Page 26 of Waves of Time
Aria followed after Violet and Benny, her stomach somersaulting. So soon after the best kiss of her life, she felt whiplash, staggering with fear that there was so much more to Thaddeus that she didn’t know.But why would Thaddeus keep anything like that from her? And what exactly did that mean?
As Thaddeus’ band played that night, Aria hovered near the back of the basement with her arms crossed over her chest. Thaddeus initially looked frantic, searching the crowd for her, his eyes dancing from face to face. Disappointment eventually made his shoulders slump. He wasn’t able to find her and instead seemed to play to whoever lifted their faces toward his— including a few women who seemed obviously enamored with him. This made Aria stew with jealousy.
Before the end of the gig, Aria hurried outside and ordered an Uber back to her car, feeling like a fool. Maybe Callie, the girl out in San Francisco, had been right. She just wasn’t ready for the real world.
ChapterTen
Sophie and Hilary agreed to meet at Sophie’s place that Saturday to discuss an interior redesign, which would be Sophie’s big step forward in the wake of her divorce and sobriety. But only a few hours before Hilary planned to head to Sophie’s, Estelle called with news.
“Your grandfather is on the island,” she said.
“Oh! Grandpa Chuck. Wow,” Hilary said, still not used to having a grandfather at all. “What brings him here?”
“Apparently, Roland and your Uncle Grant had this planned for a few weeks,” Estelle said, “but typical of men, they forgot to mention it to me. I would have planned a family party!”
Hilary laughed, knowing the goodness of her mother’s heart. “I’m supposed to meet with Sophie this afternoon.”
“I know,” Estelle said, “which is why we’ve decided to have the family party at Sophie’s.”
Hilary threw her head back with surprise laughter. “Sophie agreed to this?”
“Her mother talked her into it,” Estelle said with a sigh. “Sophie already ordered heaps of food to be delivered, and she said you two can have the beginnings of your interior design meeting while she sets everything up. Apparently, she’s calling it her first attempt at normalcy after rehab and divorce.”
“I haven’t thrown a family party in over ten years,” Hilary reminded her mother. “It terrifies me.”
“Sophie is looking everything she’s scared of directly in the eye,” Estelle said. “And thank goodness for that. I didn’t want to get a party around that quickly. No thank you.”
After Hilary got off the phone, she texted Aria to see what her plans for the day were.
ARIA: I’m at work till eleven, unfortunately. I’m covering for people’s shifts since I’ve been away so much the past few weeks. I owe it to them.
HILARY: That’s too bad!
HILARY: Maybe we can make a trip to Martha’s Vineyard to see your great-grandfather on a day you have off.
ARIA: I’d like that.
Hilary showered and dressed in a buttercream dress and styled her hair in light curls down her back. As she perfected her lipstick, her heart thrummed with adrenaline at the thought of Samantha, whom she’d hardly seen at all in weeks. It was unlikely she was still angry about the chandelier incident, right? Then again, this was Samantha Coleman. She could cling to pettiness for years.
Hilary drove out to Sophie’s place and parked in the driveway, sensing that she would be blocked in by the end of the hour, after Coleman vehicles parked wherever they could. When she rang the doorbell, Sophie called from inside, “Come in,” and Hilary entered, kicked off her shoes, and smiled at an image of domesticity: Sophie and her new boyfriend, Patrick, putting tulips in a very big vase together. There were so many of them that Patrick had to hold part of them as Sophie stuffed the ends into the vase, and the image was so comical that Hilary had to stifle a laugh.
“Those are beautiful,” Hilary said, just as they managed to fit them all in.
“Thank you!” Sophie said, her eyes widening with panic. She then reached up to adjust Patrick’s tie, which wasn’t necessary, not at a family party. Still, Sophie clearly wanted to put their best couple foot forward, which Hilary could appreciate. Their family could be tough.
“It’s too bad I couldn’t have a family party here after the redesign instead of now,” Sophie said, gesturing across the dining area and the living room, which Hilary had known previously as Sophie and her ex-husband’s space. “But this will have to do.”
“I can’t believe your mother talked you into this,” Hilary said.
Sophie rubbed her temples and fetched a pitcher of iced tea from the fridge. “That woman has power over me, I swear.”
“That’s a mother thing,” Hilary said. “My mom does it to me, too.”
“Aria would say the same about you, then?” Sophie asked.
Hilary grimaced. “I’m sure I’m naïve to think that Aria and I have a different kind of relationship. I always wanted us to be more like the Gilmore Girls— Lorelai and Rory rather than Emily and Lorelai. But I’m sure there are things Aria will never tell me, ways that divide us as mother and daughter.”
“Gotcha,” Sophie said, her eyes shimmering strangely.