by Jane Green
Lizzy looks at Connor and calls him over, hauling him onto her lap and covering his head with kisses as he giggles and squirms.
I don’t have to be the same, she thinks. I can do it differently. Whatever I may have done in the last few years, I can do things differently from today.
She looks up to find James watching her, sadness in his eyes.
Maybe I can learn how to be less selfish. Maybe I can start loving my family now.
epilogue
Lizzy is whirling around the makeshift kitchen, her hair scraped back in a messy bun, her apron already stained with grease and fat, her most comfortable clogs a pain in the ass as she trips over tree roots, trying to plate on the trestle tables outside the café.
Most of her team are working this supper club. She doesn’t know if they’ll stay, but that they are here for her first trial on the farm is both grounding and reassuring. To have the staff she knows, staff who understand the shorthand of what it takes to make these supper clubs run smoothly, who understand her shorthand, has gone a long way to still her nerves.
Why is she nervous? she wonders. She has done these a million times before. She knows what to cook, how to serve it, how to create a few hours of magic under a canopy of lights and a velvet autumn sky. The only difference tonight is that she no longer has Sean as a partner. Months of legal wrangling saw to that. She gave him the New York business, and a settlement, much to her fury, although it was the most logical way of moving on.
It’s only money, she told herself, grinding her teeth as she wrote the check. I will make it again.
And here she is, she thinks, making money again, in the first supper club since she moved out to Connecticut, the first of the fall.
She looks over to the bar, where James is working, as Connor helps to decant cherries into ramekins, popping one into his mouth every few minutes, after he’s checked that no one is watching. Lizzy grins. She is watching. It had never occurred to her to involve James, or to allow Connor to come, but she was a bartender short as of yesterday, and James offered.
He looks up and grins at her, and she smiles back, grateful for him, for this new life, however it should pan out. The farmhouse she is renting down the road has a small guest cottage, and James has moved into that, so they can share Connor, who races from cottage to farmhouse and back again every night, not understanding that his parents are trying to lead separate lives.
Last week, Connor insisted Daddy join them for dinner. And one dinner turned into three. James seemed completely different, Lizzy thought, watching him over the table. He had been so distracted, and lazy, and . . . slothlike in their old life. That was what she used to think, when she got back to a filthy house in Brooklyn at the end of a grueling day.
Ever since he moved out here, he has seemed energized. He looks better, brighter, and more clear-eyed, and he is laughing more. The other night, Connor said something ridiculous and she and James laughed until tears ran down their cheeks. She couldn’t remember the last time she had laughed with James. It felt good. They aren’t talking divorce. Not yet. Maybe they won’t have to.
The orchard looks beautiful. The leaves are turning red and gold, a carpet falling to the floor of grass as they strung the lights earlier that day. The workers looked mortified and started to pick up the leaves, but Lizzy stopped them. “It’s perfect,” she said. “Leave them.”
The tables are covered in crisp white tablecloths with burlap runners and hollowed-out pumpkins filled with draping goldenrod and burnt russet helenium. The candles lining the tables are a dark orange, and hay bales have been put together for a seating area off to one side, sofas and coffee tables created out of hay, covered in burlap with russet pillows.
Nell is walking around, hands clasped behind her back, sniffing the air and looking around. Does she like it? wonders Lizzy. Nell is the source of her nerves; Nell is the reason tonight matters so much. She wants Nell to understand, and not regret inviting Lizzy out here. She wants Nell to fall in love with the supper club concept at Fieldstone Farm, understand the what, the why, and the how.
For Nell doesn’t need the money now. Their mother’s will made it clear they would all be fine financially. Apparently, Ronni Sunshine had been wealthy all along after all. They speculated about why she had never let them know, never indulged them in an opulent lifestyle as children. In the past, they might have accused her of being cheap and selfish with her money. Now, they wondered if she wanted them to have a normal childhood, wanted the money to take care of each of them so they wouldn’t have to worry in old age. Now, they feel like they know her better, and that might indeed have been the case.
After she died, Billy came to see them with the video he had filmed on the day he met Ronni. He had shot her in the sunroom, asking her questions about her daughters, and all of them were astonished to hear their mother acknowledge her mistakes on camera, how she had unwittingly and unknowingly alienated her daughters, pushed them far apart not just from her, but from each other. She talked about each of them, why she loved them, how she could have done things differently, what she hoped for their future and their lives. Her daughters watched, holding each other’s hands, tears streaming down their faces.
And then they found out how much money was left. Lizzy expected Nell to rescind her offer to partner for the supper club, but she didn’t. She said she still wanted to give it a go, that it would be fun.
Lizzy watches as Greta appears, calling Nell over and saying something to her that makes Nell smile. She watches as Greta leans in to Nell, who strokes her back and gives her an absentminded kiss on the top of her head, the two of them smiling into each other’s eyes before continuing their walk, together.
