Beautiful Day(85)

“I thought Stuart was different,” Jenna said. “I thought he was a good egg.”

“Jenna,” Margot said. “He is a good egg.”

“He’s just like everyone else,” Jenna said. She cleared her throat, then said, “Finn slept with Nick! She told me she thinks she’s fallen in love with him! After one afternoon on a paddleboard, she thought nothing of letting him join her in the outdoor shower, the second you walked out the door!”

Margot put up a traffic cop hand. “Please,” she said. “Please don’t tell me any details.”

“And do you know what Finn’s excuse is? Scott was unfaithful first! Scott hooked up with some waitress from Hooters on a golf trip to Tampa in April. He and Finn had only been married six months, she was thinking about trying to get pregnant, then he goes away on this golf trip with the guys, no big deal, because Scott is always going on golf trips with the guys, only this time he comes home and gives Finn the clap—and then he has to confess about the skanky waitress. Now he’s in Vegas, and instead of being on his best behavior, he told Finn that all the guys were getting lap dances, and going to a private party with performing lesbians.”

Margot sighed. “She was obviously bent out of shape about that on Thursday night.”

“So then Nick shows up and starts paying all kinds of sweet attention to her.” Jenna sniffled and wiped her nose on the neckline of her dress. Margot winced. “And Finn starts imagining they have all this history, she’s been in love with him since she was thirteen years old and he came home from Penn State, then yesterday they had this magical day at Fat Ladies Beach, and…”

“And I left for the yacht club,” Margot said. Because she was so anxious to see Edge. She should have waited for Nick and Finn. She should have stayed home and chaperoned.

“And it’s Nick,” Jenna said. “And apparently he just can’t help himself. Doesn’t matter that Finn is married, doesn’t matter that I was her maid of honor, or that she’s my bridesmaid and best friend.”

“You can’t let Nick’s behavior or Finn’s poor judgment influence you,” Margot said.

“Then we have Dad and Pauline. He’s sixty-four, and she’s… what? Sixty-one? This was supposed to be their great second chance at love; they were supposed to grow old together. But no. Love has died there as well, and now Dad will start dating younger and younger women—your age first, then my age, then Emma Wilton’s age…”

“Jenna…”

“And then we have Stuart’s parents. I used to think their story was so lovely—at least the part where they got married for a second time. But last night, when I met Helen, I felt sick, and that was even before she opened her mouth about Stuart and Crissy Pine. She’s this freaking Swedish supermodel-type woman, and she wore that look-at-me, center-of-attention dress when she was lucky to be invited to the wedding at all. Ann only included her because Ann is a saint.”

“Okay,” Margot said, thinking, Stupid Ann.

“And when Chance got sick and Jim and Helen left for the hospital, it became, duh, obvious to me that Jim had cheated on Ann, cheated badly. He had a child with another woman!”

Margot wanted to say, Oh, come on, that just occurred to you tonight? What kind of Pollyanna world had Jenna been living in? But instead Margot said, “You can’t let other people’s failings—”

“But worst of all,” Jenna said, “worst of all is you.”

“Me?” Margot said. Her thoughts twirled and tumbled. How could she be the worst of all? Worse than Nick? Worse than Helen in the yellow dress? What did Jenna know about her personal life, anyway? Had Autumn told her about Edge? Had she seen Margot kissing Griff? And why would either of those things matter to Jenna?

“Of all the marriages I’ve ever seen, yours was my absolute favorite,” Jenna said. “And you just walked away from it.”

“My marriage?” Margot said. “You mean to Drum?”

“Maybe it was because of our age difference,” Jenna said. “I was still in high school when you got married, and as we know, I’m a hopeless romantic.”

“There was nothing romantic about when I got married,” Margot said. “Hello? It was a shotgun wedding.”

“You two were the coolest people I knew,” Jenna said. “When you two surfed together, you were so… beautiful. Then you got pregnant and Drum took you to dinner at the Blue Bistro and he gave you the oyster that had the diamond ring in it.”