Chapter 16
Chapter Sixteen
Anna
Anna sat on the porch swing of her mother’s house in Vineyard Haven, the late afternoon sun casting long shadows across the lawn. The twins were napping, a rare and precious window of quiet. She sipped her iced coffee and stared at her phone, thumb hovering over the screen.
Hey Jess, want to grab dinner and a drink tonight? Mom and Margot offered to watch the kids.
She hesitated for a moment before hitting send.
She wasn’t sure if she had the energy to go out herself, but she was certain that her cousin needed it more.
Jess had been back on the island for a few weeks now, and Anna could see the strain in her eyes, the forced smiles. Maybe a night out would help.
To her surprise, Jess replied almost immediately.
Sure. But fair warning, when I mentioned it to my mom, she got overly excited and started talking about game night. She will probably call Aunt Lily soon.
Game night. Anna sat back in the swing and smiled.
The phrase alone sent Anna spiraling into a thousand memories, most of them filled with popcorn bowls, mismatched socks, and shouting matches over Monopoly rules.
Back then, every Saturday night like clockwork, her parents, Jess’s parents, would rotate hosting duties.
Jess, Anna, Cody, and Jess’s brothers, James and Justin, would huff and roll their eyes like it was the worst thing in the world to be asked to stay in and play board games.
But the moment the pizza hit the table and someone pulled out Scattergories or Pictionary, they were yelling, laughing, and fighting over who got to be on which team.
Anna could still remember James accusing Justin of cheating at Uno, and Cody dramatically declaring that “this house has no honor” when he got skipped three turns in a row.
Jess always chose team games over competitive ones, and Anna, being the one with the neatest handwriting, was often stuck keeping score or acting as the tiebreaker judge, which she took very seriously.
They stopped doing it when high school schedules got too full, when football games and parties became the new Saturday night tradition. But in quiet moments, like tonight, Anna could admit she missed it. They all did. Even Cody, who would never say it out loud.
She tucked her phone in her back pocket and stepped inside, hearing the familiar hum of voices from the kitchen. The smell of baked chicken and something lemony filled the air as she entered the bright, slightly chaotic space.
Nora was sitting cross-legged on the kitchen island, a juice box in one hand and a glow-in-the-dark dinosaur in the other.
“Did you know T-Rexes couldn’t brush their teeth because their arms were too small?” she announced to no one in particular.
“That’s tragic,” Margot said with a grin, spooning pasta salad into a large ceramic bowl. “And yet, relatable.”
Lily’s phone started ringing. She moved to look at it and then continued to let it ring. Margot looked up at her in shock before she answered it for her.
“Hey, Claudia!” Margot greeted cheerfully. “Lily is elbow deep in dishwater, so I answered the phone for her.”
Anna could hear her aunt’s excited voice through the phone. She smiled to herself, crossed her arms in front of her chest, and leaned against the doorframe as she listened.
“Game night?” Margot repeated with a wide grin on her face.
Lily started shaking her head before she said, “No,” quietly.
Margot pretended not to notice, and as she and Claudia continued talking, Lily’s no became more adamant. Margot continued to ignore her, even turning her back so she couldn’t see her.
“I think a game night would be great. It’s time we let the little ones see what it’s all about. We can order some pizza. I can run out and get some more snacks.”
Lily was standing in front of Margot, waving her arms in the air to get her attention. Margot put her finger up, telling her to hold on a minute, and Lily just shook her head in disbelief.
It was quite comical to Anna. She knew that Margot didn’t mean any disrespect to her mother, but she also knew that if this was left up to Lily, game night wouldn’t be happening. It would be good for everyone to get back to the basics.
A few minutes later, Margot hung up the phone and grinned back at Lily.
“Game night is happening,” Margot declared, turning to Lily, who stood at the edge of the room, arms folded. “Like old times. Right, Lil?”
Lily gave a tight smile, her eyes scanning the counter where the kids had clearly left behind sticky trails of juice and dinosaur limbs. “It’s just… with so many people and food and… all the noise… I wasn’t expecting…”
“Oh, come on,” Margot interrupted, her voice light and teasing but firm. “You love it. You used to go all Martha Stewart every Saturday night.”
“That was before…” Lily muttered under her breath.
