Wait for the Rain (7 page)

“That’s island living for you. It’s like going back in time, before iPhones and Facebook took over the world.”

Daphne looked out at the beach. “I take a lot of walks at home, and I can’t remember the last time I didn’t pass at least a handful of people on their phones. Counting KC I saw exactly four people during my walk here, and definitely no phones.”

Skylar leaned back in the patio chair. “That’s what I love about tropical vacations: the relaxed, low-key energy that seems to permeate the air. When I’m not on a soul-killing conference call, that is.”

“You work so hard, it’s really impressive,” Daphne said. “You’ve
always
worked so hard. I think that’s one of the reasons I did too, when we lived together. I had to keep up with you.”

Skylar shook her head. “I highly doubt that. You were pretty driven, even more so after we graduated. I had no doubt you were going places.”

An awkward silence followed.

“If you
wanted
to, I mean. I hope you know what I mean,” Skylar added. “You know how smart and capable I think you are, right?”

Daphne smiled and hoped it looked convincing. “I do, and thank you. You deserve to take a break for a few days. That’s all I’m saying.”

Skylar glanced at her watch. “Easier said than done. I still have to check on one more thing before dinner.”

Daphne gestured toward the shoreline. “KC and I met a sweet older couple when we were walking on the beach. I think they said they’re from Connecticut.”

KC emerged, carefully carrying three glasses of water. “Did I hear my name?”

Daphne reached for a glass. “I was just about to tell Skylar about Harry and Eleanor.” She turned toward Skylar. “They’re here to celebrate their
fortieth
anniversary.”

KC handed Skylar a glass, then took a seat on the bench. “Pretty cool, huh? They seem really happy together.”

Skylar nodded. “Forty years is quite a milestone in and of itself, but forty years and
happy
is almost unheard of. Good for them.”

KC took a sip of water. “They told us laughter is the key to a successful union, because when you’re laughing, you’re being yourself, and if you’re not being yourself, what’s the point? I liked that.”

“I liked that too,” Daphne said softly. She tried to pinpoint when she’d stopped being herself with Brian.
Too long ago.

“Funny how hard it is to be yourself sometimes, isn’t it?” Skylar said. “Doesn’t make a lot of sense when you think about it.”

Daphne felt her neck get hot and hoped the conversation wasn’t leading in a direction she didn’t want to go. She cleared her throat. “Anyhow, it was wonderful to see them happy together after so many years.”

“My parents were never happy,” KC said. “If my mom hadn’t gotten pregnant, I doubt they would have married.”

Skylar looked at Daphne. “Your parents are still together, right?”

Daphne nodded, grateful for the shift in course, however slight. “They’re hanging in there, for better or for worse, although the way my mom loves to complain about everything, I suspect that for my dad it’s mostly worse. What about yours?”

Skylar held up her glass as if in a toast. “They hit fifty years last summer.”

Daphne tried to wrap her head around the idea of being married for that long. “Wow
.
I think my parents are at forty-two.”

“Max and I are heading on six,” KC said. Then, as if reading Daphne’s mind, she leaned over and squeezed Daphne’s knee. “For what it’s worth, my parents didn’t even make it to five.” Daphne gave her a grateful smile in return, but she didn’t say anything.

Skylar sipped her drink. “Half a century. Insane, right? I don’t know how they do it. They seem pretty content too. I mean they bicker here and there, but for the most part they genuinely enjoy each other’s company. If I were married to the same man for that long, I think I’d kill the poor guy. I can’t even imagine being married for
one
year, much less fifty.” Marriage and children had never been in Skylar’s plans.

“Did they have a big party to celebrate?” KC asked.

Skylar nodded. “We all went to Hawaii.”

Daphne turned her head. “You mean
all of you
, including your million nieces and nephews?” Skylar had three sisters and two brothers who were all married with multiple kids.

