“You’ll have to start all over, I’m afraid,” she informed. “What a shame.”
Oliver buttoned and unbuttoned his suit jacket. “You’ll really regret this, Ms. Taylor.”
“I’m honestly pretty sure I won’t, Mr. Krispin,” Amelia snapped back. “Now, would you kindly excuse yourself from my office? As you’ve already mentioned, I have a number of things to take care of. And none of those things has anything at all to do with that ritzy development you crave. You know, the one that will probably never exist.”
Amelia watched this deflated man stomp out of her office and then slammed the door closed behind him. Amelia grinned inwardly and began to scribble various notes for the day ahead in her day planner. When she glanced back up, her secretary stood in the doorway, wide-eyed.
“What the heck did you do to that guy?” she asked.
Amelia shrugged. “I told him the rules. I don’t think he’s the kind of guy who’s ever heard the rules before.”
With that, she returned to her schedule ahead, grateful that she’d had the gumption to tell that guy what she really felt. She needed to do that more in her life. Perhaps this was day one.
Chapter Nine
The next few days flew past in a kind of a blur. Yet again, Amelia juggled multiple meetings, Jake’s basketball games, calls from her sisters, along with multiple panicked text messages from Mandy, who seemed to need constant affirmation that Amelia wasn’t going to up and tattle on Mandy for being pregnant. Amelia understood this, yet also felt the conversation with Daniel coming like a dark storm. One day soon, they would have to face the consequences of what had happened.
Mid-way through March, Amelia headed out of the grocery store and nearly stumbled head-first into Susan Sheridan herself. Unlike the previous time Amelia had seen her, Susan looked much brighter, and her smile was immediate.
“Amelia!” she said. “What a surprise. What brings you over to Oak Bluffs?”
“I just had a business meeting, actually,” Amelia said. Her heart hammered with intrigue. She wanted so desperately to ask about the health of Baby Sheridan. “It’s such a beautiful day out here. I almost want to walk back to Edgartown.”
Susan laughed. “I know exactly what you mean.” She stepped back out onto the sidewalk with Amelia and lifted her cheeks toward the sun. “Gosh, it’s been a strange year so far.”
Amelia shifted her weight. “For us over in Edgartown, too.”
“I’m sure. You know, I’d been away from the Vineyard for about twenty-five years. I had made up my mind about the place. I told myself it was just this sleepy island where nothing happened. But since then, wow. I had cancer. I’ve gotten engaged. I’ve made peace with my sisters, who I love so deeply. And my daughter has moved to the Vineyard, at least for now, and gone through heartache of her own.”
“That’s enough to fill at least a few memoirs,” Amelia said.
“You’re telling me. When Audrey had her baby and he was so sick, I thought maybe all our good luck had dried up. But he’s finally home! I can’t believe it. He’s adorable, Amelia.”
Amelia’s heart lifted. She remembered that when she’d told Mandy about Audrey’s sick baby, Mandy’s face had twisted with fear and horror, and she’d burst into tears.
“That’s such good news.” Amelia’s voice caught in her throat. “Give Audrey and everyone else my best. What’s his name?”
“Max,” Susan said, beaming with excitement. “Another generation of Sheridans on Martha’s Vineyard. It just blows me away.”
As Amelia walked back to her car, she thought about Mandy’s baby, about Audrey’s baby and about how this next generation would see countless Martha’s Vineyard summers, would hike the hills at Felix Neck and dive into the salty waters. It had been a long time since Amelia had given up all hope on her own children, but knowing that she would be there for Mandy’s baby, for his or her first smile and first steps, pleased her more than she could say. It filled her heart with joy.
When she got back in her car, she called Mandy, who answered almost immediately.
“Hey! I’m so glad you answered,” Amelia said.
“I skipped cheerleading. What’s the point?” Mandy said softly.
Amelia scrunched her nose as she eased her car out into the brewing traffic of a late afternoon. “I can understand that.” It was true. She really could. “I wanted to tell you something. Something pretty good, actually.”
“I could use some good news, I guess.”
“Remember how I told you about Audrey Sheridan’s baby? Well, he’s better now. He’s doing so well that he’s now home with his family.”
