Though Mandy adored Patrick and had known him since their college days, she had never really warmed up to Daisy. Patrick had met her at a party his friends had thrown to celebrate their first year in business, when the buzz about them was turning into a roar. Daisy was from Charleston, and was a true Southern belle, always perfectly made up and accessorized. When she poured on the charm, men were dazzled. Patrick proposed just a few months after they started dating and they married less than a year later.
Mandy had tried countless times to reach out to Daisy, but for some reason she always held her at arm’s length. Daisy was always sweetly pleasant to her in public, but there was an underlying note of dislike that surfaced now and then. Cory said that Mandy was being paranoid, that of course Daisy adored her. He couldn’t imagine that she wouldn’t feel that way, but Mandy knew better.
Daisy was on this charity committee too and was the first person Mandy saw as she ran through the door.
“Nice of you to join us,” Daisy said sweetly, then turned back to continue tacking swirls of pink crepe paper to the wall.
“I called. Didn’t they tell you?” Mandy said as she scanned the room. It looked like they were almost done decorating. The room looked wonderful and bright, with streamers of pink and white cascading in waves from the ceiling and along the walls.
“Did you? Maybe they did mention something. I’ve just been so busy that I must have missed it.” She looked up at Mandy, waiting for a reaction to the dig. When she didn’t get one, she sighed and added, “They’re out back.”
Mandy hurried to the back of the restaurant where the other girls on the committee were addressing place cards and looking over table settings. Her close friend Barbara looked up and smiled.
“See, no worries. We’re just about done here.”
“Thanks, you guys did a great job with the decorating. I’m sorry I wasn’t here to help.”
“Don’t be ridiculous. You did everything else. This event is going to be great.”
Mandy relaxed a bit and poured herself a cup of coffee, then sat down to review the agenda. As the committee chair for this event, she really had done just about everything except the decorating. She’d negotiated the contract with the club, chosen a caterer, ordered the food and the entertainment, and had carefully chosen the guest list, creating a buzz that made this a must-attend event in their social set. Hopefully the end result would be a cascade of generous checks. To help loosen the purse strings, Mandy also came up with the idea of having an informal wine tasting, with several wines available on each table so people could taste them all and relax and enjoy.
The event went off beautifully. Everyone commented on how great the food was and what a clever idea to do the wine tasting. And it did seem to put everyone into a good and generous mood. The silent auction raised a record amount and Mandy expected that for the next few weeks large checks would be trickling in. Everyone was thrilled with the results, except perhaps Daisy, who had hoped to chair the event and was clearly miffed that the committee had overwhelmingly wanted Mandy to run it.
“I still think it would have been better if we’d had this at that new restaurant downtown, Basil’s. The food there is top notch.”
Barbara shot a knowing glance at Mandy and then said, “Well, I haven’t heard any complaints. In fact, I’ve heard nothing but compliments, especially for the great job that Mandy did in putting this altogether.”
“Right. Well I’m ready for a glass of wine.” Daisy made a beeline for the bar which was nearly empty now that all the party attendees had finally left.
“Has she always been such a bitch?” Barbara asked Mandy once the rest of the group had followed Daisy to the bar. They were all ready to relax now that the event was over and everything had gone off smoothly.
“Pretty much. You’d think we’d be somewhat close, given that our husbands are always together. Sometimes I almost sense a bit of competitiveness there or envy, but then I just shake it off because there’s no reason for it. Cory’s right, I’m a little paranoid when it comes to Daisy. I just can’t figure her out.”
“I wouldn’t waste your energy trying. She’s not worth it. Come on, let’s make our way to the bar. I’ve heard raves about one of the chardonnays we were serving, Cakebread. Sounds like my kind of dessert!”
Mandy’s cellphone rang as they reached the bar. She told Barbara to order her a glass of whatever she was having. She saw her caller ID on her phone flash, and realized she’d had several missed calls, one of them a Nantucket number that she didn’t recognize. She’d turned the ringer off so she wouldn’t be disturbed. It was Jill calling, and that was odd, because she never called during the day.
“Hey, Jill, what’s up? Is everything all right?”
“It’s Grams. Nantucket Hospital just called to let me know she came into the ER from Dover Falls and is being sent to Boston, to Mass General. They suggested the family come as soon as possible.” Mandy had never heard her older sister sound so scared and realized the hospital must have tried to reach her too.
“Are you flying in tonight? I can grab a flight and meet you at Logan.” Then they could grab a cab together to Mass General.
“I’m on my way now, flight leaves in an hour. Can you call Emma?”
“I will. I’ll ask her to meet us at Mass General.”
Chapter 3
“Emma, I’ll always love you, but I’m in love with Tom.” The surreal words kept replaying over and over again in Emma’s mind as she sipped her Absolut and tonic and stared out the tiny airplane window. “… can’t help it… in love with Tom. Never meant to hurt you…” She knew that part of it was true. Peter didn’t have a mean bone in his body. They’d been married almost fifteen years and everyone including Emma thought they were a perfect couple.
Peter was a popular English teacher at Arizona State, where they’d both graduated and met as juniors. He was also a budding author, and they’d just recently celebrated the launch of his second book, a sequel to the first in a mystery series about an English professor who moonlights as an amateur detective. Emma’s photography career was going well, too. She’d recently had several national assignments that seemed to be generating some positive buzz and her first gallery show just a few weeks ago had exceeded everyone’s expectations by completely selling out.
Everything had seemed almost perfect in their lives, until a month ago when her husband told her he was in love with another man. He was in love with another man! How could she not have known? She’d asked herself that question a million times it seemed and in retrospect she supposed there were signs, she just didn’t see them for what they were.
She’d thought it was a good thing when Tom, Peter’s best friend from college, was transferred to Phoenix. She was happy that Peter had someone to go fishing with and to play racquetball with. Since he was more active and going to the gym more often, she didn’t think anything of it when he lost weight and started dressing better.
Because she knew how much Peter loved fishing, she still didn’t think anything of it when he and Tom started going away for a night or even the whole weekend. After all, it was a long drive to the mountains, and since Tom had a cabin there, it made perfect sense for them to stay over instead of making the long drive back, didn’t it? She felt foolish now, but the truth just never crossed her mind, not even once.