Regina wore a gold-and-white designer bikini, and an expression of grim resolution on her face. She executed a crisp, clean dive, surfacing nearby.

  “Welcome to Willow Lake,” Mason’s mother called.

  Regina surfaced with a loud gasp. “I hope you have a remedy for hypothermia.”

  He pulled her into his arms. She was trembling from head to foot. “That’s not helping,” she said, her teeth chattering.

  “Swim around for a while. You’ll get used to it.”

  “I have a better idea. A vodka tonic and a nap in the sun.” She gave him a quick kiss and swam to the dock ladder.

  “She didn’t last long,” his mother said.

  “She’ll come around.”

  But the day felt different. It just didn’t have the spirit and energy he longed for Regina to share, because he wanted her to fall in love with Willow Lake the way he had. So far, not so good. Something was missing. It happened to be Faith’s day off, and she was spending it with her girls, so she was around, but not on duty. Apparently, she had promised Ruby a new swimsuit if Ruby would jump off the end of the dock and swim to the ladder. With that incentive, the kid had demonstrated her new skills first thing in the morning, and they all went to town.

  In the afternoon he could see the three of them out on the lake, playing on the paddleboards and kayak, their laughter drifting across the water. Mason kept his focus on Regina, intent on making this work. She was gorgeous and smart, and together they made a great team. He could easily picture them traveling the world together once Adam returned and they moved back to the city. With Regina, the transition from single to married would be seamless.

  “I’m stealing Wayan,” she said to him.

  “What?” His mind had drifted again.

  “If you weren’t so busy staring at her, you would have heard me,” Regina said with a teasing laugh. “I said, I’m stealing your mother’s chef, Wayan. He’s fantastic.” She sampled a dab of hummus on a kale-and-sesame wafer. She strictly followed a gluten-free, vegan diet, and Wayan was somehow able to make it palatable.

  I wasn’t staring at her, thought Mason.

  Except he had been.

  It was nothing, he told himself. She was just so different from anyone he’d ever known. She and her girls were a breath of fresh air, and they’d turned his mother’s life around. That was it. He felt a deep appreciation for her.

  “It’s not that you were staring at her that bothers me,” Regina said as if reading his thoughts. “It’s the way you were staring at her.”

  “My mother tried to commit suicide,” he said, determined to ignore his fiancée’s observation.

  Regina nearly choked on her vodka tonic.

  “That’s why I have to be here. There are things she needs to work through. I want to be here to help her.”

  “Of course,” she said. “Mason, I’m so sorry.”

  “Thanks, Reg. I hope like hell she’s going to be all right.”

  “What can I do to help?” She brightened. “I bet she’d love to be in on all the wedding plans.”

  He had no idea. The prospect of making wedding plans had zero appeal to him, but his mother might feel differently. He took Regina’s hand and smiled at her. “She might,” he said. “You could ask her.”

  Out on the lake, a game of chicken had started up, with Donno and Ruby versus Faith and Cara. His mother bobbed nearby, cheering them on.

  “I think she’s preoccupied,” said Regina.

  20

  “I have a date tonight.”

  Faith stared at Alice, wondering if she’d heard correctly. She hoped her surprise didn’t show on her face.

  “Oh,” she said. “With anyone special?”

  “I don’t know if he’s special or not. That’s the point of going out with him. Rick Sanders.”

  “The motorcycle guy.” They saw him frequently at the rehab place, doggedly working with a physical therapist. He had a ready smile and kind eyes, and always had a friendly word for Alice. “That’s great,” she concluded.

  “Well, I certainly wouldn’t know. I haven’t been on a date since I was in college. Trevor Bellamy took me to the spring formal forty years ago, and I never looked at another man. So it might not be great at all.”

  “Let me know how I can help you get ready.”

  “Call the salon—you know, that cute one in the town center?”

  “Twisted Scissors.”

  “Yes, that’s the one. See if they can get us in.”

  “Us?”

  “You don’t think I’m going to do all that by myself.”

  “But— Okay, fine. I can wait while you get all dolled up.”

  “Please don’t say all dolled up. It creeps me out.”

  Faith had learned weeks ago that Alice got snippy when she was nervous about something. “All right, then, I’ll wait and catch up on my trashy-magazine reading. I love magazines so much, it makes my teeth ache.”

  “Well, that’s too bad,
because you are required to get dolled up right alongside me.”

  “What? No.” Faith could not remember the last time she’d had her hair done at a proper salon. The cost was prohibitive.

  “Don’t worry about the cost,” Alice said, as if reading her mind. “This is my treat. Consider it part of your duties.”

  The girls at the Twisted Scissors were sisters—Tina, Leah and Maxine Dombrowski—and proprietors of the nicest salon in town. Faith knew them because one of her former clients used to have a standing weekly hair appointment here. Faith used to like waiting around at the salon because it was her one chance in the week to sit and look at magazines. She liked the ones that took her someplace beyond her world. There was something relaxing in the act of gazing at photos of food and clothes and gardens and decor—the everyday trappings of an untroubled life. Her weekly one-hour escape.

  Faith had never availed herself of the Dombrowski sisters’ services. A seventy-five-dollar cut and style simply wasn’t in her budget. Besides, Faith had convinced herself that getting pampered and pretty were unnecessary indulgences for a home health aide.

  When she walked through the doors of the salon behind Alice, the exotic smells of hair and skin products enveloped them, and she was hit by an unexpected yearning.

  “Thanks for working us in,” Faith said.

  “As you can see, we’re in dire need,” Alice added.

  “She has a date tonight,” Faith told the sisters.

  “Excellent,” said Maxine. “And how about you?”

  “No date for me, thank you very much.”

  “Well, you are going to have to go out, because I swear to all my stars and little catfish that you’ll want to show off how good you look.”

  “I’ll settle for impressing my kids,” Faith said.

  “Nope, not good enough. What about a girl date? You know, out with your girlfriends.”

  “I suppose I could, if I can get Cara to watch Ruby.”

  “Ruby will be fine at the house,” Alice pointed out. “She can have pizza and watch a movie with Philomena.”

  “All right. I suppose I could always join the Friday Night Drinking Club.”