by Wendy Wax
“True,” Emma conceded. “But it’s not exactly fair to compare him to a professional.” She glanced back at the house to see if Serena’s “friend” had arrived. Serena had come back that afternoon glowing in a way that only came from great sex, not that Emma would have any recent experience with that, and a secretive smile on her face that Mackenzie insisted meant he was married. But would a married man show up for a group outing with people he didn’t know? Emma sighed and reminded herself that whom Serena dated was her own business and the least of Emma’s concerns.
“Ryan’s so different from the guys at home,” Zoe said, her eyes trained on the boy as the boat drew closer. “He’s way more grown up and interesting. Everybody back in LA spends all their time trying to impress everybody else.”
Footsteps reverberated on the dock behind them. As if summoned by Zoe’s West Coast reference, Adam Russell joined them on the dock, his arm slung casually across Mackenzie’s shoulders as if she were an additional appendage. He looked, as he almost always did, as if he’d stepped off a GQ cover. In this case, in billowy white linen pants and a black Polo shirt that would go perfectly with Jake’s classic boat.
Adam stopped next to Zoe, who was built with the same kind of tall ranginess as Mackenzie and Adam, and who with a little reddish gold mixed into their blond hair, could easily have been cast as Zoe’s parents. Even Nash and Regan could have played her daughter’s parents more convincingly than Emma. “I really can’t get over how you’ve shot up,” Adam said giving Zoe’s long ponytail a tug. “Is she really going to be sixteen, Em?”
Mackenzie flinched but Adam didn’t seem to notice. Could he really have forgotten that Mackenzie and she had been pregnant at the same time? An occurrence that had put so many irreversible things into motion. His unexpected presence was a complication she hadn’t planned on when she’d invited Mackenzie and Serena to the lake. “I can’t even remember the last time I saw her.”
Emma stepped between Adam and Zoe. She remembered the last time in graphic detail. “She was five and we were all in New York at the same time. We had drinks at Bemelmans with Gran. You’d just finished that script based on a group of people eerily similar to us who met while they were studying drama at NYU and lived near each other in the Village.”
“I guess it was a tad derivative,” Adam said.
“A tad?” Mackenzie said. “There were lines of dialogue that were word for word from our real life.”
“True,” Adam conceded good-naturedly. “But I remember I’d written in parts for all of you.”
“Mackenzie was the only one who didn’t want one,” Emma said.
“I’d take a part in a heartbeat,” Zoe said.
Emma closed her eyes. Wondering when others would notice the things she couldn’t help seeing. When she opened them The Mohican was beginning its approach to the dock. Thunder rumbled in the distance. The previously smooth surface of the lake had turned choppy with the wind.
“Now, that’s a boat,” Adam observed as Jake cut speed and drew closer. “I’ve seen some classic wooden boats on Lake Michigan but I’ve never seen one prettier than this.”
Jake threw the boat into reverse and docked smoothly. “You know boats?” he asked as he cut the engine.
“Not really. But I love to ride in them. Boats are a little like lake and beach houses. As much as we might like to own them, sometimes it’s even better having friends who do.”
Emma introduced Adam to the Richardses as she moved forward to take the bowline from Jake. Ryan shot Zoe a smile as he stepped off the stern. The boat rose and fell slightly on the now choppy water.
“The forecast was iffy before we left,” Jake said. “But I figured we could make it up to the Algonquin and eat out on the docks. Only the weather’s moving in a lot quicker than projected.” Jake pitched his voice above the sound of the water slapping against the sides of the boat. “I’m thinking maybe we should tuck her in the boathouse and sit tight for a while, see how quickly it passes through.”
“Good idea,” Emma said. “Zoe and Adam can stay and help. Mackenzie and I’ll go forage for snacks and drinks while you get her settled. We’ll see you inside.”
“You need help?” Nadia narrowed her gaze at Emma as she and Mackenzie entered the house. “You look funny.”
