Chapter 23 Eloise
“Have you heard from your sister?” Eloise said to Georgiana, who was guzzling coffee in the kitchen.
It was the morning after the cruise. Rebecca wasn’t answering Eloise’s calls. She did text once to say she had a scratchy
throat, but it still wasn’t like Rebecca to be so quiet. Eloise’s motherly antenna was up. Perhaps she and Tom had gotten
into a fight. Well, the honeymoon period was bound to end sometime. They would be okay. If anyone could handle marital conflict
maturely, it was Rebecca.
“She replied to the photo I sent of you and Clyde dancing last night,” Georgiana said. “But nothing else.”
Eloise blinked. “You took a picture ?”
“A few. Want to see? They’re very cute.”
“Please delete them. Now.”
Eloise wondered if this was why Rebecca wasn’t replying. Perhaps the photo had upset her. Eloise felt guilty, like she had
let her daughters down. Like she had let Gus down too, though she was aware that part made much less sense.
Georgiana poured a refill of coffee, using up the last of the pot. “Only if you turn on the air-conditioning.”
“It’s a waste of energy,” Eloise said, because she knew Georgiana would accept that answer more than It’s a waste of money. “Put ice cubes in your coffee.”
“That waters it down,” Georgiana said. “I need mine as strong as I can get it.”
“You wouldn’t if you didn’t drink so much.”
“I only had four beers,” Georgiana said, as if that would make Eloise feel better. “And one gummy.”
Eloise wrinkled her nose. She smelled something other than Georgiana’s hangover. “Is that a candle? Georgiana, you know the
house rules about candles.”
“One little candle isn’t going to burn the house down,” Georgiana said.
“It happens all the time.” Eloise hurried up to the loft to blow it out since Georgiana clearly wasn’t going to. “I see it
on the news.”
“So, just to be clear, you’re all for the American populace having guns in their homes, but candles are off-limits?”
Eloise returned from the loft with the confiscated candle in hand. “You’re the one asking for the air-conditioning and you’re
putting more heat in the house.”
“I wasn’t lighting the candle for warmth. I was lighting it for aroma. This house smells old.”
“The house is old. It has character. And I thought I raised a daughter with some of that too.”
“So sorry to disappoint.”
Georgiana started eating cereal straight from the box, reaching in with her bare hands. Eloise clunked a bowl and spoon in
front of her, but she didn’t take the hint.
Eloise massaged her temples. “How about you go down to the shops on Main Street today? Reintroduce yourself, see who’s hiring.”
“Why would I do that?”
“Making a little money wouldn’t be the worst thing,” Eloise said. “I know I said free rent, but it would be nice if you could
chip in for groceries and that sort of thing.” It wasn’t about the money. It was about the sense of purpose a job would bring.
“I thought the whole point of this summer was to give me a break,” Georgiana said. “Even you said you could tell I was burned
out from working too much.”
It was true, but now that Eloise saw just how counterproductive resting seemed to be for her daughter, she was reevaluating.
“I didn’t say it was just from working too much. There were many factors.”
“Like my friends who you say are a terrible influence even though you’ve never met them?”
“The same friends who kicked you out of their apartment?”
“They didn’t kick me out,” Georgiana said, though Eloise could tell she’d touched a nerve. “They knew I had to go take care
of my mom for the summer.”
“And how are you finding it to be going?” Eloise asked. “Taking care of me, I mean.”
“It looks like I’m not needed after all. You’ve found someone else to do the job.”
Eloise wanted to tell Georgiana that she would always need her. She wanted to tell her that no one could ever replace her,
a man least of all. Even Gus was never in the same sphere as her daughters. Georgiana and Rebecca came first; they always
would. But Eloise felt like she was walking on eggshells, like saying one wrong thing would make Georgiana attack her further.
And she wasn’t sure she could take that, not this morning.
“I hope you don’t mean Clyde,” Eloise said. She tried to get the conversation back on track. “Just think about getting a summer
job? Maybe one of the fudge shops or the Pink Pony. It could be fun.”
“No point starting something I’d have to stop in a couple months,” Georgiana said.
Eloise went quiet at that, thinking of Clyde and how he’d told her his return trip to Scotland was booked for the first week
of September.
“Let me know if you hear from Rebecca.” Eloise trailed her daughter to the door.
“She’s probably busy calling venues for your wedding to Clyde,” Georgiana said. “You know how she likes to plan.”
“You enjoy making my blood pressure spike, don’t you?”
“Stress tests are good for your heart,” Georgiana said. “They keep you healthy.”
Eloise tried to calm herself. “Just please try calling your sister? Maybe it’s just me she’s ignoring.”
“Or maybe not everything is about you.”