And while I was mostly wrapped up in the Emerson wedding-planning fest, it was hard to ignore that Caroline and Sloane were also acting strangely. It wasn’t unusual for Caroline to be a touch chilly toward me, but Sloane? When she snapped at me about letting the boys have cookies after school, I wrote it off as stress over Adam’s difficult physical therapy that day. But when she didn’t call me or drop by a single time for three days, I had to think it was me.
I wasn’t that worried about my daughters being upset, because I only assumed I had done something inadvertently to offend them. It wouldn’t be the first time, and it wouldn’t be the last. But the Jack part worried me.
Being back together with your first love is one of those things that sounds sweet and romantic, but all the craziness of the past few days must have been eye-opening, to say the least. I couldn’t help but worry that the magic was wearing off and Jack was changing his mind.
Caroline was supposed to be heading back to New York, to her permanent home, but she had decided (and rightly so) that she couldn’t possibly leave all of us alone in charge of the wedding planning. I didn’t doubt that she wanted to be here to micromanage every detail of Emerson’s wedding, but I also felt there was something more, something she wasn’t saying, underneath her gesture. I was sure she would miss us, of course, but I also wondered if thinking about being back in the city with James was becoming harder than she’d imagined now that it was almost here, if it made her rethink taking him back. But you couldn’t ask Caroline things like that. She was very defensive when she felt her decisions were being questioned.
Caroline was the first to arrive at my dining-room table, with a huge white binder in her hand. I meanhugehuge; I’d never seen anything quite like it. She was wearing a pair of white jeans and an off-the-shoulder top. It wasn’t anything special, but she looked unfathomably glamorous even so. Sloane walked in behind her, still in her flannel pajamas.
“Sloane,” Caroline scolded, “did you seriously walk down the street in those?”
She shrugged. “It’s two doors down, Caroline. Honestly.”
Caroline sighed. “Where is Kyle?”
I smiled. Coffee Kyle delivered us our favorite beverages every morning, as he did to the rest of the locals. He usually brought mine to Sloane Emerson—my waterfront design store a couple of blocks away—but he knew I’d be home with all the girls.
“The coffee shop was slammed this morning,” I said. “Plus, it’s a nice gesture that he delivers to us, Caroline. We’re not on a schedule or anything.”
She rolled her eyes and sighed. “I see those bills you get from him every month. You should be on a schedule, for what you pay.”
Sloane and I shared a glance. It seemed like scary, controlling Caroline had come to our wedding-planning meeting today, which worried me. Whatever Caroline acted upset about was usually a deflection from her true pain. In that way, she was masterful at hiding her emotions.
She looked at her watch, a diamond-encrusted Cartier piece that James had recently surprised her with, which sat inches below the massive apology diamond ring he had given her a few months before. I could have told him that my baby couldn’t be bought. But if she was going to stay with him despite his idiocy, she at least deserved some nice gifts.
“Whereisthe happy couple?” Caroline asked.
“They stayed out way too late last night celebrating,” I said. “I heard Emerson come in after two. I’m shocked she’s already out and about this morning.”
But Emerson rarely missed her morning run, no matter what was going on. Sure, she was an actress and had to keep her figure, but Emerson said running was more than that for her. It was her therapy. It was my torture, so I couldn’t really relate, but whatever made her happy. Plus, if she was running, she couldn’t be sick. Right? I was bursting to ask her what was going on with her health, but I hadn’t found the right moment.
“That’s sweet,” Sloane said. “I’m happy she’s so happy.”
I felt Caroline’s mood shift from foul to pleasant as she said, “I want her to have everything she has ever dreamed of.”
I knew that was true. Caroline was the one who had encouraged Emerson to follow her acting passion—in fact, she had been the one who had persuaded me to allow Emerson to act when she was younger. I didn’t want her in the spotlight and had been worried about what that life might be like for her. But you can’t deny your children their passions. I got that uneasy feeling again, as I hoped that Mark was her true passion. I had always believed that work was important, but it was nothing compared to finding your life partner.
Mark and Emerson burst through the door, giggling, breaking my thoughts. You couldn’t help but smile. They were both in black running shorts, Mark in a T-shirt and Emerson in a form-fitting jogging top. And they were both really, really sweaty.
“Gross,” Caroline said under her breath.
No one exercised more than Caroline, but she always showered immediately afterward.
“I’m sorry if our love is gross to you, Car,” Emerson said.
“I love your love, Em. I just don’t love your sweat.”
“I love your sweat,” Mark said, kissing Emerson’s nose.
“I love your sweat, too,” she said back adoringly.
“Sorry in advance about the soon-to-be-sweaty dining-room chairs, Mom,” Emerson said, sitting down.
Mark sat down beside her, but instead of facing the rest of us on the other side of the table, he sat sideways, staring at Emerson, rubbing her antique-diamond-clad hand with his. His expression said it all: he couldn’t believe she’d said yes. He couldn’t believe that he would get to spend the rest of his life with this woman, who had been a fantasy for him for so many years. The rest of us couldn’t believe it, either.
She’d only been engaged for a day, so we hadn’t bugged Emerson yet with the finer points of the relationship, but we’d get our answers soon. Caroline and I had been up late—we were the night owls of the bunch—debating whether Emerson was making the right decision. I had gotten the nerve up to ask Caroline, “Does Emerson seem OK to you? I mean, does she seem well? She hasn’t mentioned to you being sick or anything, has she?”
Caroline had looked at me like I was crazy and said, “No. She seems great to me.”
