Chapter 7 Elyse #2
"Oh yes, that brings back quite a few memories," I said. "My whole childhood is set to a Frank Sinatra soundtrack." I turned to Sarah. "But, yeah, we'll probably go. Should we meet up there? Who else is going?"
Grace raised her hand and then looked at Cat.
"Yes, I'm going too," said Cat. "Although classic rock isn't my favorite, I do enjoy live music."
"Grace, how's your book coming along?" asked Paige.
"I've been stuck for two months. I'm not sure what it is, but it's not the first time it's happened.
I'm thinking about heading out of town next weekend to try to get things moving again.
Sometimes a little time alone is all I need to get things moving.
What about you, Paige? Your book launch is coming up. You must be so excited."
Paige's eyes got wide for a moment, but she recovered quickly.
"It's at the end of next month. I'm not sure how it's going to go," she looked at me with a nervous grin, "but I have to trust that Elyse has done this enough times that she can guide me.
I'm just nervous that no one is going to show up. "
Grace cleared her throat. "Well, you know that you will have at least six people there," she said.
"Seven. Kari will be here for sure," said Paige.
Kari was Paige's friend from Madison, Wisconsin and they'd been close since they met each other at summer camp when they were ten and discovered they lived blocks away from one another.
They spoke on the phone every afternoon and Kari had visited several times in the year since Paige had moved to Florida.
"Are your parents and kids coming in?" asked Sarah.
"They all said they wouldn't miss it for the world," said Paige.
"Well, there you go. I'll be there too," said Holly.
"What about your kids? They haven't been here for a while. Will they be coming for your book launch?"
"They said they wouldn't miss it for the world," Paige said with a huge smile on her face.
"I can't wait to see them again," said Sarah. "Your kids are such remarkable young people."
We talked a little while about Paige's daughter's research project, and the building her son had designed that was now under construction in Boston.
She had been keeping us up to date with pictures of its progress.
It never ceased to blow my mind that people could plan a building down to that level of detail, and then knew where to start in getting it built.
I felt similarly about Grace and Paige's talent with writing books.
I touched books every day, but wouldn't have the first idea where to start with one of my own, nor did I care to.
I liked reading them, ordering them, stocking them, and getting to know their authors.
But I had zero desire to write one of my own.
A half hour later, we had gotten each other all caught up, including a few funny stories about some of Sarah's students at school, and some of the trouble that managed to get them landed in her social work office.
A few minutes later, everyone who was going to book club had arrived and we all headed to the sunroom.
Holly's eyes scanned the room. It was a lot to take in.
White shutters covered the windows that wrapped around two sides of the room: the courtyard next to the house and the side facing the water.
White rattan furniture was spread around in a square, offering everyone a place to sit on cozy teal, plush cushions.
A glass-topped table was placed in the center of the couches, and it was already piled high with glasses, snacks, and books.
"Shall we begin?" asked Paige as everyone took their seats.
After book club concluded and we had said our goodbyes and climbed into the Audi, I was curious to hear what Holly had thought of it.
"Well?" I asked as she put on her seatbelt.
She flipped the mirror down and checked for food in her teeth.
"Phew! I took one more bite of Sarah's spinach dip before we left and was so self conscious the whole time I was standing there talking to Grace.
I thought for sure I had a whole spinach leaf in between my front teeth!
" She ran her tongue over her teeth as if to check again.
"But, I loved it! I skimmed the book before we left but after hearing the questions people asked, I'm definitely going to—"
Holly let out an ear-piercing scream and started thrashing around in her seat.
"Something's on me! Something's on me!" she shrieked as I saw a tiny green lizard jump from her shoulder to the gear shifter between us, onto my leg, then the window, and as quickly as he appeared he was gone.
I looked over to my left to find Grace standing next to my car shaking her head. "I tried to warn you!"
"Shush, you," I said to her. "It's just a lizard Holly," I said in my most reassuring voice.
Holly was already standing next to the car shaking like a chihuahua at the vet. "Is it gone? Are there more? I'll just walk. How far is it from here?"
I laughed momentarily until I saw the panic on her face. "It's ok. He's gone. They're more afraid of us than we are of them. He wouldn't bite you or anything, he was just trying to get home." I looked up and pointed. "He probably came out of this tree."
"Disgusting," she said with a shiver.
After five minutes of trying to convince her that it was probably the only lizard in the car, we were headed home.
Holly gripped the door handle the entire drive as if she might possibly run from the vehicle if another lizard made an appearance.
When we pulled into the garage at home, she jumped out and ran inside, and when I followed her in a minute later, I could already hear the shower running.
"Looks like she's officially a Floridian," I said to Eden as I let her out the back door. "At least it wasn't in her shirt!"