Chapter 1 #2
Until the last few years, Lynn had never touched marijuana in her life.
Had never felt called to it or like she needed to try it—even when everyone else around her had.
But then one day curiosity got the better of her, and she decided it was time to give it a go.
She remembered the first time she brought it up at group fire pit night about a year after Max had started inviting her.
The looks on the faces of the group—Jack, Drew, Max, and Dani—had been ones of shock, and when she asked why they were surprised, Jack had answered, “You just don’t seem like someone who would ever want to. ”
That answer had annoyed her then, and it still annoyed her now.
But it was Dani who had texted her later that evening and offered to come over the following day to smoke her first joint together.
And that was how Danielle Wellington, the great-granddaughter of Wellington Point, Connecticut’s founder, became her smoke buddy.
“Lynn?” Dani said her name like a question, drawing Lynn’s eyes away from the shrubs next to the porch.
“Hmm?” she answered absently, taking the joint Dani was attempting to pass her way. The smoke bit at her throat, a slight burn accompanying the floaty feeling settling into her limbs.
“I asked if you could only hang out with two other zodiac signs for the rest of your life which ones would it be?”
Lynn giggled, not really surprised by Dani’s question, but enjoying it nonetheless.
At this point, she and Dani had mused their way through every type of personality test or tool to better understand themselves more times than either could count.
“I love your questions. Please, never stop asking them.” She leaned forward, tapping the joint with her finger, the ash dropping into the ceramic ashtray she made during her air-dry clay craft phase a few years ago.
“I have no plans of stopping. I’ll answer first to give you a minute to think.
” Dani held out her hand, taking the joint back, taking a hit before continuing.
“As you know, I’m a Cancer, and I will die on the hill that the ultimate zodiac trio is Cancer, Virgo, and Scorpio.
It’s intense, it’s deep, and it’s perfect. ”
Lynn gazed out over the yard in thought.
Past the wild geranium breathing pops of purple into the landscape, down the front yard slope, over the tops of the mountain laurel ready to bloom, before landing on the tiny outlines of the buildings making up the downtown of Wellington Point, dotted along the horizon.
“I’d have to go Taurus, obviously since I’m one, and then probably Gemini and Cancer,” Lynn settled on, leaning back in her chair, rocking gently, enjoying the buzz presently filling her body.
Dani pressed the butt of the joint into the ashtray, extinguishing the end before setting it aside.
“Oooh, I mean, that totally makes sense though. I mean, look who in our friend group you naturally gravitate towards—me and Max.”
Lynn smiled. “Yes, probably,” she said, the sound of the breeze moving through the nearby trees carrying her words.
They sat like that, the quiet of the afternoon keeping them company, both feeling completely content with doing nothing. It was her favorite thing about Dani. She was just so easy to be around, and right now, Lynn really needed that.
“You miss Max, don’t you?” Dani said, dropping the statement like an invitation to a deeper examination of the very true feelings Lynn had been sitting with for months.
She sighed, gathering her words. “I do, but I’m also happy for her and for Annie.
They are at such an exciting phase of life together,” Lynn’s voice trailed off as she tried to figure out a way to articulate the feeling that had been weighing on her since the day Max and Annie announced their move.
“I had just gotten my life to a place where everything felt big again after Dan’s death.
And now it’s all changing, and I don’t handle change well,” she admitted sheepishly, something she had never said out loud before.
Sympathy sat behind Dani’s gaze as she listened, patient and caring as always, head cocked to the side, waterfall of red hair tucked over her shoulder.
But she didn’t say anything—that fact made Lynn instantly uncomfortable and left her feeling like she needed to explain more to make Dani understand.
“I’m not jealous or anything,” she lied, attempting to cover the fact that she definitely was, “but meeting Max… After Dan died, I lost my footing a bit. My life imploded in on itself and got incredibly small, incredibly fast. My best friend, my husband of over thirty years, the one person who truly knew me was suddenly gone, and I didn’t know how to process that.
And for a few years I struggled, but meeting Max…
Max made my life feel like it could be big again.
