“Did it cure your nerves?”
June squeezed one eye shut, considering. “Well, it distracted me from my nerves. What reallycuredthem was that the first show went great, which was really what I was most concerned about.”
“And look at you now,” Eleanor observed with an exaggerated air of innocence about her. “You still love singing. So much so that you’re going to do that open mic!”
June snatched up one of the toddler-sized t-shirts and launched it at Eleanor, who caught it with a laugh.
“Real subtle, there, you goof,” she accused.
“I’ll go with you,” Eleanor offered, wheedling.
Another refusal was on the tip of June’s tongue when she looked down at the little songbird doodle on the paper still in her hand. What would Keith say to her, if she was considering this?
She rolled her eyes at herself at the very idea.
You kidding me, songbird? I’m already calling the babysitter. Let’s have a night out!
There was no world in which Keith wouldn’t have encouraged her. None.
“Okay,” she said to Eleanor, who let out a little squeak of excitement. “But,” June added in a cautioning tone, “just us, okay? Let’s not tell anybody else yet. I know everyone else would be supportive, but Miriam’s version of support is… really supportive.”
Eleanor chuckled at this. “Yes, fair enough. We can work up to showing your talents to the world. First, we’re going to remind you of what you’re capable of, huh?”
“Yeah, that sounds pretty good,” June said. And, to her surprise, she found that she really, really meant it.
CHAPTER FIFTEEN
“Is it normal to be this excited about a window?” Eleanor asked, looking happily at her newly installed picture window.
Miriam scoffed. “At my age, little lady, you learn that ‘normal’ is overrated. Let the excitement come. You never say no to happiness in this life.”
Eleanor looked half pleased by this, half horrified.
“Did you just call me ‘little lady?’ Miriam, I am forty-two years old.”
Miriam scoffed again. “At my age, anybody under sixty is ‘little.’ Try me again when you qualify for retirement benefits, huh?”
Eleanor shot Cadence a scandalized look. Cadence held up her hands in a defenseless gesture.
“You’re not going to see me battling Miriam on the merits of age,” she told her friend. “I think she called me ‘missy’ until I was, like, twenty-eight.”
She didn’t add that she’d only gotten Miriam to relent because Cadence had been married, pregnant with Isabelle, and, ahem, atouchemotional.
“Fine, fine,” Eleanor groused, although there was no real heart in it. “Tell me how young and spry I am.”
“I didn’t say spry,” Miriam teased. “You’ll have to earn ‘spry.’ Consider jumping jacks. Then you can strive for spry.”
“Tough crowd,” Eleanor murmured.
Miriam, who was quite spry at seventy, pressed up on her toes and gave Eleanor a peck on the cheek.
“Speaking of young whippersnappers,” Miriam asked as they settled into their seats, “how did Isabelle’s field trip go, Cadence? It’s nice to see kids these days still interested in coastal preservation.”
Cadence took a sip of her margarita before answering. They’d gone with Mexican-inspired snacks that evening, with chips, a bunch of different dips, and empanadas that Diana had brought from a new place that had opened up a few towns over.
Cadence had already eaten more of them than she cared to admit, but she planned to have a few more since they were irresistibly good. Maybe after she’d had more of her drink though. Eleanor made a simplydeliciousmargarita.
“Well,” Candence said, indulging herself in building up a little bit of drama. She knew, after all, that her friends would be excited to hear this. It was why she had waited until book club to tell them about it. That, and she had wanted some time to herself to muddle through her feelings. Unfortunately, the next book club meeting had rolled around before she’d gotten any clarity.
