Chapter 35
Chapter Thirty-Five
The food came via two servers, which Maude approved of. She was hungry.
Plates were set down in front of them with soft clinks, little curls of steam rising like invitations to dive in. Maude’s shrimp risotto smelled buttery and bright, lemon drifting up with the warmth. Around the table, everyone murmured their thanks and picked up their forks.
Blaise was the first to speak again, spearing a bite of her salad without really looking at it. “I worked on the book today,” she said. Her voice held an odd note that Maude couldn’t quite grasp. “Wrote about meeting Jay.”
That explained it.
Essie looked up immediately. “Was that hard? Or okay?”
“It was good,” Blaise said slowly. “And awful. And…sweet.” She gave a small breath of a laugh.
“It’s strange to revisit those kinds of memories.
You think you remember all of it, but when you start writing, details come out of nowhere.
Little things. The way he used to wrap his camera strap around his hand.
The way he always smelled faintly like cedar.
” She paused. “I still have a bottle of his cologne. That’s silly, isn’t it? ”
“Not at all,” Essie said. “I know exactly what that feels like.”
“Thanks,” Blaise said quietly. She shook her head. “It made me miss him and also made me grateful I got those years at all.”
Althea nodded. “I hear that.”
The table grew quiet, a sense of respect and understanding settling on all of them.
Maude felt that ache of admiration she always experienced listening to Blaise talk about rebuilding her life piece by piece. The woman was grit wrapped in glamour, like something carved out of pearl and steel. Maude felt privileged to know her. To know all these women, really.
“Any publishers get back to you?” Cece asked gently.
“Nothing yet.” Blaise lifted one shoulder. “I know it’s early, but it still feels like waiting for the results of an exam you didn’t get to study for.”
Cece laughed. “Good analogy.”
“Could be a good sign,” Paige said. “No news means they’re putting a deal together. Trying to come up with an offer that you’ll jump at.”
“Or that my email is lost in a spam folder somewhere,” Blaise joked, lifting her wine. “Either way, I’m keeping at it.”
The conversation shifted like a tide, meandering around bites of food and sips of drinks.
Althea dabbed her mouth with her napkin. “My only update is that I started a new crochet project. A new lap blanket for Lester. Something cheerful.” She smiled, soft and full of quiet pride. “Yellow and blue. His favorite.”
“That’s lovely,” Essie said. “He’ll adore it.”
“He’ll complain the colors are too bright,” Althea said with a twinkle. “But he’ll use it. He just likes to fuss.”
“That’s how men are,” Blaise said. “Brick’s a bit like that. Which reminds me, I haven’t had an update from him on Holland yet today. I suppose that’s another case of no news is good news.”
“That’s the spirit,” Althea said.
Maude grinned. There was something wonderful about Althea’s can-do attitude. Nothing seemed to faze her. Not for long anyway.
Althea glanced at Paige. “You haven’t said anything about your day.”
“Well…” Paige set her fork down, wiped her hands, and looked around the table with an expression full of excitement.
Maude thought she was practically glowing with it, actually. There had to be something good going on.
“I guess this is as good a time as any,” Paige said, fingers tapping nervously on the table.
Every Queen Bee leaned in, even Althea.
Paige’s smile was bright and somehow also a little shy. “I might be doing a deal with Luminelle.”
Blaise gasped. “The cosmetics company?”
“The one with the ads everywhere?” Maude added.
“Is that why you wanted Joe’s number?” Cece asked.
“Yes, to all of that,” Paige said, nodding. “They want me to be one of their representatives for their new line for mature women. At least on TikTok. It’s a sponsorship deal, basically.”
Maude blinked at her, startled in the best way. “Paige, that’s huge. Congratulations.”
“Thank you. It was very unexpected,” Paige admitted. Her cheeks seemed to pinken up a bit. “And not final yet. There are still contract changes to sort out, and Joe’s looking everything over, but I’ve been dying to share. It’s just wild, isn’t it?”
Essie put a hand over her heart. “Oh, honey. It’s amazing, is what it is.”
Blaise reached across and squeezed Paige’s arm. “This is incredible. You deserve this. Go, you!”
Paige looked down for a second, overwhelmed in a way Maude understood. It was as if the good news had finally caught up to her and she was letting herself really feel it.
“Thank you,” she said softly. “I just had to tell all of you. You’re the first people to hear it. Besides my daughter and Graham.”
Warmth and pride bloomed in Maude’s chest. This group of women was something else. “Paige, that’s incredible.”
Paige laughed, fanned a hand in front of her face as if embarrassed by the attention. “It’s still early days. But yes. It could be big.”
Cece beamed at her. “You deserve big. Hey, you should be one of my guests on the podcast. What do you say?”
“I say I’m flattered and honored.” Paige smiled. “I would love to do that.”
“Excellent,” Cece said.
Althea nodded, her look both motherly and pleased. “What an accomplished bunch you all are.”
“Althea,” Maude said. “You’re not exactly unaccomplished. And you are most definitely part of this bunch.”
Paige took a sip of her drink. “Maude’s right. You’re a Queen Bee as much as any of us are.”
Althea lifted her scotch. “I’ll drink to that.”
That got some more laughs. For a moment, the entire table glowed with a sense of sisterhood and possibility. This had become so much more than any of them could have predicted when the book club began.
The plates were mostly empty. The conversation had settled into a more comfortable spot now that everyone had shared their updates.
Their server appeared with a warm smile and the dessert menu, reciting options that got some oohs and ahs from the table. There was key lime tart, chocolate silk pie, ice cream, and the peach cobbler mentioned earlier.
Althea perked up at the cobbler. “That’s for me. And I’d like it with ice cream. And a second piece to go.” She looked at the girls. “Lester loves peach cobbler.”
