| |
Max clambered around the living room of Lola and Tommy’s cabin, dressed in a diaper and a bright blue t-shirt. His black hair caught the sunlight from the kitchen window, and his sticky hands seemed to touch everything, so much so that Lola finally grabbed him with a wet wipe and cleaned him up again.
“You’re always such a little mess, aren’t you, Max?” Lola cooed, drawing him up on her lap. He smacked his palms against her chest and gazed at her adoringly. “But you get away with everything, don’t you? Just like your mother.”
Lola and Tommy had spent the previous evening babysitting Max, allowing Audrey a night off with Noah. Together, Audrey, Amanda, Noah, and Sam had gone out sailing, celebrating the first week of June with champagne and bathing suits and laughter. Lola and Tommy had stayed in for the night, putting Max to bed by seven and then playing a movie, both passing out halfway through and then laughing about it after they’d woken up to the credits.
“Does this mean we’re officially old?” Lola had asked.
“I’m marrying you, aren’t I? I’m too tired to do anything else but settle down. I’m planning to live out the rest of my life on this couch,” Tommy had told her as he’d elbowed her.
“Guess the magic’s over,” Lola had teased with a sigh.
“Guess so.”
But after that, Lola and Tommy had made eyes at one another and fallen into a glorious romantic night, one that had allowed them to sleep long into the morning until Max’s babbling from the next room had forced Lola out. Now, Tommy was off to teach a sailing lesson as Lola hobbled through the rest of her babysitting duties. Audrey planned to pick Max up by eleven, although it was no secret that Audrey wasn’t exactly the best about sticking to schedules.
At eleven-twenty, Audrey finally texted to say that she was on her way. Lola carried Max to the fridge, where she peered at her current ingredients and tried to drum up some ideas for their lunch. Ultimately, she found herself ordering burritos online, along with a big bucket of guacamole and tortilla chips. It would be delivered by noon.
Audrey bustled through the door of the cabin at eleven-forty-five, her eyes drooping low with her hangover and her smile loose and contented.
“There he is!” she cried as she wrapped her arms around Max and turned him around and around. “Thanks a lot for taking care of him.”
“No problem, honey. We had a good time,” Lola said. “He showed me how well he can walk and make a mess of the house.”
“Those are his two main talents right now. That and eating way more food than a one-and-a-half-year-old ever should,” Audrey teased as she sat at the edge of a kitchen chair and bounced Max on her lap. Lola watched them quietly for a moment, captivated at the beauty of her only child with her only grandchild. Her heart was full.
“How did it go out on the water?” Lola asked.
“It was beautiful,” Audrey cooed. “Just a daydream of a day. Although I have to admit, Amanda and Sam still seem a bit strange and messed up after the accident. They asked me if you’d heard anything more about that car?”
Lola’s stomach tightened. In the wake of Sam and Amanda’s discovery of the Chevy Cavalier on the western edge of the island, Lola had called the police station almost daily, demanding details. It wasn’t all about Amanda and Sam any longer, not now that Beatrice was a victim of the crash. Yes, Beatrice mended more and more every day— but that didn’t mean that Lola and Tommy didn’t remain angry. The woman didn’t deserve this.
“Nothing,” Lola affirmed quietly. “There were no prints in the vehicle. Nothing inside to indicate who might have owned it, either.”
“Wow.” Audrey shook her head. “I think it’s tearing Sam and Amanda up inside. It’s like this mystery, hanging over their heads.”
At that moment, a knock rang out from the front door. Lola opened it to discover a delivery driver wearing a bright red visor and carrying a brown paper bag full of burritos. Lola tipped him for his delivery and then hustled in, dropping the bag on the kitchen table. “Lunch!” she announced.
“You’re such a provider,” Audrey teased. “Just like the old days, when we ate take-out for most meals.”
“Hey. That comment severely undercuts my skills with the microwave,” Lola returned as she removed the burritos from the bag. “I could whip up meals in no time with that thing.”
“Yes, Mother. You were a brilliant microwave chef,” Audrey said, rolling her eyes.
As they ate, their conversation bounced along easily. Lola could always count on Audrey to share whatever feelings lurked in the back alleys of her mind. She supposed having a child at nineteen allowed that sort of closeness. She wouldn’t have traded it for the world.
“Sam and Amanda are totally in love these days,” Audrey breathed between bites. “I know she was scared when she met him. But she’s leaning into it open-hearted these days.”
“Does she talk to you about it?” Lola asked.
“Not as much as she used to,” Audrey admitted. “She wants her love to be private, which makes sense after what happened with Chris.”
“Once you’ve been burned, you have to protect yourself.”
