It took all Sadie’s strength not to fall apart. Sadie had kept herself so busy all year that she and her mother had never properly discussed what had happened last Christmas. And while Sadie had come to understand her gran’s need to keep her declining health a secret—Gran thought knowing the truth would have put Sadie’s career at risk—being kept in the dark about Gran’s health still stung. Sadie had never been able to say a proper goodbye—and Lynn could have changed that, if she had wanted to. But now it was too late.
As if reading her thoughts, Lynn spoke in a low voice. “Sadie, I just need you to know, she wasn’t going to let me do anything to jeopardize your chances of winning. Please, understand that. I came here to—”
“Not now,” Sadie said, her expression full of forced cheer. She heard another camera click. “We can’t talk about that here.” She spoke through her smile. “You must be hungry. Max made us a brunch reservation.”
Lynn’s expression brightened. “Will he be joining us?”
“He’s busy. He sends his regrets.”
“Well, I do hope I get to meet him at least once before I go home. Your life is such a mystery to me now.”
My life is a mystery tome, too,Sadie thought as they settled themselves into the back of a cab.
“I was hoping to stay over Christmas,” Lynn was saying. “Iknow you’ll be busy but seeing you sing at the Grand Ole Opry was a dream of your gran’s, and since she’s been gone, I’ve found it’s become a dream of mine, too.”
A lump had formed in Sadie’s throat. All she could do was nod and stare out the window. They cruised toward the restaurant, each wrapped in her own thoughts.
“Well,” Sadie finally said as the restaurant came into view. “Nice to have family around for Christmas. Almost as good as being...” She had been about to sayhomebut the word dried up in her throat.
Gran had been home.
And seeing Lynn only reminded her of this—which was why, fair or not, Sadie had been avoiding spending time with her mother for almost a year.
Soon, they were pulling up to the front of Margot. It had been Max’s favorite place to have holiday brunch with his mother. “Make sure you get the beignets,” he said before she left the hotel room. “No, wait, make it the croissant French toast. No,wait, the savory crepes.”
Inside the restaurant, Christmas carols were playing on the speakers and the vibe was warm and festive. The host gave Sadie and Lynn a four-top in a quiet corner, with a view of the sunny street. As Sadie had predicted, a few photographers had gotten wind of her arrival.
“How do you get used to that?” Lynn asked.
“You just do,” Sadie said, even though that wasn’t exactly true. After the quiet week in Banff, she was finding all the attention hard to become accustomed to again. She tapped her fingers on the table along to the beat of the Ronettes singing “Sleigh Ride” to distract herself.
“I’m proud of you,” Lynn continued. “But worried, too.”
“Why would you be worried?” Sadie picked up the menu so she could avoid her mother’s eyes.
“I can sit here with you and smile and pretend it’s all fine but Iknowyou, and I love you, and while you’re smiling on the outside, your eyes tell a different story. We have to talk, and I meanreallytalk.” Lynn paused, and angled herself away from a photographer who had come right up to the window. “We’ve been at odds for far too long, and of course when you came home last year after the finale, with what had happened with your gran, we both needed time to grieve. And then, when you stopped in during your tour, it was just such a whirlwind. I know you’re upset with me for not telling you how sick Gran was. The thingis—” There were so many flashbulbs going off outside the window now that Lynn had to stop talking. Sadie and her mother watched out the window as a dark-haired man moved through the crowd toward the front door of the restaurant. Then Lynn’s mouth dropped open. “Oh,my goodness.Is that Max Brody? But you said he wasn’t coming!”
Max parted what had become a sea of photographers and glided into the restaurant. He smiled hesitantly when he caught Sadie’s eye, and held up two bouquets of flowers. Any normal person would have been overjoyed to see him. She forced a big smile—flash, flash—as she wiped her sweaty palms on her jeans. Max placed a bouquet beside her mother’s plate, then Sadie’s, before taking Lynn’s hand. “It is so nice to meet you, ma’am.”
“Please, call me Lynn,” Sadie’s mom said as she blushed with pleasure.
“Coffee, Mr. Brody?” the server asked immediately.
“I’ve already had coffee today. But they have the best mimosas here this side of the Gulch and I’m kind of in the mood.” He raised an eyebrow at Sadie, and now she was the one who blushed despite her bleak mood. “Maybe a round of those. Since we’re celebrating and all.”
“What are we celebrating, Max?” Sadie asked.
“Me finally getting to meet your mom. After meeting Elsie already—who, by the way, I miss and wish could be here—it seems to be about time to meet your mom, too, doesn’t it?”
“I miss her, too,” Lynn said, while Sadie stared down at the tablecloth. “And that’s nice of you to say, Max. Yes, let’s order a round of mimosas. In Elsie’s honor.”
The mimosas arrived in short order, and Sadie did not get her Christmas wish that the ground would open up and swallow her before they did. It wasn’t that she wasn’t happy to be near Max, or even that she didn’t want to introduce him to Lynn. It was just that she still hadn’t told Max the truth about Gran, still hadn’t fully absorbed the painful truth herself. And now it all felt like it was closing in on her.
Max raised his champagne flute, and Sadie and Lynn followed suit. “A toast,” he began. “To Elsie.”
“Yes,” Lynn said, her voice full of emotion. “May she rest in peace.”
The next few moments were a blur.
