“It was good,” she said after a pause. “Izzy had tons of fun with her friends, the weather was great except for a quick little burst of rain at the end, and… oh, yeah, Tyler was there.”
“What?” Diana yelped.
Eleanor very nearly choked on a mouthful of margarita.
June froze with a guacamole-laden chip halfway to her mouth.
But it was Miriam who got all the way to her feet.
“You,” she accused, pointing at Cadence. “You withheld important information.”
“You’re just jealous that I stole your thunder, drama-wise,” Cadence countered.
“Okay, yeah, that’s true,” Miriam allowed, sinking back into her chair. “Anyway, spill.”
“I second the request that you spill,” Diana chimed in, raising her hand.
“Did you get to talk to him?” June asked.
“How do you feel about it?” Eleanor added.
“You do all realize that I can’t tell you anything if you keep talking over me, right?” Cadence asked, pointing at each of them in turn.
June made a great production of zipping her lips and throwing away the imaginary key.
Cadence explained everything, starting with her surprise at finding Tyler waiting among the students, how nice it had been to see Isabelle’s delight when he showed up, how the three of them had enjoyed lunch together. There was quite a lot of wide-eyed exchanging of glances and sucked-in breaths as she relayed the time the three Meadows had spent in the little cave, hiding out the storm. Still, the group remained silent, as if they feared any interruption would stop her from telling the remainder of the story.
“And then,” she concluded, leaning back in her chair, “he asked if he could ‘take me out’ sometime.”
June was leaning so far forward that she looked like she was about to fall out of her seat.
“Well, what did you say?” she demanded when Cadence had the audacity to take a pause long enough to sip her margarita.
Cadence grimaced. This was the part she felt most conflicted about. She’d gone over the exchange again and again, the musings keeping her awake at night, as she tried to decide if she’d done the right thing.
“I told him that I was really busy with the gallery,” she said. “Which… I don’t know if I was wrong to put him off, but, phew, am I wishing I’d come up with something a little less goofy to say.”
“Oh, sweetie,” Eleanor said, reaching out to grab one of her hands. “It’s not an easy situation. Be gentler on yourself.”
“Thanks,” Cadence said. “I just… I justdon’t know. I keep thinking about it and thinking about it, and I can’t get any more clarity. It’s not that I don’t care about him. I do. But…”
“There’s always a risk in loving someone,” Eleanor said. “It’s not the same, I know, but I’ve had my share of worries about letting Garrett in, not because of anything he’s done, but because sometimes my mind likes to throw up these little worries, like,What if things go the way your marriage went?”
Cadence rubbed her forehead. “But if there’s always a risk, doesn’t that mean I should take a chance?” She wasn’t certain if she was asking her friends or herself.
Eleanor still held one of Cadence’s hands, but now Miriam reached out and clasped the other.
“No,” she said. “It means you should take the chance if you want to, if you feel ready to. It’s been years since I lost Harold, and though I never say never, not when it comes to happiness… Well, so far, the time hasn’t been right for me to seek that kind of relationship again. Maybe it’ll never happen. Maybe it will. But there’s no rushing being ready.”
Cadence appreciated Miriam’s words, but privately, she thought things were different. Miriam had lost her husband because he had passed away. June too, had suffered such a painful, meaningless loss. If either of them sought love again, it wouldn’t be with Harold or Keith. It simply wasn’t possible, horrible thought that was to think about.
But Tyler…
He was here. He’d extended a hand.
She was just so scared about what might happen if she reached back, not just to her, but to Izzy too.
Even if she did still love him.