“I’m fine.” Emma swept a hand over her head surprised as always by the feel of what was now a little longer than a crew cut. At the moment that crew cut was slick and damp. “We just had a change of plans due to the weather.”
“You call if need me,” the nurse insisted. “I go in room. Read important book Edmund recommend me.” She held up the tome in all its weightiness. “Is War and Peace by famous comrade Leo Tolstoy. Edmund say it real page burner.”
“Are you sure you’re feeling okay?” Mackenzie asked Emma after Nadia’s bedroom door had closed behind her and they had begun to take stock of the kitchen.
“I’m good.”
“I don’t know,” Mackenzie said. “Something seems . . . off to me.”
“I’m fine.” Despite what Emma thought was a perfectly executed “cease and desist” tone, Mackenzie did not cease or desist.
“I don’t know; you seem to be somewhere else. Like you’re seeing something no one else is. And the first time you saw Adam you looked . . . so shocked.”
Emma tried not to react, but apparently she wasn’t completely in command of her facial expressions, either.
“There,” Mackenzie said. “Like that.”
“I don’t know what you’re talking about.” Emma stuck her head in the refrigerator and took her time perusing the potential offerings. She found a container of Martha’s homemade spinach dip, an assortment of cheeses, slices of prosciutto, and most of a salami. She began to pull them from the refrigerator. “You seemed a little surprised to see Adam, too,” she said as she laid her finds on the counter then went into the pantry in search of a box of crackers. “But you haven’t seemed all that excited to see him.”
“I’m extremely happy and excited for Adam,” Mackenzie insisted.
Emma remained silent as she retrieved two bottles of red and two bottles of white from the wine refrigerator. She wondered if Mackenzie had even noticed how evasive her answer had sounded. “That’s not what I said.”
“It’s just that I haven’t seen him for a month, which has never happened before. At least not since we got married.” Mackenzie never alluded to the months before their wedding when Adam had broken things off and hitchhiked out to California. “And . . . I don’t know. I’m not sure I’m as ready for as many major life changes as he seems to be.”
“Amen, sister.” Emma was still trying to determine whether she’d thought the words or spoken them aloud, when the front door swung open letting in the sounds of laughter and footsteps along with the unmistakable sounds of a lashing rain. That was the thing about change. Even when you were the one shaking things up, you had no real control over how things would turn out or even how others would react. When she’d invited Mackenzie and Serena to the lake with the purpose of setting things to rights and making provisions for Zoe, it had never occurred to her that the women whose lives she might be turning upside down would have spent the last month suspending their own lives in order to take care of her and Zoe. And she most definitely hadn’t imagined that anyone else, especially Adam, would be there when and if the shit finally hit the fan.
Serena came inside shaking her head to dispel the raindrops, her hand clenching Brooks’s. Adam’s arm was around her waist as he called out, “Hey, look who I found!”
They tromped into the kitchen in what could only be called a mob, everyone talking at once. Until Emma finally said, “All right everybody. Hang on. Let’s let Serena introduce us to her friend.”
Serena froze in the silence that fell, suddenly unsure whether springing Brooks this way was such a good idea after all. She hadn’t envi
sioned this kind of pandemonium or, apparently, even stopped to think it through any further than wanting to share her current state of happiness. “Well, um, okay,” she said. Adam’s arm left her waist. Brooks gave her hand a quick squeeze and turned a friendly smile on the others. He seemed genuinely unperturbed. “So, this is, my, um . . .” Serena swallowed, keenly aware that every eye was on her. She wasn’t sure if it was rain or sweat dripping down her forehead and trickling between her breasts. “As I was saying . . .” Another swallow, this one more desperate than the last.
“It’s nice to meet you, Emma,” Brooks finally said, flashing his pearly whites. “You too, Mackenzie. I’ve been looking forward to meeting all of you. Adam.” He shook all of their hands while Serena watched in silence, suddenly unable to remember her own name, let alone his. She had never actually envisioned this ever happening. “I’m Brooks Anderson.”
