The Brightest Stars of Summer

by Leila Howland

  She handed Marigold the latest issue of Young & Lovely magazine.

  “Thanks,” Zinnie said, reaching for it and quickly turning it upside down on her tray table. But it was too late. Marigold had seen the cover, which had the Night Sprites cast on it. Marigold felt a twinge in her chest so sharp that for a moment she was sure that the cabin pressure had dropped and they were plummeting below the clouds to the hard earth they had so recently left behind.

  10 • A Room of Her Own

  Zinnie could practically feel her curls rise an extra inch as she and her sisters bounded out of Aunt Sunny’s old station wagon and into the humid evening, but the last thing she cared about right now was her hair. They were back in Pruet, where the air smelled sweet and green and it felt like summer existed all year long. Of course, Zinnie knew that wasn’t true. New England was famous for its seasons. Aunt Sunny had sent them pictures of the red, orange, and yellow leaves in autumn, her cottage covered in snow at Christmastime, and the garden unrecognizably muddy and brown after long spring rains. But there was something about this place right now, with its warm, mossy stone walls, boat-dotted harbor, and dune-covered beaches that made Zinnie feel as if she was stepping into an eternal summer.

  She breathed in the Pruet air. It was almost six p.m., and as she listened to her sisters and Aunt Sunny chatting about which bag belonged to which sister, the sun was casting long shadows across the lawn and the insects were practicing for their twilight chorus. The hollyhocks and roses bloomed in shades of pink and red, and the hydrangea bushes created a ruffled hedge of purple pom-poms that made Zinnie feel like cheering.

  It had been a long ride from the airport in Boston, but they had so much to tell Aunt Sunny that Zinnie had hardly noticed the time. They hadn’t stopped talking since the first sight of Aunt Sunny at the baggage carousel, where she’d greeted them in her sun hat, boat shoes, and Piping Plover Society T-shirt. The sisters regaled her with stories all the way through the noisy tunnel that ran under Boston Harbor, and along the freeway, which Aunt Sunny called the highway, and down the narrow country roads by the sea.

  First Lily listed the many reasons why she thought she should have a dog. Then there was a great discussion about Marigold’s haircut, which Aunt Sunny called “smart.”

  “I’m never acting again,” Marigold told her. “This is the start of a whole new me.”

  “I see,” Aunt Sunny said.

  Then Zinnie explained how cool the Writers’ Workshop was and how much she wanted to be a part of it. “In order to get in, I have to write something amazing,” Zinnie said.

  “What a task,” Aunt Sunny replied.

  Finally they all wanted to know what Aunt Sunny wanted as a wedding present.

  “Lily, I was counting on you to scatter rose petals for me,” Aunt Sunny said.

  “I can do that easy,” Lily said.

  “I was hoping that Marigold would read a Shakespearean sonnet during the ceremony, and that Zinnie might write something for me, but now that I’ve heard your stories . . .”

  “I’ll do anything else, anything at all,” Marigold said. “But I can’t perform.”

  “Oh dear,” Aunt Sunny said.

  “I’ll be your wedding organizer,” Marigold said.

  “That would be helpful,” Aunt Sunny said.

  “Do you think maybe I can read the sonnet instead of writing something?” Zinnie asked. “Because I already have to write the greatest work of my life while I’m here.”

  “That is quite a challenge. Very well, then,” Aunt Sunny said. “I’ll need a lot of help making that wedding cake.”

  “You’re going to make the cake yourself?” Zinnie asked.

  “We’re going to make it together. That can be your gift to me,” Aunt Sunny said.

  “How come you didn’t pick us up from the airport last year?” Zinnie asked when they arrived at Aunt Sunny’s cottage. It looked like something out of a fairy tale. Aunt Sunny unloaded Zinnie’s suitcase from the trunk, and Marigold and Lily dashed inside to use the bathroom. Last summer, a driver had picked them up in Boston and taken them to Pruet.

  “I’m a bit of a country mouse,” Aunt Sunny said, grabbing Lily’s duffel bag and tossing it over her shoulder. “I’ve always been afraid of driving in that Boston traffic. It can get awfully hairy. But after you girls visited last summer, I made a promise to myself to step out of my comfort zone and try new things.”

