by Sally Mandel
“A glass tea,” Mr. Markowitz said.
“In this heat?”
Quinn fled upstairs.
They stood in the doorway and watched the festivities. The brightly colored clothing of the Markowitz contingent was sprinkled liberally among the muted garb of Vanessa’s family like tropical birds chattering with barn swallows. Quinn spotted Stanley leaning against the mantelpiece talking to Dr. Huntington. The groom held a champagne glass in one hand and gestured expansively with the other. He looked a little drunk. Dr. Huntington wore his habitual expression of benevolent irony. Quinn waved to catch Stanley’s attention. He set the champagne glass on the marble shelf and went to fetch Van.
Quinn took Stanley’s arm. “I saw you doing your George Sanders routine over there,” she chided him.
“Don’t leave,” Van pleaded.
“I’d rather not,” Will said.
The two couples smiled at each other in silence for a moment.
“You two—” Stanley began.
“No!” Quinn exclaimed. “I won’t get through it. Just say good-bye.”
“Good night, Gracie,” Stanley said.
“Will.” Van stood on her tiptoes to kiss him. “It’s hard to know what to say.”
“Then don’t say anything,” Quinn begged. “I’m getting a terrible stomachache.” She embraced Stanley, then Van. “Have a wonderful trip, Mr. and Mrs. Markowitz. Say hello to the Champs-Élysées for me. Tell ’em I’ll get there some day. I love you.”
“We’re on the flight path,” Stanley said to Will. “Dump some rice out the window when you fly over.”
Will held out his hand and Stanley grasped it in both of his.
“Quick, Will,” Quinn said in a strangled voice.
They bolted for the door.
Van watched them climb into the Huntington limousine, and leaned against her new husband. “I hope I live long enough to throw rice at them,” she said.
“You’d better live to be a very old lady, Vanessa.”
The ride to the airport was mostly silent, with Will holding her against him in a comer of the backseat. As they emerged from Callahan Tunnel into the sunshine, Quinn said, “Reincarnation, that’s the answer.”
“Grasping at straws, babe.”
“Any straw will do. Why are we doing this?”
He didn’t answer.
They walked stiffly through the airport. Their faces wore the expressions of children on their way to the principal’s office to be punished. When they arrived at the gate, Will looked down at her.
“You shouldn’t have come with me.”
“Nope,” she said.
He reached into the zipper pocket of his duffel bag and drew out an envelope. In the upper left-hand corner was the Arlington Copley logo. Quinn remembered the crumpled paper balls in the middle of the night. She started to open the envelope, but he put his hand over hers.
“No. Later.”
A uniformed attendant said, “Sir, are you on Flight 305? Better get a move on.”
Quinn forced a ghastly smile. “Well, it’s been aces,” she said.
Her freckles were like sand across the tops of her cheeks, eyes dark, deep blue now, like her mother’s. I love you, girl. Out loud he said, “Okay, keep in touch. Take care of our little boy. And your mom.”
“Oh, shit.” She buried her face in his chest and held on hard. Then she released him. “No, don’t kiss me.” She gave him a little push and he started walking. She waited until he was through the door, just in case he glanced around at her. But he didn’t, and when he disappeared, she gave way. Then she wiped her face with the back of her hand and marched down the long hallway toward the exit, clutching her envelope.
In the limousine she heard a plane take off. She craned her neck toward the back window and watched it arch out over the harbor and head due west. Then she opened the envelope, slowly, taking care not to rip its contents. The lines on the hotel stationery were scrawled in Will’s bold, careless print:
Your soul brushes mine
So briefly—a butterfly kiss.
I look away for one moment
Feeling your warm breath
On my shoulder.
And when I turn back,
You are gone.
A butterfly. An airplane. She watched her hands grow shiny and wet, hands like her mother’s, glistening as they’d stroked her grieving father’s hair.