Anna bit back a smile. She felt her mother’s anxiety, but she was also grateful for Margot’s way of pulling joy out of people, whether they wanted it or not. She knew that Margot would do everything she could to make sure Lily was comfortable throughout all of it.
“Besides,” Margot continued, undeterred, “it’ll be good for everyone. Especially the kids, all three of them miss their dads.”
Lily’s expression softened a fraction, but she still looked overwhelmed.
Anna moved beside her and placed a gentle hand on her arm. “Margot will keep Aunt Claudia in line. She’ll keep it easy. Just pizza and some wine. Low-pressure.”
“What’s game night?” Blaze asked as he walked into the kitchen.
“Just what it sounds like, bud,” Anna answered. “The adults and kids play board or card games.”
“Oh, do we get to play?”
“Of course,” Margot answered quickly with a grin. “There’s something more important than the board games, though, and that’s snacks. Let’s pick out what you guys want, and I’ll run to the store.”
“Ice cream?” Nora asked.
“Of course, nothing is off the table,” Margot giggled.
“I’ll remember that if they’re bouncing off the walls at bedtime,” Anna answered playfully.
“Are you going to play, too, Mom?” Nora asked.
“I am going to dinner with Aunt Jess and maybe Uncle Cody—I need to call him. Maisie will be here to play with you.”
“Yay!” Nora exclaimed as she clapped excitedly.
Margot started toward the kids as she clapped her hands. “Perfect. I’ll get the kids set up in the sunroom with something that doesn’t require batteries or a screen. Jess and Anna can grab dinner with Cody and be back in time for round two of Cranium.”
At the mention of Cody, Lily smiled softly. “I hope that he comes along. He needs that.”
“I guess I’ll call him now and work my guilt magic,” Anna said teasingly.
Anna stepped outside on the front porch to call Cody, who lived in Aquinnah. He answered on the third ring.
“Hey, Anna. What’s up?”
“Hey, Cody. Want to join Jess and me for dinner tonight? Or come over for game night at Mom’s?”
He laughed. “Neither, thanks.”
“That wasn’t a choice,” she said, smiling.
“All right, all right. I’ll meet you for dinner. Where are we going?”
“How about Offshore Ale Co. in Oak Bluffs? It’s a good halfway point, and they have great beer.”
“Sounds good. See you there at six?”
“Perfect. See you then.”
Anna hung up the phone and walked back into the house. “Good news, Cody is coming with. He’s meeting us at Offshore Ale Co. in an hour.”
Margot nodded with approval. “Solid choice. He can complain all he wants, but he loves the fried pickles there.”
Nora suddenly perked up. “Are we playing games like Candy Land? I’m really good at that one.”
“You cheated last time,” Blaze said, crossing his arms with mock seriousness.
“I did not!” Nora gasped, scandalized. “That was my twin.”
Both Margot and Lily burst out laughing, and Blaze sighed but couldn’t hide the little smile tugging at the corners of her mouth.
“I am your twin,” Blaze said as he grabbed his head in disbelief. “I didn’t cheat.”
“Says you,” Nora answered with a shrug before she walked off.
Watching them, Anna felt a flicker of a memory and couldn’t help but smile.
She could still see herself sprawled on the floor of her aunt’s house at thirteen, arguing with Jess over whether the clue card said “colonel” or “kernel.”
James, shirtless and sunburnt from a day of clamming with their uncles, had tried to convince everyone that Monopoly should be outlawed because it destroyed families.
Justin built a hotel empire every game night and gloated so much he almost got grounded.
Cody would start every night pretending not to care and end it by storming into the kitchen because someone played a Wild Draw Four.
Now they were grown. James was in New Hampshire with his wife and two kids. Justin never married and worked as a lawyer in New York. Cody had tucked himself into a quiet house in Aquinnah and avoided crowds like they were contagious.
And Jess… Jess had flown out to California with nothing but a duffel bag and a dream—and came home with a six-year-old, a broken marriage, and her heart in pieces.
Anna wanted this to feel like something close to healing.
Even if it wasn’t perfect. Maybe she needed to concentrate on this night, of getting her brother and cousin out of the house, of helping her Mom get back to a normal life, so that she didn’t focus on how much she missed her husband and worried about him.