Chapter Eighteen
Lynette grinned at Renee and Annie as they twirled across the sand. Annie’s kaleidoscope-patterned cover-up billowed around her as she danced to yet another song from a playlist that captured many of their favorites from high school.
“I don’t need anything but a good time, either,” Kit said beside Lynette, watching them shimmy to one of Poison’s classics. “Jackie, go dance with them! I can tell you want to.”
Jackie laughed. “The only way I’m getting out of this lovely chair is if Renee has some Joan Jett on her phone. I’m surprised the Wi-Fi works so well down here on the beach.”
“Remember when we used to bring big boom boxes to the beach when we were kids?” Lynette said, enjoying both the beautiful day and the companionship of her friends. “Hot sun, rock and roll, cold beer . . . I didn’t think life would ever get any better than that.”
Kit dug her toes into the sand, then kicked a little spray of it into the air just as Renee and Annie collapsed onto their backs in a fit of giggles as the drummer’s crescendo faded away. “My memories from back then aren’t all sunshine and roses.”
“To be honest, mine aren’t either,” Lynette agreed. “But the music always brings all the best memories to mind.”
Kit seemed to consider this, then nodded. “It is hard to wallow in the crap memories when I picture Annie jamming out to a little Bon Jovi in the backseat of my Mustang.”
Jackie wriggled her way out of the Adirondack chair. “Some of my very best memories include your Mustang, Kit. I’m so glad Dean fixed it up for you. Tell me you’re driving us to dinner in it tonight!”
“Our options are my Mustang or Annie’s sedan, so yeah, I’m happy to drive. We’ll celebrate Lynette’s birthday in style!”
Lynette squirmed. “I meant it when I said we don’t have to celebrate my birthday tonight. Or we could do like we did in Arizona and celebrate all of us turning fifty-one. Every birthday is a blessing, you know.”
Jackie pulled off her white cover-up and tossed it on her chair. “Isn’t that the truth? But no, not this time. Annie got to be the birthday girl in Maui, all by herself. You made a special trip home to Ruby Shores for that surprise fiftieth Owen threw for me. And since it was actually Kit’s birthday in Arizona, she got a little special attention. So today is your turn.”
“But what about Renee? Her birthday is in May. We’ve never all been together for her birthday,” Lynette said.
Kit unzipped the beach bag next to her chair and pulled out a sun hat. “There’s always next year. Maybe we’ll have to plan our girls’ trip for May. Then we could have a big birthday party for her, on her actual birthday.”
Jackie gazed down at them both, her expression skeptical. “Annie probably can’t get away in May.”
Kit kicked another tuft of sand. “That’s a problem for another day. Are you going for a swim, Jackie? I thought you’d only get out of your chair for a little Joan Jett.”
“Changed my mind. Anyone want to race? We could reenact the way we kicked Ivory’s butt at summer camp that time. Wasn’t that the same summer we first met you, Kit?”
“It was,” Kit said, jamming the hat onto her bright hair. “Back then my hair color didn’t get any help from a bottle. Now it does, so I need to protect it from the sun. I’m going to have to pass on a race.”
Jackie turned away. “You wouldn’t have to if you let it go natural like our birthday girl. Her hair is still gorgeous.”
Lynette felt a twinge of pleasure. She liked her own silvery curls, too. It might be one of the few things she still loved about her natural body, but at least it was something.
As Jackie reached the edge of the water near the old dock, she bent and picked up a pair of sandals. “Hey, Lynette, aren’t these your sandals? What are they doing out here?”
Lynette smacked her forehead. Her hair might still be her crowning glory, but sometimes her brain failed her. “That’s where they are! I bet I looked for them for twenty minutes this morning and couldn’t remember where I put them.”
Secretly she blamed her forgetfulness on the vivid nightmare she’d endured on the dock yesterday, just as the storm rolled in.
Jackie shrugged and dropped the sandals onto the dock. “I’ll bring them up to you after my swim. Or you can join me.”
“Nah, I’m good,” Lynette said, relaxing back into her comfortable chair.
“I’m glad to see Renee doesn’t still seem upset about that card you pulled for her last night.” Kit kept her voice down so Renee couldn’t hear her.
