6. Chapter Five
Chapter Five
B y the time Nadine had crossed the New York State border and headed up the thruway, she’d pushed Richard to the outer recesses of her mind, and even that was too good for him.
She’d decided to do the cross-country drive because she didn’t know how long she’d stay in Lavender Bay, leaving her return date open-ended. Besides, she’d need a car to get around. She couldn’t—no, wouldn’t—depend on her mother or her sisters for transportation.
Next to her, Emma had fallen asleep with her head against the window. And occupying the back seat was Herman, who loved riding in cars. Currently, he sat in the middle, and every time Nadine looked in her rearview mirror, she made eye contact with him, which brought a smile to her face. If only humans could be more like dogs , she thought with a sigh .
Nadine was delighted that Emma had chosen to accompany her back to Western New York. It was going to be a great way to spend the remainder of the summer before she headed off to college.
Emma opened her eyes, blinked several times, and sat up and stretched.
“What time is it?” she asked. “And where are we?”
“It’s four. And we’re in New York, about an hour away from Lavender Bay.”
Nadine looked over at her daughter. She’d been experimenting with her hair color since sophomore year. Currently it was an impossible shade of bright red. When Richard complained, especially during the blue and purple phases, Nadine pointed out that it could be worse; she could be experimenting with drugs instead. That had shut him up. Emma was trying to find her way. Those teenaged years were awkward and thorny. Memories of her own life as a teenager made her shudder.
Emma favored heavy, dark eyeliner on the upper lids, and bright red lipstick. Nadine suspected it was an effort to downplay her intelligence. In the eighth grade, Emma had been labeled a “brainiac” and she’d worked hard to present herself against type while, thankfully, maintaining her grades.
Nadine knew she was hurting. Emma had always enjoyed a close relationship with her father. And although anger and hurt had fueled her decision to leave home and travel across the country with her mother, Nadine hoped someday there would be a reconciliation between father and daughter. She couldn’t shut him out of her life forever. But she needed some time. Nadine hoped the sun and sand and her extended family would be a good diversion and help them both heal.
“How are you doing with everything?” she ventured.
Emma rolled her eyes. She pulled her feet up onto the seat and wrapped her arms around her shins. “You’re not going to ask me that every five minutes, are you? Because I could ask you constantly how you’re doing, too.”
“Noted.”
Emma looked at her mother and widened her eyes for emphasis. “Well, how are you doing?”
Nadine sighed. “I’m coping.” It wouldn’t be fair to lay her burden on her daughter’s young shoulders. She wanted her to be thinking about college and the fantastic future that lay ahead of her. It wasn’t Emma’s role to be her sounding board.
“Mom, you know you can talk to me. I’m not na?ve. I’m pretty sure it was a terrible blow to find out Dad has a son.” She turned her head to stare out the window and whispered, “And another woman.”
Nadine flinched. It had been a terrible blow, one she wasn’t sure she could recover from. What scared her was the uncertainty of her future. Emma’s future appeared more stable and certain than her own. She had no idea what would happen next in her life. Everything was up in the air. When she wasn’t angry with Richard, she sometimes found herself wondering what was wrong with her that her husband had strayed. But on some nights, when she thought about what she might tell Emma if something like this ever happened to her, she’d remember that he, and he alone, was accountable for his actions.
Surrounding them on both sides of the highway were acres and acres of vineyards as this area was one of the largest grape-producing regions in the United States. She’d practically lived on grape jelly as a child, and she had wonderful memories of Lavender Bay’s annual grape festival, held every September.
They traveled in silence for the rest of the ride, which wasn’t long. Soon, the sign for Lavender Bay appeared, touting The quaintest town in America, next left 2 miles. The large billboard showed the logo for Nadine’s hometown: a lake, a lighthouse, and grapes in various shades of lavender and purple. A pulse of excitement coursed through her the closer they got.
“It’s good to be home,” she said with a smile on her face.
“Can we stop at Aunt Angie’s and get coffee and some baked goods?” Emma asked, referring to Nadine’s sister’s café, Coffee Girl.
“Oh, I don’t know. Maybe later.”
