“I guess what I’m trying to say is”—she swung her voice—“is that of course you don’t have to come to Hilton Head, if that trip is evenstill happening. You should stay here with her. If there’s anything else I can do to make it right, please tell me.”
A second later, Chat suddenly sat up. He said he did have one small favor to ask.
“Have you ever been to Noelle’s?”
36
Augie got to Noelle’s early. She wore her favorite blue linen dress and gold earrings. It was hard to believe this would only be her third time seeing Chat outside the Club; she wanted to impress him.
They hadn’t spoken one-on-one since he arrived at her house in the middle of the night. She was desperate to figure out what, if anything, between them was real. While he had lied to her all summer, she understood now that he’d only been trying to help. In so many ways, he had succeeded.
Augie was especially grateful for the chance to connect with Teuta in a new way. The day before, they had spent hours at Hyla. Augie could tell Teuta was terrified, but as they talked and she told Augie how difficult those early years had been—as she apologized for everything—Augie finally felt closer to her. Even more so after Augie told her about New York and her relationship with Chat. It was refreshing to be honest with each other. Augie realized then that their age hadn’t been their main divide; rather, it had been the fact they were both hiding from the world, and mostly, from themselves. It hadn’t come down to simply being adults. After all, there didn’t seem to be such a thing as grown-ups—only the act of growing up.
Noelle’s was a small, rectangular shop with an order window surrounded by pastel ice cream illustrations and lists of flavors. Out front, there were pink umbrellas, wooden picnic tables, and a wide lawn pressed up against the lake. Augie loved sitting as close as possible to the water, and as she slid onto the bench of the best picnic table, sunlight illuminating the blue lake and green grass around her, she took it as a good sign. She set down her phone and watched an idling boat. She thought back to the start of summer, the boat party.
Augie was looking down at her shoulder, adjusting the strap of her dress, when she felt a new presence and shadow above her. She looked up and almost fell off the bench.
There, instead of Chat, was a nearly unrecognizable Mrs. Crawley. She wore a white baseball hat, a gray T-shirt, black leggings, sneakers. No makeup.
“I know I’m not who you were hoping to see,” Mrs. Crawley said, standing at the opposite side of the table. “But can I sit?”
Augie didn’t react.
Mrs. Crawley slid onto the bench across from her.
“So.” She set down her tote bag and rested her forearms on the table. Despite her forced nonchalance, Augie sensed she was nervous. Augie didn’t know how to feel.
“So,” she repeated, as she pulled down the bill of her hat. “I’ll keep this quick. I just wanted to clear the air. And, quite simply”—she cleared her throat—“to apologize. For the luau, for the Fourth, for... everything.”
Her voice moved from rushed to assured, as if she’d practiced this before. Augie felt suspended in time. Every dynamic shifted. The woman across from her was nothing like the woman from two days ago, who had been dressed to the nines and screaming in her face. Augie couldn’t bear to make eye contact and looked out at the lake.
“If I’m being honest, I was just so excited to have Chat with us this summer. I worried he’d become distracted by you. That he might leave us for you. I’ve never been good at sharing our private life...”
“Chat never would have done that, though.” They both seemed to be startled by Augie’s voice. “He never would have justleftyou.”
Danika leaned back.
“You’re right.” Mrs. Crawley tilted her head. “And if I’m being honest”—she looked straight at Augie—“I was jealous of you. I was jealous of your freedom. Your possibility. Being young.”
Augie couldn’t help it. She laughed. “You were jealous ofme?”
“Of course. I couldn’t stop thinking about those early years with Trey.” At the sound of his name, Augie suddenly pictured Danika and Trey as herself and Chat. “I couldn’t stop thinking about all the choices I’d made. Everything I thought I wanted back then.”
“What did you want?”
Mrs. Crawley folded her hands. “To be... settled. I was so eager to get married, have a family. That’s the great irony of life, right? When you’re young, you only want to be old and to know what your life will look like. Then, later, you look back and—” She shrugged. “It’s bittersweet.” She raised her eyebrows in a playful way. “I know it’s pointless to tell young people that youth is wasted on the young, so I’ll stop while I’m ahead.”
A breeze moved over them, and Augie swiped the hair from her face and lips.
“There is one thing I wanted to ask you, though.” Mrs. Crawley paused.
Augie tensed. She slid her hands under her thighs.
“How did you find out about Trey? I sense Chat didn’t tell you, not from the start, anyways.”
Augie clawed at the wood of the bench, buying time. There wasno use lying anymore. She lifted her hand, pressed a finger to the center of her collarbone.
“Your necklace.” She tapped her finger against her skin. “At the baby shower, Mrs. Cline asked if your necklace was from Latvia. I heard you tell her it was a gift from an ex. Then I remembered Chat saying he had an uncle in Latvia, and I pieced it together.”