Lynette looked to Kit. “To be clear, she pulled that card. I’d already pulled a different one for her. By the way, I love your hat. It’s cute.”
“Thanks,” Kit said, tipping her head in Lynette’s direction. “And you’re right. She pulled the Death card. Were you thinking the same thing when she flipped it over?”
Lynette sighed. “Probably. My first thought was of Matt. I’ve never even been married, but I imagine it’s terrifying to be married to a police officer. Especially in this day and age. Do you think she thought that, too, and it scared her?”
“Yeah, I do. When we got back to our cabin last night, we actually did some research about tarot,” Kit admitted.
“Wait . . .” Lynette laughed. “You and Jackie researched tarot readings last night? I thought you hated that stuff.”
“I never said I hated it. I just said I didn’t believe in it. Still don’t. But that doesn’t mean I’m not willing to research more about it. I’m a scientist, after all. I love research.”
Lynette returned her gaze to the water. Jackie was swimming perpendicular to the shore now; her strokes looked smooth and strong. Renee and Annie were fiddling with the music, their voices too low to hear. “That is such a Kit thing to say. Did you find anything interesting in your research?”
“We did. The Death card doesn’t actually signify that someone is going to die. It’s more about transformation and change.”
“Hmm,” Lynette said, considering this. “You should tell Renee that. It would probably make her feel better.”
Kit relaxed her head against the back of her chair and slipped the hat down over her eyes. “I already did. Why do you think she’s smiling and dancing now?”
Lynette pulled her door shut and put on her seatbelt. “These belts must be new.”
Kit turned the key in the ignition. “They are. Dean and Isaac are on a mission to make these old classic cars as safe as possible. Isaac thinks his mother might have survived the car crash that took her life if the old Camaro she was driving had air bags.”
“This thing has air bags now?” Lynette asked. The dash looked the same to her as it had when they were teens.
“No,” Kit laughed. “The belts were an easy fix. Retrofitting for other kinds of safety equipment is a whole different ballgame, but Isaac has his sights set high.”
Annie’s head popped up between the two in the front seat. “I don’t understand why I’m always stuck in the middle of the backseat.”
Kit and Lynette both laughed, then Lynette playfully shoved Annie back with a hand to her forehead. “Pretend you are royalty and we are your chauffeur and bodyguard.”
The banter and visiting continued amongst the five friends during the twenty-minute drive from Whispering Pines to the cute new restaurant on the water that Renee’s daughter had recommended.
When they arrived, Renee let out a whistle from behind Lynette. “Looks like Julie’s recommendation was a good one. This place is darling,” she said as she climbed out of the backseat. “Let’s hope the food is tasty, too.”
Lynette slammed her door, then linked her arm through Renee’s. “The company is excellent, and that’s all that really matters. Besides, if the food is awful, I bet your sister has yummy snacks tucked away in the fridge at the lodge. That can be our backup.”
They filed inside, and the pleasant surprises continued. Renee’s daughter had called ahead and reserved them the best table in the place, with a beautiful view of the lake beyond.
Once seated, Lynette allowed herself to enjoy one gin and tonic. This was her birthday celebration, after all.
“I forgot my readers,” Jackie said, holding her menu away from her face. “Why do they have to make the print so small?”
Renee pulled a set of glasses off the top of her head. “Here, use mine. I already know what I want. Julie said their special is walleye, and I’ve been hungry for fish lately.”
Jackie accepted the reading glasses with a thankful smile. “Maybe if the guys catch something, we can wrap up our vacation late next week with a fish fry.”
“No boys allowed! Except Matt and Robbie, but they don’t count,” Lynette reminded them all, to which everyone again agreed.
“But we’d take their fish,” Jackie said as she looked over Renee’s glasses at Lynette. “Men have to be good for something, right?”
“Spoken as a true divorcée,” Annie pointed out just as the waiter arrived.
The food turned out to be as tasty as Julie had promised, but Lynette still thought Renee’s daughter had seemed overly pushy in getting them away from the resort for the evening. She was probably getting a little tired of them all. Renee said that Julie loved to be left in charge of the resort. This was her chance.
