Chapter 14
MAUVE
They arrived at The Moose a little after seven. The place was packed with locals escaping the cold and enjoying a night out during the holidays. This time of year, The Moose was decorated for Christmas, with garlands and twinkling lights. Mauve spotted her mother and David immediately.
David Davidson stood as they approached the booth.
He was tall and lean, with silver hair combed neatly away from his face and striking green eyes that seemed unusually alive for a man his age.
Her mother hugged her before introducing her to David.
“This is David. My fiancé.” Her eyes twinkled, making her seem eighteen rather than in her mid-fifties. “I love saying that.”
When he shook Mauve’s hand, she noticed his fingers first—long and elegant, with neatly trimmed nails.
The hands of either a surgeon or a pianist, she thought.
Standing beside her petite mother, he seemed almost larger than life, dressed elegantly in a black cashmere sweater and designer jeans.
She couldn’t help but compare him to her father who never wore anything but his flannel shirts and faded jeans.
“This is Jason,” Mauve said.
“Jason Hayes. Big fan,” David said, extending his hand next. “I’m afraid Cynthia and I have interrupted your Christmas.”
“Not at all. Welcome to Sugarville Grove. It’s the best place to be at Christmas,” Jason said before turning to Cynthia. “It’s nice to see you again, Mrs. Callahan.”
“As I told you yesterday, Jason, please, call me Cynthia. Besides, I’ll no longer be Mrs. Callahan in a few weeks.” She flushed and gazed at David for a moment with an expression Mauve had never seen her have in her life. Like a schoolgirl in love. The entire thing was amazing.
All four slid into the booth. Jason pressed his thigh against hers and squeezed her knee. It was a small gesture, but one that made her feel cherished and supported.
Kelly, one of the regular waitresses, appeared with menus and took drink orders.
Before she left, she turned to Mauve. “Sarah Chambers is a good friend of mine. She told me what you’re doing for Ollie.
” She turned to Jason. “What both of you are doing. I can’t tell you how much it means to all of us who love Ollie.
It’s proof that there are still good people. ”
“That’s kind of you to say,” Mauve said. “We love Ollie too. Will you be at the concert?”
Kelly nodded, smiling while rolling her eyes. “My daughter’s in Ollie’s class. She’ll be front and center singing her heart out. She loves attention. Anyway, I’ll get your drinks.”
David watched the interaction with interest. “What was that all about?”
“Ollie’s one of my clients,” Mauve said, before explaining the situation. “And Jason offered to help because he studied sign language for a role.”
“How generous of you,” Cynthia said. “A gift of your time is wonderful.”
Jason smiled slightly. “It’s all because of Mauve. No one else would care as much as she does about her clients. I’m just here to help her however I can.”
“How sweet.” Cynthia smiled approvingly. “I’m glad to hear a little about Mauve’s work. She doesn’t talk about it much.”
“It’s kind of boring,” Mauve said, embarrassed.
“Your mother’s very proud of you,” David said. “She talks about you constantly.”
Warmth spread unexpectedly through Mauve’s chest. “Oh. Well, that’s nice to hear.”
Their drinks arrived, and they asked for a little more time with the menus.
“To finally meeting you,” David said, lifting his glass of red wine. “Thank you for letting us horde in on your time together.”
Mauve raised her glass, as did her mother and Jason. “This is a wonderful surprise. Welcome to our family, David.”
“Ah, thank you so much. I admit to being nervous,” David said.
“It’s my fault for that,” Cynthia said. “Procrastinating so long about what was really happening with me.”
“I hadn’t exactly been home in a while,” Mauve said. “So please don’t take it all on yourself.”
David leaned back slightly, his gaze drifting toward Cynthia. “She tends to do that—take all the blame for everything.”
“I’m working on it,” Cynthia said, cheeks growing pink. “David’s helping me to feel less shame and more joy.”
“It’s my aim,” David said. “You should have seen her in high school. She was a force.”
“She was?” Mauve asked, leaning forward, anxious to hear more.
“Very popular. All the boys had a crush on her. She was the prettiest girl in our class.”
“That’s not true,” Cynthia said, nudging him with her elbow. “You know it was Lisa Miller.”
“But she was mean as a snake,” David said. “Which diminished her beauty drastically.”
“That is true,” Cynthia said, laughing.
“Did you know your mother designed every theater set for the drama department?” David asked. “Designed, painted, decorated the set. One time she painted the set for an eighteenth century milieu with all these arabesques. It was very impressive.”
Mauve stared at her mother. “You did? I never knew that.”
“Yes, it was just a fun hobby. I’d never have wanted to be on stage, but I liked being a part of it.”
“And she was brilliant at it too,” David said. “Your mother turned cardboard, paint, and old curtains into entire worlds. She even knew how to build and paint flats. I’ll never forget how cute she was in this old pair of overalls, paintbrush in her hand, bossing everyone around.”
