by Wendy Wax
“Too negative?” Bitsy asked. “Because I thought it was more half full than just toasting to ‘making Bertie pay.’”
Maddie laughed. “I get it. And truthfully, I’m glad he’s finally getting what he deserves. But what if we just drink to ‘justice’?”
“To justice!” They clicked their plastic cups and drank.
Bitsy turned to Nikki. “Speaking of your husband, he gave me some serious shit this afternoon for not telling him that Luvie was MIA while he was gone.”
“I thought she was sick,” Avery said. “I seem to have missed a lot.”
Even in the fading light, Kyra could see Nikki squirm. “Well, she’s back now and I think we’ve had a meeting of the minds. She’s suffered some serious financial losses so we’ll be grossly overpaying her to come less often.”
Bitsy smiled. “There’s something perfectly logical in there somewhere. And it sounds like we might have to make her a provisional member of the Lost Everything but Still-Standing Sisterhood.”
“I’ll drink to that.” Nikki raised her glass. “And while we’re at it, I think we need to devise a secret handshake or password and maybe even a signature cocktail for the Still-Standing Sisterhood.”
“It does have a ring to it,” Bitsy agreed as they drank.
Avery held out her glass for a refill. “I’m glad you came up with a toast, and I like Luvie just fine. But for the record I am never going to drink tea at sunset.”
Bitsy downed her wine then opened another bottle. “I agree,” she said as she refilled their glasses. “We will not be toasting the sunset with tea, no matter how ‘lovely’ or ‘restorative.’”
The sun puddled into the water, a subtle, less fiery setting than a summer sunset but every bit as beautiful.
Bitsy turned to Avery. “You know, I heard from Ray’s Realtor friend who took us on the tour of the Y.”
“You toured a YMCA?” Maddie asked.
“Yes, the historic one downtown,” Bitsy replied. “Ray set it up because he thought Avery would enjoy it.”
“I did. It’s an unbelievable building. It’s Mediterranean Revival–style just like Bella Flora and the Don CeSar and it was built right around the same time.” The excitement in Avery’s voice escalated. “A number of developers and investors have bought it intending to renovate and reuse or repurpose it, but no one’s gotten past interior demolition.”
“Well, the Realtor confirmed it’s not officially for sale. But the current owner isn’t willing to put any more money in and she thinks he’s stopped worrying about the cheese and just wants out of the trap.” Bitsy’s smile might have been borrowed from the Mona Lisa. “Meaning he might be interested in selling it at a very reasonable price.”
“Seriously?” Avery asked.
“Um-hmmm,” Bitsy said. “And I was thinking Downtown St. Pete is booming right now, and it’s a large enough space to house retail and restaurants.”
“But, now that you have money again and you’re about to have your revenge, don’t you want to go back to Palm Beach?” Avery asked.
Bitsy fingered her wineglass. “That’s all I thought about most of last year. Even while I was down there over New Year’s, I was imagining going back in a flash of glory, back on top, showing them they shouldn’t have counted me out.”
“And now?” Kyra couldn’t help asking.
“Now, who cares what they think?” Bitsy said. “I’ve learned a lot about myself since I came here. And I don’t have friends like you-all back there. If they have a Bestie Row in Palm Beach, no one’s ever invited me into it. And I’m not sure they’d understand the Lost Everything but Still-Standing Sisterhood.” She smiled. “I want to continue to help June and her clients, but I’d like to have something, some kind of business, to sink my teeth into.” She cocked one eyebrow at Avery. “Would you be interested in handling the architectural end? And maybe oversee the construction?”
Kyra hooted at the expression on Avery’s face. “You look like someone just told you all the presents under the Christmas tree were for you.”
“Well, that’s exactly what getting to bring that building back to life would feel like. Times one hundred.” Avery’s smile faded. “But I don’t see how I could undertake a project of that size alone.”
“But couldn’t Chase work with you?” Maddie asked.