Skylar took another sip of her margarita, then set it on the bench next to her chair. “The whole burrito. It was a zoo. Total chaos. I swear to God we took up half the hotel. It was fun, but also exhausting. I spent nearly every night at the bar trying to de-stress.”

“More self-medicating?”

“
Exactly
. Perfect use case.” She glanced at the dwindling liquid in her margarita glass. “Speaking of which, I might be in need of a refill soon.”

Daphne closed her eyes and leaned back in her chair. “I can’t imagine having a family that big. When I was a kid, by default our family vacations were always so tame.” Daphne was an only child.

An only child with an only child.

She’d never been on a vacation with her own parents as an adult, although she and Brian had once gone on a cruise with his parents when she was pregnant with Emma. The elder Mr. and Mrs. White weren’t unkind people, but they were so formal and reserved that for the entire week Daphne felt like she was still auditioning for the role of daughter-in-law—even though she was already married to their son.

Throughout the duration of their union that feeling had never gone away.
Will they like Alyssa better?

She tried to push the negative thoughts aside as she heard KC asking Skylar a question. “Did everyone get along okay on the trip?”

“Pretty well, or well enough. There were at least two tantrums a day, but usually only one was by an adult.”

Daphne blinked. “What?”

Skylar pushed her arm. “I’m joking.”

“Oh, got it.” Daphne was still only half paying attention, still thinking about how Brian’s parents had never quite warmed to her. In the early part of her marriage, she’d tried so hard to get them to like her, and while they’d defrosted slightly over the years, she’d grown to accept that they were never going to embrace her with open arms, figuratively or literally. They just weren’t that type of people. But it still stung that they had never seemed all that interested in the person she was, treating her instead as their son’s wife, now ex-wife, or as their granddaughter’s mother. Never as Daphne
.
And I let it happen.

Skylar gave her a strange look. “Daphne, are you okay?”

Daphne forced a smile, but she knew it was a bit stiff. “Yes, sorry, I’m just a little scattered right now.”
I’m a mess. Can’t you two see that?

“You clearly need to get used to hanging out with me again. You’re way out of practice,” Skylar said.

“Agreed. We need to break you in,” KC said.

Daphne stared out at the water, unable to look her friends in the eye. “I’ll take that.” It pained her that she couldn’t open up to the people she’d once shared everything with. She wanted to, but she just couldn’t do it. She felt pitiful for her inability to break free from her stagnation, to make changes she knew she needed to move herself forward.

After a few moments of silence, Skylar sat up in her chair and stretched her arms over her head. “So
anyhow
, the big Aloha Family Adventure went well, and no one ended up in the hospital, although one of my sisters nearly lost it when my nephew sailed out of one of the swinging hammocks at the hotel and landed right on some tiny old Japanese lady.”

KC covered her mouth with her hand. “Oh my gosh! Was he hurt? Was
she
hurt?”

Skylar shook her head. “Luckily no, but when he landed on the lady, it startled her so much that she farted, like
really loud
. She didn’t speak a lick of English, but apparently flatulence is a universal language.”

Daphne laughed, and KC let out a little shriek. “That’s hilarious!”

“My nephew thought so too. We all did, but my sister was mortified. She’s a bit uptight if you ask me, although I’m not one to judge anyone’s parenting style. I don’t even have a cat.”

“Parenting is tricky, that’s for sure,” Daphne said. “It’s not like anyone gives you an instruction manual, you know? So you end up feeling your way through, learning as you go.”

“Same goes for being a stepmother,” KC said. “I pretty much walked in blind and still have no idea if I’m doing it right. But neither one of them is in jail, so that’s a good sign.”

Daphne smiled at KC, wishing she could be as forthright with her lack of confidence.
I’m still hoping I’ll figure it out too.
Why couldn’t she just admit that?

Skylar stood up and stretched her arms over her head again. “I honestly don’t know how people do it. I have no problem running a global sales operation, but for the life of me I couldn’t handle raising kids.” She pointed at Daphne. “I’m so impressed that you have a
teenager
and still look so good. I think being a mom would age me rapidly.”

