Page 93 of Songs of Summer

Beatrix and Veronica watched, arm in arm, along with Paul and the others, as grandfather and granddaughter spun around the dance floor. When the tempo picked up, they all joined in, the celebration turning back to the bride and groom, or so they thought.

When the party was over, Beatrix watched Maggie quietly make her way to the lifeguard / bartender / devil-may-careejaculator. As much as it annoyed her, she was happy that her daughter had been raised to be such a decent person.

Maggie returned with his number scribbled on a cocktail napkin.

“One thing,” Bea asked, careful not to begin their relationship by prying about the conversation with Chase. “You and Matt?”

“I’ll tell you everything on the way home.”

“It seems like we need more time than that. Do you really have to leave tomorrow?” Bea asked, putting her hands to prayer.

“I really should get back to the store. And Jason definitely needs to go back to work.”

She knew Phoebe Buffay would be happy to cover for her, but she also knew she should be heading home with Jason.

“Can you come to the house for a bit? We have so much to catch up on.”

“Of course,” Maggie said, adding, “There’s plenty of time to sleep when I’m dead,” in her best Shep imitation. Bea laughed, before linking her arm through her daughter’s.

“Good. Let’s go home!”

Track 47

Mother and Child Reunion

Maggie

Maggie and Beatrixled the barefoot procession home, arm in arm, their party shoes dangling at their sides. Maggie marveled at the ease she felt with her birth mother. The four days when only one of them was aware of the weight of their connection helped. There was none of the awkwardness and tiptoeing she imagined would have occurred if she had straight up introduced herself. This was not a normal mother and child reunion.

Her brain cued up the Paul Simon song of the same name and she did her best not to hum the first notes.

Beatrix suggested they walk on the beach and Maggie was happy to. She would miss the beach. She would miss this magical island, and Shep and her birth mother, of course. Even Veronica had grown on her. But if she was being true to herself and completely honest about what she had felt over the past four days, she would miss Matt most of all.

She turned to see him walking a few steps behind with Jason and Dylan. She caught Jason’s eye, and he shook hishead in a “Can you believe it?” way. He loved her so much, it was as if this was happening to him as much as her. Maggie decided against being true to herself and went with her old standby, being true to Jason. It had worked for her thus far and she wasn’t about to jeopardize it for some guy who had slipped into her heart just when it was cracked wide open.

Dylan hiked her dress up to her knees and dashed in and out of the ocean’s edge while Matt and Jason spoke about who knew what. Ben and Addison also tagged along, towing their wagon of sleeping flower girls over the packed sand at the shoreline. Paul and Shep were standing between them, Shep clearly talking their ears off.

The bride and groom, far in the distance, were bringing up the rear.

When they reached their block, Beatrix asked Maggie if she’d like to hang back a bit so they could be alone, sit on the steps, and catch up. It was a beautiful night and there was certainly a lot to catch up on.

“I hope you’ll be returning next summer, Maggie,” Shep said before pulling her in for an old-man bear hug. When he finally let go, he climbed up a few stairs and announced:

“I have something to say.”

“What a surprise,” Ben ribbed. “You know, Shep, you should really consider doing a TED Talk.”

Even Maggie knew this was their schtick. She had been using a lot of Yiddish lately, dipping her toe into the vernacular of the tribe without even meaning to.

“I think this night is worthy of some old-man wisdom,” Shep declared, and launched ahead.

“You know, I’ve spent near sixty years on this glorifiedsandbar. No matter where I go or what I do, all roads lead me back to this narrow spit of sand.” He pointed to Matt and Dylan. “It’s why these two whippersnappers always return, no matter where life takes them, and it’s where Ben and I escaped to when Caroline and Julia went and left us. It’s where beautiful Addison came for seven weeks and stayed for seven years. All roads lead us here. This is our Rome. I hope it becomes your Rome too, Maggie. I know you must leave in the morning, but I want you to know you are always welcome. I think I can speak for everyone here when I say—you stole our hearts.”

“Veni, vidi, vici,” Ben proclaimed, keeping with the Roman theme, before loosely translating it for the few confused faces in the group.

“She came, she saw, she conquered.”

“She certainly did,” Dylan added in a knowing tone.

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