Covenant

by Ann McMan

  “That sounds about right. Mom has always had a real sweet tooth.”

  “I see you come by that honestly,” Syd added.

  Maddie feigned umbrage. “I’ll have you know I come by most things honestly.”

  “Your taste in wine, for one.” Avi held up her glass. “This is one of the best pinots I’ve ever had. What is it?”

  “Ah.” Maddie turned in her seat to claim a bottle off the kitchen island. “This is a little gem I discovered years ago when I was in Portland for an AMA conference.” She handed Avi the bottle. “It’s a Willamette Valley pinot—estate bottled and very consistent. Syd and I call it an everyday drinker.”

  Avi examined the label. “If you call Sokol Blosser an ‘everyday drinker,’ I definitely need to raise my rates.”

  “Well, to clarify,” Maddie amended, “everyday drinker here means the wine is perfect any day we drink it—not that we drink it every day.”

  Avi shook her dark head. “I see your level of obfuscation has not abated over the years.”

  Lizzy chuckled but Dorothy eyed Avi with confusion.

  “It means intentional lack of clarity,” Avi explained. “Something the august Dr. Stevenson has always excelled at.”

  “I guess that’s not something you came by honestly, then.” Dorothy addressed Maddie. “Dr. Heller isn’t like that at all.”

  They were all silent for a moment, until Maddie threw back her head and laughed. “Touché, Dorothy. I think you’ve nailed us both.”

  Dorothy actually smiled—an indication that she understood the irony of her observation.

  “Why is that just an August thing, Avi?” Henry asked. “Maddie is like that all year long. Buddy says she speaks in code.”

  Syd nudged Maddie. “Busted.”

  “In this context, Henry,” Avi addressed him, “august means respected or impressive—not a reference to the month.”

  “Words are hard when they mean different things.” Henry seemed unsatisfied. “Why don’t they make them so they all just mean one thing?”

  “I’ve wondered about that myself.” Lizzy sounded like she meant it.

  “This is why you study vocabulary words, honey.” Syd jumped at the chance to make this a teaching moment for him. “The more you learn, the more you’ll understand how words used in different combinations—called context—can help you understand their meaning.”

  Henry wasn’t persuaded. “It’s a lot to absorb.”

  “Exactly!” Syd was ecstatic. “Absorb. That’s one of your new vocabulary words, and you just used it perfectly in a sentence.”

  Unlike Dorothy, Henry seemed to miss the irony of his comment. He’d clearly moved on from the usage lesson. “Can I have some more bacon?”

  “May I have some more bacon,” Syd corrected. “And, no. I think you’ve had enough bacon, sweetie.”

  “No, I haven’t. Maddie ate most of mine.”

  “It appears he’s right,” Maddie said sorrowfully. “I failed miserably in my valiant efforts to obfuscate the disappearance of Henry’s bacon.”

  Syd drummed her fingers on the table.

  “I’ll get it.” Lizzy picked up Henry’s bowl and headed for the stove.

  “More carrots, too!” Henry called out.

  Avi leaned close to Dorothy. “Is it always like this around here?”

  “Pretty much. But bacon isn’t usually involved.”

  “You know what, Dorothy?” Avi smiled at her. “I think this is the start of a beautiful friendship.”

  Syd was thrilled when Dorothy shyly smiled back.

  The easy banter and staccato ping-ponging between subjects persisted throughout the meal. When they’d all finished eating, Dorothy and Henry disappeared upstairs so Henry could show Dorothy the alarm clock he was attempting to repair.

  Syd suggested they all take their wineglasses outside to the porch and pray for a stray breeze.

  Maddie and Avi walked to the end of the big, wraparound porch so Avi could get a better view of the pond.

  Once Lizzy and Syd were settled into their Adirondack chairs, Lizzy told Syd about the situation with Tom.

  “I guess by now your brother has told you about his job offer?”

  “Tom hasn’t said anything to me. In fact, I haven’t talked with him in nearly two weeks.”

  “That’s odd. He was over the moon about it.”

  “Maybe he realized I wouldn’t be very receptive to the news?”

  “You’re not?” Lizzy asked.