Mandy was silent for a long time. Amelia pressed her foot against the brake and blinked through the glass, up at the stoplight. She couldn’t breathe.
Finally, Mandy let out a sob. “I don’t know if it’s the pregnancy hormones or what. But this is one of the best things I’ve ever heard. I’m just so glad.”
FRIDAY EVENING, THE front buzzer of Amelia’s place at Peases Point Way rang. She zipped up her sweatshirt and scrambled to answer it. There, with three massive pizza boxes in his arms, stood the traditional Friday-night delivery driver. She over-tipped him, as usual, and told him to “stay warm out there” as she took the big, hot boxes into her arms and hustled back to the kitchen. Even before she could place them on the counter, the bell rang again, and she rushed back to find Camilla and Mila, the first of her sisters to arrive. Within the next five minutes, Jennifer and Olivia arrived, too.
It had been a while since the girls had been all together. As they dug into the pizza, Jennifer tried to remember the last time.
“It must have been around when we discovered that weird chest in the basement of the mansion,” she said, as strings of cheese oozed up from the pie and smeared across her plate.
“That’s right! The chest with absolutely nothing of value in it,” Mila said with a laugh. “That pole nearly took me out.”
“Nothing of monetary value, sure,” Olivia said. “But those diaries and books and old photographs are really something to see.”
“You’re an old softie, Olivia,” Amelia told her. “This is the perfect kind of treasure for you. You’re just swimming in your own nostalgia.”
“True,” Olivia said with a laugh. “Although I think Anthony’s helped with that a lot. Living in the here and now and all that jazz.”
“You guys are adorable together,” Amelia offered.
“Chelsea won’t stop teasing me about him,” Olivia said. “She says I’m acting even more like a teenager than she is. It’s true that I do change my outfit at least three times before I go over to the house even though all I do once I get there is spackle and sweat and eat pasta and drink wine.”
“I would give anything for that,” Mila offered. “I went on another dud date the other day.”
“No way!” Jennifer cried. “When were you going to tell us? You know, we have that group chat for a reason.”
“I know. I know. I just felt embarrassed to go on a date with a guy from an app,” Mila said as her cheeks reddened. “I mean, is this what my life’s come to?”
“It’s modern. It’s just what people do,” Jennifer affirmed.
“It’s not what you did, Jen,” Mila said pointedly. “Derek just walked into your life, tried to ruin it, and then decided to fall in love with you instead.”
“We can’t all get as lucky as Jen,” Amelia said with a crooked grin.
“Oh, but some of us did get lucky recently,” Olivia blurted out. Almost immediately, she smacked her palm over her lips. She’d given up the goose.
The conversation died immediately. Jennifer, Mila, Amelia, and Camilla all gaped at Olivia, who remained there with her hand over her mouth. Her eyes flashed to Amelia and then the girls. “Crap.” That was all she said.
Finally, Camilla said, “What do you mean? Who’s gotten lucky recently?”
It wasn’t like them to keep secrets from one another. Admittedly, Amelia hadn�
��t meant to keep her one-night stand from them — it had just gotten lost in the chaos of her mind the previous few weeks. In some respects, it felt like a long time ago.
“Someone’s got a secret!” Jennifer said with a bright smile. “Come on. Out with it!”
“Let’s smoke it out,” Mila said as she rubbed her palms together.
“Who’s to say it isn’t your secret?” Jennifer said. “You look mischievous like you want to pin the blame on anyone else.”
“I just told you! I had a bad date,” Mila said with a shrug. “No way was I going back home with that guy.”
Jennifer’s eyes turned from Mila to Camilla to Olivia before they landed on Amelia. Amelia felt it: embarrassment, creeping in the form of a blush, all the way from her chest to her upper cheeks.
“No.” Jennifer exhaled as her eyes widened. “Amelia Taylor. Did you go on an actual date with a human male?”
Amelia rolled her eyes. “You say it like it’s so outside the bounds of reason.”
Jennifer leaped from the couch, very nearly casting her plate of pizza to the floor. “And you say it like it isn’t something to be celebrated! Oh my, gosh, Amelia! Workaholic Amelia! You went on a date! Tell us everything! Spill the beans!”
