“Well, yes,” Elizabeth said.
Daisy finally did jump in. “Elizabeth, I think the bigger question here is: What if she can?”
Elizabeth sighed. “Oh, good. The wide-eyed wonder girl is here to step in on yet another one of my personal family matters.”
Daisy looked taken aback, and Elizabeth put her hand up. “I’m sorry. That was very rude. I know you’re trying to help. But we have been through decades of situations that you can’t even imagine.”
Tilley nodded and picked up her glass, taking a sip of her afternoon tea with just a splash of bourbon. “I know I’ve been a handful, Elizabeth. But I think I can do this. IknowI can. And I feel like I need to. It may be my last chance.”
Elizabeth looked stricken. “Well, don’t saythat.”
Tilley looked out over the lawn to the water beyond, the marsh grass that had been blowing in this same breeze on this same property since Tilley was born—and long before. Things at Dogwood had always seemed permanent to her, eternal, unstoppable. For years and years, more than she would like to imagine, she had let herself sink into the rhythm and time of this place. Now that she was finally ready to live again, she felt that instead of trying to run out the clock, she wanted to beat it. Sure, starring in a local theater production might not seem like an audacious dream to many. But, to Tilley, it was practically a mountain moved. If she could do this, she could prove to herself and everyone else that she could really, truly live again. And that would be momentous.
Elizabeth rolled her eyes and said, “Well, it’s not like I can say no. You two evidently run things around here.”
“Elizabeth!” Tilley scolded. “Amelia didn’t want you to babysit. Get over it! It’s not Daisy’s fault. She saved the day!”
“With Amelia and now, evidently, with you.” Elizabeth sighed. “Fine. Great. Be in the play. Set the world on fire, watch it burn down, and let me, as usual, pick up the pieces.”
Tilley wanted to argue, but she couldn’t. Because Elizabeth didpick up the pieces. She always had. When Tilley embarrassed herself in front of the entire town, when Tilley came back to herself long enough to volunteer to do something that she could never follow through on. When Tilley’s great love died, and Elizabeth spent the rest of her life looking after her sister. And then the other time, the big time, the time they never spoke of.
Tilley looked at her sister, locked her eyes on hers. “Lizzie, you are right. You always have to clean up the mess. But not this time. I promise you. I can do this.”
Tilley knew she had made this same proclamation before.
Daisy said, “And, just think, if she flakes out, you can spend two hours a night singing and dancing onstage as Dolly Levi! Show all those set painters what’s what.”
Tilley and Elizabeth both laughed. “Yes, I am such a truly lovely singer,” Elizabeth said sarcastically. Then she looked toward Daisy. “I’m trying hard not to like you, but you make it very difficult.”
Daisy nodded knowingly. “I’m kind of like jasmine. Sort of a creeping, insidious vine that blooms at just the right moment. It smells so good, you forgive it for choking out your roses.”
Elizabeth laughed again. “You do seem to make Mason happy.”
Daisy put her hand to her heart. “Do you think?”
“I do,” Tilley said. “And it’s high time that boy settled down.”
Daisy shrugged. “He seems so sweet, but then I hear these stories…”
Tilley patted Daisy’s leg and, not quite knowing if it was herself speaking or Dolly, said one of her brand-new theater lines: “Darling, just leave everything to me.”
MASONPretty Normal
I could count the number of times I’d done the dishes at Dogwood on one hand, which I know says something potentially unflattering about me. But tonight, I would have doneanythingto get in Daisy’s good graces. I had come over again to help her put the kids to bed, which was actually kind of fun. I loved reading them stories and they loved the silly voices. And they were past the age where they fought so hard to stay awake. Their days were busy with school and soccer and recently, dropping their naps, which Amelia and Parker had yammered on about.
Daisy finished up with them while I grilled steaks and threw together a bagged Caesar salad and some asparagus. It was a really easy meal, my go-to. It seemed fancy but took almost no prep work or actual cooking skills, which was good because mine were basically nonexistent. We talked and laughed and kissed, and it was all so easy. As I dried the plates, I wondered if this was why Parker wanted to marry Amelia. Was this how he felt about her? Like his day was better when she was in it? If so, I kind of got the whole holy matrimony thing. Maybe being a couple wasn’t so bad.
Despite what I was certain was a very trying day, Daisy looked radiant. She was a little flushed, which only added to her allure. She wasonly going to have one glass of wine, so she hadn’t had a drink with dinner. But now, I poured her a glass. I leaned down and kissed her, lightly at first, then hungrily. She bit her lip as I handed her the wine. She took a sip, but I stayed close.
“I just checked,” she whispered. “They are officially asleep.”
“That is music to my ears,” I said, grinning at her, kissing her again, my hands in her hair. She backed up, and I walked with her, never taking my lips off hers, until her back was against the counter. She set her wine down and wrapped her arms around me. I lifted her up on the counter as she kissed my neck and, feeling a sense of urgency, I unbuttoned her shirt.
“Aunt Tilley,” she whispered, in a throaty voice.
“I’m Mason,” I whispered back, which made us both erupt in laughter.
“I mean Aunt Tilley is in her wing, and I would hate for her to come down to find us naked on her pie-baking counter.”