Once staff cleared their dishes, Renee insisted they order dessert. “I’m sorry we don’t have a birthday cake, Lynette. I’ll find you one for tomorrow, since Monday is your actual birthday. But I’m in the mood for a little cheesecake.”
Her phone vibrated on the table.
“Jackie, can I have my glasses back, please?”
Lynette grinned as she sipped her decaf. Passing reading glasses back and forth wasn’t something any of them would do if they were here to celebrate her twenty-first birthday instead of her fifty-first. She watched as Renee read the text. Her friend seemed to stiffen.
“Is everything all right, Renee?” she asked. The image of the tarot card from the previous evening floated into her brain.
Renee glanced up, then set her phone face-down on the table again. “Of course. Julie just wanted to loop me in on something. Now, where were we?”
“Lynette was just going to tell us how she’s feeling about being back in Ruby Shores,” Annie said.
Lynette watched as a different server brought everyone but her and Kit fresh cocktails. “Kit, I can drive us back if you want a second drink.”
“Thank you, but no. I’m good with water. But I like Annie’s suggestion. How are you settling in, Lynette? Do you enjoy living in Ruby Shores in your big, beautiful house?”
Do I?Lynette wondered. Sure, there were things she loved about life in a small town, but there were still days when she felt like a square peg in a round hole.
“Do I enjoy it?” she repeated, gazing from face to face. “I guess I do. Most of the time. To be honest, sometimes I think Donna has settled in better than I have. I thought it would be so easy. But the days can be long. And lonely. I’ve never lived in such a big house. Overall, I suppose it’s good.”
“That isn’t exactly the ringing endorsement I was hoping to hear,” Renee said.
Lynette shrugged. “It’s an enormous change. These things take time. But I get to see our Annie here, once in a while.”
“Now that the world is getting back to normal we have to make a point of getting together more often,” Annie said. She took a quick sip of wine, then asked, “How is your shed remodel coming along?”
“Not as quickly as I’d hoped,” Lynette admitted with a laugh. “But if this last year has taught me anything, it’s that house-related projects always take twice as long and cost three times as much as a person plans for.”
“I may live in an apartment for the rest of my days,” Jackie said. “Home ownership isn’t all it’s cracked up to be.”
“Lynette, you mentioned a cute contractor who had worked on your bathroom remodel last year. Did anything come out of that?” Annie asked.
While the question seemed to pique everyone’s interest, Lynette was afraid she was going to have to disappoint them. “Sadly, no. Turns out the guy already has a husband. I think I’m getting rusty in the romance department.”
Their desserts arrived amongst their laughter.
“I have faith in your ability to hook another hot Romeo, Lynette,” Kit said. “You might just need to be patient. If you are still interested in male companionship, that is.”
Oh, I’m still interested,she thought. But when the vision of one particular hot Romeo, as Kit had suggested, came to mind, she hastily pushed it away. Been there, done that. History had taught her some painful yet valuable lessons, and she wasn’t one to repeat prior mistakes.
Besides, Storm—or was it Taran?—was probably long gone by now.
“Oh, do tell,” Kit said. “I know that little grin.”
“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” Lynette shot back. She did her best to relax her face into a neutral expression. She had no intention of telling her friends about her run-in with Storm, so she decided to change the subject. “Fine. I’ll be patient in my quest to dip my toe back into the dating pool. But, speaking of pools, that reminds me. Annie, I got the old fountain working on that statue you and Relic helped me drag out of the shed.”
“I forgot about that!” Annie said. “Was Donna okay with the way we stood her up in the middle of her rose bushes?”
Renee paused, the forkful of cheesecake just shy of her mouth. “You made your poor mother stand in the middle of a rose garden? Why, for heaven’s sake?”
The question stumped Lynette for a beat. Then she laughed. “We stood a statue of a girl in the middle of Donna’s roses. But it was a little weird, actually. She seemed upset about the statue, even though she’d seen it before. Not sure what that was about, but she got over it. Maybe she likes it better now that the fountain part is working.”
After eating her bite of cheesecake, Renee grinned. “That makes more sense. You’ll have to text us pictures of your shed when you get it done. I’m not sure how soon I’ll be visiting Ruby Shores. How is everything else, Lynette? Have you acclimated to not working every day? Do you miss it?”
