Chances Are (27 page)

The cast of
Friends
couldn’t have delivered their lines with better comic timing. Maddy burst into laughter and was joined, a beat later, by the rest of the gang of mothers, who most likely didn’t find it half as funny.

Claire’s eyes met hers for a second, but she wasn’t sure if her expression said
Thanks
or
Go to hell.
In four months they would be family. She would give Claire the benefit of the doubt and assume the former.

“So what brings you to our corner today, David?” Maddy decided to ask him before Gina had a chance to ask something even more embarrassing. “You’re usually over at Maple and Ocean.”

“You know your corners.” David gave her a slightly gap-toothed smile that was surprisingly appealing.

“Corners are very important around here,” she said, smiling back. “Part of the social order.”

“Actually I’d better motor over there,” he said. “Claire and I started talking, and I lost track of time.”

They were all over Claire before the poor guy rounded the corner, bombarding her with questions and one-liners that would make a censor blush.

“Clearly you all need psychiatric care,” Claire said, shaking her head. “Get over it, ladies. We were talking about this week’s soccer practice.”

“A likely story,” Denise said with a wag of her eyebrows. “That didn’t look like soccer talk to me.”

“Just because he wears glasses doesn’t mean he isn’t hot,” Pat added to the mayhem. “He’s got a great butt.”

“I like his hands,” Fran chimed in. “I never noticed how big they are.”

“Big hands, huh?” Gina had a dangerous look in her eyes. “You know what they say about big hands.”

Maddy had never been happier to see a school bus filled with screaming kids in her entire life. Claire’s expression was unreadable, but then again, it usually was. She couldn’t possibly know about Gina and Billy and stand there day after day cracking jokes and making small talk. And she couldn’t possibly have any suspicions about Joey. No woman could be that forgiving. It simply wasn’t possible.

Maybe Claire didn’t know how serious it had been between Billy and Gina. Maybe that was how she was able to handle it. Gina was just one of many, no more important than the salesclerk at Super Fresh or the bank clerk one town over. Marriage seemed to be equal parts love and accommodation, and nobody on the outside looking in could understand the balance.

Before Gina had told her about the affair, Maddy had enjoyed the byplay at the corner, the freewheeling, easygoing give and take. But ever since learning the truth, she had found herself wishing Gina would take it down a notch or three, if not for Claire’s sake then for her own. It wasn’t funny any longer. She and Claire had their problems, but the woman deserved a hell of a lot better than she was getting from Gina. Claire was Billy’s widow. Gina wasn’t. That had to count for something, and the sooner her cousin got that fact through her head, the better off they would all be.

The kids exploded from the school bus on a wave of shrieks and giddy laughter. By the time the school year ended next month, they would need to meet the bus with tranquilizer guns. A slight exaggeration, to be sure, but not by much. The energy level was downright scary, like a sugar high taken to the tenth degree. Gina’s dynamos were the first off. No surprise there. Fran’s kids, Denise’s, Pat’s brood, Vivi’s, Billy Jr., followed by Hannah, who was talking his ear off.

Hannah had developed a fascination for Claire’s youngest and trailed after Billy, regaling him with stories of an imaginary dragon who lived behind her Grandpa Bill’s house in Oregon.

“Billy has the patience of a saint,” Maddy said to Claire as Hannah chattered away. “Even her grandmother occasionally asks for a time out.”

“Hannah seems to be his one exception to the ‘girls stink’ rule.”

Maddy laughed out loud. “He’s that age, isn’t he? I’d forgotten how it is.”

“Believe me, these are the easy years. Just wait until Hannah decides you’re too stupid to live. That’s when the fun really starts.”

“And you’ve gone through it four times already?” With a fifth on the horizon.

“Call me crazy,” Claire said with a sigh. “I’m a regular glutton for punishment.”

Of course she was anything but. Claire might be prickly at times, but no one would ever say she wouldn’t lay down her life for her children.

“Sometimes I’m not sure I have what it takes to manage one,” Maddy said. “I feel like I’m making it up as I go along.”

“So does everybody,” Claire said. “We all make it up as we go along and hope for the best.”

That was the most Claire had said to her since she and Aidan got engaged. Maddy decided to take advantage of the crack in the ice. “I was thinking of walking over to Cuppa to check things out. Want to join me?”