“For sure.” Audrey’s eyes danced toward Max, where he bobbed around on the floor in front of a tiny fire truck. “It makes me sad, sometimes, to think that soon, Amanda might get engaged to Sam and move into his house. What will happen to Grandpa, Max, and me without her? Left to our own devices, we’ll definitely just eat candy and burgers for every meal.”
Lola laughed good-naturedly as she placed her half-eaten burrito on her plate. “But what’s going to happen between you and Noah?”
Audrey grimaced. “I have no idea.”
“Probably Amanda feels the same way about you right now,” Lola offered. ‘Terrified that you’re about to start the rest of your life. Terrified that this cozy world you’ve built together is about to end.”
Audrey slid her teeth over her lip. Her eyes grew distant as she considered this. “I just realized that I sound like Valerie at your bachelorette party.”
Lola’s stomach tightened. “Gosh. That was so terrifying. All I could think about was the old days when she was my greatest confidant, a woman I could trust with anything. Now, she wants to insult my dearest family members? It’s hard for me to wrap my mind around it.”
Audrey tilted her head. “I would never go as far as Valerie did that night. But if Amanda ran off the island and went off to build another life, I could see myself getting ridiculous about it. Asking her if I was ever important to her at all.”
Lola dropped her chin to her chest. “I know you’re right. I’ve thought about calling Valerie, talking to her. But every time I consider it, I get so angry. I can’t overcome it.”
A few minutes later, the sound of an engine came from the front driveway. Lola leaned forward to glance out the window as she muttered, “Ah, just the mailman.” A moment later, the mailman appeared on the front stoop and shoved a selection of letters into the attached box before waving a hand goodbye. Lola and Audrey waved back.
Lola placed her soggy burrito on its wrappings, cleaned her hands, and stepped into the sliver of sunshine on the front porch. She leafed through the mail as Max sang a song in the kitchen, one that he’d been writing the past week or more. “Da da da da,” was what he had so far.
“Oh my gosh.” Lola lifted a dramatically large and thick envelope, upon which The United States Journalism Association had stamped their official mark.
“What’s up?” Audrey called.
Lola stepped back into the house with the envelope lifted. All the color drained from her cheeks. “I think this might be important.”
Audrey leaped to her feet, scrubbing her fingers with a napkin. “It’s certainly big enough to be important. Why don’t you open it?”
Lola grabbed a knife and tugged it across the top. She then removed the cardboard certificate within, upon which the USA Journalism Association had written her name.
LOLA SHERIDAN
A CERTIFICATE OF EXCELLENCE IN THE FIELD OF JOURNALISM
“Audrey!” Lola cried as shock fluttered through her. “This is huge. I had no idea my editor was putting my name in.”
Audrey grabbed the attached letter and read it aloud as Lola continued to stand in shock with the thick certificate in her outstretched hands.
“Dear Lola Sheridan,
It is our pleasure to announce that you are a recipient of the Journalism Award of Excellence at this year’s United States Journalism Association Annual Gala, which will be held June 11th at the Abigail Adams Ballroom in Boston, Massachusetts.”
As Audrey read, her voice bubbled with excitement. Lola leaped forward and hugged her daughter joyously, overwhelmed. On the floor, Max smacked his palms together, grateful that finally, his mom and grandmother had caught on to how amazing he thought everything in the world was all the time.
“This is insane, Mom,” Audrey said, grabbing a napkin and dotting it beneath her tear-filled eyes. “But so well-deserved. You worked tirelessly as a single mother and a journalist, inspiring me with your incredible attitude and your creativity. I don’t even know what to say...”
Lola’s heart swelled. “Say that you’ll be my date to this thing.”
Audrey blinked with confusion. “Don’t you want to take Tommy?”
“No way. You were with me from the start of my career. Tommy had nothing to do with all those years back in Boston. You were my real partner-in-crime, the reason I could do everything I went on to do. If you’re not there with me, I don’t know who else would go,” Lola affirmed.
“It would be my honor to be your date,” Audrey beamed, lifting her chin. “I’ve always felt terribly proud to be Lola Sheridan’s daughter. This night will be no different.”
“Except we’ll need fancier dresses,” Lola quipped. “I think it’s about time to go shopping. Don’t you?”
Audrey shrieked excitedly as Max began to perform his new song again. “Da da da,” he wailed as Audrey lifted him into her arms and spun around. His baby laughter welled through the kitchen. Lola collapsed at the kitchen table to continue to nibble at her burrito distractedly, entirely grateful for everything she’d worked so hard for and everything she’d been given. It had all been for a reason. She felt sure of that now.