Chapter 30
JULIA LOVED THINGS THAT had neat beginnings and endings. Perfect bookends. She enjoyed the finality, the clarity, the completeness.
She had brought Veronica to Coronado the first May after she’d been born, and she decided that it was only fitting to bring her after her high school graduation, the last year that she would still completely be Julia’s child.
By next year, Veronica would be eighteen and have already been away at college.
Granted, she was only going a half hour away to the University of Maryland, but still, she was moving out.
Who knew if, or when, she would ever truly come back to Julia.
Maybe she wouldn’t come home for the summer, much less want to take a trip with her mother.
(Who knew if she’d even be talking to Julia with the divorce still on for next year.)
So Julia booked two plane tickets to San Diego for the last week in May, and then told Veronica the trip was her graduation present.
Veronica frowned a little and said, “But I promised Daddy we’d celebrate my graduation with Grammy and Pop-Pop in the Hamptons that week.”
“You can go any week all summer to the Hamptons,” Julia said, suddenly thinking she should’ve coordinated this all in advance with Ted.
Which would’ve been hard, considering they were barely speaking.
“We only get this one week in Coronado. Grammy and Pop-Pop stay in the Hamptons all summer long. And they can come down here for your graduation party the weekend before we go to Coronado. Your aunts can’t make it.
” Nora had agreed to sub in for a show she said she couldn’t miss, and Emily had something going on at the museum.
Besides, Emily had just visited a few months earlier during the hurricane.
Julia had, at first, been annoyed that neither of them would make the effort to come back specifically for Veronica’s grad party, but then she’d decided it would be better to all celebrate in Coronado the following week anyway.
“Come on, V,” Julia implored her. “It’ll be a girls’ trip and super fun.”
“Okay,” Veronica said, and she didn’t argue any more with Julia. Which was unlike her.
Julia had prepared more counterarguments, and so she kept on talking: “You went there once with me as a baby. But of course you wouldn’t remember it. This will be a lasting lifelong memory for both of us.”
Veronica nodded in agreement.
“It’s my favorite place. My grandma Vera was your namesake.
And I want to give you a piece of her world as a gift as you’re about to journey off into adulthood yourself.
” Julia felt tears well in her eyes. Moisture had been permanently poised and ready to spill from her tear ducts Veronica’s entire senior year of high school thus far.
Every last, every senior night. Julia was one tearful step closer to her own childless future.
“Jesus, Mom.” Veronica shook her head. “Are you like going through menopause or something? You’ve been crying for months.”
Julia laughed. “I’m not even forty-five yet, V. Please. Don’t make me feel older than I am. I’m emotional because you’re my baby, and you’re all grown up.” She grabbed her daughter in a quick, impulsive hug, and Veronica gave her only thirty seconds before she squirmed to get out of it.
Nora wasn’t in the greatest mood when she walked into the house on Ocean Boulevard.
It wasn’t her sisters’ fault. She knew it wasn’t.
Still, she couldn’t help but feel annoyed when she walked in and found Julia, Emily, and Veronica sitting on the couch, laughing together, thick as thieves.
Like they were all in on some inside joke without her.
(Weren’t they always?) Plus, no one had told her Veronica was coming, and for some reason that made her feel worse.
She actually adored her niece, but she was in a terrible mood, and with Veronica here, Nora felt like she was going to have to put on a show all week, and she suddenly felt exhausted.
Happy Nora. Fun Aunt Nora. When really, she just wanted to grab Emily, at least three bottles of wine, and sit out on the back patio and drink until she forgot why she was so irritated in the first place.
“Aunt Nora is here!” Veronica jumped up from the couch and embraced Nora in a hug, and suddenly Nora’s grumpiness lightened.
Veronica looked (and acted) more like Nora than either Julia or Ted.
She’d grown her hair out since Nora had seen her last at Christmas, and now her curls hit just below her shoulders, same length, texture, medium brown color, and springiness as Nora’s.
They had the same little button nose too that Grandma Vera had had, and they were just about the same height and build.
Julia was a little taller, a little thinner, a little smaller-chested than Nora.
Veronica had gotten the same round hips and boobs as Nora, and it occurred to Nora that they probably could share clothes if they ever were to live together.