And now that feels like it’s gone and I haven’t figured out what’s next. ”
Lynn’s breathing was surprisingly calm, no doubt in part to the joint they had finished.
Every word she had just uttered had been living in her chest, taking up space, weighing her down for months, far too swirly to be able to arrange in such a neat and ordered way, but that was the magic of Dani—she was like a human dose of Xanax.
Without a word, Dani got to her feet, crossed the porch, and wrapped her arms around Lynn in a hug that caught her off guard.
“Your life is big, Lynn,” she said softly, releasing Lynn from her grip. “This is just one of those annoying adjustment periods. Can I help make that transition any smoother?”
Lynn looked up into Dani’s bright blue eyes, so full of care and sincerity, reflecting what always lived there. But it was the way Lynn had watched Dani slowly come out of her shell over the past few years that truly made her believe her request was genuine.
“I just need to get over it. Max is gone, living her life, and I need to move on with mine and readjust,” she said matter-of-factly, getting to her feet. “How about that walk?”
* * *
The following week, Lynn stepped off the escalator that dropped her in the middle of the busy baggage claim area at the small regional airport servicing Graham Harbor, Michigan. Eyes scanning for the familiar dark hair, freckled face, and clear blue eyes of Max Martin.
Lynn spotted her immediately, standing by the baggage carousel, Annie by her side. Max waved excitedly, radiating happiness, something Lynn could see even from across the room.
“You made it!” Max’s delighted voice met her in a whoosh of arms as she pulled Lynn into a hug. “God, I fucking missed you. How was your flight? Are you hungry? Thirsty? Ready for a nap?”
“Let her breathe for a sec, Max,” Annie said, placing a gentle hand on Max’s bicep, her own smile stretching wide across her face.
Max released Lynn from the death-grip of a hug she had her in.
Lynn instantly missed it. “I missed you too.” She glanced at Max’s finger, where her diamond engagement ring caught the artificial light above.
“Let me see.” She reached for Max’s hand, inspecting the ring in person, and just like through their video call last week, her first thought was, it’s fucking huge.
“Isn’t it perfect?” Max breathed, slipping her arm around Annie’s waist, pulling her close. “I’m so spoiled.”
Lynn pressed her lips together in a partially forced, partially genuine smile. “As you should be.” She glanced at Max, catching her eye before quickly looking away.
“Only the best for Max.” Annie grinned, placing a chaste kiss on Max’s cheek that made the guilt resting just beneath the surface of Lynn’s thoughts rise as she reminded herself that now was not the time to be jealous.
A buzzer sounded beside them as the mechanical baggage-claim belt began its circular dance, bags appearing one by one, plopping onto the metal conveyor. A minute later her suitcase appeared, a hardshell rolling bag she had hand-painted herself with wildflowers and butterflies.
“I forgot about this,” Max said, eagerly reaching forward to pull her suitcase from the carousel, setting it on the ground, extending the handle. “Damn, it still looks so good, not a single scuff.”
Lynn looked at the suitcase, the one she had painted a few months after Max had moved into the apartment above her—the suitcase she had intended to use, but had never actually gotten around to. “I don’t travel much.” Her words were quiet, almost lost in the bustle of people moving around them.
“Well, that’s about to change. I’m serious about making sure we see each other every few months.” Max and Lynn reached for the handle of the rolling suitcase at the same time, Max beating her to it and waving her off. “I’ve got it,” she said, and the trio pressed forward towards the exit.
When they arrived at the car, Annie offered to take the back seat so Lynn and Max could catch up, and as they drove, Max kept up a running narration of the ins and outs of Graham Harbor they had learned since moving there earlier this year.
They made their way to the bed and breakfast Lynn had booked for her stay, driving down the main street, Max and Annie pointing out different shops they liked and ones they hadn’t yet had a chance to explore.
“Oh, this building up here, the light green brick one with the dark green trim? That’s going to be the newest location of Muffed & Stuffed, the bakery our friend Summer owns. She has a smaller shop a few blocks over too. I can’t wait for you to meet her. She’s awesome.”