Chapter 17
At the beginning of September, Juliet threw a party at her place to celebrate Sophie and Lily returning to college, and Danica returning to school.
Wren donned a loose-fitting dress and baked oatmeal cookies for the event, dotted with raisins and chocolate chips.
Ivy planned to meet everyone there after closing up the flower shop, so Wren walked the eight blocks to where Juliet now lived with her boyfriend, Theo, and her daughter.
There was a touch of autumn to the air, although the sidewalks steamed from the heat of the earlier afternoon.
When Wren arrived, Juliet threw open the door and wrapped Wren in a hug.
By now, all of Wren’s sisters knew about the pregnancy, although they hadn’t shared the news with anyone else.
Wren reckoned it was nearly time to pass along to her nieces and nephew the fact that they were going to have a new cousin sooner rather than later.
It had been a little while since Ivy accused her of wanting to abandon her baby in Bluebell Cove.
Things felt a little brighter, if no less confusing.
“You’re the first one here,” Juliet said, guiding Wren into the sunlit kitchen, where Wren set out her cookies and accepted a glass of nonalcoholic wine.
“Did you buy this for me?” Wren asked, smiling.
“I figured you’d want a little fun.” Juliet winked.
Wren grimaced at the tart flavor. It didn’t taste very much like a wine.
“Ivy mentioned you had to take the dog back?” Juliet asked, her back turned as she made a big bowl of guacamole.
“Yeah. But you should have seen how happy this old woman was to have him back,” Wren said, her heart still full after her meeting with Nelly.
“Aw.” Juliet set down her knife and made a pouty face.
“Do you remember her?” Wren asked. “Nelly Winston. She said that Mom used to bring us over to tend to her garden. Ivy says she has vague memories.”
Juliet considered this, scraping a mountain of red onion into the bowl. “Maybe,” she said. “I remember the smells, I think. I remember eating so many berries that my stomach nearly exploded.”
Wren laughed. “I wish I could remember. But it was bizarre. Nelly looked at me and immediately called me Mom’s name.”
Juliet’s jaw dropped. “You’re kidding. I would have freaked out.”
Just then, there was a crash and a bang from down the hall. Juliet stopped chopping and rushed for the hall. Wren was hot on her heels.
“Who else is home?” she asked.
“Just Danica,” Juliet murmured, panic in her eyes.
They reached Danica’s room, where Juliet knocked and knocked. “Sweetie?” she called. “Can you let me in? Please?”
At this, Danica burst into awful, soul-aching tears. Wren’s heart went out to her.
“Come on, honey. Open up,” Juliet said gently.
Finally, Danica stomped over to the door and threw it open. Her face was a violent color of red, and she was sobbing. “I don’t understand!” she screamed.
At this show of panic and terror, Wren understood that it had to be about a guy.
Wren remembered last year, how Danica had somehow paired up with a guy on the internet.
They’d chatted endlessly and even arranged to meet up somewhere.
Danica had gotten arrested? Had that happened?
Wren couldn’t pull all the pieces together.
But since then, Danica had had a cute little high school romance with that boy. Juliet had come around on him.
But high school loves weren’t meant to last forever.
Danica collapsed on her bed, sobbing. “He met someone else. He met someone else.” She couldn’t stop saying it, as though she were trying to drill it into her mind.
“Oh, sweetie.” Juliet sat on her bed and pulled her daughter’s head into her lap. She traced Danica’s cheeks and forehead with the tips of her fingers. “Oh, honey. That’s awful. I’m so sorry.”
Danica sobbed and sobbed. Wren stood helplessly by the door, unable to pull herself away. Listening to Danica, she was reminded of herself back in Greece, pregnant and alone and waiting to hear from Angelos.
“Did you suspect something like this was happening?” she asked.
Danica let out another sob. “He’s been distant,” she said.
“He said he was just busy. He has a job this summer. I mean, we both do.” Danica was working at the ice cream parlor downtown.
“But he was working more and more, and working late, and yeah. I thought maybe we didn’t have as much to say to each other lately. But I couldn’t have imagined…”
“Honey, it’s awful,” Juliet breathed. “Nothing can get you around your first heartbreak. Nothing. But we’re going to pull you through it, all right? What do you want? Ice cream?”
“Ice cream sounds okay,” Danica whispered.
Juliet’s eyes snapped up to Wren’s, pleading. Wren understood. She needed to go down to the convenience store and buy as much ice cream as she could carry, and she needed to do it now.
Wren was semi-relieved to leave the house and the sounds of Danica’s sobs behind.
Out on the sidewalk, she walked slowly, enjoying the feel of the sun on her cheeks.
Just beyond this line of houses, she could hear the ocean churning against the rocks.
She could hear dogs barking in the distance and neighbors talking from porch to porch.
These were the sounds of a small town on the brink of autumn. This small town in Maine was saying goodbye to summer.
At the convenience store, Wren stood in front of the multiple flavors of ice cream, cursing herself for not knowing which was Danica’s favorite.
What kind of aunt was she? She wondered if, years from now, when her own child went through his or her own breakup, she’d know what to say.
Juliet seemed to have it handled. Then again, Juliet and Danica’s relationship had been completely revamped very recently.
According to Celia, Juliet and Danica had hardly spoken when they’d arrived in Bluebell Cove last summer.
At that moment, the bell over the door jangled, bringing in another customer.
Wren didn’t glance over to see who it was.
But a moment later, she smelled the flowers.
She turned to find Ivy standing beside her, carrying a bouquet of lilies and a bottle of wine from the store, which she planned to purchase for the party. It was clear she was on her way there.
