“Did Dad tell you what hospital she’s in or when the surgery will be?”
“No.” And he hadn’t thought to ask. But it didn’t matter. Even if the surgery was done today, he planned to visit tomorrow.
“Do you want to fly back with me or make your own arrangements?”
“With you.”
“Can you tell Theo, or do I need to?”
“Hey, you told Dad you would let me and Theo know,” Aiden responded as he rubbed his hands together. “Vivian will back me up because she heard you too.”
“Actually, I told Mom that.” If Aiden didn’t even want to talk to Theo to let him know about their mom’s accident, their relationship was worse than he’d thought.
“But I’ll tell him.” Matt finished his drink and then pushed back his chair. The sooner he filled Theo in, the sooner he could once again put distance between himself and Brianna.
Liv brushed her wet hair enough to get the majority of the tangles out and then put it up in a messy bun. She couldn’t remember the last time a shower had felt so good. The manager at the Crystal Ballroom claimed the air conditioner was on, but it certainly hadn’t felt like it. Less than half an hour after arriving to set up, her shirt had been glued to her back. And more than once, she’d ducked into the restroom to apply additional deodorant.
Despite the uncomfortable temperature, the event had been a success. More than one of the Maine Writers’ Guild members had asked for a business card, and after the party, Sheila, the guild’s president, had pulled her aside and let her know how pleased she’d been with everything, from the food to the staff. Sheila had also promised not only to leave a review but also to pass along the catering company’s name to Linda Rose, who always organized a holiday party for her company in December.
Cell phone in hand, Liv switched off the bedroom light and retreated to the living room where she’d left the air conditioner on full blast. While the setting would make the kitchen and living room colder than she’d prefer if she did that and left the bedroom door open, her room would be cool enough to sleep in later tonight.
Since she’d been alone, she’d spent the last few nights rewatching the most recent season of Starting Point. She hadn’t realized how much she’d either missed or forgotten from when she binge-watched the season with her friends. Liv’s plan was to watch three more episodes tonight and the final two tomorrow morning before Matt and his brother got home.
After a slight detour into the kitchen, Liv turned on the television, ready to see Lucinda, her least favorite character in the show, not show up to her wedding. Even before she watched the episode the first time, she’d suspected Lucinda wouldn’t go through with the marriage. The character was a gold digger who was always on the hunt for a richer man. Still, Liv hadn’t expected her to leave town the day of the wedding when there was a church full of people expecting her.
Despite knowing the events on the screen weren’t real, a combination of pity and anger washed over her as she watched first Nick check his watch while standing with his best man and then Lucinda board an airplane. Just as Nick tried calling Lucinda, Liv’s phone rang.
Matt hadn’t specified a time; instead, he’d promised to call when he got back to his hotel. Unless the wedding had been in the morning, it seemed too early for him to be calling now.
For a moment, she considered letting it go to voicemail since getting through three episodes was already in jeopardy, because while the shower had woken her up a little, she was still exhausted. On the off chance it was someone she wanted to talk to, though she flipped the phone over. When she saw the name “Emma,” she pressed Pause on the remote.
“I thought you and Brian were going away this weekend?” she asked.
“We were supposed to, but he woke up with some kind of stomach bug. He can’t keep anything down.”
She’d gone through something similar earlier in the year. In her case, it had lasted almost two days. Even after the worst had passed, she’d survived on plain dry toast and Pedialyte for a few days.
“That stinks.”
“You’re telling me. We had tickets to Fenway tonight, and tomorrow we were going on a cruise around Boston Harbor.”
Although they were both avid Red Sox fans, neither had ever been to Fenway Park, and it was on both their bucket lists.
“It’s only July. There’s still time for you guys to go.”
Liv didn’t know when they stopped the harbor cruises, but baseball season didn’t end for a while.
“I know, but we had great seats. Brian has a friend with season tickets. Since he wasn’t using them this weekend, he sold them to Brian for half the price they’d usually cost. He might not be willing to do that again.”
She’d looked at ticket prices and knew that even the crappy seats were expensive.
“But I didn’t call to complain,” Emma said. “What are you up to? I know Matt’s not back yet.”
“Watching television and trying to stay cool.”
“Do you want to meet me at Mack’s? Back Bay is playing tonight.”
She enjoyed listening to Back Bay, a rock band out of Boston that played at clubs and bars around New England. If she weren’t so tired, she would head over to Mack’s.