She hadn’t told her sisters she was coming home. Angie was busy running her coffee shop; their mother had reported that she hardly ever saw her or spoke to her as she was working over eighty hours a week. And forget about even talking to her older sister, Maureen. Maureen was fully ensconced in wedded bliss with her picture-perfect marriage to Allan. Their mother had pronounced him a “gem.” And he truly was. Nadine didn’t need such a stark reminder of how her marriage was crumbling around her. And flaky Deedee was down in Florida, rarely visiting home. It made Nadine sad that they weren’t close, but that’s how things had ended up. Through the years, the slights, real or imagined, had piled up. She often wondered if it would have been the same if she’d had brothers.
The only one who knew of her impending arrival was her mother, whose house they’d be staying at.
She hoped Lavender Bay would give her some space to think about her life and her future. Because right now, she had no idea what she wanted to do with the rest of her life.
From the highway, she turned onto Main Street which, further on, would run straight through the small business district of Lavender Bay, with side streets branching off on either side. Wanting to avoid the busier section of Main for now, however, she cut over Primrose and then made a left on Vine, then another left on Heather Lane, where her mother lived and where she and her sisters had grown up.
A smile spread across her face at the sight of her childhood home, a small Victorian with gingerbread trim. The cladding was painted in olive green, and the accent colors were maroon and cream. There was a tiny porch to the left of the large picture window, too small to accommodate a chair, but with room enough for her mother’s ever-present seasonal decorations. Today, propped up in the corner next to the front door, there was a tall, rectangular black slate bearing the word “Home.” In the fall, there’d be a decorative cornstalk, to be replaced in mid-October by a trio of carved pumpkins placed on the side of each porch step. At Christmas there would be tons of festive holiday lights, and the front door would be wrapped in shiny red wrapping paper with white ribbon in the shape of a cross and a big white bow. Her mother had been doing that at the holidays for as long as Nadine could remember.
She pulled into the driveway behind her mother’s SUV. The sound of their car doors slamming brought Louise Cook out onto the small front porch. Her smile was broad, and she waved at them, dish towel still in hand as she came down the porch steps. Nadine noticed her mother held on to the handrail as she descended. She also noticed her mother had cut her hair. It was close-cropped and ethereal white. Her mother seemed to get prettier as she aged.
Emma was closest, and she and her grandmother approached each other with arms wide until Emma was engulfed in her grandmother’s embrace.
“How’s my girl?” Louise asked. When they separated, Louise held on to Emma’s hands and took her in. “Look at you! All grown up. A beautiful young woman. You know, it wasn’t too long ago that you were asking me for some cookie dough ice cream.”
Emma laughed. Nadine and Herman reached Louise, and she immediately threw her arms around her daughter.
Nadine let herself be folded into the warm embrace and breathed in her mother’s signature scent: Philosophy’s Amazing Grace .
“And you, Nadine? How are you?” Louise whispered in her ear.
Nadine squeezed her eyes shut. “Happy to be here, that’s for sure,” she said truthfully. At some point, she would have to tell her mother what was going on. Something like a love child was hard to keep secret these days.
She took in her mother’s new haircut. “Wow, Mom, you’ve gone short.”
Her mother gave an easy shrug and grinned. “It’s wash and wear. I’m tired of doing my hair. This is more convenient.”
Herman stood next to her, waiting patiently for his turn. And Louise did not disappoint him. She lavished plenty of attention on him, telling him what a good boy he was. She beckoned him to follow her in with the promise of some treats. At the top of the steps, he stopped and looked toward Nadine, waiting.
Nadine and Emma were removing their suitcases from the back of the car .
Nadine smiled at him. “Go on, Herman, we’ll be in in a minute.” She shook her head, laughing. Herman disappeared into the house with Louise with a light-footed trot and his tail wagging happily.
As she slammed the trunk closed, Emma asked, “When are you going to tell Grandma?”
Nadine shrugged. “Soon. I don’t know.”
“I can disappear. I’d like to check out the beach as soon as possible.”
“I appreciate that. Maybe tomorrow morning?”
“Sure.”
She couldn’t help herself that she wrapped her arm around her daughter’s shoulders and pulled her close, laying a kiss on her forehead.
“Mom!” Emma said.
Nadine laughed. “Come on, let’s go inside and see what they’re getting up to.”