To Amelia’s surprise, she actually took a bit of pleasure in explaining the situation to her girlfriends. She talked about the minor car accident, about the handsome man who’d called her up that evening after Mandy’s cheerleading accident, and then about their strange date at the Oak Bluffs bar.
“I just sat there thinking, is this really what people do? On purpose?” Amelia said as she took another cheesy slice from the grease-laden box. “I had zero idea of what to say to him. Luckily, he seemed pretty experienced in the land of women, so.” She shrugged. “He came up with enough topics. And then, the gin and tonics made my tongue a bit looser.”
“I guess that came in handy a little bit later,” Mila teased as she waggled her eyebrows.
Amelia was pretty sure her face was full-on tomato-red. “He took me back to the Sunrise Cove, of all places.”
“More memories at the Sunrise Cove!” Jennifer said. “You really have to tell Susan that you got laid there.”
Amelia rolled her eyes. “I’m pretty sure they all know. Not that it matters. But I did have a little walk of shame through the foyer.”
The girls laughed uproariously at that.
“Amelia Taylor on a walk of shame!” Camilla cried. “I actually thought you’d never have to go through that.”
“I guess I’m getting my wild years out of my system after forty,” Amelia said.
“Good for you,” Jennifer said, her eyes bright.
Amelia remembered the shame she had felt the following day when she’d collapsed at Olivia’s mansion and explained the inner aching of her heart. Somehow, all that felt so far away. She could acknowledge the humor in the story, now. She felt bigger than it.
“Did it make you want to try to date more?” Camilla asked. “Asking out of pure research. I have no idea if I’ll ever feel ready to date, now that I’m — ugh — single.”
Amelia shook her head. “To be honest, going out with Nathan Gregory gave me a picture of the male species that I don’t care to look at again. And then, almost immediately after that, I met this other horrible man, a developer guy, who wants to build up a little resort and refuses to get together the relevant permits. He talks to me like I’m just this little stone he keeps stepping on.”
“Which developer guy?” Jennifer asked.
“His name is Oliver Krispin,” Amelia said.
Jennifer chewed her lower lip contemplatively. “I actually think Derek has mentioned him.”
“Remember what he thought of him?” Amelia asked.
“I don’t think he has that much respect for him, to be honest,” Jennifer said. “But I can tell you more later.”
“The guy actually thought I wouldn’t notice that he hadn’t cleared breaking ground with the environmental groups,” Amelia said as her eyes narrowed. “Just proof that these self-assured, rich guys come onto this island and want to kick us Islanders around. I won’t stand for it.”
“Everyone except Derek,” Jennifer corrected with a funny smile.
“Again, who knows what kind of evil he might have concocted, if only he hadn’t fallen head over heels with our Jennifer,” Olivia said.
Once they’d stuffed themselves with pizza, Amelia paraded back into the kitchen and prepped bowls of ice cream for her girls. There, in the silence of herself, she listened as they continued to laugh and gossip and tease one another. In some ways, they sounded just the same as they had some twenty years ago. Only Michelle’s voice was missing. Oh, how they always missed her, no matter how much time went by.
Amelia couldn’t help but feel her heart swell with pride. Over the previous ten years, the only news she’d been able to bring her sisters had everything to do with Mandy, Jake, Daniel and her parents. She’d never had anything personal and private to share — nothing good and nothing bad.
Now, with news of Nathan Gregory, she felt as though she had joined the ranks of the living. One night stand or not, she was still a woman, a wanted, beautiful, confident woman. She wanted to channel that energy for the rest of her life.
Chapter Ten
Mandy agreed to meet Amelia at the same lunch spot at the same time the following afternoon. Amelia dressed in another stellar outfit. A jean dress with an intricate lace collar, knee-high boots, and eyeliner and mascara that made her eyes pop splendidly. When she sat at the same lunch table, she crossed and uncrossed her legs and tapped her finger on the table as the minutes passed by. What was it about this spring that made her want to dress her best?
