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“Audrey! Are you coming? If we don’t start decorating in the next half-hour, I don’t know if we’ll have enough time.” Amanda slid her sunglasses over her nose and crossed her arms, catching a glimpse of herself in the downstairs mirror at the Sheridan House. It was a gorgeous day in late May and the Sheridan House creaked around her, catching the breeze off the Vineyard Sound. She and Audrey were the only ones there, as Grandpa Wes spent the day with his sister, Aunt Kerry, and Max was over at Noah’s, who’d agreed to babysit.
Audrey bustled down the staircase, carrying a wide array of feather boas, hats, bustiers, and high-heeled boots, most of which they’d purchased from the local consignment shop the previous evening. On the last step, she caught herself on the feather boa and nearly teetered forward, yelping with alarm.
“Let me help you.” Amanda hurried up and grabbed one-half of the mass, laughing. “I told you. We need a better system.”
“You and your systems,” Audrey teased. “I think we’re doing just fine. Let’s shove everything into the trunk and head over.”
Amanda groaned inwardly as she led her cousin out to the driveway, where they loaded up the rest of the costumes. That night, they’d rented a cabin on the outskirts of Edgartown, along the waterline, where they planned to stage the “Grandest Sheridan Bachelorette Weekend Ever.” It was a secret, something they’d concocted with Susan and Christine’s help to ensure that Lola was free and there would be babysitting available for Mia and Max. They’d also invited Charlotte, Claire, and Kelli Montgomery, along with two of Lola’s dear friends from Boston, Valerie and Jenny.
Amanda started the engine and began to drive down the driveway in reverse. Her heart pounded in her throat. When her tail traced the edge of the driveway, another car sped past. She shrieked with fear and pressed her foot hard on the brake.
“Uh oh,” Audrey muttered. “This is your first time driving since the accident, isn’t it?”
Amanda groaned. “I hate myself right now.”
“Just let me drive,” Audrey offered.
“You? You barely even know the concept of red lights.”
“I view red lights as suggestions,” Audrey said with a shrug.
“You’re insane.” Amanda giggled good-naturedly and forced herself to breathe. “I can handle it. I can’t let that idiot destroy my life.”
“Yeah! Not another one, anyway,” Audrey said with a crooked smile.
Amanda rolled her eyes. “I assume you’re talking about my lovely ex-fiancé?”
“No. I’m talking about Ryan Gosling when he had babies with Eva Mendes.”
Before Amanda knew it, she’d driven the car from the driveway and pointed them toward the cabin on the outskirts of Edgartown. Her stomach bubbled with laughter as Audrey continued to prattle on, easily drawing her from one topic of conversation to the next. The questions were ridiculous yet easily answered.
“Do you think Ryan Gosling ever misses Rachel McAdams?”
“Do you think Selena Gomez is secretly glad that she and Justin Bieber broke up for good?”
“If someone had forced you to be famous, would you rather be a singer, dancer, actor, or artist?”
Amanda fell into easy conversation with her cousin, one of her greatest friends in the world, as she slowly but surely traced the path to the cabin along the waterline. When she parked outside, she dropped her shoulders forward and breathed a sigh of relief.
“Thank you,” she finally said, locking eyes with Audrey.
“For what?” Audrey said in a sing-song voice, despite knowing that she’d gotten them the rest of the way to the cabin on conversation alone.
Amanda and Audrey gathered the decorations and costumes from the back seat and trunk of Amanda’s car and headed toward the creaky porch of the wooden cabin. There, they discovered the key under the mat (just as the owner had told them) and entered a beautiful old-world fantasy with large windows that opened onto the Atlantic Ocean. Frothing waves surged toward them before dangerously dunking themselves along the beach.
“It’s perfect,” Audrey breathed, closing her eyes as the salty winds came over them.
