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Sienna touched her hair. “I have that interview, the one I told you about, and I want to go in with a fresh look.”
“An interview? For what?” Angela regretted the question the moment she spoke. It was obvious Teresa knew things that Angela didn’t. Sienna talked a lot more with her aunt than she did with her mother.
Sienna grabbed a bread stick, pulling off a tiny piece. She wasn’t gluten free, but she complained about the empty calories of garlic bread and pasta. “I’m tired of working for a huge, soulless conglomerate. I want to be with a smaller firm, with fewer clients where they don’t feel like I’m rushing them out of my office so I can bring in the next client.”
Sienna was a financial advisor like her father, although Donald was head of his own company, managing billion-dollar hedge funds and dealing only with billion-dollar clients. He shunted the little guys off to his subordinates. Angela was dying to ask why Sienna didn’t approach her father for a job. But working for Donald, where Sienna would be under his thumb, wasn’t a good idea.
Teresa clapped her hands. “I wish you all the best of luck with the interview.”
That’s what Angela should have said in the beginning. Now she could only imitate her sister. “I know you’ll get the job.”
Sienna looked at her as if she didn’t believe the good wishes. But she smiled. “Thank you.”
“Tell us what you did for your birthday,” Teresa said with an expansive gesture. “Every detail of the special day.”
Sienna glanced Angela’s way, a little wary along with something else. Sadness? Angela couldn’t interpret the look.
“I took the day off, got a mani-pedi, pampered myself.” She patted Teresa’s hand. “Nonni and Poppa said they’re coming out in July, and I thought we could have a family party. I really want to celebrate with them.” She glanced at Angela again. “I didn’t want to have a big party now and make them feel left out.” She smiled at her aunt. “And of course I want you and Uncle William and all the cousins to come.”
Teresa beamed. Angela was glad that Sienna’s resentment of her didn’t fall onto the family. Teresa had three girls, all a year apart and all college-age now. When Sienna was in high school, she’d been their babysitter and enjoyed every minute. Angela’s parents had moved to Arizona when Dad retired a few months ago. Now their mother was busy building her kingdom in Scottsdale since she’d never been successful at empire building in Silicon Valley, as if the tech world didn’t value a former construction worker, even if he’d built his business into a multimillion-dollar corporation.
Sienna went on with her description of the party. “I’m not inviting all my friends for this. I just want close family.”
Teresa stole a glance at Angela, one perfectly plucked eyebrow raised. Angela knew why Sienna didn’t want to invite her friends. She’d already had a big bash on her actual birthday last week. Of course, Donald called Angela to gloat. Sienna hadn’t invited her because, Donald imparted with glee, their son Matthew wouldn’t attend if his mother was there. If she and Sienna had a cool relationship, then she could safely say she had no relationship with her son, who was two years younger than his sister. He sent the obligatory birthday and Christmas gifts, but he rarely accepted her invitations to lunch. She had no idea how to repair their non-existent relationship. At least Sienna had given her openings she could step through, like the lunch today. But she’d obviously chosen her brother for her birthday bash.
Angela didn’t call her on the slight fabrication. It would serve no purpose. “That would be wonderful. Nonni and Poppa will be so glad to see you this summer.” Her mother didn’t like the March rain in the San Francisco Bay Area, although this year they weren’t getting much.
Sienna shut the door on any more questions and grabbed her menu. “The waiter will be here to take our orders, and I haven’t even looked.”
He arrived shortly after Sienna had decided on the shrimp salad, dressing on the side.
Even though Angela knew all about weight gain at menopause—honestly, just a couple of pounds—she ordered the lobster salad with melted butter while Teresa went for the lasagna.
“This is a special day and calories don’t count,” Teresa said cheerily.
Sienna smiled, and in the half minute of silence, Angela decided there was no better time to make her offer. Sienna couldn’t be buttered up. She’d either say yes or no.
“Sweetheart, I have a proposition for your birthday gift.”
Sienna picked up her wine as if she needed fortification. “It’s just a thirtieth birthday. You don’t need to do anything special, Mother.”
Angela hadn’t been Mom or Mommy since Sienna was eight years old. She was always Mother. In the teenage years, Sienna had said it with capital letters and two exaggerated syllables.
“It’s very special. And I want to do something to celebrate. Remember I went to Santorini right after I graduated from university?”
Sienna nodded, her gaze wary.
Angela pushed on. “I’d really like to go back, and I thought we could go together to celebrate your thirtieth birthday. I can show you all the places I visited. Since you went to work right out of college, you didn’t have a chance to do anything fun. Maybe now is the right time.”
Sienna jumped in immediately, as if she didn’t even have to think up an excuse. “Mother, I’m trying to get another job. I can’t go to a new company and suddenly take off for a trip to Santorini.” A slight edge of disgust laced her voice.
Until today, Angela hadn’t known about a new job, and Sienna’s quick words squashed her hopes. She tried anyway. “Maybe we could do something between jobs. The trip will be on me. For your birthday.”
Donald was worth millions, and Angela had wrangled a very good divorce settlement after thirty years of marriage. She could afford to take her daughter on a nice trip. Sienna had never asked her father for money. She had a modest apartment in San Francisco, and she paid for everything herself. Unlike Matthew, who had gone directly from university to work for Donald, Sienna had wanted to make it on her own. And she was doing so well. She’d even moved to something pricier than her studio apartment with the galley kitchen where she’d lived the first three years after graduating.
The problem was that making the trip between jobs meant they’d have to go fairly soon, but Angela had planned on June. “Or you can tell them you have a trip already in the works for this summer. That way, you get your feet wet and learn everything before you go.”
Teresa was making an exaggerated eyebrow wiggle, as if she was trying to warn Angela that she was moving too fast and pushing too hard. But she wanted this so badly.