“Hey, Ron,” Nora said now, feeling just the tiniest bit calmer in the glow of her niece’s admiration. “Your mom didn’t tell me you were coming.”
“Surprise!” Julia said, jumping up from the couch, sounding overly effusive. Nora and Emily exchanged a look. Julia typically hated surprises.
“Sorry I missed your graduation,” Nora said to her niece now.
“I have your gift back in New York. I would’ve brought it if I’d known.
” She’d bought Veronica an expensive and beautiful purse.
Maybe it was guilt at missing the graduation and the party, maybe it was wanting to show off to Julia that she could afford it.
But she had gotten on the plane this morning on the brink of sabotaging her whole career.
It was possible she was going to have to return the purse when she got back to New York.
“You didn’t have to get her anything,” Julia said, standing up to give Nora a quick hug. “We get to all spend this week together, and that’s the best gift of all.”
“Ugh, Mom. You are so sappy,” Veronica said. “Like who even talks like that?”
Emily laughed, got up, and gave Nora a one-armed hug. “Agreed, Ron. Your mom is literally the worst.”
“Great,” Julia said. “I love you guys too.” Then she checked her watch. “Everyone go get changed. We have a beach walk on the schedule in twenty minutes.”
Emily had considered talking to Julia about the box she’d found in her bathroom months earlier.
She’d thought about it time and again these last few months and had even called Julia with the idea of broaching the subject.
But then they’d ended up talking about mundane stuff instead—the weather, the boys, Veronica’s college applications—and she hadn’t been able to bring herself to say anything over the phone.
They could talk in Coronado, she’d told herself.
But when Julia showed up unexpectedly with Veronica in tow, Emily suddenly felt like she wouldn’t get the chance.
Maybe the best course of action was just to pretend she’d never seen anything.
Just like she’d been doing all this time.
Instead, she eagerly checked her phone again as soon as she was upstairs alone in her room. One new message, and she felt anticipation building in her chest.
Then she saw it was from Cecile. Hope you’re having fun with your sisters. Boys and I miss you.
She swallowed hard, really feeling like shit. But she texted back quickly. Miss you too.
Then she flipped over to her other chat, with Cara.
The last thing in it was a text Emily had sent earlier this morning before she’d boarded her flight, telling Cara how badly she was failing at being a stepmom.
Again. How Mikey had actually slammed a door in her face yesterday after dinner when she’d reminded him to do his homework, and how she constantly felt like she was doing everything totally wrong.
Cara had responded, You’re awesome! What do boys know anyway?
Emily had written back, Truth.
After Emily had broken down and texted Cara while evacuating because of Hurricane Vera—which, as it turned out, much like Vera herself, was a whole lot of drama but very little damage, as it had last-minute shot south and luckily missed Tampa altogether—she and Cara had kept in regular touch.
It was as if finding the box of letters in Julia’s bathroom had broken something inside of her, and Emily had pushed some internal self-destruct button that caused her to keep on responding to Cara in ways she logically knew she shouldn’t.
Cara texted her happy birthday in January and then asked if she was spending the day with her wife.
And Emily had told her how the boys had a robotics tournament and Cecile was there while Emily was holding down the fort at the museum.
That kind of sucks, Cara had written. You should be celebrated on your day! And Emily had stupidly agreed with her.
Of course, she and Cecile had gone out to dinner to celebrate the following weekend, and she would never tell Cecile not to be there for the boys. But Emily never texted Cara that part.
Cara had become a little bit like the proverbial devil sitting on her shoulder. A devil who could text. And they’d been texting every few days.
“Tell me a secret,” Emily said to Nora later that night, gulping down a glass of wine too fast. Julia had gone to bed, and Veronica was sitting out on the patio with them. Nora glanced at her niece and hesitated.
Veronica suddenly realized things were about to get interesting, and she sat up and leaned in close to her aunts. “Can I have some wine?” she asked.
“Your mother would kill us,” Nora said.
“Brutally murder us, chop up our bodies, and throw the pieces into the ocean,” Emily said. Still, she stood, walked into the kitchen, came back with a third glass, and poured a little for Veronica. “So we will never, ever tell her about this,” Emily said, giving her niece a stern look. “Agreed?”
Veronica nodded, took the glass. She took a small sip and made a face.