Page 16 of The Vineyard Bride

Susan twisted her lips thoughtfully.“It’s interesting to learn more about the bits and pieces of your lives before we all came out to the island.Twenty-five years add up, don’t they?”

At that moment, another knock rang through the cabin.Audrey shot toward the door and opened it to reveal two women in their late thirties or early thirties, both wearing cool and sophisticated bohemian clothing.The blonde on the right tossed her head to allow the ocean winds to coarse through her curls.The woman beside her had thick eyeliner and jet-black hair and wore a flowing skirt and a pair of pointed-toe boots.

They looked every bit the way Lola Sheridan had two years ago when she’d first arrived back on the island.

“Valerie!Jenny!”Audrey stepped up to hug each of them, the women who’d been her makeshift aunts over the years.

“Audrey.Look at you!”Jenny, the blonde, sounded joyful and easy, while Valerie remained sharp-eyed and fearful, as though she didn’t trust the Sheridan women at all.

“Welcome to the Vineyard,” Audrey continued, drawing back to gesture toward the decorated cabin.“So glad you could make it to Mom’s party.”

Valerie stepped through the door, her face shadowed as she nodded to Amanda, Susan, and Christine.

“You’re the sisters?”she asked, almost coldly.

“Guilty,” Christine replied.“I’m Christine, and this is Susan.”

“Susan, of course.The perfect one,” Valerie tried.“We’ve heard about you over the years.”

Susan’s cheeks burned red with embarrassment.Yes: Amanda’s mother strived to be perfect in everything she did.But it wasn’t like she liked being reminded of that all the time.

“I’m not perfect,” Susan countered.“Far from it.”

“She told us all about growing up here on this suffocating island,” Valerie continued.

“Valerie...”Jenny warned, closing the door behind her.“Lola’s told us how marvelous this new chapter of her life has been.We’re here to celebrate that.Remember?”

Valerie scoffed, then reached for a bottle of champagne, pouring the rest of the contents into a glass without asking.“Let’s get this party started, shall we?”

Amanda and Audrey eyed one another, genuinely shocked at the coldness Valerie had brought along with her.Was she really that resentful that Lola had left them in Boston?

“Jen, you want some?”Valerie asked.

“We’ve already cracked a bottle open,” Audrey said, her voice wavering.

“It’s never too early to pregame,” Christine tried.“It’s my one weekend off from motherhood.I’m ready to cut loose.”

“Motherhood?”Valerie asked with a wry laugh.“I’m starting to think that Jenny and I are the only ones who haven’t given in to growing up yet.”

Valerie said, “growing up,” as though it was the most monstrous decision anyone could make.Amanda glanced toward Susan, who sipped her champagne anxiously.

“Even you, Audrey,” Valerie shot out.“A baby at nineteen!”

“That’s what Lola did,” Christine said.“I had a baby in my forties.Just because life happens to you, just because you live, doesn’t mean you have to ‘grow up’ in any sense of the words.”

Valerie rolled her eyes as silence folded over the group.Amanda lifted her chin and struggled to come up with something to say, something that would realign the happy mood in the cabin.

“What time did you tell your mom to meet you out here?”she asked Audrey.

“In about a half-hour,” Audrey returned, crossing and uncrossing her arms.“We’re supposed to meet at the far end of the beach.Then I’ll slowly walk her down to the cabin for the surprise.”

“Brilliant,” Susan said, trying to find strength in her voice again.“The Montgomery Sisters just texted that they’re on their way, as well.It’ll be a beautiful party.”

Valerie knocked the rest of her champagne glass down her throat and rolled her eyes toward Jenny as though to say,Why the hell did we come here?Amanda felt suddenly saddened at the fact that Lola had been around such dark personalities for two decades.No wonder she’d fallen back into the warm arms of her Martha’s Vineyard family, just as the rest of them had.

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