  “Nope. Not if it means taking you away from Jericho.”

  Lizzy smiled. “It’s nice to hear you say that.”

  “I hope so. I mean it.”

  Lizzy took her time. “I don’t know what to do, Syd.”

  “What do you want to do? That’s often a good starting place.”

  “Normally, I’d agree with you. But Tom seems unwavering in his determination to accept this job—even though he knows how much I’d like to stay here.”

  “Sadly, that sounds like him.”

  “You sound nearly as frustrated with him as I am.”

  “It’s not frustration,” Syd clarified. “I’m beyond frustration. I’m pissed at him for his stupidity and selfishness.”

  Lizzy blinked at her. “We are discussing your brother, right? Shouldn’t you be a bit more disposed to take his side?”

  “Not when he acts like an unrepentant ass.”

  Lizzy laughed. “That part is certainly true.” She took a moment to consider Syd’s observation. “I guess I thought he’d learned something from everything we just went through with the pregnancy and miscarriage. I really believed he was more . . . committed to me. To us. Now, with this? Going ahead and accepting a job—in Colorado—without even discussing it with me? I have no idea where that puts us.”

  Syd knew she needed to proceed with caution. It meant the world to her that Lizzy was willing to open up to her about the situation with Tom—especially after Syd had profoundly violated Lizzy’s confidence about her unwanted pregnancy. Syd continued to feel abject mortification about how badly she had bungled that episode. But she’d learned her lesson—the hard way. And Lizzy had seemed to fully accept her apology. Syd would never violate her confidence—or anyone else’s—again.

  Never.

  She could see Maddie and Avi making their way back to where she and Lizzy were seated.

  “Why don’t we make a date to meet so we can talk this over with more privacy?”

  “I’m always up for getting together with you. You know that. But we don’t have to stop talking about this just because Avi is here.” She grimaced. “I already pretty much gave her the ten thousand-foot view on the ride over here. She probably thinks I’m a total head case.”

  Okay, that was a surprise. Syd had noticed what appeared to be an easy camaraderie between the two of them at dinner, but she’d assumed it was just a byproduct of the pandemonium that typically characterized their family dinners.

  “I doubt Avi thinks that. She seems pretty . . . prescient.”

  “Now there’s a two-dollar vocabulary word for Henry.”

  “Remind me to add it to his list.”

  Maddie and Avi reclaimed their seats. Well. Avi reclaimed hers. Maddie had to dislodge Rosebud, who’d claimed the spot as her own. Maddie transferred the cat to the porch floor and shooed her away.

  “That tuxedo cat is a pain in my ass,” Maddie explained to Avi. After she sat down, she faced Lizzy. “So. What’d we miss?”

  “Oh, I’ve been regaling Syd with tales of relationship angst.”

  “Really?” Maddie grinned at her. “How is Tom?”

  Syd swatted her on the arm. “Behave.”

  “Is someone going to fill me in?” Avi asked, good-naturedly. “Or should I amuse myself admiring the perfection of your roof soffit?”

  “It’s that whole ‘flux’ situation I referenced on the drive over here,” Lizzy explained. “My . . . boyfriend, for lack of a better term . . . is finishing his veterin
ary degree in a few weeks, and he’s seen fit to accept a fellowship at a research lab in Colorado.”

  “Ohhhhhh.” Avi gave a low whistle. “And I guess, being a sage and thoughtful man, he wants you to accompany him?”

  “That would be the gist of it, yes.”

  “And given your consternation about the situation, I infer that you have divided opinions on the matter?”

  “To say the least. Tom doesn’t have the best track record when it comes to . . . inclusivity while making plans.”

  Syd was amazed by how easily Lizzy seemed to be sharing details with Avi. She cast a surreptitious look at Maddie, to see if she shared her reaction.

  Maddie gave her a nuanced shrug before addressing Lizzy.

  “Then I had to go ahead and make matters worse by dangling the partnership in front of you. I apologize for my rotten timing.”

  “Don’t be silly,” Lizzy told her. “It wasn’t rotten timing. How could an offer like that possibly come at a bad time? I’m thrilled by it.”