Amanda began to organize the costumes: the boas and leather jackets and leather skirts and high-heeled boots and silly hats. On top of streamers, giant letter balloons, and gorgeous flowers (which they’d picked up from Claire), they also had a custom-made sign that read:
WELCOME TO THE BACHELORETTE PARTY
IN HONOR OF
LOLA SHERIDAN
May 20th, 2022
As they worked, they blared music from the speakers and danced around the cabin, pregaming with champagne from one of the numerous bottles they’d had delivered to the cabin. Bit by bit, Amanda found herself having much more fun than she’d allowed herself to have since the accident. She delighted in how beautiful the cabin looked and the prospect of two beautiful days together with some of her favorite women, gossiping, eating, and drinking in the spring sunlight along the water.
Amanda set up a dessert table in the kitchen, dotting beautifully decorated cupcakes across china plates. Audrey stepped back into the kitchen, covered in glitter from one of the decorations, and attempted to brush herself off.
“It’s no use,” Audrey said with a laugh.
“Once glitter is on you, there’s no hope,” Amanda agreed.
Audrey’s smile widened. She poured them both a bit more champagne and then checked the time, reporting that they had a half-hour before the guests were slated to arrive.
“It’s good you pushed me out the door,” Audrey reported as she sat across from Amanda, a bit to the left of the cupcakes. “Left to my own devices, I never would have decorated the entire place in time.”
For a moment, Amanda and Audrey allowed themselves to investigate their work. Amanda sipped her champagne, allowing the bubbles to float across her tongue.
Audrey tilted her head knowingly and asked, “Do you think you’ll ever want something like this?”
Amanda guffawed, dropping her eyes to the cupcakes. “A bachelorette weekend?”
Audrey nodded. “Why not?”
“I don’t know. My friends didn’t give me much of one back in Newark. It was always expected that I would marry early. Chris wasn’t a surprise for anyone. Maybe he didn’t even seem worth celebrating, either.”
“That’s mean,” Audrey countered. “If I had known you better, I would have thrown you something insane.”
Amanda chuckled. “It’s true that we didn’t get close until after Chris left me at the altar. Thank God for Chris.” She lifted her glass in the air playfully, toasting her ex-fiancé wherever he was.
“You and Sam seem really close. Especially since the accident. You’ve hardly left one another’s side,” Audrey pointed out.
Amanda puffed out her cheeks. “It seems pretty intense. Different, really, than it ever was with Chris. It’s not that I feel this urgent desire to immediately marry him or something. It’s like I feel looser and freer with myself and my time and my stupid lists. I mean, the other day, I even let myself sleep in till nine.”
“Nine o’clock in the morning? Amanda! You slept half the day away,” Audrey teased.
Amanda laughed, genuinely pleased at the differences between herself and her cousin. They brought out the best in one another and would always, as they flourished through their twenties, thirties, forties, and beyond (God willing).
A rap at the front door of the cabin broke their reverie. Amanda leaped up to find Susan and Christine, both dressed up in short skirts and leather jackets and high-heeled boots.
“Your Aunt Christine forced me to put these on,” Susan said with a sigh as she stepped in, clopping her heels.
“We’re celebrating Lola’s last days of being single. You can’t do that dressed in jeans and a t-shirt,” Christine touted as she removed her leather jacket to reveal a newly cinched waist.
“Christine! You look hot,” Audrey cried, leaping up to hug her aunt.
Christine blushed as Susan waved a hand.
“Our Christine used to hate exercise. Now, she refuses to miss a morning of spin class and has even dragged me out for a few classes,” Susan explained.
“Endorphins, baby,” Christine joked. “Can’t get enough.”
Susan’s lips parted as she assessed the cabin and its decorations. “It looks incredible in here. Truly Pinterest-worthy.”
“It was a team effort,” Amanda added, smiling at Audrey.
“Who else is coming?” Christine asked.
“Mom’s friends, Valerie and Jenny. Have you met them before?” Audrey asked.
“No,” Christine replied.
