Page 16 of Lost Memories (Secrets of Mackinac Island 1)

They watched as Sean, Penny, and Brad exited the sunroom, laughing about something.

“It pisses me off that men get everything they want,” Haley muttered. “How can he have all that happiness in Silver Lake, that career, and also keep his friendship with his kids?”

“I’m sure there are things I don’t know about him now. Aches and pains. Sadness,” Elise said. “It sucks getting older, right? It’s not like he’s avoided all that sucked, just because he got a brand-new girlfriend.”

**

FINALLY, IN THE EARLYevening, the majority of the family and friends abandoned the house and left Elise, Penny, Brad, Mia, and Haley with heaps of paper plates, still-more uneaten platters of food, many flowers (which seemed to stink up every single room), and countless pieces of half-eaten cake. Elise collapsed at the dining room table and blinked at the mess.

“You know what my mother would have said about all this?” she said.

“What?” Penny asked as she scraped off some of the cake pieces into a bag of trash, smearing blue icing along the way.

“She would have said it was much to do about nothing,” Elise said. Tears popped into her eyes.

Penny giggled. “She was always so dramatic.”

Elise nodded. “I don’t want to clean yet.”

“What should we do?” Mia asked.

“I think we should take a hard look at Penny’s play and help her with her audition,” Elise said. “It’s what my mother would have wanted.”

Penny’s cheeks turned bright red. “I can’t look at that script without a glass of wine.”

“Very well. Let’s pour everyone a big glass and start the table read!” Elise said.

Brad—the only one who didn’t fancy life in show business, groaned, but still set to work printing out five copies of the script for the players involved. They cleared the table, poured glasses of wine, and then added a tray of light snacks in the center, as Mia insisted she needed a constant influx of Chex mix. “Once I get started on these, I can’t stop,” she informed everyone with a crunch.

Penny was to read the main character of the play, while everyone else accepted random parts throughout. Elise played the main character’s best friend, while Haley grabbed the part of the love interest, which made Mia burst into drunken laughter.

“You’re the male heartthrob, Haley!” she cried.

“I think I can do it,” Haley affirmed. “I remember those college guys a little too well. All they ever did was act and yank you around...”

“Hey!” Brad said grimacing. “I resent that.”

“I’m sure your mother raised you right,” Mia said. “You’re probably not like the others.”

Penny forced them back on track. As they read, Penny placed her hand on her heart and enunciated her words clearly, obviously getting deep into character.

“That’s the thing, Marcus. I don’t know if I’ve ever loved you,” she said to Haley, her apparent love interest. “All you’ve ever done is yank me around and hurt me. I was so hungry for love that I let it happen. And now, I recognize that our whole relationship was built on stilts and it’s crashing into the ocean now.”

“Boy. That is dramatic writing,” Brad muttered under his breath, before lifting a glass of wine to his lips and rolling his eyes.

Elise cackled. “In the biz, we call that melodramatic.”

“Hey! I don’t have to like the writing. I just have to make it come to life,” Penny said. “Let’s get back on track.” She cleared her throat and returned her attention to Haley, who suddenly seemed a little too tipsy to do anything but giggle.

“Come on, guys!” Penny cried. “I can’t get this part unless I really and truly feel the words in my soul.”

“Here we go,” Brad said, heaving a sigh.

“No sarcasm, Bradley,” Penny said.

“Fine. Fine. Here we go.” Haley smacked her own cheek playfully, as a way to wake herself up. “Girl, you know I would tear through heaven and earth just to see you again. You know I would rip myself to shreds just to understand you. But there’s a big difference between us. You want so much. And I only ever wanted you.”

“Jeez,” Elise cried, forcing her nose toward the table as she fell into waves of laughter.

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