  “Well, I’m still sorry it mucked up the process for you.” Maddie sipped her wine. “Maybe Tom will have a change of heart when you tell him about it. I mean, if you haven’t already told him about it.”

  “I have not, as it happens.”

  “Why not?” It was Avi who asked the question. “I mean,” she continued, “one could assume that this would be relevant to his own decision-making process. Isn’t all information better than some information?”

  “It might be,” Lizzy replied, “if ever he’d bothered to ask what I thought.”

  “So he’s a total cad?”

  Lizzy shot a nervous look at Syd.

  “Okay.” Avi looked back and forth between them. “What else am I missing?”

  “Tom is my brother,” Syd explained. “But as it happens, I wholly agree with your assessment.”

  “Oh, god. I’m sorry, Lizzy. Not,” Avi added quickly, “that Tom is Syd’s brother—but that I was so stupidly glib and said something thoughtless. See?” she said softly. “All information is better than some.”

  “Don’t worry about it—any of you. Okay?” Lizzy looked at each of them in turn. “It’s my own fault I’m in this mess, and I’ll figure it out. And, Maddie? I promise not to take too long doing it.”

  “You take as much time as you need,” Maddie assured her. “The clinic isn’t going anyplace.”

  “Sometimes I worry that I’m not, either.”

  “This could be your chance to change all of that,” Avi suggested in a gentle tone.

  Lizzy regarded her with an expression Syd couldn’t decipher.

  “Maybe you’re right,” Lizzy said. She shifted her gaze to Syd. “Didn’t you say something about apple cake and clotted cream?”

  ◊ ◊ ◊

  After their guests had departed and they’d finished cleaning up the kitchen—and getting the kids settled for the night—Maddie wanted to debrief. She poured them each a cognac and they returned to the porch so they could watch the moon come up behind Buck Mountain. It was a clear night. After so many days of rain, the stars seemed especially brilliant. It was like nature had pressure-washed the sky.

  Pete was hard at work, making his final loop around the perimeter of the pond. He’d be loping back toward the house at any minute, insisting to be allowed inside so he could head upstairs to Henry’s room.

  “So what was up with all of that?” she asked Syd.

  “All of what?”

  “That whole business between Avi and Lizzy.”

  “You noticed that, too?” Syd seemed surprised by her observation. “I thought it was just me.”

  “Not this time. I was blown away.”

  “I don’t think it was that dramatic.”

  “You don’t?”

  “No.” Syd shook her head. “I thought there was some kind of spark there, but I don’t think we should read anything into it.”

  “Spark?” Maddie was perplexed. “What spark?”

  “Isn’t that what you were talking about? The chemistry between Avi and Lizzy?”

  “Chemistry?” Maddie felt like a deer in headlights. “There was chemistry going on?”

  “Hello?” Syd snapped her fingers in front of Maddie’s face. “Were you at the same dinner party?”

  “Apparently not for that part of the program. I was referring to Lizzy talking so openly with all of us about Tom. She’s not generally that forthcoming about personal issues.”

  “Oh, that.” Syd waved it off. “That was nothing. I think it was part of her way to process the situation.”

  Rosebud padded past Syd and stopped in front of Maddie’s chair. Before she could pounce, Maddie sternly warned her off.

  “Don’t even think about it, cat.”

  “You really should lighten up on her.”

  “Why should I? She’s a total—”

  Syd cut her off. “Pain in the ass. I know. She’s a cat, Maddie. And for some reason, she’s determined that you’re her person.”

  “I am so not her person. I’m not her . . . anything—unless it’s the unfortunate wearer of pants in need of shredding.”

  “She has never shredded your pants. She’s just looking for a place to belong.”

  “Well, that place isn’t my lap.”

  “Having spent a fair amount of time on your lap, I have to disagree with your assessment of its merits.” Syd batted her eyes.

  “Nice try. And that’s only because you don’t tend to turn my clothing into Swiss cheese.” Maddie smiled. “Except for maybe that one time, back during our courting days.”

  “You’re delusional. I never did any such thing.”

  “Hey. Don’t ruin my fantasies. They keep hope alive.”

