Page 55 of 28 Summers
When he kisses her, however, she pushes him away. “We have to go,” she says. “We have to be at Whale Island by six. I have a surprise.”
The surprise is a strapping, incredibly handsome man who pulls up to Whale Island in a thirty-six-foot Contender. Jake squares his shoulders and tries to sit up straighter in the wonky seat of the old Jeep while Mallory runs over to greet their visitor. Jake isn’t sure how he feels about this particular surprise.
Mallory and Mr. America talk for what seems like an awfully long time—yes, Jake is jealous—then Mr. America hands Mallory a paper shopping bag and she gives him a kiss on the cheek and waves goodbye. Mr. America revs his engines, expertly sweeps the boat around, and heads back in the direction of Nantucket.
“Who was that?” Jake asks.
“Barrett Lee,” Mallory says. “He caretakes all the homes out here, and in the summertime, he brings provisions.”
“Did we need provisions?” Jake asks.
Mallory opens the bag. Jake sees familiar white cartons and catches a whiff of fried dumplings.
“He brought our Chinese food,” she says. “Now let’s go home. We have a movie to watch.”
Summer #8: 2000
What are we talking about in 2000? Hanging chads; Broward County; Katherine Harris; the Human Genome Project; Yemen; the Subway Series; Walter Matthau; the International Space Station; getting voted off the island; Charles M. Schulz; Sydney Olympics; Slobodan Miloševic Pilates; Tony, Carmela, Christopher, Big Pussy, Paulie Walnuts; USSCole;Microsoft antitrust;Almost Famous;EVOO; “Who Let the Dogs Out.”
The new millennium is upon us and guess what: Cooper Blessing is getting married again!
His fiancée’s name is Valentina Suarez. She’s an administrative assistant at the Brookings Institution. Valentina is from Uruguay, a beach town called Punta Este, which is a renowned resort area with a well-heeled international clientele. Valentina’s family owns a beachfront restaurant, and for this reason, they can’t get away, even for Valentina’s wedding. This sounds fishy, and when Mallory presses her brother, he admits that Valentina’s family have no idea she’s getting married because Valentina didn’t tell them. The reason she didn’t tell them is that they wouldn’t approve. They would like Valentina to marry a Latino, preferably a fellow Uruguayan, preferably the son of the owners of the casino next door to their restaurant, Pablo, who was Valentina’s childhood sweetheart.
Mallory would have guessed that a second wedding—and one where the bride would have no family in attendance—would be a small, modest affair. Maybe even a courthouse ceremony followed by lunch.
But no. Valentina has always dreamed of a big wedding, and Cooper plans to make this dream come true—which pleases no one as much as it does Kitty.
“We get to do the whole thing over,” Kitty says. “And in June, which is much better.”
Mallory is to serve as Valentina’s maid of honor. Fray will be the best man—again. Is Cooper having any other ushers?
“Jake. Jake McCloud,” Cooper says, as though Mallory might not remember him. “And Valentina will have her downstairs neighbor, Carlotta, as a bridesmaid.”
For Cooper’s second wedding, we once again return to Roland Park Presbyterian, which Kitty Blessing decks out in a palette of pinks. The flower of choice is the peony. Everyone loves peonies—but is there such a thing as too many peonies? If so, that’s the case at Cooper’s second wedding.
Mallory’s dress is a standard floor-length sheath in ballet-slipper satin. She gets her hair styled the same way she did for the first wedding, only with tiny pink roses tucked into the chignon rather than baby’s breath.
Mallory sees Jake at the rehearsal an hour before the ceremony and her hopes feel like lemmings rushing to the edge of a cliff. Will they be dashed? Has Jake brought Ursula? Jake and Mallory both have cell phones now and they’ve exchanged numbers, but the rules they established years earlier still apply. Mallory isn’t to contact him for any reason other than engagement, marriage, pregnancy, or death. So she didn’t call him to ask if he was bringing Ursula to Cooper’s wedding. She’ll know soon enough.
He’s wearing a dove-gray morning jacket with tails. Again: tails. Kitty likes things as formal as possible.
When Jake sees Mallory, he raises his eyebrows. In appreciation—yeah? She looks good? He comes over and kisses her. Chastely. It’s torturous.
In her ear, he says, “She’s here. I’m sorry.”
Mallory will not let this unfortunate piece of information ruin the evening ahead.
“Great,” she says. “I look forward to catching up with her.”
During the ceremony, which is performed by Reverend Dewbury with as much hopeful optimism as he displayed at Cooper’s first wedding, Mallory turns her head to survey the guests. On the groom’s side, fourth row back, seated on the aisle, is Ursula de Gournsey in a stunning seafoam-green appliqued sundress with a sweetheart neckline. Her hair is long and shiny, parted to the side; she’s wearing bright red lipstick. Mallory can’t stop staring at her until, in one awful moment, Ursula notices her and they lock eyes. Mallory snaps her attention back to her brother, that tall, smiling golden boy, the most quality person Mallory has ever known. Mallory wants to believe that Cooper’s love for Valentina will last until the grave, but secretly, she feels that this wedding hasdoomedwritten all over it.
The reception is, once again, at the country club, only this time the cocktail hour and pictures are held outside with the emerald links of the golf course in the background. Because it’s June 24, the daylight is never-ending, and even at seven thirty, there’s a foursome—the Deckers and the Whipps—still finishing up at the eighteenth hole. Wedding guests can hear thethwockof Paulson Whipp’s shot off the tee, but instead of admiring her husband’s drive, Carol Whipp squints toward the clubhouse and says, “That’s Cooper Blessing’s wedding. Oh, and look—isn’t that Mallory? I wonder why she hasn’t met anyone yet.”
This will be a frequently asked question of our girl this evening:When will it be your turn?
Mallory greets the question with irritation and embarrassment, but the people who ask are friends of Senior and Kitty; Mallory has known them all forever, and she understands that they only want to see her happy (which apparently means “paired off”). She can’t bear to give them false hope, however, so she says, “This might be a case of always a bridesmaid, never a bride.”
Fray overhears her. “Amen,” he says. “I, for one, am never getting married.”
