Chapter Twenty-Six Olivia
Olivia couldn’t believe it was only one p.m.—there were still three hours until the wedding party was supposed to gather at the yacht club. Four hours until the actual ceremony. But it felt like she’d lived multiple lifetimes since waking up in Zack’s room that morning.
Lulu had driven over to the inn to meet her friends for lunch and had asked Olivia if she wanted to join.
Although Olivia felt like she’d been eating and drinking nonstop since dawn (she didn’t even want to imagine what the room service bill for the bridal suite would look like), she refused to turn down any chance to hang out with Lulu.
She already regretted all the opportunities she’d squandered—family dinners she’d skipped for work, vacations she’d bailed on to travel with friends instead.
She wasn’t going to miss out on whatever time they had left…
The lobby was even more packed than it’d been earlier in the day, and Olivia felt a bit self-conscious walking around in full makeup, hair-sprayed updo, and a floor-length bridesmaid’s dress.
No one seemed to take much notice of her, however.
There was a strange, slightly manic energy in the inn: a long line stretched out from the check-in desk, bellmen rushed around with piles of luggage, and guests exchanged loud, jubilant greetings.
She avoided eye contact with Mrs. Varick, who stood in front of the concierge desk, speaking animatedly to a young man with a tight smile.
Olivia caught the words “sloppy presentation” and “if you’re going to work in this country, you need to speak English” before hurrying on.
A man with a laptop sat in one of the leather armchairs, shouting to be heard in what appeared to be a Zoom meeting.
“You gotta trust me, Craig. I know this market, and there’s huge upside here for anyone with the balls to withstand a little turbulence…
It’s up to you. But you have to move fast or else—” He cut himself off to glare at an older woman struggling to answer her loudly ringing phone. “Seriously?” he muttered.
“You could always go up to your room,” Olivia said sweetly.
“You know, the one with the walls and the doors? It could be helpful.” She sauntered off, recalling Zack’s words from the day before.
Not all of us have been tricked into believing moving money from one corporation’s account to another is a matter of life and death.
God, he’d really gotten into her head. It was for the best that he hadn’t wanted anything more than a one-night stand—if they’d actually started dating, Olivia probably would’ve ended up moving to Brooklyn and getting into heated arguments about the Park Slope Food Co-op newsletter.
“Hey,” Andrew said, emerging from the inn’s small library. “Have you seen the honor bar ledger? Look what these doofuses did.” Then he did a double take and whistled. “Wow… you look amazing.”
Olivia brought her hand up to her elaborate updo and posed. “What? This? I just threw it up so it’d be out of my face when I went for my run.” She extended a foot to show off her strappy sandals. “I can probably do four or five miles in these.”
“I don’t doubt it,” Andrew said with a grin. “So your foot’s okay?”
“Miraculously healed. So what did you want to show me?”
Olivia followed him inside the library, where he pointed to a bunch of hastily scribbled names from the night before. “Amanda Hugginkiss?” she read. “I thought she’d RSVP’d no.”
“It’s a joke from The Simpsons. You know, like, a man to hug and kiss?”
“Yeah, I know. And I don’t think The Simpsons invented it.”
“Sorry.” Andrew shook his head. “I can’t believe I just tried to mansplain that joke to you.”
“You’re forgiven. You haven’t reached your mansplaining quota for the weekend.”
“Oh yeah?” He gave her a knowing look. “You’re right. I doubt I’m the worst offender.”
“What do you mean?”
“Sorry,” Andrew said, almost sheepishly. “I just heard that you and Zack broke up, and I thought…”
“Yes…?”
“I’m being stupid, sorry. I assumed that part of the trouble was that he’s so pompous, and I figured you were tired of being lectured.
” Before Olivia could interrupt him and explain that Zack wasn’t pompous at all, that he was actually pretty humble and open-minded when you got to know him, Andrew continued, “And then here I was, trying to ask you out, and I ended up lecturing you. The irony, right?”
Olivia waited for the rush of excitement she’d been waiting for, but it never came.
“Totally ironic,” she said, forcing a smile.
He surveyed her for a moment, then said, “No pressure if it’s too early. We can always put a pin in it until you feel ready.”
A weird, perverse part of her wished Zack were here so she could see him react to “put a pin in it.”
Stop it, Olivia chided herself. Zack doesn’t want to date you. Andrew does. Focus on the one real thing you have going on. “No, not at all. We were never official; it wasn’t that serious.”
