“I understand that honey,” Elsa offered.
Alyssa and Mallory exchanged glances, both filled with the same thought: if the robbery hadn’t happened, Elsa would have had a whole lot more to say about the pink hair.
Nancy and Aunt Carmella entered after them, clipping the door closed. The wind howled against the house, which seemed to sound emptier than normal, heavy with loss. Zach wrapped a fat hand around a block and tossed it across the room triumphantly.
“It’s still Zachery’s birthday,” Nancy pointed out.
“We have that cake,” Elsa murmured. “That silly cake.”
“Come on,” Nancy said matter-of-factly. “Janine and Henry will be here in no time. Why don’t you tell Bruce to come on back? Carmella, invite Cody over and tell him to bring Gretchen. We’re having ourselves a birthday party for Zachery.”
“Nancy, I don’t think we even have enough chairs for all of those people,” Elsa said, her mood clearly dark.
“Tell everyone to bring their own chairs!” Nancy cried. “BYOC.”
Carmella laughed, grabbing her phone to call her new husband. Alyssa’s smile was crooked, watching her grandmother as she paraded back to the kitchen, dialing their favorite Edgartown pizza place. “Yes, I’d like to make an order for delivery. We’re going to need, gosh, eight pizzas? Breadsticks? Garlic bread?” Nancy spoke manically, adding, “We’re having quite a day here at our house. The kind that pizza needs to fix.”
“I’m glad you two got home when you did,” Alyssa whispered to Alexie and Mallory. “Things were getting stressed out around here. You’re lucky you missed the walk-through with the cops. Kind of a nightmare situation.”
Alexie and Mallory exchanged glances. Mallory could feel the happiness from the weekend flowing through her fingers like sand.
“We can reboot the day,” Alexie affirmed, dropping down to kiss Zachery on his plump cheek. “Zachery only turns two once. Let’s make it count.”
* * *
Forty-five minutes later, the pizzas arrived to an empty house of very hungry Remingtons, who tore open the boxes and slathered cheese-laden slices on the paper plates Nancy had found in one of the cabinets. They sat around the back porch table on a mix of different chairs, drinking wine and juice and chatting as Zachery made a mess of his pizza, as was his right as the birthday boy.
Zachery’s father had always been invited to the birthday party, which had always been slated for that afternoon. When Mallory texted him about the plans to begin the party around three-thirty, he didn’t bother to write back.Is this typical father behavior? Is this what Zach has to look forward to?
Janine and Henry arrived from their sailing trip, both sun-kissed and gorgeous and clearly in love. They chatted easily, trying to distract everyone from the dark nightmare of the previous evening. Gretchen chatted, even more, telling everyone little stories about unicorns and horses and the lives she’d crafted for her dolls. Cody called this her “creative era,” which he hoped would never end. Carmella slid a hand over her pregnant stomach, her smile hopeful.
“We’ve already told Gretchen all about her baby brother or sister,” Carmella continued. “And she wants to decorate the nursery all by herself.”
“I think she can manage it,” Cody joked. “We just have to make sure she doesn’t get a hold of the credit card. Who knows what she’s capable of.”
Janine grabbed a half-slice of cheese and black olive pizza. “How was your time in the city, Mallory? And Alexie, how was your art show?”
“Alexie really showed me a good time,” Mallory replied. “Despite how terrified I was of the city at first, I really came to love it.”
Janine beamed, proof she was still a through-and-through New Yorker. “My mom and I were wondering what you were up to, anxiously imagining what it might be like to be a young and beautiful woman in Manhattan these days.”
Mallory’s cheeks burned. She wasn’t exactly good at accepting compliments and usually rejected them.
“Mallory can really dance,” Alexie told them, ruffling her pink hair. “You just have to get a few drinks into her, and then she’s all over the dance floor, making everyone else look foolish.”
“That’s such a lie!”
“Don’t be modest,” Alexie told her. “Haven’t you learned anything from your time in New York City? Modesty gets you nowhere.”
There came a bright knock at the front door. Nancy hustled up to investigate, walking through the house. After a pause, there came the screech of the door and then a familiar voice, one that Mallory used to crave in her ear.
It was Lucas. Finally.
“Hi, Nancy. Am I late for the big day?”
Alexie’s eyes widened at the sound. The table went quiet except for the whacking of Zachery’s hands across his plastic highchair. Slowly, Mallory stood, tapping her napkin across her lips. There next came a sudden realization, as clear as anything she’d ever experienced.
She was totally done with the father of her firstborn.