“They’re waiting for me at the bar. Tommy wants to leave early.”

“Five minutes,” Maddy urged. “I think we need to see what we’re getting ourselves into.”

“When you put it like that . . .” Claire turned toward Billy, who was still being talked into submission by Hannah. “We’re walking over to see Olivia’s new store, Billy. Hold Hannah’s hand when we cross the street, okay?”

“You made her day,” Maddy said as they waved good-bye to the others and set out down the block. “She’ll be floating on air.”

They chatted about the weather, the need for new school buses, the cost of auto insurance in the Garden State. Nothing important. Nothing memorable. But at least they were talking. Claire seemed a little preoccupied, but that was better than the thinly veiled dislike she had been exhibiting the last few weeks.

“Looks like they’ve got a full house,” Claire said as they reached the old McClanahan place. “Liv must’ve hired every workman in town.”

“And a few outlanders,” Maddy said with a nod toward two well-known contractors from Cape May whose trucks were parked front and center.

“It must be nice to be able to hire the best and not worry about pinching pennies.”

“Remember that when we negotiate compensation.”

Claire’s eyes widened. “You’re good,” she said. “I hadn’t given that a thought.”

“I was an accountant for nine years,” Maddy reminded her. “I watched a lot of people make a lot of mistakes. I guess I learned something along the way.”

“Have you talked about money yet?”

Maddy started to laugh. “Now here’s where it gets embarrassing: I was so excited about the job that I didn’t even think about money.”

“No wonder they came to us,” Claire said dryly. “We’re the cheapest talent in town.”

Maddy was about to point out that a woman who could afford the priciest painters and decorators between Paradise Point and Philadelphia could also afford to pay a fair wage to the two women who would be running the place. Fortunately, sanity returned moments before she opened her mouth to speak. Claire was close friends with Liv. Rose was Maddy’s mother. Anything she said to Claire was likely to be repeated to Olivia at the speed of light and, if she was being honest, she wasn’t above gossiping with her mother about her future sister-in-law.

Hannah tugged at Maddy’s hand. “I don’t like it here,” she whispered. “I want to go home.”

“We’ll go home in a little while,” Maddy said. “Claire and I are going to be working here this summer, Hannah. We need to look around.”

“I don’t like it,” Hannah repeated, upping the decibel level while Billy watched, wide-eyed. “It looks like the witch’s house.”

“Hansel and Gretel,” Maddy said to Claire, who nodded.

“It does look a little fairy tale-ish, doesn’t it?”

“Hannah’s a baby,” Billy piped up. “A big fat baby.”

Hannah swung her book bag at him. “Am not.”

“Are, too. You’re a big fat scaredy cat.”

“Take that back!” She took another swing at him, clipping his shoulder with her bag.

“Scaredy cat! Scaredy cat! Scaredy—”

Hannah swung at him a third time, hitting him in the back, then burst into wild tears. She grabbed Maddy around the waist, crying as if her heart would break.

Claire, red-faced, whirled around and faced her son. “Apologize to Hannah this minute, mister.”

Billy looked down at his sneakers, while Hannah sobbed loudly against Maddy’s right hip. Maddy, however, wasn’t fooled by this sudden transformation from street fighter to wounded fawn.

“Hannah, tell Billy you’re sorry you hit him.”

“Will not.” She looked up midsob, and Maddy noted her precious daughter’s eyes were bone dry.

“Hannah.”

Claire nudged Billy forward. “William.”

The two kids mumbled unrepentant apologies. Hannah glared at her somewhat fallen idol, while Billy pretended she wasn’t there.

A pair of workmen toting a quartet of two-by-eights brushed past them with a brusque, “Watch out.”

“Maybe this isn’t such a good idea after all,” Maddy said, gesturing first toward the workmen and then toward the kids. “I think we’re an accident waiting to happen.”

“I hear you,” Claire said. “Why not tomorrow morning after the bus leaves?”

“Sounds great,” Maddy said. “We’ll take a look, then sit down and talk about it at Julie’s.”

“Deal.” Claire flashed a quick, semidefrosted smile. “Sorry about Billy’s smart mouth.”

