“No, I haven’t been. She reached out to me—actually, to a bunch of us who were all friends back in high school—to ask us to come to the class reunion next month.”
Peg gazed at me, one eyebrow lifted. “Really?”
“Yeah.” I sighed, clicking off the phone and replacing it in my pocket. “She said it’s her dying wish, to have all of her girlfriends together again for one last hoorah.”
“Wow. That’s . . .” Peg trailed off. “That’s a tough decision for you. Are you considering going back?”
“Of course not.” My answer was knee-jerk. “I’m not going back to the Cove. There’s nothing for me there.”
“What’s that about the Cove?”
Peg and I swiveled our heads in unison as my daughter came in through the back, carrying a paper bag in one hand and a leather briefcase in the other.
“Hey, baby girl.” I grabbed Charlie for a quick hug and kissed her cheek. “Mmmm, that food smells good.”
“Yeah.” She set the bag on the dresser before kissing her grandmother. “But don’t change the subject. You were saying something about Crystal Cove when I came in.”
“Oh, it’s nothing.” I waved my hand. “Nothing at all.”
“Well, notnothing,” Peg corrected me. “Your mom got an email from one of her old high school friends who’s dying of cancer and asked all of her crowd to come to the reunion so they can say goodbye.”
“Mom.” Charlie wheeled around to face me. “Why would you ignore a request like that?”
“It’s really not that big a deal.” I reached into the bag to take out the sandwiches, giving myself an excuse not to meet my daughter’s eyes. “Sheri and I were friends, but we weren’tbestfriends or anything. We all just hung out together. We were in the same crowd.”
“But still. You must have meant something to her if she emailed to ask you to come to the reunion.” Charlie cocked her head. “When is this reunion, anyway? I haven’t heard you say anything about it.”
“Sometime next month,” I replied vaguely. “And I haven’t said anything because I’m not going.” I passed out the sandwiches to my daughter and her grandmother. “Thanks, honey. This is such a treat.”
“You’re welcome, but stop trying to distract us.” Charlie pointed at me. “You should go to your class reunion.”
“No, I shouldn’t. I have zero desire to see anyone from my high school, let alone my class.” I took a bite of my deviled ham sandwich.
“Is this because of me?” Charlie demanded. “Because you’re still embarrassed about getting pregnant with me, and you’re afraid that everyone will figure it out if you go back to the Cove?”
“Charlotte Rivers.” Dropping my sandwich, I glared at my daughter. “I am not nor have I ever been embarrassed by you. So please don’t ever accuse me of that.”
“She’s right, sweetie,” Peg said softly, her hand resting lightly on my shoulder. “Your mom isn’t ashamed of you. She never has been.”
“Okay, well, sorry.” Apologies didn’t come easy for Charlie, so I accepted her gruff, halting words as the heartfeltmea culpathat they were. “I should have said, are you still embarrassed about getting pregnant in high school?”
“No one really knew about it. Or at least, they didn’t when I left.” A memory flashed unbidden across my mind, an image of Nash Sampson standing before me on a sunny beach, looking pained as he’d told me that he’d overheard the news of my condition. “It’s possible that some people knew, and in a town like the Cove? It would have spread like wildfire, so I wouldn’t be surprised if everyone was aware of why I skipped out on graduation—and then left town.”
“But that was thirty-five years ago,” Peg reminded me. “No one cares anymore. No one is going to give you grief about it. I agree with Charlie. I think you should go.”
I shot her a wide-eyed expression of disbelief at her betrayal. “Et tu, Brute?”
“Oh, don’t be so dramatic.” Peg’s mouth twisted. “Peyton, you’ve been punishing yourself for three decades for something that wasn’t your fault. You’ve cut yourself off from friends you used to love. But it’s time to end your self-imposed exile, my dear. There’s absolutely no reason that you shouldn’t go to this reunion.”
“Oh, I can think of lots of reasons why I shouldn’t go. Why Iwon’tgo.” Savagely, I bit into my sandwich again.
“Are you worried about who else might be there?” Charlie persisted. “Do you think the sperm donor might show up?”
Peg snorted. “Not likely. Last I heard, Ryan was in Mexico, trying to get out of his latest bout of trouble.” A shadow of pain flickered over her face; despite the fact that she’d long ago washed her hands of Ryan and his string of misadventures, I knew that as his mother, his failures and misadventures would always hurt her deeply. It was just one more reason that I would never forgive Ryan for the sins he’d committed.
“That’s comforting, but I wasn’t really concerned about him. I just don’t feel the need to haul my cookies down to Florida to see people I haven’t spoken to in thirty-five years. I haven’t missed them, and they sure as hell haven’t missed me.”
“Momma.” Charlie’s tone softened as she laid a tentative hand on my arm. “It must have taken a lot of courage for your friend to reach out to you after all these years. How did she even find you?”
