Page 69 of The Glass Dolphin

The boat that Julia had rented for an event she was calling Springtime Sips and Dips would be leaving the dock in a couple of hours. She was taking her daughter to the ferry terminal, where they’d pick up Scott, her husband.

Then, Clara had to stop by her mother’s and get her too. Finally, her last stop would be the lighthouse, where she was collecting Jean and Heidi. Reuben wouldn’t be able to come out on the boat today, but he said he’d keep an eye on them as they meandered around the west side of the islands.

She still couldn’t believe Julia had done something like this. Clara had gotten a personal, in-person invite as they worked at the same place. Only five days ago.

“But it’s not like we have anything going on,” Clara muttered to herself. With the cove coming back to life, Clara wanted to do the same. She felt restless and caged, and she didn’t like it. Once upon a time, she’d been so busy, she couldn’t get to everything the women here put together.

She missed that vibe, that atmosphere of coming together and sharing her life with others. She couldn’t believe she did, but she was mature enough to admit she did.

“Lena,” she called again, this time leaving the island which held her packed and ready bag, and moving toward the mouth of the hallway.

“I’m coming.” Her daughter came out of the first door on the right, and she wore a bright sundress that shouted flowers in pink and purple and white. Clara couldn’t help smiling at it, though she’d never drape her body in something like that.

“You look beautiful,” she told her daughter, who glowed like she’d just been crowned a princess. “Get your shoes, okay?”

As Lena went to do that, Clara pulled out her phone.All set?she sent to Kelli. She’d not been present for the showdown that had happened in the hospital lobby outside of maternity, but Clara had caught her up on all of it.

She’d spoken to Julia about the true purpose of this Sips and Dips activity, and she knew it was to bring them all back together again. Her heart ached for such a reunion, and her fingers tightened around the plastic case of her phone as she willed Kelli to respond faster.

She hadn’t been a mother of a baby in over two decades, and Clara couldn’t even begin to imagine what Kelli’s days looked like. A certain exhaustion pulled through her, and she jerked her head up at the sound of the garage door slamming shut.

“Lena?” Clara went past the steps to the garage door exit. Sure enough, her daughter was just getting in the front seat of the minivan, and Clara quickly turned to get her beach bag. She usually had to prod Lena out of the house, so there was no need to dawdle otherwise.

Her phone chimed as she left the house again, beach bag slung over her shoulder, and she prayed it’d be Kelli. Once behind the steering wheel, she checked her phone, and Kelli had said,I’m almost to Diamond. AJ still hasn’t committed.

Clara’s heart fell, but she pressed her teeth together. Alice and Robin, Julia and Maddy, Eloise, Jean, her, and her mother had all committed to this afternoon’s ocean soiree.

Laurel was up in the air, and AJ hadn’t responded to anything that Clara knew of—besides Kelli’s texts.

Alice and Robin had said they’d get Laurel there, and Clara had tasked herself with getting Jean and her mother on the boat. Part of her had enjoyed the past couple of weeks of quiet, but it had brought unrest to her soul as well.

She still saw her mother and sister-in-law often. Those relationships seemed a bit strained, but nothing Clara hadn’t managed in the past. She worked with El and Julia, and they both wanted Five Island Cove to continue to grow at its current pace. Clara didn’t, but she still got along with them just fine.

She figured she could voice her displeasure at the polls. She could show up to City Council meetings and stand behind the mic to express her opinion. She’d never throw tagged buckets through windows, but some people obviously thought that was an option.

A group of real estate agents on the two southern islands had done a march on City Hall a couple of weeks ago. There were plenty of options for voicing an opinion. Heck, AJ had done it by writing an op-ed piece for the Cove Chronicles.

Truth be told, Clara didn’t really have an opinion on this growth issue. She’d seen how the community had flocked to City Hall when Aaron had announced the discovery of a “time capsule.” People here were invested in their community, and Clara could admire that. She didn’t feel the same roots to the cove as others, but she had started cultivating and fertilizing them again.

“Just get them there,” she said as she backed out of the garage. She had a mission, and she was going to accomplish it.

* * *

By the timeshe got to the lighthouse, Clara felt like she’d run two marathons back-to-back. No rest. No food. Her mother had not been ready on time, and Clara had to stand right beside her and coach her on what to do and what to bring.

“All right.” She sighed as she pulled into the parking lot. “Mom, do you want to text her?”

Her mother looked over from the passenger seat. Lena had gotten into the back when Clara had finally made it out to the van with her mom. “I’m thinking maybe I’ll just sit with Reuben.”

“Mom.” Clara didn’t have the patience for this. “You can’t do that.”

“I don’t want to listen to them fight.” She looked out her window toward the lighthouse. “I never thought the cove would be the thing that would break up the girls.”

“It’s not,” Clara said. She didn’t know how to say this without being rude, but she’d sort of earned the title of Being Blunt. “Mom, there’s only one person who’s causing a problem.”

Mom nodded. “AvaJane.”

“She just needs to accept the fact that not everyone thinks like her. It doesn’t make her wrong, or them wrong. It’s not mutually exclusive.” As Robin had said, the issues were never black and white.

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