Chapter 24
CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR
Hosting dinner for Winnie and Shane the other night had put the party-throwing bug in Eleanor, and she’d gone rather all out for book club snacks tonight.
Admittedly, they were not precisely seasonal, but they had chosen a haunted house mystery for this week’s book club, and so Eleanor had gone with the theme.
She’d drawn upon all the years that she’d hosted Halloween parties for Jeremy’s classes at school, only added an adult classiness to the food.
She’d done a charcuterie plate with chocolate covered walnuts that she’d made to look like little bugs, then cut out green apple slices, smeared them with brie to sandwich two together, and used pine nuts for fake teeth.
They looked like adorable, tasty little monsters.
She had puff pastry in the shape of witches’ hats with thin shapes cut out of salami to decorate them.
She hadn’t actually done anything to the marinara sauce for dipping, mostly because the idea of trying to make it look more like blood had just seemed a stretch too icky.
She wanted it to be cute, a little silly, and tasty.
She didn’t want to scare people with the food… the book had been scary enough.
Maybe it was goofy, and goodness knew it wasn’t very springlike. But if making spooky snacks for a haunted house book club night was wrong, Eleanor did not want to be right.
She was just wrapping up putting out bananas decorated with chocolate chips to make them look like ghosts and musing on why she didn’t eat bananas more, given how delicious they were, when the door cracked open.
“Oh, Miriam!” she cried, barely remembering to put down the plate of food before throwing her arms around her friend.
Miriam felt sturdier than she had in the last few months when Eleanor embraced her.
Eleanor almost hadn’t realized how frail Miriam had seemed during her illness, and what a brutal contrast that was to her usual vivaciousness.
“Oh, sweetheart, you’re looking so great!
You don’t know how happy I am to see you back in good health! And to have you back at book club!”
“Ellie, honey, if you keep squeezing me like that, you’re going to send me right back to my bed, only this time, it will be with broken ribs.”
For all her words, Miriam was squeezing Eleanor back with the same vigorousness, clearly as happy to be feeling better as her friend was to see her improved.
Hope was standing behind her grandmother, beaming, although there was something melancholy in her gaze.
Before Eleanor could inquire, however, Diana came through the door and made the same expressions of delight to see Miriam in such good health.
Cadence, June, and Winnie followed not long thereafter.
Each echoed Miriam and Diana’s sentiments about how pleased they were to see Miriam looking so well.
By the time everyone had gotten a turn to hug Miriam, the older woman protested their attentions with a laugh.
“Okay, okay, you guys are happy to see me. I get it! But I’m starving, and if there’s anything I’ve been missing these past few weeks, it’s Eleanor’s book club snacks. Would someone be a dear and make me a plate? I’ll take two of everything.”
June hurried to comply, a smile on her face, while Cadence propped her hands on her hips.
“I’m sorry, what you missed was the snacks? What about our sparkling company?” she protested.
“Uh, yeah,” Miriam said with deliberate hesitation. “That too. Duh.”
Even Cadence couldn’t maintain her show of false outrage at Miriam’s antics.
“So, what does this mean for you, Hope?” Eleanor asked when everyone had a plateful of snacks and had, much to Eleanor’s pleasure, praised how cute and on theme the food all was.
Hope smiled, but it was clearly laced with sadness.
“Well, I came here to help Miriam during her recovery, and she got a really great report from the doctor recently, so I guess that means it’s time for me to start thinking about heading back to Boston. Time to figure out what’s next for me.”
“Oh no,” Diana said, her face creasing into a frown. “Honey, we’ll miss you so much!”
“Thanks,” Hope said, that same bittersweet smile on her face.
Winnie looked worried. “Not to make it sound like this is all about me, but aren’t you going to be here for the bazaar?”
Hope’s eyes went wide. “Yes, of course! Oh, no, Winnie, I wouldn’t ever bail on you after you did me the favor of getting me a booth! I’ll stay until after the bazaar and then head back. I guess it’s time.”
“Boo,” Cadence said.
“Yeah,” Hope agreed. “But… that’s life, right?”
There were some quiet murmurs of disappointed agreement, and Eleanor noticed that Miriam looked like she had something to say. But the older woman kept her lips pressed together, and Eleanor sensed that now was not the time to probe further.
To give Hope a moment out of the hot seat, Eleanor clapped her hands together and looked around the circle.
“Okay,” she said. “Who else has news? What’s the report?”
Diana grinned. “Well, I’ve found another dress shop that we have to check out,” she said.
“And the whole deal with this place is that they look for unknown designers, find dresses that otherwise fly under the radar. So, hopefully it will have something different, since I’m starting to feel like I’m seeing the same ‘not quite right’ dresses at every shop at this point. ”
“That sounds promising,” Winnie said.
“And we’re going to keep looking until we find you the perfect dress, honey,” Cadence said, reaching over to squeeze Diana’s hand. “We will scour the state. If we need to, we can even take a trip down to New York or something.”
Diana rubbed at the back of her neck. “I don’t really want to do that,” she admitted. “I mean, I guess I’d prefer it to getting married in a dress that I don’t love, but I’m a small business owner. I’d love to support a small business in the area.”
“Makes sense,” Eleanor agreed. “Maybe we’ll get lucky at this next store, then you won’t have to worry about it anymore.”
Diana held up both hands to show how she’d crossed her fingers.
“Here’s hoping!” she agreed.
“Oh,” Eleanor said, an idea occurring to her. “And Cadence, did I see Izzy running around in a pair of cute little glasses this week?”
Cadence’s face lit up. “Yes! Doesn’t she look adorable?”
“She does,” Diana agreed. “I don’t know if Tyler mentioned it, but she had him send me like a dozen photos showing them off from all angles.”