For a moment a silence fell.
“I’m Serena’s friend from Charleston,” he clarified. As if there were another Brooks Anderson from some other city that Serena had once planned to marry.
“Nice to meet you.” Jake Richards stepped forward, introduced himself, and shook Brooks’s hand, shooting a look at Emma as he did. Ryan did the same. Serena realized the name must have finally registered when Adam swung around to get a closer look.
“Well, hell,” Adam said. “I’m not sure whether to say hello or punch your lights out.” He turned to Mackenzie. “This is kind of like Little Red Riding Hood bringing the Big Bad Wolf to the party.” He shook his head.
“Are you referring to me as Little Red Riding Hood?” Serena finally found her voice if not her equilibrium.
“What do you say, Mac?” Adam asked her.
Mackenzie shook her head. Serena had the distinct impression that if Zoe and Ryan hadn’t been present she would now be demanding to know whether Brooks had brought his wife with him, too.
“You all help yourself to whatever you can find.” Emma gestured vaguely at the things lying all over the counter. “And, um, feel free to talk amongst yourselves.” She exchanged a look with Mackenzie, then the two of them headed toward Serena.
Brooks might or might not be the Big Bad Wolf, but he was not stupid. He stepped out of their way as they took hold of Serena, wheeled her around, and led her toward the stairs.
“You’ve been sleeping with Brooks Anderson. The man who dumped you to marry someone else. The man you cried over for a good four years and who caused you to develop a married man habit that has not made you happy,” Mackenzie said. “And now you’re sleeping with him, a married man?”
They’d escorted her to Emma’s bedroom without a word then shut the door behind them. If there’d been a bare light bulb and a length of hose available, Serena had no doubt they’d be using them on her right now.
“Is there a question in there somewhere?” Serena asked even as she wondered why she was surprised by their reaction. She’d been pressed into a club chair next to the fireplace. Emma sat on the edge of her bed. Mackenzie was pacing back and forth like an attorney grilling a hostile witness.
“Why are you seeing him?” Mackenzie asked.
“And this is your business because?” Serena asked.
“Because we care about you,” Emma said.
“Then be happy for me,” Serena said. “Most people don’t get a second chance with someone they loved.”
“You were in love,” Emma said. “He chose to marry someone else. Someone he’s lived with for twenty-plus years and with whom he’s had children.” She said this gently, but the words still stung. Emma had apparently fallen into the role of “good cop,” but she was a cop nonetheless.
“And a life,” Mackenzie said.
“I’ve had a life.” Serena stood, angry now. They had no right to talk to her this way. Or to snatch away her pleasure so meanly.
“Of course you have,” Emma said. “And you’ve been very successful.”
“Professionally,” Mackenzie cut in. “But your personal life has been spent trying to prove that no man is worth marrying. And that all married men cheat.”
“Are any men worth marrying?” She glared directly at Mackenzie. “Are there married men who don’t cheat?”
“This is not about us or our choices,” Emma said.
“Isn’t it?” Serena asked. “Your marriage barely lasted a year after Zoe was born. And you.” She turned again to Mackenzie. “You dragged a man who only ever wanted to be a success in New York theater or Hollywood films to frickin’ Noblesville, Indiana, to run a community theater. And as far as I know this is the first glimpse of him you’ve had in a month.”
She could see that her jabs had hurt, that her aim was true. But she could also see that if they didn’t stop this now, there would be no turning back.
“His marriage is over,” Serena said. Though she was pitifully short on details because she’d been afraid to press. If they hadn’t just attacked her, she might have even admitted to the uncertainty that she hadn’t been completely able to banish. Too good to be true was almost always too good to be true. “And that’s all I’m going to say on the subject.”
Emma’s tone softened. “We were there when he first hurt you so badly, Serena. And we’ve spent the decades since thinking up names vile enough to call him. We don’t want you ever to be hurt like that again.”
Jaw tight, Mackenzie nodded her agreement.
