Elaine narrowed her eyes. “She’s ignored all of us for years. Why reach out to Don now?”
“I don’t know,” murmured Beth.
Tapping her nail against the glass top of the coffee table, Elaine declared, “I wrote her a letter yesterday.”
Now it was Beth’s turn to be surprised. “Why?”
As Elaine launched into her story of woe about the fireworks for Charles’s party, Natalie wanted to shout,Why does every conversation end up being about your son’s goddamn bar mitzvah?
Clearly, Beth didn’t feel the same way. She was hanging on Elaine’s every word.
“Did she write you back?” Beth asked when Elaine was done.
“Not yet. I called her several times this afternoon, but the phone just rang and rang. She never answered and we all know she was there.” She speared Beth with a sharp glance. “Or is she driving around town in her new Porsche?”
“It hasn’t been delivered yet. It’s paid for, but she hasn’t told Don when she wants him to drive it to her house.” Beth passed her hands over her face. “I wish she’d leave him alone. I don’t want a trip to Jamaica if it means he has to go back there.”
Natalie took Beth’s empty glass out of her hands and carried it to the bar cart. “Mrs. Smith is a thorn in all of our sides. I’ll never sell the McCreedy house if potential buyers are afraid to move in behind her. Jill just clipped the vines in their backyard, and they’re coming from Mrs. Smith’s property. Every year, her vines encroach into other people’s yards.” Natalie stabbed at the air with the ice tongs. “If this goes on much longer, she’ll bring down all of our property values.”
“Those vines have already breached the yacht club property,” Elaine said. Her blue eyes were feverish with anxiety. “I want to put the party tent on the side lawn because it’s nice and flat, so I asked President Peter if we could cut the vegetation back to the property line, andhesaid I’d have to get Mrs. Smith’s permission because the yacht club leases the land from her. As if asking permission for the fireworks isn’t bad enough. I mean, does the woman own the sky?”
Natalie grinned at her friend. She liked it when Elaine got tipsy. With every cocktail, she was less poised. Less perfect. She snorted when she laughed. She raised her voice. Occasionally, she’d even chew ice, grinding it between her molars like a cow masticating hay.
“If Mrs. Smith can buy a new Porsche, she can afford to do something with her yard,” Natalie said. “I have the open house on Sunday, but I’m going to church first. I plan to sit with Les Holton, who’s on the town board. I’m going to ask him what can be done about the oriental bittersweet vines. They’re contained to our neighborhood right now, but if we don’t get rid of them once and for all, they’ll spread.”
“Les can only do so much.” Beth reached into her bag andwithdrew a clipboard. “I thought we could start a petition. Get the rest of the neighbors to agree that she needs to clean things up. That she’s driving down property values and allowing the spread of invasive vines.”
Elaine pointed at the clipboard. “Then what?”
“We show it to Cliff Hodges. Les is great, but he’s only a board member. Cliff is the town supervisor.”
Natalie scanned the petition. “You might be onto something. Remember when Cliff did that talk at the yacht club two years ago? He’s a Master Gardener. If we could get him to come out and look at Mrs. Smith’s place, he might—”
“Slap her with a fine,” finished Elaine. “And nothing will change.”
Beth’s eyes went to her clipboard. “Maybe we should skip the petition and bring cuttings of her invasive plants right to Cliff. That would really get him fired up.”
“It would,” Elaine agreed. “She has more than one variety, too. There’s the oriental bittersweet, the Japanese honeysuckle, and I’m pretty sure I’ve seen patches of garlic mustard from my bedroom window.”
Natalie raised her glass in the air. “Beth, you’re a genius.”
Elaine shook her head in dismay. “But what if the power of the town supervisor’s office is limited? Maybe all Cliff can do is give her a warning or a fine?”
“I remember his yacht club talk, too,” said Beth. “He wants to make his mark on the town by increasing public gardens and green spaces. Today’s newspaper mentioned a fundraising campaign to put in a garden around the Cold Harbor sign. If someone wrote a big check to the campaign, I bet he’d do more than give her a fine.”
Now Elaine raised her glass. “Benjamin and I would be happy to contribute.”
Natalie heard a shuffling sound coming from the hall andturned to see Justin standing in the doorway. He was in his dinosaur pajamas and carried a tattered blanket in one hand and a toy car in the other. He looked out of sorts.
Beth opened her arms and he floated into them.
“Hello, angel,” she whispered into his hair. “Would you like a cookie?”
When he nodded, she looked to Natalie to be sure she hadn’t overstepped.
Natalie smiled at her son. He was such a darling boy. Sweet and cute and smart. She knew she wasn’t supposed to have favorites, but she did, and everyone knew it. “Just one. But then you’ll have to brush your teeth and go right to bed.”
Beth picked out a cookie with raspberry jam. She put it on a plate and showed it to Justin. “This is the best one.”