“I’m sorry Hannah hit him with her bag.” At least the mothers were trying to play nice. “Don’t look now, Claire, but I think Billy’s about to go Dumpster diving.”

Claire turned in time to see her son scaling the top of the dark blue Dumpster. “William Michael O’Malley, if you’re not down here in the next four seconds, so help me, you’re going to grow up thinking TV is an urban legend.”

Hannah, alligator tears forgotten, watched transfixed as Billy pushed his luck as long as he dared. He balanced precariously on the edge of the Dumpster, a wicked grin on his face, and looked like he was about to take a dive into the remains of Old Man McClanahan’s kitchen cabinets, when Claire took two giant steps in his direction, and he quickly clambered down, looking triumphant and sheepish as only an eight-year-old boy could do.

Maddy took Hannah’s hand and turned to leave.

“By the way,” Claire said, “in case you’re wondering, there’s nothing between David Fenelli and me.”

“I would never have asked,” Maddy said.
But I
was
wondering.

“We’re taking the kids for pizza Friday to celebrate the end of the season.”

“Okay,” Maddy said, feeling like Alice down the rabbit hole. Amazing what a girl could find out by not asking.

“So now you know.”

Who would’ve guessed there really
was
something going on between Claire O’Malley and David Fenelli?

“SORRY I’M SO late.” Maddy burst into the room, hair flying, cheeks pink, radiant with youth and health and happiness. How many times during those long years of separation had Rose longed to see her daughter burst through a doorway just that way, filled with high spirits, trailing joy behind her. “You won’t believe what’s going on with Claire O’Malley! She’s—” Her gaze fell onto the spill of silk and satin on the bed. “Oh!”

Rose’s heart beat faster as her daughter bent low over the rum pink and pressed her cheek to the shimmering fabric.

“It’s so—oh no!” Maddy blinked furiously. “I hope it’s waterproof.”

“Not to worry.” Lucy blinked back tears of her own. “A few tears, a few crystals. Only we’ll know the difference.”

Rose was too filled with emotion to speak. There were so many things she wanted to say to her daughter, so many hopes and dreams to share with her. So many mistakes to own up to. So much lost time to make up for.

“Lucia brought a few sketches with her,” she said instead, pointing toward the drawing pad lying facedown on her dressing table. “Take a look.”

Maddy drew her right forearm across her eyes, then flashed a silly grin. For the briefest moment, an instant really, she saw her daughter as a little girl, all arms and legs and energy, and she saw her as a teenager, all tumbling hair and lovely curves and plans for a future that didn’t include her mother or Paradise Point. It all went by so fast. If you looked away for a heartbeat you missed so much . . .

Hannah and Priscilla ran into the room, trailing beach sand and chocolate chip cookie crumbs. Lucy scooped up Priscilla before the puppy had the chance to jump up onto the bed and put paw prints on the luscious fabrics.

“Ohh!” Hannah reached out to touch the slippery rum pink satin. “A Barbie wedding dress!”

“That’s a great idea, Hannah,” Lucy said. “I’ll make Barbie a wedding dress just like your mommy’s. What would you think about that?”

Hannah beamed at her great-aunt. “She needs shoes, too.”

Maddy tugged on her daughter’s ponytail. “Honey, first you thank Aunt Lucy, then you hit her up for the Manolo Blahniks.”

“She’s definitely a DiFalco.” Rose winked as she said it. “The shoes are the first sign.”

The three women burst into laughter while Hannah, still a little young for Manolos, leaped onto the bed and did a somersault across some ivory duchesse that probably cost enough to fund her first semester at a decent college.

Nobody blinked.

“So which sketch do you like best, Maddy?” Lucy sat down on the edge of the bed across from Maddy and Hannah. “I’m partial to the one with the Grecian style drape in the back. With your height and your lovely shoulders, we can . . .”

Everything Rose had hoped for when she orchestrated that terrible trip to the bridal department at Saks suddenly materialized right there in her bedroom. Maddy, standing tall and lovely in a puddle of sunshine while Lucy draped her in satin and lace. Hannah and Priscilla, propped up on pillows near the headboard, watching everything with wide-eyed fascination. Her beloved sister Lucy, eyes shining with happiness, as she shaped a gown fit for a princess with straight pins and love.