Brooke is in the Board Room suite changing into her Nantucket Reds miniskirt and new boatneck sweater that she bought at Murray’s. Before she heads to the kitchen, she pulls out her laptop and logs on to Facebook. She considers posting her news, because coming out to everyone individually seems daunting. She types, Hey, everyone, big news: I’m gay!
People will leave supportive messages like I’m an ally! And hopefully those who “don’t get it” will keep scrolling. Her mother will call in tears, not because Brooke is gay but because she had to hear about it on Facebook.
No, Brooke can’t post about it on Facebook, or at least not yet. She has to talk to Charlie, the twins, and her mother. She knows what Whitney will say: One drunken kiss doesn’t necessarily mean you’re gay, Mom. Maybe take the time to figure that out.
She sends a text to Will and Whitney: Can we have dinner tomorrow night at Juniper? I have something exciting to share!
Will says that he’ll be at the gym until eight but could meet after that. Whitney asks, Is it exciting-exciting or just Mom-exciting?
Brooke thinks it’s best to keep expectations low, so she says: Mom-exciting. But definitely worth postponing a Bumble date for.
After Brooke divorces Charlie, will she create a profile on Bumble—or is there some other dating app for women looking for women? Is there one for bi people and a different one for queer people? She has some research to do.
Brooke hears the faint strains of music playing in the kitchen. It’s “Stacy’s Mom,” by Fountains of Wayne. Brooke loves this song! This must be, finally, the playlist that Hollis made for her. Brooke can’t wait to pour a glass of rosé, help Hollis make the pizzas, and dance around the kitchen.
But first, Brooke goes back into Facebook and unfriends Electra.
Tatum hears the music start as she’s shedding her Lilly dress. Tonight is pizza, ice cream truck, and fireworks, and Tatum wants to be comfortable. She reaches into her suitcase for her cutoffs—and screams!
The damn snake is curled up inside it.
Tatum laughs. Ha-ha-ha, Dru-Ann got her back, oh, did she—Tatum nearly peed herself. She throws the snake across the room as her phone dings. It’s Kyle.
What would you say if Jack and I snuck over to watch the fireworks tonight?
Tatum can’t believe it, but her first thought is No. This is their last night. It should be only girls.
Tatum has been completely brainwashed.
Just girls tonight, Tatum says. Tell Jack to stay an extra day and he can see Holly tomorrow after everyone leaves.
Kyle says, He’s talking about coming back in the fall and staying an entire week! We’ll never get rid of him.
Oh, baby, Tatum writes, adding the winking emoji, he might not be staying at our house.
“Since You’ve Been Gone” is playing when Caroline walks into the kitchen. Definitely Brooke’s playlist (even Caroline remembers Brooke’s obsession with American Idol).
Hollis is at the marble-topped pastry station rolling out perfect disks of pizza dough.
Caroline gives her a hug. “Was everything okay with Gigi?” she asks. “She didn’t know Dad, did she?”
“Of course not,” Hollis says. She pats Caroline on the back to seem extra-reassuring. She made the right decision with Gigi, she thinks, if only for her daughter’s sake. Caroline doesn’t need to lose her father a second time. “Electra was just doing what Electra does. Gigi is in her bedroom getting changed.”
“Okay,” Caroline says. She pulls away and studies her mother. Hollis doesn’t meet her eye but that doesn’t necessarily mean she’s lying; she has pizzas to make. What if, Caroline thinks, Gigi had appeared out of the blue and befriended her mother through the website because she was sleeping with Matthew? Then after Matthew died, the two women became even closer and Hollis invited Gigi to her Five-Star Weekend as her “best friend from midlife,” never knowing Gigi’s true identity?
That, Caroline thinks, would be some serious podcast material.
As she films, Caroline feels a surprising melancholy. The weekend is drawing to a close. The ladies pour drinks and dive into the chips and guacamole. Dru-Ann regales them all with the tale of her reversal of fortune—the internet loves her again.