It was Avery’s turn to squirm.
“Clearly I’ve missed a few details while I’ve been on the road,” Maddie said, turning to Avery. “Tell me what’s going on.”
“There’s nothing to tell.” Avery grabbed a Cheez Doodle and chewed it as if her life depended on it. “I just haven’t been able to make that full-time forever commitment. And now, even if I could, he’s dating that Riley.”
“I’m sure he can’t have gotten all that serious about her so quickly,” Maddie said.
“No? Well, she answers his phone. And, well, I don’t want to know what else they’re doing together. I couldn’t give him what he wanted so . . . he found someone who could. End of story.”
“Only if you want it to be,” Maddie said in that calm, implacable voice of hers. “Surely you’re not going to walk away from the man you love and who clearly loves you.”
“I already have. And he didn’t exactly come running after me,” Avery pointed out.
“It’s not a matter of who runs after whom,” Maddie said.
“I’m just so confused and stuck. One minute I’m sure it’s too late and I feel like shit. The next I tell myself maybe it isn’t, but then I’m afraid that if I commit and trust that he’ll never push me away again and he does, that I won’t survive it.”
The beach had grown quiet. Dusk had turned to darkness. Kyra didn’t need to see Avery’s face to know that tears had begun to fall.
“You can’t let fear dictate your life,” Maddie said. “There are no guarantees. But that doesn’t mean it’s okay to run and hide and never take a chance. You can’t refuse to play a game because you might lose. You need to be honest with yourself. And with Chase. And you need to be willing to take a risk to live the life you want with the person you love.”
Kyra listened to her mother and wondered yet again how she’d gotten so wise. Where she’d learned how to tell people the truth without hurting their feelings or spiraling into the negative. She’d forced them to search for that one good thing each day when it had seemed an impossible task. And if she could, she’d force them to live their lives to the fullest.
Maddie took the bottle and refilled all their glasses. When she raised hers they all did the same. “To Avery. May she find the courage to have the life she wants and so richly deserves.”
“To Avery!”
* * *
• • •
As they packed up the chairs and leftovers, Kyra thought about her mother’s advice. Was there always a risk attached to reward? They were on the path back to the cottage when Kyra’s phone dinged with an incoming text. She recognized Troy’s number. They hadn’t spoken since his snide comments about her and Daniel. The message read, Brought Dustin back. We’re outside your mom’s cottage.
“There’s Mommy and Geema!” Dustin called as they approached. Guess what? We went to Gigi’s, and I ate three whole pieces of pepperoni pizza all by myself.”
“Wow, you must have really been hungry,” Kyra said, pleased at how proud Dustin sounded. It was the most excited she’d heard him since their trip to Disney World.
“He was hungry all right,” Troy said. “I told your dad I’d drop him off since it’s on my way . . . home.”
They all heard his hesitation on the word, but Kyra was watching her son’s smiling tomato-sauce-covered face.
“Thank you, Troy.” Her mother took Dustin by the hand. “I’m going to get this pizza-eating machine ready for bed.” She bent over and whispered something in Dustin’s ear.
“Thanks
, Troy. I had fun.” Dustin looked up and shot Troy a brighter smile than any Kyra had seen since they’d gotten back.
“I guess I need to add my thanks, too,” she said as the door closed behind them. “He really likes spending time with you. And he needs every bit of real life he can get right now. We both do.”
“Your dad told me what happened.” Troy’s voice turned gruff. “I didn’t like the guy from the get-go, and I’ve never thought of myself as a particularly violent person, but at the moment I’d like to get my hands on Daniel and mess up that pretty-boy face of his.”
“Yeah. Me too,” she said truthfully.
“Listen.” He took a step toward her. “I’m sorry about what I said on the phone. The idea of him touching you . . . I was jealous and I said stupid things. And when you told me Tonja said you could have him? I didn’t hear a word you said after that. I just lost it.”
