Chapter 6

Jacinta chose not to respond; her maternal intuition pinged again that was something between Marlo and her daughter, even though she knew the two women had never shown a whit of attraction for each other. She sat down and pulled a newspaper article out of one of her folders, “Wedding announcements: Lawrence Halliday’s son got married last weekend. You stood him up.”

Fiona scanned the article, “I did no such thing. I very politely declined his invitation to attend. Halliday’s been trying to pitch me on signing his bank as exclusive advisors as we figure out what we want to do our solar business. I know his wedding invitation was a badly veiled quid pro quo.”

Jacinta pointed at the paper, “He poured a million dollars into that thing for his son. He doesn’t need your money.”

Fiona scoffed, “Rich people always want to get richer… Oh!” A photograph below the Halliday wedding article caught her eye.

“What?” Jacinta leaned in as Fiona pointed at the photograph.

“I know her.” Fiona was suddenly finding it hard to focus her eyes.

Her mother looked closer at the caption, “Lauren Calder?”

“No, the other her, Rowan… um, RJ Kan. She said she wouldn’t… I never would have guessed…” Fiona trailed off, lost in thought.

Jacinta skimmed the article, “Seems like they’re very happy together.”

When Fiona didn’t respond, Jacinta looked up at her daughter, whose face was hard to read.

“Fiona? What is it?”

Fiona rubbed her eyes and smiled, “Nothing. I wasn’t expecting to see anyone I know, that’s all. I’m going to take a shower.”

The older woman didn’t press further but tapped on the stack of folders on the table, “Please go through these after you’re done; final guest list for next week, the draft of your speech, and yes… the wine list.”

Fiona was lost in thought again.

“Yeah! Sure. Ok. No problem.”

Jacinta gave Fiona a long, hard look before shaking her head with a sigh. She left the suite, deeply curious about the couple in the paper, and wondering what could have spooked her daughter like that.

Once the door clicked shut, Fiona picked up the newspaper and eyed the article about Rowan and Lauren hungrily.

Lauren Calder and Rowan “RJ” Kan were married May 17th in a private ceremony in New York. The couple met last year while working at Winchester Brown, a global investment bank…

There was more to the article, but Fiona couldn’t help staring at the photograph. Her mother was right, they did look very happy together. In the photo, RJ’s face was bursting with love and pride. It made her appear joyfully seraphic.

Fiona felt utterly abandoned… and betrayed. She felt like she’d made a pact with herself to keep things simple, and had found the courage in her convictions to stick to solitude because she knew that somewhere out in the world, RJ was doing the same. But RJ wasn’t. RJ had – somehow – reversed her guarantee of remaining unattached.

“RJ…” Fiona said quietly, “What changed?”

Chapter Three: A Birthday Bash (A Week Later, San Francisco)

The hotel staff were out in full force as the final preparations for Fiona’s birthday got underway.

“This is the most ridiculous waste of everybody’s time,” Fiona was pissed, “A party is the last thing I want.”

“Keep it to yourself,” her mother admonished, “Everybody’s working really hard, please don’t go around making people feel like they did something wrong. Because they didn’t.”

“FINE.” Fiona stormed out of her mother’s room and strode angrily back to her suite.

Jacinta sighed and went over the seating chart one more time. The family had taken up an entire floor of the Brackenridge for the week leading up to the big birthday celebrations, and most of them had been thankful that Fiona’s suite was on a different floor. The soon-to-be birthday girl had been in a bad mood pretty much all week, which was made worse by Marlo’s absence. Marlo took a three-day trip to a conference in Portland but was due back any minute.

Jacinta looked up expectantly when the door to the drawing room opened, but it was Gideon, not Marlo, who stepped in.

“Everything’s looking good downstairs,” he said brightly, “I just peeked in on the A/V rehearsals and it’s looking good.”

“Thanks, Gideon. Is Marlo back yet?”

“No, not for another half hour, probably.” Gideon looked at his watch.

“Can you please send her straight in when she returns?” Jacinta smiled, “Nothing to worry about, I just want a word with her.”

“Of course,” Gideon nodded, “Oh, and the head chef is waiting outside. Should I have her come in?”

Jacinta nodded, “Yes, yes, yes… thanks, Gideon.”