“And it’s not too tacky to ask out a woman who just broke up with her boyfriend?”
Olivia affected a playful shrug. “I don’t know. You should probably consult Emily Post first.”
“Of course.” Andrew turned to inspect the bookshelves behind him.
“Hmmm, let’s see,” he said, running a finger along the spines.
“It looks like mostly whaling chronicles and Stephen King novels… Oh, wait. Here we go.” Andrew pulled out a book that clearly wasn’t an etiquette manual, flipped to a random page, and pretended to read.
“If a man and a woman have never presented themselves to society as a couple, one may ask the woman out on a date after a twelve-hour grace period.” Andrew closed the book and replaced it on the shelf.
“I think I’m good. Olivia, will you go on a date with me when we’re back in New York? ”
“I thought you’d never ask.”
“Is that a ‘yes’ then?”
“Yes… but I just want to make sure… I know Emerson’s not your girlfriend, but are you guys…” Andrew gave her a funny look, and she trailed off. “Sorry, it’s none of my business. Especially in light of my own recent situationship.”
“Just relax,” Andrew said with a smile. “I promise, everything’s under control.”
Olivia returned his smile and then excused herself to go find Lulu, trying not to wonder what bothered her more: the fact that Andrew had told her to relax, or that he hadn’t answered her question.
Olivia found Lulu at a table on the patio with her best friend from art school, Paula, and Paula’s wife, Karen.
It was unclear whether the two women were already dressed for the wedding.
Ruffled sequin skirts, layers of pearls, and cowboy boots constituted casual wear for Paula, who’d gotten her start as a fashion designer in New York in the ’80s before moving to New Mexico to teach art.
And Olivia couldn’t remember ever seeing Karen in anything other than jeans and western shirts.
“Look at you!” Karen exclaimed as Olivia approached. “You look gorgeous.” Olivia did a little twirl before she sat down.
After the update from Natalie, Olivia had called Lulu and assured her that Marigold would arrive in time.
Apparently, she’d been convincing, because Lulu seemed perfectly relaxed, beaming at her friends and her daughter.
“I was just telling Paula and Karen about my conversation with Jonathan’s aunt Nancy last night,” Lulu said.
“Oh god,” Olivia groaned. “What’d she do this time?”
“She spent quite a bit of time telling me about alternative cancer treatment, like juice cleanses and sound therapy.”
“Sound therapy?”
“Apparently, gong vibrations can interfere with the replication of cancer cells.”
Karen nodded. “You know, I did read something about that.”
“So how did you respond?” Olivia asked.
“I told her it sounded interesting and that I’d look into it.”
“Why are you always so nice to these people?” Paula asked, shaking her head.
“They’re just trying to help.” Lulu paused.
“But then Aunt Nancy started talking about a friend of hers who’d been told she had six months to live, and then her tumors completely vanished through the power of positive thinking, and that did rankle me a bit, because I consider myself quite positive.
So then I took out my phone and showed her photos of those pieces I did recently.
You know, the ones where I took my scans and painted flowering vines growing out of the tumors? They always make me smile.”
Olivia smirked. “And how’d that go?”
“She went a bit pale and excused herself. It’s strange how often people find those pieces upsetting. I think they’re so cheerful.”
“Cheerful. Right.” Paula turned to Olivia. “How’s Marigold?”
“She’s good. Excited. It means so much to her that you’re both here.
We know it wasn’t the easiest trip.” At least, that’s probably what Marigold would’ve said, if she hadn’t disappeared.
Karen had an intense fear of flying, so she and Paula only traveled by train.
It’d taken the better part of a week for them to make it to Sandpiper Island.
“We wouldn’t have missed Marigold’s wedding for the world,” Paula said. “And we’ll do the same for your wedding someday.”
“What if it’s in Hawaii?”
“Then we’ll take an outrigger canoe.”
The firmness in Paula’s voice made Olivia’s chest twinge.
She was making a promise in that moment, an assurance that she’d always be there for Olivia.
That even if Olivia’s mother didn’t live long enough to see her get married, she’d be there in spirit, carried in the heart of the woman who knew her best, and loved her daughters as if they were her own.
“Olivia might not want to get married,” Karen said, giving her wife a reproachful look.
“Tell that to the seven-year-old who would force the goats to be the ‘ushers’ when she came to visit me on the ranch. Do you remember those little bow ties we made for them?”
“Yeah, they did not like that,” Olivia said.