“I love her.”
Lauren’s eyes stung. She stepped back and smiled a watery smile. “I’m glad.”
He clapped his hands on her shoulders, held firm. “And I love you.”
Suddenly she couldn’t hang on to her smile. She looked up into his face, and yet he’d gone all blurry with her tears.
He squeezed her shoulders again then let go. “So. Let’s get to work. What do I do first?”
Eight
After spending all morning cooking, Lauren was ready for the reception at Meg’s house on Friday afternoon. She was also ready for it to be over so she could head back to Alameda.
She loved her family, and beautiful Napa, but her tiny little apartment in Alameda was easier. Quieter. Free of all these complicated relationships and even more complicated emotions.
Lauren and Lisa were in Meg’s kitchen, warming everything and still setting up the buffet when Lauren heard the first of the cars approach.
A series of dark limousines pulled up before the door. One limousine, two, three, four.
The Roberts and Brennan families were back, returning from the brief, formal funeral service for Jack at Santa Rosa’s oldest Episcopal church, the Church of the Incarnation. Lauren knew the small 1873 church well, as one of her friends from high school had been married there and Lauren had decorated the church and hall for them, donating her time, as well as the flowers, to help Allie save on expenses.
“They’re here,” Lauren said, quickly drying her hands and removing her apron. She’d be serving the late lunch, and cleaning up with two other girls hired for the occasion while Preston handled the bar and Lisa manned the kitchen. “They’d said it would be a brief service. Didn’t realize that meant under thirty minutes.”
“They’re back way too early,” Lisa answered, bending awkwardly at the stove to remove three cookie sheets of sourdough rolls and cheese biscuits from the oven, one after the other, all while being very careful not to bump her belly. “Nothing’s ready.”
“The bar is ready. The wines are uncorked, and the lemonade and iced tea are already out. What more do we need?”
Lisa wiped her damp brow. “Um, food?”
Car doors slammed outside. Voices echoed as people approached the house. Lauren glanced outside and spotted Meg walking toward the front door, her arms around her daughters, her black coat draped in the crook of one elbow. Her black dress was simple, almost severe, and her dark hair was scraped back in a low, unattractive knot, but as she focused on her girls, her expression was kind.
Lauren’s chest ached and she turned away from the window, not wanting to see more, because it would just make her feel more, and feeling wasn’t something she could, or would, do today. “People can wait,” she said crisply. “They’ll drink. They’ll talk. They’ll be fine.”
Lisa shot her younger sister an incredulous glance. “I can’t believe you’re so calm. You used to be the queen of panic, Miss Type A, always stressing out.”
Lauren shrugged as she opened the refrigerator and drew out two of the silver trays filled with miniature sandwiches and peeled the plastic wrap off each. “I’ve learned that not everything is life and death because there is real life and death.”
Lisa cringed. “Oh God. Sorry—”
“Why apologize? You didn’t say anything wrong. You asked why I’m chill, and so I told you. Now sit for a second. Catch your breath. It’s about to get crazy.”
* * *
Sarah was grateful to be back at Meg’s house. The service, surprisingly similar to the Catholic Church’s funeral service, did not include a Eucharist, due to its being Good Friday, which kept things brief.
Pleasingly brief.
Carrying Ella into the house, Sarah felt a little guilty for being happy that the service was short, but the last week had been beyond grueling, with everyone unraveling beneath the stress and grief of two deaths, and two funerals, in a little more than a week. Sarah, by being the youngest, had never really been caught up in the family dramas until this last year when she’d been shocked and outraged that Meg—Meg—had cheated on her husband with her vintner boss, Chad.
But now Sarah found herself struggling with Brianna and Kit, too.
It didn’t help that today in the church, she had sat behind Meg, her kids, and Jack’s parents, squished into her pew with Ella on one side and Kit and Jude jammed against the other.
Tommy and Cass were supposed to be sitting with Sarah and Ella, but at the last second Brianna claimed Cass and Tommy, forcing Jude, Kit, and Sarah into the same pew.
Nice, Brianna. Thanks.
Just because Sarah had gone to Meg the other night and asked her to please ignore what she had said about Jude didn’t mean everything was okay between Sarah and Kit. It wasn’t. Kit was still angry with her and Sarah didn’t know how to process what Brianna had said about the whole molestation thing.