Essie shook her head. “Nothing for me. Wait. What flavors of ice cream do you have?”
As soon as the server mentioned the new Dubai chocolate, which was chocolate ice cream with a ribbon of sweet pistachio-tahini cream and flecks of chopped filo pastry, Essie changed her tune. “I think I have to try that. Just one scoop, though.”
“I’ll take one of those, too,” Maude said. She liked pistachio. And ice cream. And chocolate, so why not? Being around these women was changing her attitude toward sweets, that was for sure.
Blaise shook her head. “I’m good, thanks.”
Cece glanced around. “Anyone want to share a slice of that chocolate silk with me?”
“I will,” Paige said. “But just a few bites.”
“That’s all I want, too,” Cece answered.
Maude was about to say she’d have a bite when movement near the front door caught her eye.
A flash of bright, patterned fabric. A familiar, confident stride despite the towering wedge sandals. Big hair, perfect makeup, bright smile, and that unmistakable boldness that had blown into book club like a gust of wind trying to take down a house.
Gigi DeLuca.
Maude blinked once, wondering if she was imagining it. Nope. There she was, scanning the dining room like she was on the hunt for anyone important. Which she probably was.
Maude leaned in slightly. “Don’t look now,” she murmured. Of course everyone looked immediately. “But Gigi DeLuca just walked in.”
A small ripple went around the table.
Essie’s brows rose. Paige sat up straighter. Blaise frowned. Cece let out a single, quiet, “Oh, boy.”
Althea squinted, adjusting her glasses. “Isn’t that the woman who thought book club was open-invitation?”
“That’s the one,” Paige said under her breath.
Gigi took a few steps farther into the dining room, pausing to speak to the hostess. Gigi laughed at something, touching the woman’s arm lightly in that way of hers, like charm was simply part of her currency.
Essie exhaled slowly. “What do you think she’s doing here?”
“Hopefully, just having dinner.” Maude watched as Gigi scanned the room again, that assessing sweep that made it feel like she was calculating possibilities. “Or looking for someone to have it with.”
Cece wrinkled her nose. “She’d better not be looking for Joe. She knows better than that.”
Paige spoke without hesitation. “She’d better not be looking for any of our guys.”
“Agreed,” Maude said, the comment warming her a little. In some ways, this felt like high school all over again, but this time, she was one of the popular kids.
Gigi followed the hostess toward a small table on the other side of the bar.
As she passed, her gaze flicked toward the Queen Bees’ table. She paused long enough to make it clear she’d spotted them. Her smile brightened, her chin lifted, and she pivoted with the smooth confidence of someone who didn’t seem to understand—or care—that her presence wasn’t required.
“Hello, there! Well, if it isn’t my favorite book club ladies,” Gigi said as she approached, her voice lilting in a way that sounded friendly but held a tiny bit of sharpness. “What a coincidence seeing all of you here.”
Maude smirked as the rest of the table went quiet in that polite way women over fifty had mastered. Pleasant expressions, shoulders relaxed, spines straight, but no initial comments back.
Essie, always the most welcoming, snapped out of it first. “Hello, Gigi. We didn’t realize you were dining here tonight.”
“Oh, I love this place,” Gigi said, placing a manicured hand against her chest. Several of her nails had little rhinestones on them.
“The atmosphere is so homey, don’t you think?
And I’ve heard the cobbler is to die for.
” She angled herself between Maude and Paige, leaning in slightly.
“I was hoping I might run into you all again. Last week’s book club was such fun. ”
Maude almost laughed. Gigi had thought that was fun?
Paige took a sip of her drink, a slow one, like she was buying time to find the right words. “It was fun. And…unexpected,” she managed.
Gigi laughed as if Paige had told a joke. “Oh, Paige, you’re adorable.”
Adorable was the last thing Maude would have called Paige. Sharp, canny, in charge. But not adorable.
Gigi went on. “I suppose I did catch you all by surprise. I’m still getting the lay of the land here at the Colony. So many fabulous women—and men—to meet. What’s new with book club?”
Cece folded her hands neatly. “As you know, we’re a small group,” she said lightly. “We’re still sorting out our next read.”
That wasn’t true, but Maude kept her mouth shut.
“Perfect!” Gigi beamed. “I’d love to join again. I have so many ideas for modernizing the format. Little ways to elevate things.” Her eyes sparkled in a way that made Maude instinctively grind her teeth together. “Imagine a monthly spotlight. Author interviews. Maybe themes?”
Althea blinked slowly like she was looking at an idiot who had no idea how dumb they were. “Themes?”
“Oh, yes,” Gigi pressed on. “I’m actually very good at leading groups. Social organizing just comes naturally to me.”
Maude almost gasped at the insinuation but it seemed every woman at the table had sensed it. Gigi was trying to position herself not as one of them but just slightly above. At least that’s how Maude took it.
Essie smiled politely. “Well, we’ll certainly keep that in mind.”
Gigi reached out as if to touch Paige’s shoulder, but Paige shifted just enough that the gesture became an awkward graze of air. Gigi recovered instantly.
“All right, ladies, don’t let me interrupt.” She flashed them a bright, sweeping smile. “It’s just lovely knowing we’re all neighbors now. I can’t wait to get to know each of you better.”
She drifted away toward her table, her perfume trailing faintly behind her. As Gigi disappeared from immediate view, they all looked at each other like they could read what the other person was thinking.
Blaise wrinkled her nose. “She really doesn’t get how much she is.”
“Nope,” Maude said.
Althea, never one to shy away from the obvious, murmured just loud enough for the table to catch her words, “And here I didn’t think it was possible to go from bad to worse.”