Darla, the head chef, came through and dove straight into the menu. Jacinta nodded every once in a while; there was no need to do anything more as Darla seemed to have thought through all the angles and myriad dietary restrictions.

A confident knock on the door announced Marlo’s return. Jacinta shouted for her to enter and pointed to the seat next to her. Darla gathered her stack of papers and headed out.

“Happy birthday Marlo,” the older woman leaned into Marlo’s side for a moment.

“Thanks, Jacinta,” Marlo leaned back affectionately against the matriarch, “Older, but not wiser!”

Jacinta waved her hand dismissively, “How was the flight?”

“Pretty smooth flight. Conference was uneventful… I actually have some very good news that Fiona will be happy to hear. Dad said you wanted to see me?”

Jacinta sighed, “More like I wanted to warn you: Her royal highness has been suffering from a major shortage of people skills this past week. She’s been a pill. Tread lightly, good news or not.”

“Is she freaking out about getting older?”

“No,” Jacinta reached into a folder and selected the Weddings Announcements page from a week before, “It was this. I have a feeling it was this.”

“Halliday’s son’s wedding?” Marlo scoffed, “She doesn’t even like the guy!”

Jacinta pointed at the article below, “No, this article. Do you know either of these women?”

Marlo ran her eyes quickly over the article, “Nope. Never heard about them before. Fi freaked about two women getting married?”

“She stared at this article for a while and then kind of zoned out. She’s been a buzzkill ever since.”

Marlo looked up humorously, “How do you know the term ‘buzzkill’?”

Jacinta winked, “It helps to have grandkids. Benji and Evan told me I was ‘a major buzzkill’ last week when they begged for more ice cream and I said no! I found it delightful!”

Marlo chucked, “Okay. I’ll go see why Fiona’s being such a pain in the you-know-what. May I have that article?”

Marlo swiveled the newspaper around and read through the article. On the face of it, there seemed to be very little to explain why it would cause Fiona any distress.

Marlo read aloud, “‘The couple met last year while working at Winchester Brown. Winchester Brown. That’s her friend Mona’s firm. Her friend Mona, who hosted the reunion dinner five years ago… the dinner where she came back saying she had a really good time but wouldn’t tell me anything else…”

Marlo looked up at Jacinta who wasn’t following Marlo’s train of thought.

“What is it, Marlo?”

Marlo’s brain tumbled forward recklessly as she grasped onto this line of inquiry, “But why get upset about this announcement?”

Jacinta pointed at the photo, “She said she knows this woman… um… ‘RJ’, according to the article.”

Marlo stared at the photo. But why would she get all upset about these guys getting hitched? Unless she didn’t want them getting married? But why wouldn’t she? She wouldn’t if she… oh!

“Holy effing shit.” Marlo felt like she’d been punched in the gut.

Jacinta took one look at Marlo’s face and a revelatory intuition snapped into place, “You think Fiona was involved with one of them!!??”

Marlo pointed at RJ, “Her. Rowan… uh, RJ…” Marlo wanted to wipe the grin off RJ’s face.

Jacinta was dumbstruck for a few seconds, but then she started nodding, “Okay… If Fiona did meet RJ at Mona’s dinner and if something happened… Well, that would explain a lot.”

It’s not possible. Fi tells me everything. She would have told me if she’d slept with a woman! Marlo slumped back into the seat. “Maybe nothing happened between them, maybe this Rowan woman merely piqued her interest.”

“I hope something did happen!” Jacinta huffed, “Then at least I’d know she has an interest in taking a lover!”

Marlo’s eyes flashed, “You’re not bothered that she may have slept with a woman?”

“I might be old, but I’m not that kind of old. I’ve never been bothered with you sleeping with women… Why would I be bothered with Fiona sleeping with a woman?”

Marlo flinched. The words ‘Fiona sleeping with a woman’ sliced through her heart and she forgot to pretend she didn’t care.

Jacinta studied Marlo’s face closely, “What is it?”

Marlo grimaced, knowing that she’d said too much. She kept her mouth shut.

“Are you bothered because Fiona kept a secret from you? Or are you bothered because she slept with a woman and it wasn’t you?” Jacinta raised her eyebrows, but her eyes were gentle; she knew the answer already. It’s about time this all came out into the open!