“You bossed everyone around?” Mauve asked.
“She had all of us volunteers doing her bidding,” David said. “I had no talent in art or acting, but I loved Cynthia, so I kept showing up to help.”
“That was how we started,” Cynthia said. “Working on sets together. Building something. They were some of the happiest moments of my life.”
Jason leaned forward, clearly interested. “What other sets did you build? Do you remember?”
“Our Town. I remember that one,” Cynthia said.
“Oh yes, Cynthia built all these beautiful New England facades out of scrap lumber and chicken wire. Another time she transformed the cafeteria into a Paris street for a musical. Everyone kept asking where the school got the money.” David shook his head.
“It was your mother painting shadows onto plywood.”
Mauve stared openly now. “You never told me that.”
Cynthia shrugged, suddenly looking shy. “It was nothing.”
“It absolutely was not ‘nothing,’” David said firmly. “You had an extraordinary eye.”
An emotion flickered across her mother’s face. Mauve wasn’t sure what to call it. Not embarrassment exactly. Something softer and older, as if a long-forgotten part of herself had finally come out in the open.
Jason smiled at Cynthia. “That actually explains a lot.”
“Yeah, it does,” Mauve said. “You were always so good at decorating our house. I was telling Jason about the bedroom you made for Millie and me.”
“One daughter loved yellow and the other pink,” Cynthia said. “What’s a mom to do?”
“It was really special, Mom. I should have told you that more often.”
“I loved doing those kinds of projects,” Cynthia said. “Seeing your faces was thanks enough.”
“She’s taking art classes,” David added casually.
Mauve turned so quickly toward her mother she nearly knocked over her water glass. “You are?”
“Oh goodness,” Cynthia said. “That was supposed to be my secret.”
“What kind of classes?” Mauve asked.
“Watercolor and drawing,” Cynthia said. “David signed me up as a surprise for my birthday.”
“They’re at our community college near my house.” David paused. “I mean our house. I’m sorry, honey. I keep doing that.”
“It’s fine,” Cynthia said, gazing up at him. “It was your house without me for a long time.”
“She always wanted to take art classes, but then her mom got sick,” David said to Jason. “And like she always did, she put everyone else’s well-being over her own.”
He said it to Jason because he thought her daughter already knew that information, Mauve realized. Which she didn’t. What kind of daughter was she? She had to do better.
“There was no one else to take care of her. It was my job.” Cynthia looked over at Jason. “I was an only child. She was brilliant, by the way. A great artist too.”
“Was she okay?” Jason asked. “Your mom?”
“For years, yes. She was in remission for a long time and then it came back. Then remission again and then it came back one last time. She was too young.” Cynthia raised her gaze.
“I started thinking about her a lot in the last few years of my marriage. She died when she was only sixty-five. That’s only a decade away for me.
I didn’t want to spend whatever time I have left with a man who made me cry. ”
“Oh, Mom, I’m sorry.” Mauve reached across the table to squeeze her mother’s hand.
“It wasn’t your fault, sweetheart. You and Millie made everything worth it.”
“And now, she’s next to me, where I believe she belongs,” David said. “At long last. I should never have let her go in the first place. I have no intention of doing so again.”
Cynthia raised her left hand. “So he put a ring on it.”
Mauve had not noticed it until then. “How pretty. When’s the wedding?”
“That’s something we wanted to talk to you about,” Cynthia said. “Would you be able to come over for it? We just want something small at our new church.”
“Of course we can come,” Jason blurted out. “How could we miss it?”
Mauve’s chest tightened. “You’ll be in Prague in February.” She turned back to her mother. “He’s filming a movie there after the holidays.”
“There are planes,” Jason said. “I can arrange a few days off to take you to your mother’s wedding.”
He said it so casually, as if it were as simple as that.
Was it? Was she the one making everything too complicated by not just agreeing to the unpredictability of a life with Jason?
It wasn’t selfish. It was preservation. And she was just about as sick to death of herself as she’d ever been.
Seriously, what was she doing? She could finish out the school year in Sugarville Grove and then give up her job.
Move to L.A. Leave Reese and this town she loved.
But it was worth it. She couldn’t let him go like David and her mother had all those years ago.
She laid the side of her head against Jason’s shoulder. “That’s right. There are planes.”
Jason twisted slightly to look at her. “Yeah?”
She smiled, nodding. “Yeah. There are planes. And I’ll need a date.”
“All right, great. It’s decided then,” David said. “How’s Valentine’s Day for you kids?”
“I’ll shoot a note to my agent tonight and have him arrange it with the director,” Jason said.
Cynthia beamed. “It will be very special to have you both there.”
How long was the flight from Prague, she wondered?
Maybe it didn’t matter. Jason said he would be there, and he was not the type to change his mind or flake out on her.
That was the truth, she said to herself.
You ninny. Stop being afraid—and get it together—or you’re about to lose the best thing that ever happened to you.