The Summer of Sunshine and Margot

by Susan Mallery

  “I find it intriguing that you’re so organized and regimented with the kids you work with but that doesn’t translate to your personal life.”

  “I’m not regimented.”

  “You keep them on a schedule.”

  “Yes, but children do better when there’s a routine. They need mealtimes and bedtimes and playtimes.”

  “Maybe you do, too.”

  “You’re saying I should treat myself as if I were one of my charges?”

  “I’m saying it might be a fun experiment. You already have to be in class two mornings per week. Maybe plan out when you’re going to do homework and when you’re going to work out. That sort of thing.”

  Sunshine glared at her. “Work out? I noticed how you slipped that in there.”

  “You’re the one complaining you don’t exercise enough.”

  “You’re not supposed to throw that back in my face.”

  “I was just pointing out you could make a schedule for yourself.”

  “You mean like have a milk shake every Monday?” Sunshine’s eyes were bright with humor. “I could totally get behind that.”

  “You’re hopeless.”

  “I’ve been saying that forever. Now, how are things with you? How’s work? How’s your sex life?”

  “I have no sex life.”

  “Me, either. Sucks, huh?”

  “I don’t mind so much.”

  “Liar.”

  Margot sighed. “I mind a little, but I’m used to it.” She wasn’t the type to have a one-night stand and sadly there weren’t many men who interested her. Along with destroying her life over and over again, Dietrich had somehow convinced her that he was the only one who could possibly find her attractive. That she was too weird for most. While her head said he was a lying bastard with a temper that sometimes scared her and that she was far better without him, her surprisingly fragile heart wondered if he had a point. It wasn’t as if there had ever been a line of men ready to beat down her door. That was more her sister’s life.

  “Why aren’t you having sex?” she asked.

  Sunshine nearly choked on her smoothie. “Excuse me?”

  “I assume you could get someone in a hot minute. Or a cold one.”

  “I could, but I’m not going to. I told you—I’m done with that. I want to be normal.”

  “Normal people have sex.”

  “Normal people have relationships. I’ve only ever had flings that, in the end, didn’t mean anything to either of us. I’ve run away from my life and my responsibilities because of the promise of a few weeks of bliss, and then what?” Her mouth twisted. “I wake up with the flu, alone in a hotel room in London with no guy, no job, no anything.”

  Margot stretched her hand across the small table. Sunshine squeezed her fingers. The situation Sunshine was describing was exactly what had happened four months before, two days after their thirty-first birthday. She’d made her way from London to LA and had moved in with Margot, vowing she was going to change her life for the better. No more random guys, no more meaningless, slightly hedonistic existence. Instead she was going to achieve normality.

  “I love you,” Margot said.

  “I love you, too. Even though you’ve had your shit together for most of our adult lives.”

  “Have not.” Margot set down her drink and held up one finger. “I nearly flunked out of my sophomore year of college because I went to Thailand with Dietrich.” She raised a second finger. “I missed registration and couldn’t get any of the classes I wanted because I was in Australia, also with Dietrich.” A third finger went up. “I was in Patagonia when I should have been interviewing for my dream job and instead I ended up as assistant manager at a midlevel hotel in San Francisco.”

  “Which ultimately got you to the job you have now, which you love.”

  “I think I would have loved managing a Peninsula Hotel, as well.”

  “Not as much.”

  “I’m not sure. My point is I could keep going. You’ve been stupid over a bunch of guys and I’ve been stupid over and over again about the same one. Neither of us wins an award. Instead we have to keep moving forward. Which we are.” She picked up her drink. “Quit being mean to someone I love.”

  “I’m not being mean to myself.” Sunshine sighed. “I’m going to get through it. College, staying at my job, ignoring inappropriate men. Maybe I should give up on men for a while.”

  “Or find someone appropriate.”

  “Where?”

  Margot shrugged. “I’m actually not the person to ask. I am appropriate-man free.”

  Sunshine touched her plastic drink container to Margot’s. “Perhaps, but you are also Dietrich-free, and isn’t that nice?”

  “It is. I’m going to change the subject and talk about my work.”

  Sunshine raised her eyebrows. “Wow. You never talk about your work. Not in specifics. Or are you teasing me?”

  “Bianca Wray is my client.”

  Sunshine choked for a second time. “You said a client’s name out loud. Should I duck so the lightning doesn’t strike me, too?”

  Margot smiled. She was very protective of the people she worked with and never discussed anything about them with anyone outside of her immediate supervisor.

  “I have her permission to tell you.”

  “To quote our friend Lizzy Bennet, I am all astonishment.” Sunshine tilted her head. “Wait a minute. Bianca Wray? The actress?” She sat up straighter. “The one who slept with all those guys and unfastened her halter dress on some award show, letting it drift to the ground, and she was naked underneath? I love her. She’s my hero.”

  “I thought you were going for normal.”

  “Oh right. Well, she was my hero. You’re working with her? Why?”

  “I can’t say.”

  Sunshine rolled her eyes. “You are a giant pain in my ass. So why did you tell me?”

