Chapter Twenty #2
A single laugh from the far end of the table interrupted the silence.
Brooke glared. “Do you have something to say?”
Luca dropped his smile and took the temperature of the room. “Yes, but I don’t like sleeping on the couch.”
“Why do you need to sleep on the couch?” Franny asked.
“Sometimes it’s safer.”
Rosa reached for the bottle of wine. “I want romance,” she said, point-blank.
“Good for you,” Salena said.
No one seemed to be shocked by that announcement.
“And another thing . . .”
Mari and Rosa looked at each other. For a moment, Mari thought for sure she was going to say something about James.
She didn’t.
“I don’t want a husband.”
Cue the jaws dropping.
Mari might have been the only one that wasn’t shocked to hear this.
But the energy at the table shifted off her, and for that, Mari was grateful.
“Go, Rosa,” Salena teased.
“I never want that road again. I’m happy that you’ve all found your person. Wish you all the love for it. But I’m done.”
“Your divorce is new, Rosa. Give it time,” Luca said.
Considering Luca was the only one at the table that could relate to divorce, Mari felt his comment was sincere.
“But my marriage was long.”
No one could deny her that.
“When are we booking our next trip?” Mari asked. Hoping the question cemented her support of her friend’s decision.
“I’ll let you know.”
Cindy showed up at James’s front door midafternoon on Monday.
“Hi,” he said, a little confused about why she was there. “Is something wrong?”
“Maddie called me, asked me to meet her here after school. She didn’t tell you?”
James moved aside and let Cindy in.
They walked into the kitchen. Cindy set her purse on a chair.
“No. What’s going on?”
Cindy smiled. “Relax, James. She said there is an email from Caltech waiting to be opened. She didn’t want to look at it until we were both with her. Then asked if I could leave work early.”
A strange, heavy feeling pushed into James’s heart. “Oh, wow.”
“I know,” Cindy said with a nervous laugh. “It’s really happening.”
“I’m sure she got in,” he said.
“For her sake, I hope you’re right.” Cindy walked over to the refrigerator and opened it.
“Can I get you something?” James asked with a chuckle.
Without pause, Cindy grabbed a bottle of water and closed the door. “I got it.”
“Make yourself at home.”
She sat at the counter and twisted the cap off the water and pointed it at him. “Thanks.”
Sometimes, being around Cindy was like conversing with a distant cousin you had a beef with as a child. Only you were adults now and still family. And you never had to tell your family to be comfortable in your space. “What was the price tag of Caltech again?”
“Sixty . . . ish.”
James cringed. “Ouch.”
“Let’s hope Ellie pulls a scholarship.”
James leaned against the counter, facing his ex-wife. “Makes me glad we didn’t have more kids.”
Cindy laughed. “You’re not kidding.”
“What do you think about Trevor?” he asked, changing the subject.
“He’s a pretty good kid.”
James moaned.
“Give him a chance, James. You just don’t like the motorcycle.”
“Do you?”
“No. But in a few months, we won’t be able to stop her from riding on it.”
It wasn’t the motorcycle he was worried about her riding. That thought made him want to throw up a little in his mouth.
“Speaking of, I’ll be taking her dress shopping next weekend. Be prepared to pony up some serious money.”
“How serious?”
“Some of these dresses are over five hundred—”
“For a prom dress?” he shouted. “You didn’t spend that on your wedding dress.”
She started laughing. “You’re going to need a second job to pay for that.”
His shoulders fell. “How can I be worth so much and feel so broke?”
The sound of the front door being flung open interrupted their conversation.
Madison ran in, her backpack tossed on the floor, her feet skidding to a halt at the counter. She held her iPad in her trembling hands.
James’s pulse doubled. His daughter’s excitement fueling the air.
Please let her get in, he sent out to the universe.
“I am literally dying,” she said. Her hands fumbled with the iPad to bring up her email.
Cindy and James moved to stand behind her.
“Do you want to wait for your sister?” Cindy asked.
Madison shook her head. “I forwarded her the email and told her not to tell me.”
“And she didn’t?” James was shocked.
“I haven’t seen her since third period.”
Cindy took Madison’s hand and pulled her attention away. “No matter what this says, we both love you, and everything will work out.”
“Okay, okay.”
James glanced at Cindy. “She’s not listening.”
“Shhh!”
Madison pulled in a reassuring breath.
James found himself holding his.
Then she opened the email.
The only thing James saw were the words:
Dear Madison Russell,
It is with our greatest pleasure to inform you that you’ve been accepted . . .
Madison jumped back and started to scream.
Cindy opened her arms and folded them around their daughter.
“Hell yeah!” James yelled with his full chest.
Madison’s arm strangled his neck with her joy.
“I’m going to Caltech! I’m Going to Caltech!”
The hugs came again.
James looked over his shoulder to Cindy.
There were tears in her eyes.
Seeing them shot emotion down his throat.
Emotions he needed to breathe past.
Madison untangled from his hug and started to jump up and down.
That first jump caught his chin and made him bite his tongue. “Ouch.”
“Sorry, sorry . . . I’m going to—”
The front door opened again and then slammed.
Ellie came in screaming.
Madison joined her.
Both of them hugging each other so hard they nearly fell to the floor.
“You’re going to Caltech.”
James placed a hand on Cindy’s shoulder and whispered in her ear, “We did a good job.”
Tears freely fell from Cindy’s eyes. “We did.”