Gigi is the last to appear, and she’s as captivating as ever in a pale yellow patio dress. Hollis ushers everyone out to the back deck. The sun is glazing the surface of the pond a fiery pink, and clouds glow on the horizon. There will be a cotton-candy sky tonight.
Brooke’s playlist is Caroline’s favorite; these are the songs she remembers her parents playing when she was growing up—“Umbrella” by Rihanna, “Need You Now” by Lady A, “Mr. Brightside” by the Killers.
Tatum tells Gigi about the sail. “I’ve lived on Nantucket my entire life, but being on the water on a day like today never gets old.”
Dru-Ann tells Hollis, “You’re lucky my fortune changed because I was ready to move into the Twist permanently.”
Hollis slides the first pie, a classic Margherita, into her portable pizza oven. You’re doing fine, Hollis tells herself, just focus on the food. But then the song “Fake Ass Friends” comes on and as everyone else dances, Hollis feels her temper coming to a slow boil. She pulls the pizza out and is horrified to see it’s black, charred, smoking; the toppings all slide right off the peel onto the deck.
No, she’s hallucinating. The pizza has turned out perfectly—melty and gooey with a thin, crispy crust.
Her entire body is tense with fury. She can’t sit down at a table across from or next to Gigi—and so she decides they will all eat standing up.
Gigi feels like she has a slash of paint across her face or like she’s been branded; she is Hester Prynne, an adulteress, a scarlet woman. She senses Hollis keeping her distance—every time Gigi gets near her, she feels a chill like she’s walking past an open refrigerator—and it seems like the other women are keeping their distance as well. Caroline has her camera out—the guilt Gigi feels about Caroline is at another level altogether—and Gigi does her best to stay out of the frame. She knows the other women have had one-on-one chats with Caroline, and Gigi has been dreading her turn all weekend for obvious reasons. But now they’re out of time, and unbeknownst to Caroline, Gigi has endured an interview of another kind.
Gigi doesn’t know how she’ll make herself eat. She takes a piece of pizza just to be polite, to seem normal. With the first bite, she discovers it’s the best she’s ever tasted, including pizza she’s eaten in Italy. She considers telling Hollis this—Your food is pure sorcery—but Hollis will think Gigi is trying to flatter her, so Gigi simply loads her plate with a slice of the shrimp and lobster pizza and a slice of the Brie and pear one. She stands at the edge of the deck and looks at the pond and the footbridge.
Brooke appears at Gigi’s elbow. She’s wearing the skirt and navy-and-white-striped boatneck sweater that Gigi helped her pick out… was it only the day before? Gigi feels like she’s been on Nantucket for weeks.
“You look so pretty,” Gigi says. Brooke’s face has some color, and she’s smoothed her curly hair back into a bun; the sweater emphasizes Brooke’s delicate collarbones, and the skirt shows off her slim calves.
“Did you know that Matthew had that bridge built for Hollis as a surprise one winter?” Brooke says. “Because Hollis loves the footbridge at Monet’s home in Giverny. Isn’t that romantic?”
“Very,” Gigi says. It hurts to hear this, though it’s helpful too. Gigi inserted herself between two people who had created a life together. Matthew built Hollis a bridge.
Gigi would like someone to build her a bridge someday—a metaphorical bridge, anyway. You deserve to be somebody’s number one, Matthew said in their last conversation. It sounded patronizing at the time, but Gigi knows he was right. She does deserve that.
Brooke says, “I am so happy I met you. You’ve been such a good influence on me.”
“Oh, Brooke, no, stop—”
“It’s true,” Brooke says. She turns around to face the others. “Hey, you guys, don’t we all just love Gigi?”
Tatum raises her wineglass but says nothing because her mouth is full. Dru-Ann says, “We just love you, Gigi,” in a way that is both teasing and sweet.
Caroline sets down her camera for a second so she can eat. “Only my mom could invite a complete stranger to this thing and have it turn out to be someone as chill as Gigi,” she says.
There’s a beat of silence. Are they all waiting for Hollis to speak? She looks up from the cutting board. “Who wants a slice of veggie supreme?”
50. The Grand Finale