  “Like getting married again,” Zinnie said, smiling up at her.

  “Exactly,” Aunt Sunny said, giving Zinnie’s hand a squeeze.

  “Was driving in the traffic as scary as you thought it was going to be?” Zinnie asked as they walked inside. Last summer, Aunt Sunny’s house had seemed so strange, but this year she instantly knew its wooden walls and familiar smell, like something was always baking. She was filled with a warm, happy feeling.

  “While I can’t say I see myself driving a taxicab around Boston anytime soon, it wasn’t as scary as I thought it was going to be,” Aunt Sunny said, pausing in the entryway to pick up the mail. Zinnie noticed that where once there had been a picture of a boat, there now was photograph of Sunny and Tony holding hands in the garden. “Also, there’s something about love that gives you courage.”

  “Interesting,” Zinnie said. She liked this line and thought she might jot it down in her notebook later. Mrs. Lee had told her that writers were great thieves, as they often stole bits of conversation for their work.

  “Would you pick up the newspaper for me?” Aunt Sunny asked, pointing to the Buzzards Bay Bugle that had fallen to the floor.

  “Sure,” Zinnie said, bending to pick it up. She almost gasped as she saw that on the front page was a picture of Philip Rathbone strolling along the harbor. The headline read:

  Hollywood Director Takes Respite from Blockbuster Movie Fanfare in Pruet

  “I’d better put this in the recycling,” Zinnie said, not wanting Marigold to learn that Philip Rathbone was here.

  “I haven’t had a chance to read it, actually,” Aunt Sunny said. “I was going to give it a glance after dinner.”

  “But Aunt Sunny,” Zinnie said, pointing to the picture of Mr. Rathbone, “Marigold can’t see this. You have no idea how sad she’s been. There were two days when she didn’t even brush her hair.”

  “Your mom told me all about it. Poor dear,” Aunt Sunny said, taking the paper, folding it in half, and tucking it under her arm. “Such disappointment can be devastating. We’ll try to refocus her energy while she’s here. I’m going to keep you girls busy, feed you well, and make sure you get plenty of sun and time at the beach. Hopefully that will put the wind back in her sails. Speaking of food, I know how much you love clams, so we’re having them for dinner,” Aunt Sunny continued as they made their way into the living room with the luggage. “Tony is picking them up fresh from Gifford’s Fish Store, along with some corn, beans, and tomatoes.”

  “Yum!” Zinnie said. It would be a perfect Pruet dinner. Zinnie could hear her sisters chatting away upstairs, where she was certain they were getting settled in the same attic bedroom they had slept in last summer. But before she could rush up the stairs to join them, Aunt Sunny beckoned Zinnie to follow her through the living room and into what had once been her office. Last year, Aunt Sunny’s big desk was in here, along with lots of pictures of boats that her late husband had built and bookshelves crammed with old science books and field guides. Now it was empty except for a small green desk and a chair. The window looked out on the lawn.

  “What happened to all your stuff?” Zinnie asked.

  “It’s in my office at the Piping Plover Society,” Aunt Sunny said. “Tony is moving in after we get married. And since we’re living in my house, we thought Tony needed a space that was just for him. I know that you plan on writing a great work this summer. It was Virginia Woolf who said that a writer needs a room of her own, so while you are here, this is your room.”

  “Thanks,” Zinnie said, though she wasn’t sure w
ho Virginia Woolf was. Probably the girls in the Writers’ Workshop knew. Zinnie vowed that she would look her up as soon as she had a chance. Maybe she’d post a few of her quotes around her desk. The room was pretty much perfect the way it was, with a nice big window, a desk that fit her, and a comfortable chair. Aunt Sunny had even provided Zinnie with a cup full of freshly sharpened pencils, a stack of loose-leaf paper, and a rock.

  “What’s this?” Zinnie asked, holding the rock and turning to see Aunt Sunny smiling at her from the doorway. “A paperweight?”

  “I suppose you could use it as a paperweight. I thought it would be something nice to hold on to when you’re thinking of just the right word. I found it on the beach this spring. It reminded me of you somehow.”

  Zinnie examined the rock. It was smooth, cool, and freckled, and it had a pleasant weight. Zinnie wasn’t sure exactly what Aunt Sunny meant when she said it reminded her of Zinnie, but she knew it was a good thing. A wise thing, even.