She could see what the admission cost him and she liked him all the more for it. In fact, it occurred to her that she liked him quite a lot.
“Well, for what it’s worth, I told Tonja she could keep him. I should have never let Dustin do the film. Pretty much everything I was afraid of happened and then some. Now I just want Dustin to be himself again and I want to get back to work in some way.”
They stared at each other for a long moment. The porch light created a halo on his blond hair, but she knew him too well to cast him in the role of angel. His exhale was loud and fraught with frustration. “I’m really not sure what’s supposed to happen next. I want you in my life, Kyra. Both you and Dustin. That’s not a question for me.” His smile turned sheepish. “But I’m not the guy to wage some long-range romantic campaign. And I don’t seem to be that great at dramatic gestures. You’re going to have to decide whether you want to have a relationship with me or not.”
“So, you’re putting this all on me?”
“It did sort of come out that way, didn’t it?”
“Uh, yeah,” she said. “And frankly, you’ve kind of strayed back into sucky territory. Because I don’t know if you noticed, but I’m hanging on by a thread right now. I’m way too preoccupied to think about a relationship with anybody.” She moved to step around him. “So, thanks for bringing Dustin back. Have a good night.”
“Wait. That’s it?”
She stopped, faced him. “Yeah, I think so.”
He ran another hand through his hair. His blue eyes turned intent. “I think you and Dustin should move home. To Bella Flora.” He spoke quickly as if afraid she’d go inside the moment he stopped. “I love that house, but it isn’t meant for one person. And I can’t live there alone while you two are stuffed into the tiny second bedroom here.”
“And you’d live in the pool house like you suggested before?” she asked.
“Yes.” He nodded and stepped closer. “That way we’d have a chance to spend time together, you know, really get to know each other. No strings. No obligations. Just some time to figure things out.”
She’d never heard him quite so earnest. Sincerity looked good on him. But there were some serious flaws in this plan. “I think I told you the last time you suggested this that I can’t afford to refund your rent.”
“I don’t care about the money. I’d spend every penny of it to give you time to fall in love with me.”
“And if that doesn’t happen?”
“You already admitted that spending time with me didn’t suck. And I can do way better than not sucking.”
The moon had risen and stars spilled across the night sky. She saw the teasing glint steal into his eyes as he stepped closer. “But just to allay any doubts, I’ll promise you this. If you haven’t fallen madly in love with me by the time my lease expires in June, I’ll move out. No harm, no foul.”
“Is that right?” She tilted her head back and stared up into his smiling face.
“Ummm-hmmm.” He slipped his arms around her. “But I don’t think that’s going to happen.”
“You don’t?” she asked.
“No, I don’t.” He lowered his mouth to hers and kissed her with a thorough gentleness that surprised her. The tension began to seep out of her. In fact, she felt oddly boneless as if she might melt into a puddle at his feet. The thought made her giggle.
“What’s so funny?” he asked when another giggle escaped. “Because I’m kissing my heart out here and laughter wasn’t what I was going for.”
“Sorry,” she said, though she wasn’t. She felt lighter than she had in weeks, maybe even light enough to float. “I’ll try to give your efforts the serious attention they deserve,” she said very seriously. Right before a full laugh bubbled out.
“Fine, go ahead and make fun. I can take it.” His lips twisted up into a smile that brushed across hers. Then he arranged them into an exaggerated pucker and applied them to her cheek and made extremely loud kissing noises. When they finally pulled apart they were smiling at each other like goons. “So what do you think of my plan now?”
“Hmmmm. I don’t know.” She pretended to consider the idea just long enough to keep him from becoming completely cocky. “I think I might be able to live with that plan.”
“I can’t tell you how glad I am to hear that.” He gave an exaggerated sigh of relief then stepped back to take her in his arms. “Because that’s all I’ve got. As far as I’m concerned there is no plan B.”