Cadence laughed. “No, he forgot to say. She’s very pleased with them, obviously.”
“I gave her all the compliments she was due,” Diana assured them all. “She looks very cool, very chic.”
“It turns out that this whole struggle at school was because she couldn’t see the board properly,” Cadence explained.
“It’s only been a week, and already, her scores are starting to climb back to her regular place.
She still has some catching up to do, but her teacher agreed to meet with her after school once a week for a few weeks until she feels like she’s back on track.
And, now that she’s not struggling and trying to hide how she’s struggling, her attitude toward school is already so much better. ”
“Did you ever figure out why she was keeping it a secret?” June asked.
Cadence shook her head, smiling and squeezing her eyes shut as she chuckled. “She didn’t want to be the only kid in her class with glasses,” she said.
“Classic kid logic,” June agreed. “I remember when Benjamin was first diagnosed with diabetes, one of his very first questions was whether he knew any other kids who had diabetes. The doctor was literally a pediatric endocrinologist, so while she couldn’t give any names, she guaranteed him that she knew lots of kids that had diabetes.
And he actually found a little virtual support group that he really likes. ”
“Kids don’t like doing things alone,” Diana said. “Which… who can blame them? Growing up is hard, and feeling like you’re by yourself in something is tough even for adults.”
“Hear, hear,” Miriam said, raising a glass. “We all need our communities to help us through the tough times.”
At this, she sent her granddaughter a fond wink. Hope smiled.
“It’s just so good to see Izzy back to her usual, happy self,” Cadence said, looking as though the weight of the world had been lifted off her shoulders.
“Apparently, one of her friends spent the week at school wearing a pair of cheap sunglasses with the lenses punched out, so apparently Izzy is a real trendsetter.”
Everyone laughed.
“You look like you’re in a pretty good mood too, Juney,” Eleanor observed.
June flushed as she grinned.
“I am,” she said. When everyone else gave her a quizzical look, June explained. “I sort of…” She waved a hand near her head. “I got all up in my head about how things seem to be going too well, recently. With Levi, I mean.”
“Wow,” Diana deadpanned. “I don’t know what that is like at all. I definitely didn’t ever think that my boyfriend was going to break up with me when it turned out that he and his daughter were planning the perfect proposal. That would have been ridiculous.”
June threw a crumpled-up napkin at Diana, but her smile didn’t waver.
“Yes, yes, I realize that it’s silly. Well, I realize that now,” she amended.
“Eleanor was kind enough to talk me down when I was feeling at my most zany. She reminded me that there’s no point in borrowing trouble before it shows up.
And that just because something bad happened before doesn’t mean that it’s definitely going to happen again. ”
“That’s good advice,” Miriam observed.
“Thank you,” Eleanor said, pleased.
“You aren’t welcome,” Miriam said, giving Eleanor a pointed look. “I am the resident elder of this little group. Just because I was out of commission for a little while doesn’t mean that you can swoop in and steal my gig. I’ve got my eye on you, Ridley.”
“I’m terrified,” Eleanor promised Miriam solemnly, which pleased the older lady.
“Don’t you forget it,” Miriam said, crossing her arms, smiling.
“Well, you will be even prouder of me in a minute,” June went on, “because not only did I stop making problems out of thin air, I actually talked to Levi about my worries. He was super understanding.”
“He really is a sweetheart,” Winnie complimented, nodding to herself.
“He is,” June agreed. “And I really feel so much better after talking to him. Just… so confident and happy and good. Even better, our talk got the creative juices flowing, and now we’re writing some new songs about our experiences and about how wonderful lo—a romance can be even when life has made things tricky. Maybe especially then, even.”
“Please note,” Cadence said, “how very reserved we are all being by not mentioning that you almost said ‘love’ right there.”
“So noted,” June said. Her tone was calm, but her cheeks were bright pink.
“Winnie, how is the bazaar coming?” Eleanor asked, then regretted it, as Winnie let out a groan and dropped her face into her hands. “Oh no, that bad?”
Winnie lifted her face. “No, not really,” she admitted.
“Things are going really well, if I’m being honest. It’s just so much work.
So much. And it’s good. I know it will be good.
It isn’t as though we didn’t go through the same cycle with the last event.
But I am tired, guys! I am very, very tired! ”
Diana laid a sympathetic hand on Winnie’s shoulder. “Is there anything we can do to help?”
Winnie shook her head. “I don’t need it, not really. I mostly just needed to vent a little. I have the situation under control, but I can admit that I will be taking a very, very, very long nap when the event is over.”
“A well-earned nap, I would say,” Hope said. “I’m keeping busy just sewing for my one little booth. I can only imagine how much work goes into putting together the whole event.”
“A lot,” Winnie reiterated with a punctuating nod. “But it’s true that it will be worth it. And it will be a big accomplishment for the historical society, and super fun for the community. So a win overall.”
“And a win for you,” Eleanor reminded her friend. “Take credit where credit is due, sweetheart.”
Winnie gave her friends a shy sort of a smile at that. “You’re right. I am crushing it. And it’s only a few more days until the big day arrives, so I just have to buckle down and make it through this last little bit.” She pulled a face. “There are a lot of details left to arrange, though.”
“None of that,” Cadence chided. “Go back to the part about you being so proud of yourself.”
Winnie pumped her fist in the air, a little awkwardly, and everyone chuckled.
“Oh, we can do better than that,” Miriam encouraged.
“Yay for Winnie!” Hope contributed.
“Woo!” Diana cheered. “Let’s raise a glass, yeah?”
They all toasted Winnie, then did another toast to welcome Miriam’s return to health.
Eleanor looked around at the smiling circle of women and thought, not for the first time and certainly not for the last, how wonderful it was to have these people in her life, and how grateful she felt to be able to call them all her friends.