  “I’m going to make sure that you have time for writing while you’re here, but right now I think you should get settled upstairs. Tony will be here any minute with the groceries, and I have to make dessert.”

  “What kind of dessert?” Zinnie asked.

  “It’s a surprise,” Aunt Sunny said with a wink, which of course, gave it away. Back in Pruet and Aunt Sunny’s surprise brownies—Zinnie didn’t think the day could get any better.

  “Hiya—anyone home?” Tony called from the entryway. “Clam delivery here!”

  “Tony!” Zinnie exclaimed, and she ran to greet her soon-to-be new great-uncle. He was walking toward the kitchen carrying a tote bag that was bursting with vegetables and, Zinnie imagined, fresh clams that they would eat tonight, served just how she liked them—with plenty of warm butter.

  “Hi, Zinnie!” Tony said as he placed the groceries on the kitchen counter.

  “How are you?” Zinnie asked.

  “All the better for seeing you,” Tony replied, and gave her a hug. He smelled like a day at the beach. Marigold and Lily flew into the kitchen and also gave him a hug. Aunt Sunny followed, beaming as the sisters gathered around her almost-husband.

  “Is it just me,” Tony said to Aunt Sunny as she kissed his cheek, “or does this town feel a little brighter now?”

  “It’s definitely not just you,” Aunt Sunny said, reaching for her apron. “The weather report says that some California sun has arrived in Pruet—and lucky us, it will be shining bright from now until our wedding day!”

  11 • Ordinary Clothes

  It was like the country air had some sort of medicine in it, because Marigold had awakened in the morning sunlight of the attic bedroom feeling better than she had in days. Or maybe the extra brownie that she’d had for a midnight snack was what put her in such a good mood. Aunt Sunny had wrapped the surprise brownies in plastic and placed them in the fridge after supper in case “certain sisters who were still on California time” got hungry late at night.

  Lily had no problem adjusting to the East Coast time difference, but Marigold and Zinnie hadn’t been able to fall asleep. They sat up for hours discussing all the people they wanted to see the next day (Peter, Ashley, Jean, Edith), the places they wanted to go (the town beach, the beach with the dunes and estuary, the yacht club, Edith’s Ice Cream Shop, the Pruet general store, the library), and the things they wanted to do (swim, sail, eat ice cream), until they realized that it was almost midnight, which of course reminded them of the midnight snack that was waiting for them.

  They crept downstairs so as not to wake anyone. But Aunt Sunny must’ve known they were going to visit the fridge, because she had left a light on in the kitchen. They poured tall glasses of cold milk and ate the chilled brownies in silence as the kitchen clock ticked and a single night bird chirped somewhere in the blue-black sky on the other side of the windows. When they were finished, they found themselves deliciously exhausted. They debated brushing their teeth, decided against it, and stumbled into their beds and drifted off to sleep.

  Now the smell of coffee and the sounds of Aunt Sunny making breakfast rose up from the kitchen. Marigold was surprised that she was the first one awake. She was usually a late riser. Lily was curled up in her bed with Benny the bunny in her arms. Zinnie was stretched out on top of her covers with a smile on her face. Marigold guessed that she was dreaming of ice cream. Since privacy was rare in Pruet, where she shared a room with her sisters, Marigold pulled her iPad out from under her bed and opened her digital diary.

  She reviewed the list she’d written on the plane, thought for a moment, and wrote:

  Today I’ll find a new thing to love instead of acting. Marigold paused. How was she supposed to do this? She thought about other activities she’d tried. She’d been on the swim team at one point. She didn’t exactly love it, but maybe if she practiced more, she could learn to. After all, the Cuties were all on the swim team. She wrote that maybe she would go for a long swim at the town beach today.

  She also wrote about how she would try to see Peter as soon as possible. A smile spread across her lips as she typed his name. It was going to be fun to see him again, and because he was an ordinary boy, she’d probably become more ordinary just by spending time with him.

  She realized that writing in the diary gave her a feeling similar to that of sharing something with a friend. Maybe if she kept writing in her diary, she wouldn’t miss Pilar so much. A diary is like a friend that will never betray you, she wrote.

