God, it was an uncomfortable chair. It was uncomfortable, and I’d picked it out. I’d picked it out and had it reupholstered to match the couch and the area rug. All varying shades of blue and grey. Bits of pink and turquoise to match the vases on the coffee table. I’d just finished this room. Because I’d spent a year on the kitchen. And another two months on all the bathrooms. In another three months I would have redone this whole house.
I was good at it. That was a surprise. I liked it. A little. Enough to let it fill my days, to soothe the relative frustration at somehow not being able to do what I really wanted. I thought if I put enough of myself into this house it would start to feel like a home.
But I knew the truth: I was just redecorating my very gilded cage.
The front doorbell rang, and the sound was so surprising I started like I’d done something wrong. The senator was in his study on the other side of the house, so it wasn’t him coming home. There wasn’t an event, so it couldn’t be hair and makeup. And no one evervisitedme.
Anne the housekeeper came down the hallway, glancing at me, and we shared a quick look of surprise. Which was frankly more than we’d shared in the six months she’d been working here.
Look at us, bonding.
I kept myself in the chair, trying not to get my hopes up. Because I would love to have someone visit. To take my mind off Zilla, to alleviate just a little of my crushing boredom.
But it was probably some guy selling vacuums.People still do that, don’t they?
Though probably not in Bishop’s Landing.
I heard a familiar voice and jumped up out of my chair, rushing out into the hallway to see Caroline Constantine standing in the open doorway. She wore cream. Cream pants, heels, a blush shell, and a cashmere wrap. The trees were all changing colors, and she was lit up by a bright red maple behind her in my front yard. She was so beautiful she took my breath away.
Anne walked past me back towards the kitchen, leaving me alone with Caroline.
“Caroline?” It was shocking. A delight. And also so strange it felt like a dream. “Did I miss a lunch date?”
“You didn’t miss anything, darling,” Caroline said and then wrapped me in her arms, and I don’t want to sound melodramatic, but I just folded right into that hug. I just collapsed into it. Caroline smelled like lavender body powder and Chanel No 5. She’d been my mother’s best friend growing up, and hugging her felt like getting hugged by my mother.
“Then what are you doing here?” I asked, suddenly aware of what I looked like. I didn’t wear makeup unless I was leaving the house, and my blonde hair was going red at the roots because I’d cancelled the last trip to the salon. I was in yoga pants and a long-sleeved sweatshirt that was damp down the back from trying to build a shower outside by the pool.
My latest project.
“I was supposed to be meeting Jim, but I realized one of my employees could handle it so I thought I would visit you instead,” Caroline said. “Unless you’re busy?”
“No. Not at all.” I laughed. “Have a seat, and Anna can get us some tea.”
Caroline, whose hair was that perfect three-step process blonde/silver/grey that made her look young and chic and somehow like she just rolled out of bed and off the beach at the same time, shook her head. “Darling, let’s just go to the kitchen and have tea there. Don’t bother Anna.”
I remembered all those afternoons at Caroline’s after Mom died when Zilla was just starting to fall apart. Barrels of strong tea with sugar and milk as she helped me figure out my life. As she saved me, really.
“Absolutely,” I said, and I tucked my arm in hers, about to lead her to the kitchen when I realized there was a man still standing in the doorway. A dark suit against that blood-red tree. It took a second for him to register but when he did, I couldn’t swallow my gasp.
The stranger. From my engagement party.
Right there in my doorway. His face had healed, and he looked... breathtaking.
I was suddenly lightheaded.
“Hi!” I said so inanely.
“This is Ronan,” Caroline said, gesturing back to Ronan who was still in the doorway.
I opened my mouth to say we met, but Ronan was looking at me blankly, like he’d never seen me before.
“Nice to meet you,” I said, shoving down my inappropriate delight.
“And you,” he said. His accent rolled down my hallway and right through my body.
“I can show you where my husband’s office is,” I volunteered thinking of the few minutes it would take to walk down that wood-paneled hallway to his office.
“Don’t be silly, Poppy,” Caroline said. “Let Anna do it.”