If the house hadn’t been full of people, they would have undoubtedly gone to their own rooms and, well, Serena didn’t know exactly what she would have done in hers other than pack. They stared uneasily at each other. They’d spent the last month being there for each other. Emma’s hair was starting to come in, but at the moment she looked like a really weird cross between GI Jane and a duckling. Two weeks ago she’d barely had the energy to walk or talk. They had almost lost her completely.
The house was filled with guests that they’d invited. Guests they were not about to hurl out into a thunderstorm because they’d exploded at each other.
“I’m not spending the night being pissed off at you, Emma,” Serena said. “I really don’t want to. Not after all we’ve been through.”
“What about me?” Makenzie asked, her tone lighter but her jaw still tight.
“You haven’t been in a coma and almost died,” Serena said. “But you have had to live in a very small town in Indiana through a lot of mind-numbing winters.” She did not add, with a man who now seemed primarily preoccupied with himself, though it was tempting. “So, I say we get back to the people who are probably wondering what the hell is going on up here.”
Emma nodded her head and stood. Stiffly, they moved toward the door.
“But this doesn’t mean you’re ever again allowed to tell me whom I should or should not see,” Serena said as she reached for the doorknob. “I’ve got a psychiatrist I pay a lot of money to to do that.”
Thirty-one
They managed to squash back their anger in front of the others, but moved carefully around each other, as if venturing too close might spark the explosion they had narrowly avoided.
“Come on over here, Mac,” Adam said as she passed the spot near the stairs where he and Jake had been engaged in conversation. The light citrus scent of his cologne teased her nose as he reached out to her. His pull had always been magnetic, as if she were a planet and he the sun she’d been designed to revolve around. “I was just telling Jake here how sorry I am not to get out on his boat. I was lucky enough to be invited on Michael Gold’s boat last weekend after we signed the deal.”
“Michael Gold is the production head at Universal,” Mackenzie said, noting Jake’s blank look.
“He’s definitely the man,” Adam went on. “And his boat is more of a yacht with a captain and all that. I have to tell you the Pacific Ocean from the deck of a boat—that is a sight to behold.
“We’ll have t
o make sure Jake here gets however many tickets he wants for the New York premiere of A Man for Many Reasons,” Adam concluded. As if this not-to-be-missed event were imminent and not what would likely be several years down the road if at all. Mackenzie watched Adam’s face as he spoke. He’d always had charisma, could draw attention simply walking into a room. But this intentional attention seeking was a different thing altogether.
Jake smiled and nodded. “Wouldn’t miss it. The plot sounds fascinating.” He turned to include Mackenzie. “You must be very excited that Adam’s screenplay is getting made,” he said.
“Oh, I am.”
“Personally, I think my wife is totally shocked that I finally sold something to Hollywood.” Adam smiled when he said this and even added a self-deprecating, “Hell, I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t a little surprised myself.” But she could tell from the look he turned on her that he’d found her level of enthusiasm lacking.
“I’ve been surprised by a lot of things lately,” she murmured. “But I have never doubted Adam’s talent or drive.”
“She’s had me in Noblesville directing little children and retirees with the occasional middle-aged drama queen thrown in.” Adam’s tone remained teasing, but the things he said about her felt anything but. He had apparently forgotten that Mackenzie had always been his biggest fan and personal cheering section. Even when there had been little to cheer about.
An awkward silence fell. Jake extended his hand to Adam. “It’s good to meet you. The rain seems to be over. Ryan and I will be heading out.” He gave Mackenzie a friendly hug. “We’ll see you Friday at Zoe’s cookout.”
Brooks Anderson came over to say good-bye, too. Serena was tucked under his arm and looked happy to be there. She looked less happy when Mackenzie leaned in to hug her. “Sorry,” Mackenzie said quickly before Serena could draw away. “Apparently you’re not the only one who thinks I’m a wet blanket.” Was that really what she’d become? Smothering everybody’s good time? Keeping her husband from living the life he really wanted?