  Even though she was hungry for one of Aunt Sunny’s breakfasts, she kept writing. She decided that in addition to practicing swimming and looking for Peter, she would wear ordinary clothes today. She went into her dresser drawer and picked out a plain green T-shirt and shorts. Because Aunt Sunny had no full-length mirror in the house, Marigold used her iPad to snap a selfie. Her haircut looked really cute with the T-shirt’s unusual neckline, which she had barely noticed before. In fact, this T-shirt looked way better on her with short hair than it had when she’d had long hair.

  She took it off and chose a simple blue dress to try on instead. Marigold had plucked the dress off the sale rack at Target. It was so marked down that it had cost less than the toilet paper Mom was buying that day! When she’d tried it on at home, she’d realized it fit weirdly at the waist and was a little too long to be really flattering, but somehow they’d never returned it. Now she slipped it over her head and took another selfie, hoping that she had finally found the outfit that would make her as ordinary as possible. But she must’ve grown an inch since the last time she’d tried the dress on, because now it fit her well. She would even go so far as to say that it looked good on her.

  She returned to her diary to consider her problem. How was she going to look ordinary when her outfits were all so cute? She peered over at Zinnie and typed: Good thing Zinnie is here. She doesn’t care about clothes at all!

  Marigold started to open Zinnie’s drawer but stopped herself. She always made such a big deal about Zinnie not looking through her stuff or taking her clothes. She imagined that Zinnie would be really mad if she went through her things without checking with her first. She watched her sister’s chest rise and fall with her breath. Zinnie was so sound asleep, she would never know. Marigold decided to take a quick peek.

  She grimaced as she looked inside the drawer. It was chaos. Zinnie hadn’t even been on the East Coast twenty-four hours and she’d already made a mess. Had she just dumped the contents of her suitcase in there? Had her clothes even been folded to begin with? Marigold picked a balled-up T-shirt out of the mess and held it up. It was a Miss Hadley’s Field Day T-shirt. Taking another quick glance at her sister to make sure she was sleeping, Marigold put it on over the blue dress and took a picture to see how she looked.

  Yuck! she thought when she saw the picture. She might as well have been wearing a paper bag! The gray shirt completely robbed her complexion of color. The sleeves made her arms look short. And the rest of the shirt hung bulkily around her middle. She tappe
d on the diary app.

  I just tried on one of Zinnie’s T-shirts, and it looked terrible!! I can’t go this far. Poor Zinnie. I worry that she won’t ever find a boyfriend because she really is such a spaz.

  Almost as though Zinnie could hear her sister’s thoughts, she stirred. Marigold quickly tossed the iPad on the bed, pulled the T-shirt off, and put one of her own T-shirts on. She had started to stuff Zinnie’s shirt in the drawer when Zinnie sat up, yawned, and asked, “What’re you doing?”

  “Just getting dressed,” Marigold said, turning around and doing her best to look innocent. Now she was glad the drawer was so disorganized, because the stuffed-in T-shirt wouldn’t stand out.

  “You look . . . stressed,” Zinnie said, rubbing her eyes.

  “I’m not,” Marigold said, leaning against the dresser.

  “Oh, can I use your iPad?” Zinnie asked. “I need to Google Virginia Woolf.”

  “Aunt Sunny doesn’t have Wi-Fi, remember?” Marigold said. Her iPad was glowing on the bed, leaving the page of her digital diary on full, bright display. She clenched her jaw and willed the iPad to go to sleep. Marigold had always been a more guarded person than either of her sisters, but there was something about the public embarrassment of being cut from the movie that made her privacy feel more valuable than ever. “Besides, you have your laptop.”

  “Oh, yeah,” Zinnie said, and then she sat up straight, her eyes brightening as she seemed to wake up all of a sudden. “Do I smell pancakes? Is Aunt Sunny making her silver dollar pancakes?”

  Zinnie hopped out of bed and was running down the staircase before Marigold could respond. Marigold breathed a sigh of relief, grabbed her iPad, and shut the cover.

  “What are you hiding?” Lily asked. Marigold turned and was surprised to see her littlest sister sitting on the edge of her bed with Benny the bunny in her lap.

  “What do you mean?” Marigold asked. “I’m not hiding anything. And how long have you been awake?”