  Syd gave her a withering look. “C’mere, Rosebud.” She patted the side of her leg. “I’ll hold you.”

  Rosebud promptly jumped up onto Syd’s lap, and curled up with her back to Maddie.

  Maddie refused to be offended. “You’ll live to regret that.”

  “I doubt it.”

  “So, are you going to explain what you meant about Avi and Lizzy?”

  Syd nursed her cognac. “Like I said: I don’t want to make too much out of it. But I think there definitely was some kind of something going on between them.”

  “Well that’s about as clear as mud.”

  “Use your imagination.”

  Maddie thought back over the evening. It was true that Avi had been teasing, nearly playful with Lizzy—but no more than she had been with any of the rest of them. Maybe those two had seemed to be on slightly more intimate terms than might be expected after such a short acquaintance. But Avi was a shrink, and that was kind of what shrinks did. It actually was their stock in trade.

  But then again, Syd’s instincts were usually pretty keen about such things. After all, she’d nailed the attraction between Roma Jean and Charlie months before anyone else even had a glimmer that something was brewing there.

  And it had been the same way with Maddie’s mother and Byron Martin.

  But Avi and Lizzy?

  Maddie didn’t see it. Not at all. Lizzy was straight—not to mention in love with Syd’s brother. And that continued to be true, even though Tom seemed to be doing his level best to lob a hand grenade into the middle of everything.

  Idiot.

  She wondered if she should try to talk some sense into him?

  On the other hand, if she did interfere and Tom got a clue and wised up, that might mean Lizzy would leave Jericho—and she’d be out the best nurse she’d ever practiced with.

  And she’d lose a great friend, too.

  It was a conundrum, and she hated conundrums. She wanted things to be straightforward and sensible.

  “You cannot fix this. For either of them.”

  Maddie looked up to find Syd watching her.

  Syd always had been able to read her mind.

  “I know,” Maddie said morosely. “It sucks.”

  “Sometimes it does. But it’s u
p to them to play the cards they’ve been dealt, and we can’t do anything but stand by and be prepared to pick up the pieces.”

  “True.”

  “Buck up, baby cakes.” Syd patted her knee. “Whatever will be, will be.”

  Maddie narrowed her eyes. “Are you listening to David’s Doris Day records again?”

  “It’s possible.” Syd finished her drink. “Here comes Pete. Ready to head inside?”

  “I suppose.”

  “Don’t be so somber. I’ll let you wear that ratty old Quakers t-shirt.”

  Maddie brightened up. “We still have that? I thought you threw it away.”

  “Nuh uh.” Syd shook her head. “I’ve been saving it for a special occasion. Play your cards right, and I might be persuaded to sit on your lap and shred it.”

  Maddie bolted to her feet.

  “Get up, Rosebud . . . it’s bedtime.”

  ◊ ◊ ◊

  Michael’s paella had been an unqualified success.

  Maybe not exactly unqualified . . . but they’d sold five servings of it and, for him, that made it enough of a success that he could gloat about it to Nadine.

  She hadn’t been impressed. She insisted that he’d probably have sold out of it if he hadn’t burned the rice . . .

  The last diners had finished up shortly after nine, so he was relaxing in their bedroom, watching a rerun of Hell’s Kitchen when David got home. Michael asked him if he’d had anything to eat and David said he’d stopped at Waffle House for a bite between meetings.

  “Too bad,” Michael told him. “The paella turned out great.”

  “Just my luck. Maybe I can have some for lunch tomorrow.”

  “I think there’s just enough left. Avi wanted me to save her a serving, too.”

  “Avi? Who’s Avi?”

  Michael pointed above them. “The friend of Maddie’s who’s staying here. The psychologist from Roanoke.”

  “Oh . . . is she the totally hot-looking boi with the badass haircut?”

  “Boi?”

  “Duh. What would you call her?”

  “I don’t know. Metro, maybe?” He thought about it. “Can women be metro?”

  ‘That would be a no. Women cannot be metro. Ergo, Avi is a boi.”

  “Why can’t women be metro?”

  “Because, Heathcliff, women are feminine by definition. Therefore, the ‘metro’ designation would be redundant.”