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To keep up the ruse, I was also dressed nice, in a pair of black slacks and a crisp white shirt with thin blue stripes. I had the coat I’d bought at a massive discount from Sadie’s boutique a few years ago.
“Yes, it’s going to be amazing,” Riley said, bouncing on her heels as she applied lip gloss in the mirror. Their parents didn’t really have a lot of rules about makeup, but the twins had just started wearing it. I think they were under some pressure from their friends to keep up with the trends. As long as they weren’t walking around with eyelashes crusted in too much shitty mascara the way I had when I was their age, I didn’t care. Couldn’t really help them in the makeup department since I didn’t wear much of it myself. Honor would have been a better tutor in that area. Hers looked flawless every single day. If there was one person on this planet that could do a razor-sharp cat eye look, it was Honor.
“You both look great,” I said as Riley tugged on her dress. I’d made her put leggings on underneath so her legs didn’t get cold. Zoey wore a pair of paperbag waist pants and a cashmere sweater. Both had put their hair up; Riley’s in a ponytail and Zoey’s in a bun.
There had been some drama about who would wear what earrings, because they absolutely could not wear the same pair and they both wanted to wear the same pair.
“Girls! We’ve got to go,” Mark yelled up the stairs.
“Come on, get your coats,” I said as the twins grabbed their winter coats and we walked down the stairs.
“Oh, don’t you look lovely,” Mark said as the twins came down behind me.
“They do, don’t they?” I said. “So grown up.”
Both of them beamed at the praise.
“Let’s go meet your mother,” Mark said, and we headed out to his SUV.
We met Sadie at the boat dock, and she looked gorgeous in a pair of tan pants tucked into boots and a long dark blue raincoat.
“Look at you!” Sadie said, holding her arms out. “Let me look at you. Turn, turn.” Each twin did a little spin so Sadie could gush about their outfit.
“Mark, you look nice as well,” Sadie said when Mark didn’t speak.
“As do you,” he finally said, and I caught just the tiniest touch of a blush on his cheeks. I shared a smile with the twins. This was a positive development.
The five of us walked over toward the boat as a group and greeted the captain and met the crew who would be serving us a lobster feast at sea.
Mark helped Sadie onto the boat, and then turned to help the twins.
“Oh, no,” Riley said, putting her hand to her stomach. Zoey elbowed her and hissed “not yet!” in her ear.
“What’s wrong?” Sadie said, instantly on alert.
“Oh, um,” Riley said. “I feel seasick?”
“Sweetie, you’re not even in the boat,” Sadie said. “And you’ve never been seasick before. Are you nervous about going on the boat?”
“Yes!” Riley said, seizing on this new excuse. “I’m nervous about going on the boat.”
“Me too!” Zoey practically yelled.
“We don’t have to go anywhere right now,” the captain said. “In fact, we can keep the boat right here in the harbor and still have a lovely evening.”
“No!” both girls said at the same time. “We want you to go and enjoy the ride. We’ll just stay here with Layne.” My arms were seized by small, but strong, hands.
“I can look after them,” I said. The twins had given me a script.
Mark and Sadie looked at each other and then burst out laughing.
“Was this all a ploy to get us alone together?” Sadie asked.
“Depends. Are you mad?” Riley asked, trying to hide behind me.
Sadie and Mark shared another look and it was so beautiful that I wanted to cry. There was a warmth to the way they glanced at one another that had been grown over years of knowing each other and the shared love of their daughters.
“No, we’re not mad,” Mark said. “You could have just told us that’s what you were doing without this whole production.”