The limousine shot downtown toward the noisy crush of the city. She held Will’s poem in an embrace and remembered the tall pines and rugged mountain ranges. So remote, so out of touch with the world’s business. There was no reason why Boise, Idaho, shouldn’t have a fine educational television station like New York or Boston, to bring political debate and culture into the boondocks. One of these days she’d check it out. You never know.
More from Sally Mandel
Change of Heart
Sometimes love is worth risking everything. A New York Times bestseller.
“What a beautiful book! Readers will be haunted, as I am, by the characters who become so real and come to matter so much. I loved it.” - Danielle Steel, author of First Sight and Matters of the Heart
Sharlie Converse is twenty-six with a vivid and romantic interior life. Born with a heart defect that has defeated an army of specialists, she has lived her short life from moment to moment. Everything that matters most to her—color, excitement, adventure—is forbidden except in her imaginings and in the secret yearningss that she has long accepted will never be made real.
Until, on a cross town bus packed with Christmas shoppers, she falls into Brian Morgan’s arms. And Sharlie, whom love can kill, must make the agonizing choice: to risk her life by loving or never really to live at all.
Out of the Blue
A poignant and provocative romance about a remarkable leap of faith.
“A novel of soaring spirit, steadfast love, and the willingness to reach for dreams … A wonderful book … filled with hope and faith.” - Luanne Rice, author of The Lemon Orchard
Anna Bolles is a born athlete whose life was irrevocably changed after a multiple sclerosis diagnosis five years ago. Anna fills her days with the vibrancy of life in New York City, teaching at a private school, but shutting the door on any possible romance. Until Joe Malone enters her life.
A businessman, pilot, and amateur photographer, Joe Malone has it all – except happiness. He sees far more in Anna than just her MS diagnosis, and takes Anna on a roller coaster of love, hope, and hanging on.
Portrait of a Married Woman
Dissatisfied in her life, a housewife returns to the passion she had put aside, and discovers a new one as well.
“A living, breathing portrait of a truly contemporary woman … a lovely read.” Barbara Taylor Bradford, author of Secrets from the Past and A Woman of Substance
After seventeen years of marriage, Maggie Hollander should have it all. Her husband, Matthew, still loves her deeply, and two irrepressible children complete the picture-perfect family in their elegant New York apartment. But at thirty-eight, Maggie has questions about herself that grow deeper and more disturbing. Once a promising artist, she decides to return to art class in search of answers. It is there that she meets a sculptor who rekindles her talent, and her passion. David Golden will expose Maggie to a tenderness that is as liberating as it is dangerous, and will carry her toward an unforeseen choice.
Heart and Soul
An undeniable talent is coaxed into the spotlight in a witty and tender romance.
“With wit and wisdom, Sally Mandel illuminates our deepest hopes and secret fears, showing us what matters most.” - Deborah Smith, author of The Stone Flower Garden
Bess Stallone is brash and bold, until she is placed center stage. A self-taught musical prodigy from the rough side of Long Island, the only thing Bess has in common with her Julliard classmates is her passion for classical music, and her e
xtraordinary skill on the piano. A skill that crumbles under the weight of self-doubt when she plays for an audience.
Virtuoso David Montagnier is drawn to Bess’ wild talent, and gives her the opportunity she’s been waiting for to escape her blue-collar existence. He holds the key to Bess’ dreams – and surprisingly, she may hold the key to his – if she will surrender to the music and believe in love.
Take Me Back
The triumphant return of New York Times bestselling author Sally Mandel presents an intimate multigenerational portrait of the troubles and triumphs of a 20th century family.
Lily Adams is the animating spirit of those around her, even in her twilight years. Perhaps none is more touched by her presence than her granddaughter, Amy, whom Lily saves from a teenage crisis. The family saga of three generations of the Adams clan is filled with crises of identity and the pains of romance, with Lily’s presence profoundly felt throughout.
Take Me Back focuses precisely, poignantly, and sometimes painfully, on the spaces between us, emphasizing the impact we can have on the lives of those around us, even in the mere echo of ourselves after we have gone.
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