Chapter 63 Sienna
Chapter 63
Sienna
Simone places a tray of warm paninis on the table—turkey and brie, roast beef and horseradish. Sienna grabs the turkey, and the first bite explodes with the rich flavor of goat cheese and avocado. She hadn’t realized how hungry she was. They’re gathered in the kitchen—she, Lucy, Henry, and Leo—after a lazy morning flipping through magazines and playing mindless board games.
“Does anyone want to go to Grandfather Winery?” Leo asks.
“We were thinking about a movie in Boone,” Lucy suggests.
They’re quiet, and Sienna, setting aside the disbelief that her marriage is over, muses about sitting around a table with Leo Shay making coffee and plans like it’s completely normal. The more she’s gotten to know him, the more she’s rooting for Penny and him. It was just a kiss. She is well versed on that subject. But unlike Adam, Leo just might be capable of love.
Tomorrow is their last day, and knowing that spreads melancholy through the room. She always felt this way after a week at the inn. It’s like when sleepaway camp comes to an end, and you have to tuck the memories away and step back into regular life. But the thing is, you’re changed. Everything looks different.
“Has anyone seen Renée and Jean-Paul?” Henry asks.
“They went for a walk,” Simone says.
They look around the table, meeting each other’s eyes.
Leo asks Sienna how she’s doing.
“I’m okay.”
“You seem okay.”
“Is it that obvious?”
“You just seem happy.”
“There’s some sadness, but mostly for the kids. You know when you make a decision, and you know it’s the right one? It’s just easier.”
“Like when you dropped advanced calculus in college and slummed with me in regular calc?” Lucy says.
They laugh, holding on to how far they’ve come.
“You could have told us about your father,” Sienna says to Henry. “Why do we keep secrets from the people we’re closest to?”
Lucy twirls the spoon in her coffee. “I have this idea that we think everyone else’s life is better than ours. To admit to any shortcomings or problems drives the point home.”
“Seems as though relationships would be a lot less complicated if we were honest and transparent,” Sienna says.
Lucy disagrees. “I think there are some things that should be kept between two people. It doesn’t mean you value a friend any less. Privacy’s important in a marriage.”
Leo and Henry are deep in a discussion about the four kids found alive near the Amazon after surviving a plane crash. Lucy and Sienna pull their chairs closer together and lower their voices. “Have you two worked things out?” Sienna asks.
“Me and Henry. Henry and me. I think we took the first step toward fixing things. We admitted we’re not good at this living-without-each-other thing.” Lucy takes a bite of her panini. “But Henry needs to make peace with this thing with his father. He’s carrying around a lot of feelings and—”
“Shame,” Sienna says.
“Shame,” she repeats. “First families dictate a lot of our relationship patterns. He has to fix that one first.”
“You’re a wise woman.”
Lucy reminds Sienna that she swapped spit with her husband. “That wasn’t wise. That whole self-sabotaging thing ... it wasn’t my best moment ... but it’s like those stars Henry talks about all the time. How they arrange themselves ... not in the best position, but in the one that makes the most sense at the time. If this thing with his dad hadn’t happened, he wouldn’t have shut me out, and I wouldn’t have spiraled, and we wouldn’t be here.” She reaches for Sienna’s hand. “Thank you for understanding. For seeing the whole picture and not judging me for one foolish mistake.”
Sienna thinks about this. “You don’t have to tell me about self-sabotage. It was an Olympic sport for me. I understand how we got here.”
They exchange smiles, and it lightens the mood. Sienna promises herself she’ll hold on to the good.
Simone approaches with a tray of lemon water and an array of fresh fruit cut into intricate shapes.
“Any word from Rosalie?” Lucy asks.
“She’s awake. Penny and Rosalie should be back soon.”
“Amazing,” she and Lucy say in unison.
They hear Jean-Paul’s and Renée’s voices come through the front door, but then the sounds quickly disappear.
“What do you think’s up with those two?”