Lucky Nell, she thinks. Greta never left. Temporarily, to wrap things up in St. Louis, but then she was back, cooking in the mornings, working in the café, mothering, nurturing, and loving everyone who crosses her path. How lucky Nell is. How lucky all of them are. Look at Nell, beaming, finally at peace in her skin. All these years of bottling everything up, and now with this woman in her life, she is blossoming, a flower that stayed in the dark for too long.
Lizzy is called back to the kitchen and turns, unaware there’s a smile on her face. Meredith is waiting for her, with a glass of champagne.
“I thought Billy was coming with you tonight,” says Lizzy, noting his absence.
“He was, but he got called away on a story.” Meredith smiles, thinking of how he kissed her good-bye yesterday morning, how she pulled him back into bed, unable to get enough of him, his smell, his taste, his everything.
“And you’re serious about moving in together?” asks Lizzy. “You don’t think it’s a little soon?”
Meredith shrugs. “It might be. If it all goes horribly wrong, I guess it will have been a little soon.”
“Wow. This is all so . . . adventurous of you.” Lizzy grins.
“I know. I am loving this relationship, which is mostly about sex, and it is fantastic.”
“The sex or the relationship?”
“Both!” Meredith says. “Who knows if it has substance behind it? I do know I don’t want to get married, or engaged, possibly ever. I’m very happy with things the way they are.”
Nell walks over with Greta. “Where’s our champagne?” she says, and Meredith runs over to the bar and grabs a couple more glasses.
“Cheers.” She raises her glass, chinking with Nell, Lizzy, and Greta.
“Here’s to new beginnings,” says Lizzy, surveying the orchard as they all turn to take in the beauty as a fiery sun starts to sink behind the trees.
“New beginnings,” echoes Nell, looking at Greta. “And new loves.”
“And family,” says Greta, looking at Lizzy, Meredith, and finally holding Nell’s gaze. “I may not share the same blood, but I’ve come home. To the Sunshine girls.”
“The Sunshine girls,” echoes Lizzy. “I’ve got
all my sisters and me.”
Readers Guide for
The Sunshine Sisters
Jane Green
Questions for Discussion
In her youth, Ronni makes choices to further her career, often at the expense of her family, but we also see moments of doubt and, later in her life, regret. Do you think her choices are entirely selfish? Do you empathize with any of her conflicts? What would you have done differently in her shoes?
It seems as though in her own way, Ronni has her daughters’ best interests at heart, even if this sometimes hurts them. For instance, she constantly criticizes Meredith’s weight but also worries about her daughter’s engagement. In what way is Ronni’s relationship with her daughters like or unlike many parent-child relationships? How do you think parents can strike a balance between communicating parental wisdom and allowing their children to make their own decisions? Does Ronni ultimately succeed in doing so?
Nell often remarks that Ronni is a much better grandmother than she was a mother. Why do you think this is?
Do you think Ronni’s last attempt to bring her daughters together makes up for her wrongdoings as a mother?
Do you empathize with Ronni’s wish to die on her own terms? If you were in her daughters’ place, would you comply with her wishes? Why or why not?
It’s often difficult to change old habits, but the Sunshine sisters discover that they must in order to truly connect as a family. Do you find that you revert back to certain habits or roles around your family members? Do you think it’s possible to change these habits and, consequently, your familial relationships?
Throughout the book, we see that Ronni and her daughters have difficulty opening up to one another and communicating their true feelings. Oftentimes, it leads to conflict, such as Nell and Lizzy’s argument over using the farm for the pop-up supper club, or the family’s disapproval of Meredith’s fiancé. Why do you think it is so difficult for them to be truly vulnerable and open around one another? Do you find you have the same difficulties with your family members?
In many ways, the sisters refuse to confront their own problems but are remarkably perceptive at parsing one another’s issues and even predicting romance. Do you sometimes experience the same disparity in perception in your own life? Have you ever had a similar situation with a family member or close friend?
In the present day, the Sunshine sisters are not truly content with their lives and choices. Why do you think this is? Do you think it has anything to do with their familial relationships?
While talking about relationships with Nell, Meredith says, “There’s a large part of me that thinks it’s better to have stability, and kindness, and friendship. Those are the things that make a relationship last, I think. Not chemistry.” Do you agree? How important were each of these factors in the sisters’ relationships? Do you think they would agree with Meredith’s statement in the end?
How is Greta the perfect match for Nell despite being a completely unexpected romantic partner?
Are you satisfied with the way things end for the Sunshine sisters?
A former journalist in the UK and a graduate of the International Culinary Center in New York, Jane Green has written many novels (including Jemima J, The Beach House, and, most recently, Falling), most of which have been New York Times bestsellers, and one cookbook, Good Taste. Her novels are published in more than twenty-five languages, and she has over ten million books in print worldwide. She lives in Westport, Connecticut, with her husband and a small army of children and animals.
Visit her online at janegreen.com, facebook.com/authorJaneGreen, instagram.com/janegreenauthor, and twitter.com/JaneGreen.
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