  “Bianca is going to be hosting a dinner party. I thought you’d like to come, along with your boss and Connor.”

  Her sister leaned toward her. “Um, what? Your client, who has never met me, wants to invite me, the guy I work for, whom she also hasn’t met, and his kid to dinner?”

  “Declan knows Bianca’s son, Alec, who will also be there. Alec hired Declan to design his gardens.”

  Her sister’s expression turned knowing. “Alec? You haven’t mentioned any Alec.”

  Margot willed herself not to react. “He’s Bianca’s adult son. He’s owns the house I’m staying in. He’s a talented scholar and his house is a beautiful, converted monastery. The dinner will be at his place. Bianca’s staying with him for a few weeks as we work on things.”

  “You’re living with Alec? Funny how you didn’t mention that, nor the man himself. You’re keeping secrets.”

  Margot felt herself flush, even though nothing flushworthy was going on anywhere in her life. Ridiculous pale skin.

  “I’m not living with him. You’re deliberately misunderstanding me.”

  “Is he hot?”

  “He’s very intelligent.”

  Sunshine simply looked at her.

  Margot exhaled sharply. “He’s not unattractive.”

  “Married?”

  “What? Of course not. If he was married, he wouldn’t be attractive. I don’t do that.”

  “Just checking. I’m trying for normal. With Bianca Wray in your life, who knows what you could be trying for.”

  “My clients don’t influence me. I influence them.”

  “If half of what I’ve read about her is true, you may have met your match.”

  Margot shook her head. “So far she’s been very conventional.” Surprisingly so, she thought. Bianca had begun going through the workbook. She was reading about Cardigania, studying the history and customs. So far, their lessons were uneventfu
l. It was almost disappointing.

  A guy in a Mercedes convertible pulled up close to their table.

  “Hi,” he called, his gaze firmly on Sunshine. “Can I buy you lunch?”

  “No, thanks,” she said, not even looking at him.

  “I have a private jet. We could be in San Francisco in an hour. I know a great place on the wharf.”

  She flicked her fingers at him. “Move along.”

  “Baby, I’d be good for you.”

  Sunshine sighed, then leaned forward and kissed Margot briefly on the lips before looking back at the guy. She smiled brightly.

  “Wrong team.”

  “My loss.”

  “That is actually true.”

  He drove off. Margot watched him go.

  “You didn’t even look at him. He was kind of gorgeous.”

  Her sister rolled her eyes. “I’m not being picked up by a guy in a parking lot in front of a juice bar. That’s a very old-me thing.”

  “Okay. It’s just I’m always your lesbian shill. Just once I want you to be my lesbian shill.”

  “I’m totally open to it. Anytime. Is shill the right word?”

  “I don’t know, but you get my point.”

  Sunshine grinned. “Yes. My successful, college-educated, incredibly beautiful sister wants to be picked up by some random guy in a parking lot.”

  “Just once. And he has to be a guy driving a Mercedes and who has a private jet.”

  “He was lying about the jet.”

  “How do you know?”

  “I just know. It’s a line. Believe me.”

  Margot would have to as she had no personal experience with the subject. There was just the disaster that had been Dietrich and he’d never once tempted her with a private jet. All he’d had to do was ask and she’d been there, regardless of what it cost her.

  “We are cursed,” she said with a sigh.

  “We are the Baxter sisters and we just can’t seem to escape our destiny.”

  Margot wanted to say that wasn’t true, but they came from a long line of women who had disastrous relationships and the emotional staying power of snow in July.

  Sunshine smiled. “But we have each other and maybe that’s enough.”

  “It is,” Margot said firmly.

  “Fake it until we make it?”

  “Always.”

  * * *

  “You’ll track the package?” Connor asked, sounding worried.

  “I swear I will. I’ll check every half hour. Plus, the delivery guy always rings the doorbell.”

  “And you’ll be home?”

  “I will be home. I’m going to the grocery store as soon as I drop you off, then I’ll go directly home to wait. I promise.”

  Connor still looked worried, but he nodded. “Okay. I trust you.”

  “Thank you.”

  The ant farm had been delivered the previous day and the shipment of ants was on its way.

  “I will take them into your room and put them in a safe spot so they can recover from their journey while you’re at school. This afternoon you can move them into their new home.”

  “Do you think they’ll like it?” he asked anxiously. “Will they be scared?”

  “I think they’ll be happy to be in one place. Travel is exhausting.”

  “It is.”

  His voice was so serious, she thought, telling herself not to smile. But it was hard. Connor was adorable and his concern for the soon-to-be delivered ants was the cutest thing ever.

  She joined the line of cars leading to the school. When it was their turn, she made sure he had his lunch and backpack before telling him to have a good day.

  “I’ll be here right on time,” she told him. “With the ant report.”

  He laughed. “Bye, Sunshine.”

  “Bye, Connor.”

  She pulled up a couple of car lengths to get out of the way, then watched until he was safely inside the building. Once Connor disappeared from sight, she drove to the grocery store.