“Say, what was it Lauren saw online regarding your old company?” Jackie interjected. “I hope it wasn’t anything that could still affect you.”
Lynette considered whether this was a topic she might divulge more about. She decided it couldn’t really hurt. “If I tell you something, you have to all promise not to mention any of this to Donna,” she said, making eye contact with each woman at the table.
Everyone promised.
“Lauren stumbled across a brief article on a fashion newsletter about labor-related complaints at my old company. I’m hoping that either there’s no truth to any of it, or the women I sold it to are smart enough to see their way out of the trouble. The sale happened during the worst of the pandemic upheaval. I sold it to two women I hired on at the company years ago. My other option was to go with an interested venture capital group. That was the avenue Donna would have preferred. It certainly seemed less risky. But people took a chance on us, back in the day, and I thought it was important to pay it forward.”
Renee pushed her empty dessert plate out of the way. “Your middle name doesn’t happen to be Celia, does it? Because that sounds exactly like something she would have said. I’ve always thought the two of you would have had plenty in common.”
Knowing Renee had always considered her Aunt Celia to be one of her favorite people, Lynette took that as a compliment. “Thank you for that, Renee. Mom was right, though. The deal I selected was risky, and not all the scheduled payments have come in on time. The new owners have caught up now, but to be honest, the delays have even caused me some headaches with cash flow. When I talked to my lawyer yesterday morning, he’d received the latest installment. Hopefully that’s a good sign. I’m optimistic I’ll receive the rest of the money they owe me, as agreed.”
Maybe if she said it often enough, even she’d believe it.
Jackie shook her head. “Do you know how proud we all are of the successful life you built, Lynette? As a former corporate employee turned small business owner myself, I have a new appreciation for how hard it is to be an entrepreneur.”
Lynette was feeling uncomfortable with all the attention she was receiving. As she searched for a different topic she could bring up, Renee’s phone vibrated again.
“Ladies, if you are finished with dessert, how about we move this party back to the resort?”
Kit dropped her linen napkin onto the tabletop. “Is everything all right?”
“Of course,” Renee assured them. “Julie could use a little help, just for a minute, and then we can get back to celebrating Lynette’s birthday.”
Lynette took one last sip of her cooled decaf and rose. “This was celebration enough. But I wouldn’t mind some time around the firepit again. I’d love to hear more about Celia, Renee.”
If the ongoing chatter in Kit’s Mustang during their drive back to Whispering Pines was any indication, Lynette suspected it might be a late night. Not that she’d mind. Maybe if she was tired enough, she could enjoy a dreamless few hours of sleep for once.
A parked minivan in front of the lodge looked vaguely familiar to Lynette when they pulled into the parking lot at Whispering Pines. Maybe it belonged to some late-arriving guests, and this was what Julie had reached out to Renee about.
“That’s weird,” Annie said, leaning forward from the backseat again. She pointed at the van. “That looks just like my folks’ van that we used in Arizona, doesn’t it? Strange.”
“Huh,” Lynette said. “I thought it looked familiar.”
Everyone climbed out of the Mustang. Renee led the way, but when she reached the front door to the lodge, she turned to face them. “Actually, Annie, that is the same van.”
“What?” Annie asked, looking between the lot and Renee.
Lynette took a step closer to the van. A cactus made up part of the design on the front license plate. “Why are Annie’s parents at Whispering Pines? Did something happen back home?”
Renee shook her head. Lynette thought she looked nervous. “Annie’s folks aren’t here. Just her mom, Patsy. Donna and Charlotte, too. Maybe even my mom, but I don’t see her car yet.”
Lynette opened her mouth, but before she could ask more questions or point out that mothers weren’t any more welcome on their girls’ trips than men, the front door of the lodge burst open.
“Surprise!” Donna yelled. A paper cone birthday hat dangled from one hand and a wineglass occupied the other. “You didn’t actually think I’d let you turn fifty-one without me, did you? I’ve never missed one of your birthdays, and I wasn’t about to start now!”
“Renee?” Lynette muttered, just before a gaggle of soft arms enveloped her in a cloud of perfume and the hint of alcohol on her mother’s breath.