“They’re interesting,” Audrey stated, tilting her head to-and-fro. “I think they’re leftover from Mom’s party days. Jenny’s an artist and Valerie’s still trying to make her music career take off. Back in the old days, when Mom was this free-spirited twenty-something journalist, I think their friendship made a whole lot more sense.”
Susan twisted her lips thoughtfully. “It’s interesting to learn more about the bits and pieces of your lives before we all came out to the island. Twenty-five years add up, don’t they?”
At that moment, another knock rang through the cabin. Audrey shot toward the door and opened it to reveal two women in their late thirties or early thirties, both wearing cool and sophisticated bohemian clothing. The blonde on the right tossed her head to allow the ocean winds to coarse through her curls. The woman beside her had thick eyeliner and jet-black hair and wore a flowing skirt and a pair of pointed-toe boots.
They looked every bit the way Lola Sheridan had two years ago when she’d first arrived back on the island.
“Valerie! Jenny!” Audrey stepped up to hug each of them, the women who’d been her makeshift aunts over the years.
“Audrey. Look at you!” Jenny, the blonde, sounded joyful and easy, while Valerie remained sharp-eyed and fearful, as though she didn’t trust the Sheridan women at all.
“Welcome to the Vineyard,” Audrey continued, drawing back to gesture toward the decorated cabin. “So glad you could make it to Mom’s party.”
Valerie stepped through the door, her face shadowed as she nodded to Amanda, Susan, and Christine.
“You’re the sisters?” she asked, almost coldly.
“Guilty,” Christine replied. “I’m Christine, and this is Susan.”
“Susan, of course. The perfect one,” Valerie tried. “We’ve heard about you over the years.”
Susan’s cheeks burned red with embarrassment. Yes: Amanda’s mother strived to be perfect in everything she did. But it wasn’t like she liked being reminded of that all the time.
“I’m not perfect,” Susan countered. “Far from it.”
“She told us all about growing up here on this suffocating island,” Valerie continued.
“Valerie...” Jenny warned, closing the door behind her. “Lola’s told us how marvelous this new chapter of her life has been. We’re here to celebrate that. Remember?”
Valerie scoffed, then reached for a bottle of champagne, pouring the rest of the contents into a glass without asking. “Let’s get this party started, shall we?”
Amanda and Audrey eyed one another, genuinely shocked at the coldness Valerie had brought along with her. Was she really that resentful that Lola had left them in Boston?
“Jen, you want some?” Valerie asked.
“We’ve already cracked a bottle open,” Audrey said, her voice wavering.
“It’s never too early to pregame,” Christine tried. “It’s my one weekend off from motherhood. I’m ready to cut loose.”
“Motherhood?” Valerie asked with a wry laugh. “I’m starting to think that Jenny and I are the only ones who haven’t given in to growing up yet.”
Valerie said, “growing up,” as though it was the most monstrous decision anyone could make. Amanda glanced toward Susan, who sipped her champagne anxiously.
“Even you, Audrey,” Valerie shot out. “A baby at nineteen!”
“That’s what Lola did,” Christine said. “I had a baby in my forties. Just because life happens to you, just because you live, doesn’t mean you have to ‘grow up’ in any sense of the words.”
Valerie rolled her eyes as silence folded over the group. Amanda lifted her chin and struggled to come up with something to say, something that would realign the happy mood in the cabin.
“What time did you tell your mom to meet you out here?” she asked Audrey.
“In about a half-hour,” Audrey returned, crossing and uncrossing her arms. “We’re supposed to meet at the far end of the beach. Then I’ll slowly walk her down to the cabin for the surprise.”
“Brilliant,” Susan said, trying to find strength in her voice again. “The Montgomery Sisters just texted that they’re on their way, as well. It’ll be a beautiful party.”
Valerie knocked the rest of her champagne glass down her throat and rolled her eyes toward Jenny as though to say, Why the hell did we come here? Amanda felt suddenly saddened at the fact that Lola had been around such dark personalities for two decades. No wonder she’d fallen back into the warm arms of her Martha’s Vineyard family, just as the rest of them had.