Chapter 20
Chapter Twenty
V alerie returned to the Sutton House that evening just in time for dinner. She slunk through the back door and was immediately caught by Shelby, who was still eager for her Monday shopping trip and, therefore, hungry for some sight of her Aunt Val. Valerie’s nieces and nephews were none the wiser about the family feud, caught up in their wild romps across the beach.
“Aunt Val! I have a list of shops I want to go to.” Shelby whipped down the hallway, blowing Valerie’s cover.
But a split second later, Esme, Rebecca, and Bethany swanned through the kitchen door to find her. Esme wore a soft smile, and Rebecca and Bethany looked bemused.
“I can’t wait,” Valerie said to Shelby of their shopping trip. “I’ll be ready to go by eleven.”
“Great!” Shelby chirped, then fled outside, removing her dress as she raced. Valerie watched her plunge into the waves and emerge, flipping her hair back like a mermaid.
“Where were you?” Rebecca hissed.
Valerie turned slowly back around. She looked for hints of anger and resentment in her sisters’ and mother’s faces but found nothing but glowing curiosity. From the kitchen came the smell of onions and garlic and baked bread. Valerie had had little more than pizza since that very early morning, and her stomach heaved.
They hadn’t had much time for anything else.
Suddenly, Valerie was faced with the violent urge to find her wedding ring and slip it back on her finger. She’d done it that morning to Alex, who’d told her where his wedding ring was hidden. She’d pretended to do the whole ceremony all over again. He’d used the plastic seal from a milk carton for her makeshift ring, and she’d cackled and fallen back into his arms. “I do! I do! I do, forever!” she’d cried.
I want to live in that cabin with Alex. I want to live far away from California. I want to start over and start fresh, but I want to do it here, surrounded by our history.
“You aren’t angry?” Valerie asked. “About the article in the New York Times ?”
“Your father explained everything,” Esme said.
“Who knows if we should believe him?” Rebecca said with a smile.
“I heard that!” This was Victor from the kitchen, who appeared and stood behind the three of them, standing guard.
“This time, I think we really can,” Valerie said. “I was duped by the same publisher.”
“Your father already made some calls,” Esme explained.
“The article will be rescinded by next week,” Victor said.
Yet again, a powerful man gets whatever he wants, Valerie thought. But he did it out of love for me and our family.
“Thank you,” Valerie said. She hesitated, drawing a line across her teeth. Her family’s eyes drilled holes into her. “I have to get ready for dinner.” She darted upstairs and tossed herself into the shower, grinning madly. Hot water drizzled down her back.
It was the night of the Sutton Book Club Fundraiser, and four hundred people arrived as guests. Four hundred people with money to throw around; with stories about the Sutton Book Club; with hugs, smiles, and thoughtful words imparted to Esme, who knew how to listen and furrow her brown in just the way that suggested she took everything they said to heart. Valerie guessed that she really did. It wasn’t an act.
Valerie was in full-scale event-planning mode. She wore her headset, chatted to caterers, and was cavalier about ordering people around, but in a kind way. Sometimes she caught herself grinning ear-to-ear. But it was only because she knew he was on his way.
Valerie had asked Alex to come later in the night, after the auction, after they’d gathered all the donations—but just before the best food was served. Alex got the night off from The Rooster, as he’d struck a deal with Roger to ensure that neither of them worked too many nights. “I want you to live sometimes in the daytime with me,” Valerie had said.
Alex and Valerie had spent the past week practicing what they would say to Esme, Victor, Bethany, and Rebecca regarding their past and present relationship. Alex said he already knew how to tell his parents. “They already know I was in love with you as a kid,” he’d said. “They’ll take it in stride.”
“This event is spectacular,” a woman with a red bob said to Valerie, approaching her from the side as she fixed a caterer’s bowtie. “Do you do weddings?”
“I do,” Valerie said, removing a newly made business card from her back pocket. It read: Valerie Garland - Event Planner - Nantucket Island. “Hot off the press,” she said. “And tell your friends!”
The woman grinned, slipped the card into her purse, and thanked her. It was the first business card Valerie had given out since she’d had them printed a few days ago, when Shelby was taking her sweet time at the Abercrombie & Fitch. “What are those?” Shelby had asked. Valerie had struggled not to say, “Proof that I have a beautiful future ahead of me.”
When she’d quit her job in San Francisco, Audrey had said, “But we work so well together!”
And Valerie had wanted to say, “I work better without you.” Because it was true. But she didn’t need to burn any bridges.
It was eight thirty when Alex Garland appeared at the end of the street. He carried a bouquet of red roses and wore an open suit jacket over a T-shirt and a pair of jeans. He was the height of cool and casual. In fact, Valerie had to admit that he looked every bit the filmmaker he’d once been. Alex wasn’t sure he wanted ever to make another film again, and Valerie didn’t blame him. It took so much out of him. But maybe someday he’ll remember how talented he is again.
That said, he’d already mentioned children. Trying again. We can get a doctor this time. We can make ourselves open to other possibilities.
Was it too fast? Valerie didn’t know. She was swept up in the romance of it. But she also felt grounded and serene and hopeful. Her family was her rock.
When Alex neared her, Victor shot out of the Sutton Book Club with a happy hello. Alex stalled and made conversation, as Valerie pined to go over to him.
She heard her father say, “What’s with the flowers?”
She heard her husband say, “They’re for my wife.”
Victor raised his eyebrows with surprise. “I didn’t know you were married!”
Alex’s wedding band glinted in the dying light of the evening. Valerie scrambled to find hers in her purse, then slipped it back on. She’d been wearing it at night to avoid questions from her parents and sisters.
It occurred to her—hilariously—that she was the only married Sutton right now. Bethany was inches from a divorce. And Esme and Victor were miles away from a second marriage.
Alex and Valerie had never taken the plunge away from one another.
Victor followed Alex’s gaze to find Valerie standing stock-still with a wedding band on her finger. Valerie raised her hand and flickered her fingers. She couldn’t stop smiling.
Victor’s eyes were filled with questions. Tears glinted.
Valerie cleared the distance between them and took Alex’s hand in hers. She stuttered, searching for an explanation. But it seemed that Victor didn’t require one right away. He threw his arms around them and said, “I don’t know what to say. Except one thing. When?”
Valerie and Alex bubbled with laughter. Valerie could feel her makeup melting with her tears.
“What’s it been, Val?” Alex asked.
“It must be six years by now,” Valerie said. She tucked herself under Alex’s arm and grinned up at her father.
Esme, Rebecca, and Bethany noticed the chaos and hurried over to demand what was going on. Valerie felt the hum of Alex’s words through his body as he explained everything he could, “When we saw each other again, we knew it wasn’t over. We knew it never really had been.”