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ChapterEighteen
To Alana, it was miraculous to turn forty-five.
Her heart was shattered into a thousand pieces; her life had no direction, and a woman named Marcia Conrad mocked her like a bigger bully at recess. Yet still, time had its way of moving them all forward, all the way to June 26.
After a cozy breakfast with Greta and Julia, Alana met the Nantucket Dreamers, the four-girl acting troupe who’d set their sights on performing Greta’s play for the Fourth of July Festival. In just a week, the girls had managed to memorize all their lines and focus on strengthening their beliefs in their characters, feeling the density of their emotions and honoring the Nantucket women’s pasts.
The girls met in the residency portion of The Copperfield House, in a larger library space just a few rooms away from where Asher had made that iconic painting. The idea to use that part of the house had been Bernard’s. “The house craves more art, more theater, more life!” he’d said during one of his rare appearances from his upstairs study. “Give the house what it needs.”
Just as Bernard had suggested, Alana fell easily into the role of “director.” Harlow, Evie, Nora, and Sarah listened to her with impassioned expressions, marking notes in their scripts. Alana was grateful for their rapt attention— and even more grateful that they normally arrived at rehearsal well-fed and ready to perform. If she had to guess, Sarah had probably gained five pounds since the start of June, a miraculous feat for a young woman who’d fainted on the boardwalk only a few weeks ago.
Toward the end of rehearsal, Julia rapped at the door of the rehearsal space. “I hope I’m not interrupting?”
“We’re just about finished,” Alana called.
Julia eased the door opened and appeared in the dark shadow of the doorway with a gorgeously decorated birthday cake, upon which glowed ten candles. Her face was illuminated beautifully as she began to sing. “Happy birthday to you.”
“It’s your birthday? Why didn’t you tell us?” Sarah called, draping a hand over Alana’s elbow as the rest of the girls joined in with the song.
Alana shrugged. “Once you reach a certain age, you don’t want to celebrate anymore.”
But in her heart of hearts, as Julia placed the cake on the table in front of her and the girls gathered around, Alana brimmed with happiness.Maybe it doesn’t get much better than this.
Julia sliced the cake and splayed thick slabs of iced dessert across china plates. The girls hesitated before diving in, scraping the tongs of their forks clean as they chatted about the upcoming performance and the costumes they still needed to finish making. Alana mouthed to Julia, “Thank you,” and took another bite of her cake.
“This isn’t all I have planned,” Julia told her mischievously.
“Uh oh. Julia Copperfield has a plan,” Alana joked.
“Girls? Would any of you object to an afternoon on a sailboat?” Julia asked, grabbing the attention of the four teenagers.
“What? Oh my gosh!” Harlow shrieked.
“Seriously?” Evie demanded.
Julia laughed. “I don’t see why not. Don’t you want to celebrate your director’s forty-fifth birthday in style?”
“Could we stop saying ‘forty-five’?” Alana asked, wincing.
“Everyone needs to text their parents to make sure it’s okay,” Julia ordered, sounding like the mother she’d always been.
The girls did as they were told, grabbing their smartphones and asking their mothers and fathers for permission. Julia explained quietly to Alana that Charlie had the sailboat all ready to go and that seven people was just about the limit.
“I have sparkling grape juice chilling in the fridge and loads of other snacks,” Julia continued. “Plus, Charlie’s got two girls of his own. He’s used to this,” she gestured toward the gossiping and giggling girls, all of whom received permission from their parents within a few minutes.
“Does anyone need to run home and grab swimsuits?” Julia asked.
“We have them with us all the time, just in case,” Sarah explained, patting her backpack.
“I figured. Alana and I were exactly the same. Always ready for a swim,” Julia said, her smile widening.
“Always ready for whatever magic summer would bring,” Alana agreed. She then leafed through her purse to find her Chanel sunglasses case. Her sunglasses on, she gestured toward the impossibly bright light outside the window. “Let’s hit the water, girls!”
Charlie Bellows awaited them at the docks. A handsome dirty blonde in dark shorts and a bleached white t-shirt, he bent gently to kiss Julia on the cheek and whispered something Alana couldn’t make out in her ear. Alana was struck with long-ago memories of long-ago jealousy when she’d felt that Charlie and Julia had had the sort of relationship she craved. Back then, she and Jeremy had run one another through each other’s chaos, breaking up and getting back together so frequently that her head spun.
“This is Charlie,” Julia said to the teenagers.
“Hi, Charlie!” The girls greeted him as they clambered onto his sailboat.
