49. Iris Secret
Iris Secret
I had learned in our time since leaving the mommune that Grace’s perfect tables and amazing meals were even more perfect, even more amazing, now that the mommune was the White Ibis. We, as promised, all had at least one meal a week together as part of the continuance of our forced family fun, but usually two or three. Merit, Emma, and I were often back and forth between houses, I babysat the girls every chance I got, and I saw Alice every day. As I passed the platter of pesto tomatoes to Ben, I wondered if that got on Elliott’s nerves. I looked across the table at him as he laughed at something Jamie had said while I wasn’t paying attention. He took Alice’s hand and kissed her cheek. Nah. He seemed pretty happy to me.
Ben squeezed my knee under the table. The past three months had been pretty darn great. He leaned over and kissed me. “Ewwww!” Audrey squealed. “No kissing!”
“I agree wholeheartedly,” Dad chimed in.
I looked around the table. The whole gang was here. Julie, Oliver, Brenna, Jamie, Audrey, Alice, Elliott, Mom, Dad, Ben, Grace, Merit, and Emma. Somehow the warm family feeling of the mommune had carried over into this new existence where Dad was back, where Alice was getting married in three months, where eternally single Oliver had fallen head over heels for vivacious Julie and the three girls he never knew he wanted. I loved being back in my bed, in my room, in my house; even so, no place would ever feel quite as much like home as the mommune with these people around this table, laughing and joking and living lives that were richer because we shared them.
“Can you believe we are totally booked through the entire holiday season?” Julie asked.
“I can,” Oliver said, his beautiful British accent dripping. “Because you are absolutely brilliant, and this place is heaven on earth.”
She gave him a coquettish little grin that made me think of Sophie—who, by the way, Merit still had not broken up with. I hounded him about it constantly, but he couldn’t bring himself to do it.
“Don’t forget, Christmas at our house!” Mom said. She had come alive since Dad came home. She was working part-time at Montoya & Sons, and it seemed like the perfect fit. And Dad’s business had come back 100 percent—with tons of credit to both Julie and Juniper Shores Socialite, who were instrumental in piecing his reputation back together.
“Forget Christmas,” Alice said. “How about don’t forget our wedding at your house?”
“The most important day ever of all time,” Elliott said with an enthusiasm that brought tears to my eyes.
Dad put his hands importantly to his chest and said, “My first time officiating a wedding. I’m basically a man of the cloth.”
Merit said, “Well, you did bring us all together.” Then he cleared his throat. “Um, guys. I have something to say. And it’s kind of a big secret, so you can’t tell anyone outside this room.”
I looked at him questioningly. Was this it? The big moment? Please, God, don’t let him tell them he has a fake brain tumor. I smiled and winked at him encouragingly.
Merit took a deep breath. “I’m Juniper Shores Socialite.”
“What?” I said. Then I realized this must be the big shocking lie before the real truth. Well played, Merit.
Grace dropped her fork. She put her hands out. “I’m sorry. I’m having so many feelings right now.”
Panic roiled in my stomach. If she was upset about this, how would the real announcement go?
“I don’t believe that!” Julie said. “You write bad stuff about yourself all the time!”
“You made all of our lives much harder than they had to be,” Alice said, scowling at him.
The supportive coming-out therapy friend on Team Merit, i.e., me, said, “He’s kidding.”
I looked at him, and he shook his head. “You’re not? I’m sorry, what?” I asked, anger rising in me. “You absolutely roasted all of us!”
“Did I?” Merit asked. “Or did I clear all your names? Did I put public interest on you so that everyone believed Bill was innocent and Alice wasn’t a murderer and Mom was more than just Dad’s ex, and Julie wasn’t an opportunistic tattletale?” He looked over and pointed at Ben and me. “These two would never be together.”
I locked eyes with him, and I knew, in the way a best friend does, what he wasn’t saying: And everyone would continue to believe that he was a player who couldn’t commit to one girl.
He made it impossible to be mad at him.
Or, well, almost impossible. “I’m sure I’m so mad for a lot of things you wrote about me, but I can’t remember what they are right now, so I will detail them in a list later on.”
Ben leaned over and kissed my shoulder supportively, and Emma said, “Gag.”
Alice clapped. “Guys! This is going to be so great! Julie can do an exposé on this!”
“Yes!” Merit said. “I can see the headline: ‘Does the Mommune Turn Boys to a Life of Social Media Crime?’?”
Everyone laughed.
“All right, all right,” Julie said. “You are all so lucky to have me. I keep you cultured and informed.”
“But you guys can’t tell anyone,” Merit said.
“You’re trusting a group of this many people to keep your secret?” Ben asked.
“Not people,” Merit said. “Family.” He looked at all of us. “You can’t tell! Beach house rules!”
“Beach house rules,” we all said in unison.
He looked over at me, and I winked at him. Beach house rules , I mouthed again. I could keep his secret as long as he wanted me to. Because that’s what best friends did. No, that’s what family did.
I’d never been a part of a big family. It wasn’t something I ever thought I’d have. But now, here, in this sleepy, gossipy little town with its beautiful houses, Botoxed socialites, and bronzed teenagers, I had found everything I never knew I wanted. People could complain about their moms and dads embarrassing them, their siblings getting on their nerves, but the past few months had given me a gift, a secret, a look into an inner world that I never would have had otherwise. And from all that, I had learned a lesson that it might take my friends years to understand: forced family fun was the very best kind.