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Chapter
Two
“Stewart, can youhang the piñata?”Bea said a couple of days later.Her daughter and oldest child, Meredith, turned from the dining room table, where she’d been laying out the gaudy plastic silverware.
“Mom, you got a piñata?”
“It’s in the garage,” she said, her pulse increasing slightly as her eyes skidded across the time on the microwave.“They’ll be here in literally minutes.”
“I can hang a piñata,” Stewart said, sliding his hand along Meredith’s forearm as he passed her.Bea didn’t stare long, because she didn’t need to call any more attention to herself.Stewart and Meredith had gotten engaged recently, and Bea was absolutely over the moon for them.She was.One-hundred percent thrilled.
Their wedding date sat months away, and to her knowledge, Meredith hadn’t done much more than circle the date on the calendar.She was practicing a lot for her final performance piece, which would be in two weeks’ time, and then she’d be finished with her semester at UT-Austin.
She’d be finished with her dual-major in English and piano performance as well.She’d been planning for her graduation, and Bea had promised that she’d then come to Austin to help her daughter start planning the wedding after that.One event at a time, she’d thought then, as she did now.
Stewart Spalding was a good man.Three years older than Meredith, he didn’t have to deal with college finals, dates, or deadlines.He owned a music store in Austin where Meredith went to play quite often, and they’d met and fallen in love through music, dancing, and their shared love of unique doughnuts.
He retrieved the piñata from the garage and took the rope from the counter, freeing up the space there that Bea needed, and slid open the glass door that took him outside to the shaded patio.
“Will your Supper Club ladies even want to hit a piñata?”Meredith asked, and Bea averted her eyes.The Supper Club sounded so proper.So Southern socialite.That was why she’d always banned her family from the house on the third Thursday of the month, once every six months when she had to host at her house.
Nort had taken the kids to movies, over to his parents, or who knew where.Bea didn’t ask too many questions, because then she didn’t have to answer any herself.
Not that she and her friends got raging drunk and went rowdy.But the laughter could be a bit…cackly sometimes, especially if Lauren had some steam to blow off.She worked a high-stress job at a marketing firm, and she had two cats at home to vent to if she needed it.
And then her ladies in the Thursday Night Supper Club.
She had no husband and no children, and it was always Joy who tacked on the word, “Yet,” whenever Lauren would lament that she really had become her neighborhood’s “cat lady” despite her power suits, high heels, and flawless performances for big-name clients like Nike and Coca-Cola.
“I think they’ll enjoy it,” Bea said airily.“Thank you for coming to help.”That was code for,You’ve never stayed for Supper Club.The moment Stewart’s done with the piñata, you should go.
“Of course,” Meredith said, stepping in front of Bea so she couldn’t take the enormous bowl of homemade salsa over to the table.“Mama.”
Bea stopped and looked at her daughter.Meredith stood a couple of inches taller than her, courtesy of her father’s genes, and she had the most wonderfully long, powerful fingers.She’d been playing the piano since age four, and Bea had taught her herself until she’d realized how talented her daughter was.
Meredith definitely inhabited a special place in Bea’s heart, and she put down the bowl of salsa to hug her daughter.“Are you sure you’re okay?”Meredith asked.
“Yes,” Bea whispered, sinking into the embrace and holding her daughter tightly.Oh, how she’d wanted to hold onto her at age thirteen and never let her grow all the way up.Children changed so much in their teen years, and not everything had been pleasant.But Bea loved her children fiercely, and she’d cried the day each of her children had moved out.
She knew it was good for them.She was happy for them.She simply wanted to hold on for just a little longer.Right there, in that moment.Hold tight.Don’t change.Stay with me; stay the same.
Meredith moved and pulled back, and Bea forced herself to release her.She took a moment to cage her emotions back where they belonged so they wouldn’t sound in her voice.“I’ve waited for those papers for months, Mere.I’m good.”
She picked up the bowl of salsa and had just placed it on the table when Stewart poked his head into the house.“All set, Bea.”
“Thank you, Stewart.”She embraced him too, and he fished his keys out of the taco party favors Bea had strewn all over the desk.She had more in the living room on the coffee table, and her kitchen looked like it had spat out streamers in bright red, orange, yellow, and green.
Her daughter and future son-in-law went out the front door, and Bea followed them onto the porch though the timer on the pork enchiladas beeped behind her in the kitchen.As Meredith and Stewart got in their car, another one turned down the driveway in the distance.
Giddiness pranced through Bea at the sight of that stark white, oversized SUV.
Cassandra had been named the designated driver, and she’d have everyone in that ten-passenger vehicle easing to the side of the road so Stewart could get off the property.
Bea grinned and grinned, turning just as Cass started inching forward again.She hurried to grab the oven mitts and get the main dish out.She stopped the timer, caught a glimpse of the piñata as she set a pitcher of margaritas on the table, and turned just as the side door that led into the garage opened.
“Aye yai yai!”Lauren said, leading the other ladies into the house.She wore a feather boa in pink and purple, which clashed terribly with the other Mexican décor Bea had labored to put up that afternoon.
She laughed anyway and started toward her friends.Lauren stopped beside the refrigerator, the hand waving her boa falling to her side.Behind her, the other women piled up until Cass said, “Why are we stopping here?I’m not even out of the mudroom yet.”