Thirty-six
It was funny what a little sleep, a grateful nanny, and an attentive husband bent on fattening you up could do. In a matter of days Nikki’s memory of the long weeks as the exhausted panic-ridden single parent of twins had already begun to fade.
Now she stood just inside the Sunshine lobby door, surrounded by volunteer models of all ages and sizes, waiting for lunch to be served to the last of the tables arranged around the pool so that the fashion show could officially begin.
The weather was a perfect seventy-five degrees. The sky was a brilliant blue with taffy-pulled white clouds and a crayon yellow sun.
There were twenty tables of eight strategically arranged around the pool deck. Their tablecloths were in the same Flamingo Pink, Blue Mambo, and Banana Leaf as the walls of the cottages that a reassuring percentage of attendees had already toured. The centerpieces, delivered just that morning by Renée’s garden club friends, were equally bright with birds-of-paradise at their center and surrounded by every tropical bloom found on the Sunshine grounds and in many Pass-a-Grille gardens, including Bella Flora’s.
“Is everybody ready?” she asked as Maddie lined up the models, each wearing retro beachwear or vintage pieces and accessories.
The podium and microphone had been placed midway between the building and the pool.
Bitsy stood nearby prepared to send each model out on cue with Nikki’s narration.
“Remember, you want to take your time and make sure you do a turn or a pause at every other table,” Nikki said.
“Don’t worry, boss,” Bitsy replied. “I’ve got my copy of the script right here, and I’ll be listening and reading along. We’ve been practicing our pacing . . . and all the guests are being served a glass of wine with their meal and a glass of champagne with dessert. So everyone should be in a buying mood.”
Ray Flamingo arrived with a tray of champagne flutes. “These are for you, ladies. Just enough to put a little extra glide in your steps.” He moved through them handing out drinks along with words of encouragement, then adjusting straps and tilting sunhats to their chicest and most flattering angles.
Avery had been pressed into modeling when one of the volunteers roughly her size had dropped out. She stopped trying to hike the bodice up and the bottom of the two-piece bathing suit down just long enough to throw back the champagne Ray gave her in one long gulp. “I don’t understand why I can’t wear one of those cover-ups,” she complained as she tugged again.
“Because it fits you perfectly and it
would be a travesty,” Ray replied. “I’ll tell you what. Stop fidgeting and I’ll get you a second glass of champagne. It’ll relax you and maybe give you the courage to call you know who.”
“I wouldn’t need champagne if I could wear a cover-up over this thing.” She yanked at the two-piece again. “Besides,” she said, finally giving up on the suit. “If I need alcohol to make a call like that, don’t you think it’s a sign that maybe I have some legitimate reasons for not making the call in the first place?”
Nikki turned as Luvie came out of the dressing room with Sofia and Gemma in toddler-size bathing suits almost identical to the drum-design bathing suit that Annelise had loved and worn as a child.
“Wherever did you find those?” Renée’s sister asked. “They’re so adorable and they bring back so many memories.” She looked as if she might cry.
“I sent the photo of you in it to a company I found and asked them to copy it,” Nikki said as Kyra crouched down to shoot video of the twins.
“Look, Renée!” Annelise brought her sister over to see the girls and their escort, who wore coordinating blue-and-white-striped bathing trunks with a simple white T-shirt and a captain’s hat.
“Do you know what you’re supposed to do, Dustin?” Nikki asked.
He nodded. “We’re the finable. So we go last.”
“That’s right,” Nikki said, turning away to hide her smile.
“I exscort Sof and Gem and hold their hands while we walk all around the tables.”
“Exactly right,” Nikki said. “And your grandma will be standing by just in case you want her to go with you.”
“My God, they’re adorable,” Renée said as she moved past the three children in a stunning vintage caftan with angel-wing sleeves and pleats in a marvelous fabric covered in pastel lilies. “I predict we’re going to sell a ton of those drum bathing suits.” She smiled and twirled in a circle that belled the fabric and made the little ones giggle. “This is mine, though. I am never taking it off.”