Wren nearly leaped out of her skin. “Hi,” she said, rubbing the back of her neck.
“I didn’t expect to find you here,” Ivy said.
“There’s a minor emergency back at Juliet’s. Danica’s boyfriend met someone else,” she explained.
Ivy didn’t betray a moment of worry or panic or sorrow. “That’s too bad,” she said.
“Juliet sent me to buy ice cream,” Wren said.
Ivy narrowed her eyes. Her thoughts were difficult to read.
“But I don’t know what flavor she likes,” Wren said.
Ivy studied the packages: butter pecan, peppermint, dark chocolate chip, strawberry. “I think I’ve seen her enjoy a fair bit of Snickers ice cream,” she said. “That’s my best guess.”
“Snickers it is. But I’ll grab Oreo and cookie dough just in case,” Wren said.
“And strawberry shortcake,” Ivy suggested. “We’re having a party, aren’t we? Everyone will want some.” She smiled, and it lit Wren’s heart up.
After buying the wine and ice cream, they headed back outside.
The wind had picked up, and it seemed to carry them the rest of the way to Juliet’s.
Wren asked Ivy about her day, and Ivy explained that she’d prepared fifteen birthday bouquets.
“September birthdays are here,” she said.
“It’s one of the busiest months for that, at least here in Bluebell. ”
“There isn’t anything else to do in wintertime save for making a baby, I guess,” Wren said.
Ivy laughed, throwing her head back. And then, her face settled, and she asked, “Was your baby conceived in Greece, then?”
“Yes,” Wren said.
Ivy clucked her tongue. “That’s pretty dreamy, isn’t it?”
“Yes. The baby is half Greek, too,” Wren said.
Ivy’s eyes widened. “Wow. How exotic!”
Wren half expected Ivy to ask again about the father, about whether Wren had gotten up the nerve to tell him about the baby yet. But for whatever reason, Ivy decided to lay off. At least for today.
At Juliet’s, much of the rest of the family had arrived.
Sophie and Lily were exchanging their excitement about returning to their college towns, Sophie for grad school and Lily for another year of undergrad.
Tyler was on his phone, eating cookies as though it were a competition.
Celia and Landon were both there, as were Landon’s children. They were heading to college, too.
It was incredible to Wren that her own baby wasn’t even born yet—that these college-goers would be in middle age and probably with children of their own by the time Wren’s baby headed to college. What would be different about the world by then? Wren couldn’t fathom it.
Theo was out back, barbecuing their dinner. Eventually, they all went to the veranda to enjoy the beautiful air and eat appetizers. Landon found a seat beside Wren and said, “Ben was pretty beaten up about giving that dog back.”
“Oh, but he was so happy to be home,” Wren offered.
Landon grimaced. “I think Ben worries more than he should. He carries a lot in his chest. Sometimes I don’t think he gets enough sleep.”
Wren nodded, considering sweet Ben. She still didn’t know much about him, save for the fact that he’d once been married and lived in Boston for many years. He’d only recently returned.
“It must be nice to have your brother back,” she said.
“It is. But I spend a lot of time worrying about him,” Landon said. “I wish he’d start dating again. I ask him all the time if he’ll let me set him up.”
Wren chuckled. “I imagine he doesn’t want that.”
“Not really. But I think someone can get addicted to their own solitude,” Landon said.
Suddenly, his daughter Mallory slid over, reached for a piece of cheese, and asked, “Are you talking about Uncle Ben?”
Wren and Landon laughed. It was impossible to gossip around the older kids. They wanted in on the fun.
“I think he seems lonely,” Mallory said thoughtfully, reaching for another piece of cheese. “I don’t know why he doesn’t have a thousand pets to keep him company. He could be like Dr. Doolittle.”
“He says he’s been grieving the same dog for years,” her brother Isaac said.
Wren’s heart shifted. It occurred to her, not for the first time, that Ben would have been an incredible father. She wondered why he and his ex-wife had decided against having children.
It wasn’t a question she would ask Landon, though.
After dinner, Wren went to the kitchen to help Juliet with the dishes. As they scrubbed, they could hear Danica, Sophie, and Lily down the hall, eating ice cream and talking about what had gone wrong in Danica’s relationship. It was clear that the older girls wanted to help.
“He sounds like he doesn’t know what he wants,” Lily said. “That isn’t your fault.”
“You don’t want that energy in your life,” Sophie assured Danica.
Juliet and Wren caught each other’s eye.
“They sound so much older than they are,” Wren pointed out.
“I don’t think those conversations ever really change,” Juliet said.
Wren was quiet, thinking again about herself and Angelos. She’d desperately needed her sisters three months ago, when she’d gone searching for him. When she’d waited for him.
“You know, I was so impressed with how you handled Danica earlier,” she said.
Juliet laughed. “I was totally out of my depth. I felt like I was flailing.”
“She didn’t see it that way,” Wren assured her. “Neither did I. It was beautiful.”
Juliet smiled softly. “You’ll be good at it, too, you know.”
“I don’t know about that. I’ve been reading more and more of Mom’s journals and thinking, yeah. Yikes. I have less maternal instinct than Mom. I’m doomed.”
Juliet cut the water and gave Wren a penetrating look.
“That isn’t true,” she said. “And despite Mom’s feelings, despite everything that went down, she was a brilliant mother.
She was always there for us until the end.
She stuck around, even when she didn’t want to, all the time.
That’s what mothering is, I think. It’s showing up, even when you don’t feel like yourself. ”
Wren’s lips parted. It sounded so simple. But could she do it? Could she really show up for her child on even her worst and most emotional of days?