Marlo froze. About a million emotions rippled through her blue eyes. She felt Jacinta’s hand on her forearm, patting her gently.

“Marlo, oh honey, how long?”

“Since forever ago,” Marlo tried to fight the tears welling up in her eyes.

“Then go tell her, Marlo! What are you waiting for?” Jacinta was already celebrating inside.

Marlo opened her mouth but no words came out.

Jacinta patted Marlo’s hand, “Marlo. Stop stalling.”

“She doesn’t want me. She wants her.” Marlo pointed at the photo of RJ and Lauren.

“She’s not available anymore. Stop. STALLING.”

All Marlo could feel was the sting of rejection. Fiona didn’t want her, hadn’t been honest with her, and had been in a bad mood all week because of a woman Marlo hadn’t even known existed before today.

“I’m going for a run.”

“I can’t talk to her right now, Jacinta,” Marlo walked sadly out the door, “I wouldn’t know what to say.”

Jacinta gathered her thoughts for a moment, digesting everything that’d just happened. She shook her head, “So much for the younger generation being less hung up on stuff like this.”

Fiona, meanwhile, was staring listlessly out the window, feeling more alone than ever. RJ, the dogmatic ‘one and done’ seducer of women, had somehow fallen in love and willingly vowed to stay true to one person for the rest of her life. It was confounding. In the five years since meeting RJ, Fiona had clung to the philosophy of “no complicated entanglements” – it was a convenient way to keep unwanted attention at bay, and (more importantly) a way of convincing herself that considering anything with Marlo would be way too complicated. It’s not like Marlo would be remotely interested anyway… Fiona admonished herself for the umpteenth time that day.

A flash of color caught her eye. A runner, crossing the street below, trotted along with a familiar loping gait. That has to be Marlo. She didn’t even bother to come by after her trip. We haven’t even said ‘happy birthday’ to each other. I really am going to die alone and decrepit. A wave of self-pity washed over Fiona. The moment Marlo got to the other side of the street, Fiona felt even worse. Marlo stopped and embraced another woman, who’d obviously been waiting for her. They talked for a while, and set off together. The other woman was – infuriatingly – keeping up with Marlo’s bristling pace. When the pair turned and disappeared from sight, Fiona turned her eyes towards the ceiling and sighed. That’s probably Marlo’s date for tonight’s dinner. I’m going to have to meet Marlo’s date and smile like I think it’s the best thing since sliced bread that Marlo’s found yet another girlfriend to seduce.

Fiona turned from the window and stalked into the bathroom. She turned the shower on and stood under the jets of warm water, which merged with the tears streaming down her face. “This is ridiculous,” she muttered, “Get a grip, Fiona!”

She took her time drying off and pulling on a bathrobe, before listlessly scrolling through her email. Her inbox had continued to explode with birthday well-wishes, and for once, she was happy to go through them. Might as well get the thank you notes out of the way…

Just as she was about to go cross-eyed with boredom, Fiona grabbed her phone and called Mona.

“Fi!! Happy birthday, girl!” Mona picked up almost immediately, “I’m sorry we can’t be there. All three kids have their end of school concerts today and tomorrow and we couldn’t make the trip.”

“I’d rather go to the concerts with you, believe me!” Fiona said bitterly.

Mona made a sympathetic grunt, “Cabin fever? Come on out to my place in Long Island – we’re celebrating the beginning of summer this weekend! A whole bunch of us old ladies are getting together for a party – we’re ditching reunion events and hunkering down. Come!”

Fiona turned when she heard a knock on the door. It was Paula, bringing in the gown Fiona was due to wear for the party.

“I might take you up on that. I was calling because I need a favor.” Fiona waved her in and, seeing that Paula had hung up the dress, turned back towards the window. Marlo stepped into the room just as Paula was leaving.

“Name it,” Mona replied on the other end of the line.

Fiona took a breath and said, “I need you to put me in touch with RJ. It’s important.”

Marlo couldn’t believe what she just heard. She’d cleared her head during her run and had resolved to at least offer a friendly ear to Fiona, but now she wasn’t so sure. She shut the door loudly enough and made it seem like she just walked in. Fiona gave her a small wave.