Page 43 of The Summer Club

“What about me?” Hugh complained, leaning over Molly’s shoulder to peek at her Instagram account. “Do I get a headpiece?” He turned to Martin. “You want one, right?”

“Definitely.”

Undeterred, Molly ignored them all and continued scrolling through pictures. “Anyway, Aunt Syd, here’s an example with rhinestones. Oh, and here’s one with daisies. Wouldn’t that look so good with my dress color?”

Cora laughed. For as much complaining as people did about teenagers, Molly had been nothing but a bright light and comic relief for all of them. Like now. Now they were actually interacting.

“I’m heading to the beach,” Cora announced. “It’s a beautiful day and there’s plenty of time before the dress fitting. Who’s coming?”

As she looked from face to face, their eyes slid away from her own. Andi’s to Molly. Hugh’s to his phone. Even Martin, who busied himself with the fruit bowl. “Martin, put the plum down.” That got everyone to look up again. “Did you all hear me? We are going to the beach.”

“Well, I have a work call…” Hugh began.

“And I have wedding stuff to do,” Sydney added.

Andi was about to open her mouth when Cora picked up the cleaver she’d been using and whacked it down into the other half of the honeydew melon. “I’m packing food. You go get into your suits. We’re going, and we’re going to have fun, dammit.”

All three of her kids stared speechlessly at her.

Only Molly spoke. “You heard Grandma. Let’s go.”

And miraculously, the four adults followed her upstairs.

The beach was giving them its all. Full sun. Quiet surf with just enough wave activity to play in. Plenty of room on the sand to choose your spot. Cora pushed her sunglasses up her nose and leaned back into her beach chair.

“How’d you pull it off?” Charley whispered to her.

She kept her eyes closed. “We had a little chat.”

Hugh, never out of earshot, begged to differ. “She basically threatened us with physical harm.”

Charley nodded. “Impressive.”

They were all here. At the beach together. And talking. Cora smiled to herself. Mission accomplished.

“How did it go with your mother?” Cora asked softly. She did not want the others to overhear, but neither could she wait until they were back at the house to ask him.

Charley thought about it a moment. “She has her reasons. But I don’t think you’ll like them. And it doesn’t change anything.”

Cora sat up. “Do you like her reasons?” He could be like this sometimes, jostling between his mother and his wife with his empathies. Though he’d always been loyal to her and the kids. She suspected it was part of what drove Tish’s thinly veiled disdain. She could not control her son anymore. And she didn’t care for his life choices.

“No, honey. I don’t agree with her reasons, assuming I can really understand them. It was a long lunch. She went back in time quite a bit.”

Cora considered this. Tish was known for holding court at the family table. She loved an audience and she loved to steer the conversation. “What did she say?”

“Honestly? She told me about the first time my father took her home to the Sag Harbor house. My grandparents used to hold this big Memorial Day weekend shindig in the Hamptons. She was remembering that.”

“What does that have to do with us? And giving away Riptide?”

Charley shrugged. “A lot, apparently. He paused. “When my father died suddenly, my mother had to make a lot of sacrifices. She was very young and very much alone. My grandparents didn’t make it any easier on her. I knew there were tensions, growing up, of course. But I’m just starting to realize the extent of them.” He turned to her. “It’s pretty sad. They treated her terribly.”

That was sad, Cora wouldn’t disagree. Cora had long wondered what Tish was like before her husband died. She suspected she might have even liked her mother-in-law—that perhaps she was a different person before.

“Do you know, that weekend my father brought her home for the Memorial Day party, they were newly engaged. And what did my grandmother do? She invited my dad’s old high school girlfriend and made a big deal about reuniting them. She tried to break my parents up.”

Well. Cora settled back into her chair trying to picture another woman coming up against Tish. To her, Tish had always been the mother-in-law. Older, worldlier, and definitely the one with the upper hand when it came to Charley. She’d only ever known the overly protective and meddling woman. It occurred to her now that perhaps she hadn’t always been that person. “How old was your mother then?”

“Twenty. Fresh out of college with a nursing degree. And from a family of much simpler means.”