Page 20 of The Vineyard Bride

“I told myself this year that I was so done with dating,” Valerie continued as the rest of the women leaned toward her, their eyes shimmering.“I was done with Boston guys and their stupid sports and their stupid emotional baggage.It was like you had to chase after them to get a second date.”

“Ugh.Terrible,” Christine said with a sigh.“I have a feeling I dated a lot of the New York City versions of those guys.”

“Then you know what I’m talking about,” Valerie affirmed, slowly loosening up.“It’s enough to really destroy a woman’s opinion of herself.But this guy the other night in Edgartown?He just came up to me, complimented me, and asked if he could buy me a drink.It seemed so easy and so genuine.We ended up talking all night long.”

“That’s romantic!”Audrey cried.

“Valerie...”Lola breathed.“That’s an incredible story.”

“Who is this guy?”Susan asked, her voice still slightly hard-edged.

“His name is Harry,” Valerie said.“He’s not an original islander.He came here from the Midwest a few years ago and fell in love with the ocean.He works odd jobs, mostly, which is something I can relate to.Music is my passion, but it doesn’t pay the bills.”

“It’s too bad,” Lola offered.“You’re so talented, Val.I remember coming to see you all the way back in the early 2000s.You killed it with your band back then.”

“The Joan Didions,” Valerie said wistfully.“I loved that band.All-women.We got buzz around the Boston area but never really found traction, you know?”

Lola tilted her head, eyeing her sisters and her cousins alongside her dearest old friends.Her heart swelled with compassion for each of them.She was terribly grateful that they’d gathered to celebrate her love for Tommy, especially now as they tried their hardest to open their arms to Valerie.

After a brief silence, Lola lifted her champagne glass to toast the women she loved most in the world.

“I can’t really translate how strange the past couple of years of my life have been,” Lola said.“If you’d told me two years ago that I would move back to Martha’s Vineyard, rekindle my relationships with my sisters and father, work as a journalist between here and Boston, and fall in love with a handsome sailor, I’d have said you were insane.If you’d then told me that I would eventually go on to direct a musical for the thespians of Martha’s Vineyard, I would have laughed in your face.”

Audrey cackled good-naturedly, lifting her glass higher as she said, “You were a brilliant one-time director, Mom.”

Lola giggled, drawing her eyes from one woman to the next.“It’s an honor to have unique relationships with each of you.I feel so much love in this room.I can only imagine how much eating, drinking, laughing, and conversation we’ll enjoy over the next two days.Here’s to all of you!”

Together, the group sipped their champagne flutes as Audrey hopped up to dance to the next song that came out of the speakers, “Torn” by Natalie Imbruglia.The others sang out joyously, already tipsy from their first flutes of champagne and open-hearted for the night ahead.

“I’m all out of faith.This is how I feel.I’m cold and I am chained, lying naked on the floor!”they sang out, all mostly out of key but fully emotional.

As the late afternoon drifted into evening, Audrey announced the dinner plans: pizza from their favorite Edgartown pizza joint, plenty of wine, and an after-dinner “game.”

“A game?”Lola asked, arching her brow.

Audrey rubbed her palms together mischievously.“Let’s just say that Amanda and I put some real work into this one.”

The pizzas were glistening with heaps of cheese, round pepperonis, bright green peppers, and black olives, some of Lola’s favorite toppings.As she ate, Susan scrunched her nose and removed each black olive, saying, “I don’t know how we have the same genes, Lola.”

“Lola’s always had the wildest taste in food,” Jenny chimed in.“Remember when we were ridiculously poor in our twenties?What was it you always ate?”

Lola blushed and glanced down at her grease-laden plate.“I can’t believe you’d bring that up!”

“What was it, Mom?”Audrey asked.“I probably ate it, too.”

“Your mom loved peanut butter and pickle sandwiches,” Jenny continued.“We wouldn’t let her feed them to you, Audrey.”

“We wanted to spare you,” Valerie agreed, her eyes sparkling.

“Mom!Pickles and peanut butter?”Audrey cried.

“Don’t knock it till you’ve tried it.”Lola tossed her head back as laughter rolled over her.

“Wow.Our twenties couldn’t have been more different,” Susan offered, plucking another black olive from her pizza.

“What were yours like?”Jenny asked.

“Oh, gosh.My husband and I had a law firm, two children, and a mortgage.I was busy-busy-busy from the moment I woke up in the morning to the moment I collapsed in bed at night,” Susan explained.

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