“I bet you’d make a great mom,” Daphne said. She meant it. Skylar was perhaps the most competent person she knew.

Skylar turned toward the house. “I guess I could do it if I had to, but to be honest I don’t think I was born with that gene. I’m more than happy being the cool aunt who lives in New York City.”

KC pumped a fist in the air. “That’s the spirit! Who wouldn’t want a cool auntie who lives in New York City?”

Skylar tipped her glass at her. “Exactly. Now come on, ladies, let’s get you each a margarita.”

Twenty minutes later, Daphne leaned over the granite island in the kitchen and looked at KC, who was stretching on the floor next to the barstools. A sea of gleaming copper pots and pans hung overhead on an oval rack. Daphne wondered if they’d ever been touched. “You’re really still playing soccer?” she asked. KC had just shared her plans to participate in an adult tournament the following weekend.

KC moved her legs into a straddle position, then leaned to the right to grab her toes. “Why wouldn’t I still play? I love it.”

“I think it’s fantastic that you’re still playing,” Skylar said. “I bet you run those young whippersnappers into the ground.”

KC looked up at her with a grin. “I don’t know about running anyone into the ground, but I do a pretty good job of holding my own out there.”

“Are you the oldest one?” Daphne asked KC.

KC shook her head. “Not by a long shot. Tons of older people play soccer. In fact, the tournament next weekend is over-forty.”

“A whole tournament for people over forty?” Daphne raised her eyebrows. “I’ve been to a few volleyball tournaments with Emma, and they’re pretty intense even for the kids. Seems like a soccer tournament would be really hard on your body.”

KC sat up and stretched her hands over her head. “It’s a lot of running, but it’s not that bad if you have subs. I’ve been playing in tournaments for years, but this is the first time I’m old enough to play in the over-forty division, so I can’t wait.”

Skylar gave her a strange look as she reached for the pitcher of margaritas. “Do you realize how weird that sounds?”

KC laughed. “They have over-thirty, over-forty, over-fifty, even over-sixty. That way you can always play against people your own age, so it’s competitive. I’m really looking forward to it. After all these years of chasing around youngsters in the over-thirty division, in the over-forty I’ll get to be the fastest one again.”

“Only you could make turning forty sound like something to aspire to,” Skylar said. “You should work in advertising. You could probably package up sand and sell it at the beach on spring break.”

“Wouldn’t it be nice to be on spring break again?” Daphne said with a wistful smile. “To be that young again?”

KC switched her stretch to the other leg. “Guys, we
are
young.”

“We’re not
that
young,” Skylar said.

KC nodded. “Well sure, we’re not twenty anymore, but who cares? We’re not
old
, just older than we used to be.”

Skylar pointed at her. “Seriously, you should join an advertising agency. You could make millions.”

“I feel old,” Daphne said softly, surprised at her candor. She thought of her conversation with Clay, how she’d been too embarrassed to tell him the reason behind her reunion with her friends.

KC looked up at her. “Well, you shouldn’t. Didn’t you hear what Harry and Eleanor said to us? To them,
we’re
the youngsters. Just because I can’t run as fast as I did when I was in college doesn’t mean I’m
old
. It doesn’t mean I can’t still play soccer and have fun.”

“Harry and Eleanor seem to have made quite an impression on you,” Skylar said.

KC nodded. “They seem like good people.”

Daphne nodded too. “Supersweet. A little, um,
feistier
than I expected for people their age, but they have a warm aura about them.”

“Oh, now I want to meet them,” Skylar said. “I like me some feisty.”

KC pulled one foot behind her and moved into the hurdler’s stretch. “Trust me,
you guys, as a woman who is married to an older man, I know from personal experience that age is just a number. It means nothing unless you
let
it mean something. It’s all in how you think.”