Regan and Emma were solid, as always.
Even her parents were great. She was having her regular video chat with them the week before Thanksgiving. Usually they chatted once a week, but this was the first time they’d done so in two weeks; now, Sutton was checking in on them after they’d returned from a cruise for her mom’s birthday.
She’d grinned instinctively at the slight tan lines on her mom’s face from where she’d clearly been wearing her sunglasses. “You lookamazing,” she’d been unable to stop herself from gushing, not that she would have stopped herself if she could.
Her mom smiled, and Sutton thought yet again that she could only dream to look as beautiful at sixty-eight as her mom still did. “As do you, sweetheart.” Her mom angled her phone closer as she’d whispered, “Your father might grumble about it, but he had a delightful time… until he got sunburned. But I did warn him about reapplying sunscreen.”
“I’m not going to grumble,” her dad protested from the background, where he was unpacking their suitcases.
Sutton smiled brightly. “Maybe he’ll still have it next week when you two arrive for Thanksgiving.”
“I imagine he will.” Her mom winked back conspiratorially.
“Nowthatwill be a worthwhile trip,” her dad voiced, closer now, appearing indeed a bit sunburned over her mom’s shoulder. His hair was fully gray, but thick as ever.
Sutton smiled back at them, taking these few moments before she would relinquish her phone to Lucy to have her usual catch-up time with her grandparents. “You had fun. I heard it from a reliable source already.”
Her mom smiled brightly up at him, and he couldn’t even pretend to grumble as he returned it, reaching up to stroke casually, softly, at her shoulder, before he went back to unpacking.
Sutton barely held back her sigh. As much as she’d admired their relationship growing up, becoming an adult with herfailedrelationships only made her appreciate it that much more. What they had was so damn difficult to find, cultivate, and keep.
“So, yes, our trip was lovely. And you? We did our best to remainon vacation, as you all insisted, but it doesn’t mean I don’t want updates.” Her mom arched an eyebrow at her, clearly waiting.
Sutton somehow stillfeltthat look as if she were thirteen and confessing to getting a C on a math quiz.
“Everything here is good, Mom. I’d tell you if it were otherwise.”
“Ah. Yes.” Her mom paused, and Sutton’s stomach swooped for a moment. She knew that look very well. It said that something was coming. And it was: “I did, however, hear some interesting news when I checked in with my editor. Some interesting news from the publishing world…”
Oh.
Sutton bit her lip. “Ah.”
Katherine tilted her head expectantly. “You’rewritingCharlotte Thompson’s biography?”
And there it was.
“Apparently, you’ve been working on it long enough that you’ve turned in several chapters, and yet I haven’t heard a word about it?” There was a hint of hurt feelings in her mom’s voice, and it made Sutton wince, her stomach turning.
This was ridiculous. She was nearing forty, and she wasallowedto keep some personal life facts private from her mother.
But even as she inwardly protested, Sutton knew there’d been a reason she hadn’t told her.
Other than Regan, her mom could read her like no one else.
So when she said, “I didn’t want to make a big deal out of it. We’ve reconciled as friends, and we’re just working together. It’s all really professional. Really good,” she knew exactly what her mom would see.
Even if itwasn’ta lie.
There was a skeptical look on her mom’s face, as Sutton had expected. It had been her mom’s shoulder she’d cried on when she’d fled New York, her mom who’d held her after Oliver’s wedding during her final breakdown, her decision that she just had toget on with it.
“Mom, I’m thirty-eight. I’m no longer in love with Charlotte Thompson. I can work with her. And”—she hesitated because she worried exactly what her mom would read into what she said next—“she is a good person. She really is.”
Sutton really had never believed otherwise. Not even at her most heartbroken. Charlotte had never deliberately hurt her, had never lied to her, and she’d always been upfront about her priorities. It had taken some time and perspective, but the truth of it all was that Sutton got caught up in her feelings and had misread Charlotte’s affection for her.
She was older and wiser now.
“And it’s a great opportunity, to really write,” she added, an afterthought even though it was true.