  She’d already planned meals for the next couple of weeks. Sunshine preferred to make large batches of food everyone liked, then freeze the extras for easy dinners. While she separated the portions with the assumption that Declan would be joining them, more often than not, he didn’t make it home in time, leaving her with a delicious lunch.

  Connor was a pretty easy kid on every front, including food. He was always willing to try something new and even though he complained about vegetables, he mostly ate them. As she pulled into the parking lot at the grocery store, Sunshine thought briefly of Connor’s mother. How devastating to have such a wonderful family, such a perfect life, only to find out you were dying. To have loved like that, to have known you had it all, and then have it cruelly snatched from you... There weren’t words to describe that kind of pain.

  She wanted that, she thought wistfully. Not the losing part, but the love. She wanted to give her heart to someone and accept his heart in return. She wanted to be all in with a future and hope and affection and respect. One day, she promised herself. It would happen one day.

  Sunshine grabbed her purse and pulled out her list. They had leftover steak from the weekend. She would use that in quesadillas tomorrow. Tonight she wanted to barbecue enough chicken for at least five meals. There were so many options for the leftovers. Salads and enchiladas or tacos. She had a couple of great casserole dishes that used cooked chicken. Having a freezer full of ready-to-go food made her happy.

  When she’d first started working for Declan, the freezer had been as bare as the cupboards. There had been snacks for Connor and a few staples, along with breakfast items, but little else. She was on a mission to change that. The big stand-up freezer in the mudroom was slowly filling up.

  She tucked her list into her jeans back pocket then started for the store. After collecting a cart, she headed for the bakery. Her recent stress baking had provided them with plenty of goodies, but they still needed bread.

  As she walked to the display of Connor’s favorite bread, she passed a tall guy in a suit. She wouldn’t have noticed him except for the panic in his voice as he said, “But there are so many. How can there be so many?”

  Sunshine glanced at him and saw he was staring at a three-ring binder filled with pictures of decorated cakes. He flipped forward a couple of pages, then looked at the clerk waiting impatiently for him to decide.

  “Which one?” he asked desperately.

  “Sir, I have bagels I need to take out of the oven. If you could please make your choice by the time I get back, that would be great.”

  “But it’s not really my area of expertise.”

  The guy was in his midthirties, more quirky looking than handsome. The suit was good quality and his shoes looked expensive, so an executive of some kind, she thought, telling herself to walk away. Instead she pushed her cart closer.

  “Do you need help?” she asked.

  The man turned to her and nodded vigorously. “Please. My sister is six months pregnant and was unexpectedly put on bed rest. Her husband is out of town and her daughter is turning three in two days. I need to order a princess cake for her. I thought it would be easy.” He held up the binder. “There are eight princess cakes. How is that possible?”

  Sunshine laughed. “There’s more than one princess.”

  “Why?”

  He looked genuinely confused by the whole thing, which was kind of refreshing and she liked that he was helping his sister.

  She held out her hand. “I’ll text her for you and find out.”

  “Really? You know what to ask?”

  “I’m very princess literate.”

  She flipped through the binder, then quickly typed the names of the various princesses. When she was done, she handed him back the phone.

  He read her text. “You
know their names.”

  “I know. It’s an impressive skill set.”

  “And useful.”

  His phone chimed. He glanced at the screen. “Belle. We need a Belle cake.” He frowned. “Does that help?”

  “It does.” She turned to the correct page. “You want that one.”

  “It’s Beauty and the Beast. That is not a princess cake.”

  “The beast was a prince.”

  “I don’t think so.”

  She smiled. “Your niece is turning three. I wouldn’t argue that point with her if I were you.”

  “Excellent advice. I’m Norris, by the way.” He grimaced. “I know, I know. It’s a family name, don’t judge.”

  “Sunshine.” She raised a shoulder. “So not really in a position to judge anyone’s name.”

  Norris held out his hand. “Nice to meet you, Sunshine. Thank you so much for saving me. And the birthday party. The wrong cake would have been a disaster.”

  “I’m happy to help.” She reached for her cart.

  “Wait.” Norris took a step toward her. “Can I thank you with a cup of coffee?”

  “Not necessary.”

  He hesitated, as if not sure what to do, then he blurted, “I’m a financial planner, divorced for two years, no kids and I’m a really nice guy.” He waved toward the cake displays. “Obviously. I’m helping out my sister. Just coffee.”

  He pulled a small leather case out of his jacket pocket and handed her a business card. She took it and scanned the information. It looked official enough and had both a work and cell number on it.

  Was being picked up in a grocery store any better than a random guy stopping her in a parking lot? Or was it really about the location? Maybe the guy was more important. Norris seemed like one of the good ones and he had been willing to pick out a princess cake for his sister. That had to mean something.

  She pulled a pen out of her handbag, then held out her hand for another card. She wrote her number on the back and handed it to him.

  “Coffee,” she said. “Sounds nice.”

  “Excellent.” He beamed at her. “I’ll be in touch.”

  Sunshine waved, then walked away. She wasn’t sure if she’d just taken a big step toward something better or had completely screwed up. Again.