Mandy was late. At first, it was only five minutes and then, the time drifted toward ten after. Amelia checked her texts to make sure she had the time correct. Naturally, just as ever, she did. They’d confirmed twice — once last night and once this morning.
AMELIA: Hey honey! Are you okay?
AMELIA: I got us a table. Want me to order for you?
The texts went through, but nobody read them on the other side. Amelia’s heart thudded in her chest. When her clock read seventeen after, she felt it was time to take action. None of this was like Mandy.
She lifted a hand and gestured toward the waiter. “I’m terribly sorry. Something has come up, and I need to head out. Can I please still tip you?”
The waiter said it wasn’t a problem, even as Amelia flipped a five-dollar bill onto the table and rushed out into the light breeze of the early afternoon. She rushed toward her car, her eyes still on her phone—still, no word from Mandy.
The drive toward Daniel’s house took much longer than it normally did. It was Saturday, and the sky was a ridiculous, robin’s egg blue, which seemed to draw out walkers and bikers and vehicles in droves. Amelia pressed a hand on her steering wheel as she waited behind a particularly thick-headed driver, who seemed not to know the difference between red and green on the stoplight.
Finally, Amelia pulled into Daniel’s driveway. Normally, Daniel worked at the museum on Saturdays, and Jake was often off with friends or else at the gym for practice. Amelia snuck her key into the front doorknob as she tried to shove away a million horrible thoughts about what could have transpired that morning.
When she entered, the house was silent. Jake’s basketball shoes sat, stinking slightly, in the foyer, alongside Daniel’s hiking ones and Mandy’s little, jeweled flats.
“Hello?” Amelia called. As she walked, she thought back to long-ago days, right after Suzy had taken off for New York, when she’d entered the house like this to find Mandy and Jake in states of panic, either screaming or crying or both.
“Hello?” she called again.
The kitchen was messy, but not overly so. Three cereal bowls sat in the sink, with the slightest bit of milk in their bottoms. Without thinking, Amelia scrubbed the bowls and placed them on the drying rack. She then took a washcloth to th
e countertops. As she went after a sticky area near the fridge, she remembered a long-ago afternoon with Suzy when Mandy had been maybe four or five years old. “I’m not domestic,” Suzy had said. “I don’t know what I was thinking, getting pregnant like that. Kind of stupid, huh?” She’d then taken a big sip of her wine and cackled.
Amelia hadn’t known what to say.
At that moment, Amelia’s phone buzzed with a message from Jennifer.
JENNIFER: I asked Derek about that guy. Oliver Krispin. Apparently, he has a bad reputation for coming into places and taking away their integrity.
Amelia laughed inwardly.
AMELIA: Sounds like him. Not on my watch, though. Not on the Vineyard.
JENNIFER: Thank goodness the island has you.
Amelia wandered toward Mandy’s bedroom after that. Her mind swam with confusion. She had long-since known this about herself: that she was sometimes overly protective of her niece and nephew, of her best friends, and even of Martha’s Vineyard itself. She had to be in control all the time; she felt she knew best in most respects. Maybe this was stupid of her. Maybe it was the only way to live.
Mandy’s door was latched shut. The slightest buzz of music came out from under the door. Mandy had never been the kind of girl to lock herself away, but pregnancy did strange things to a person. Amelia knew this after watching all her dearest friends go through it. She lifted her knuckles and rapped gently. Then, after a few minutes of silence, she knocked again.
“Mandy?” she called, as tenderly as she could. “Mandy, I was worried about you. I wanted to come to make sure you’re okay.”
Again, silence. After a moment, Mandy turned down the music. It felt like Amelia stood on the other side of a tomb.
“Mandy, I’ll leave if you want me to,” she tried, although she really didn’t mean it. “Just let me know that you’re okay.”
Finally, the door creaked open. Amelia tried her best not to change her face in alarm. The smell of rotting food and dirty laundry swarmed over her. Her eyes flashed with shock at the sight of Mandy. The cheerleading star was normally so spick and span and beautiful, but now, her hair was greasy, she wore her father’s pajama pants, and there was a massive stain on her sweatshirt. She looked at Amelia with eyes that belonged to a ghost, not a teenaged girl.
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