“Nice to see you, ladies.” Vera wore a floppy white sun hat and the same white cover-up she’d worn for the last three summers. Dark spidery veins mapped her pale legs. She smiled up at them and pointed to the empty chairs. “Sit, please. Jenna is letting me win again.”
Jenna blew out a breath. “Oh, please. I think Vera was a card counter in a previous life. Either that or she’s using marked cards.” Jenna ran an assessing gaze over Bella. “Uh-oh. Hard day at the office?”
“You could say that. I didn’t think this was going to be easy, but I didn’t think I’d be shot down every time.” Bella sprayed sunscreen on her arms and legs, then handed the bottle to Leanna. “Maybe my pitch is off or something.”
“Gin.” Vera laid down her cards.
Jenna rolled her eyes and put her cards on the table. “Okay, I’m out for a bit. Congrats, Vera. I owe you about a million dollars.”
“You owe me nothing. It’s kind of you to play with an old lady like me.” Vera patted Jenna’s hand, then turned her attention to Bella. “You know, Bella, Evan was quite a gentleman when he was at our house. I enjoyed spending time with him.”
“I’m glad to hear that.” She thought of him speeding out of the campground on his bike. “They moved here a few weeks before summer, and Caden said he hadn’t made any friends yet, but Evan met a few boys at the flea market the other day.”
“Yes, that’s what he told Jamie. It sounded as if they were getting on just fine,” Vera said.
“They might be. I saw them riding bikes on my way here. I know Caden is nervous about him going off with a new crowd, so I hope they’re good kids.”
“I hope so, too. He seems like such a sweet boy.” A smile spread Vera’s thin lips. “You’re very fond of this man, aren’t you, dear?”
“That’s one way to put it,” Jenna said as she dragged her chair into the sun.
Bella shook her head at Jenna. “Yes, Vera. I am, but I’m trying really hard not to commit to a relationship while I’m putting the pieces of my life together.”
“Why is that?” Vera asked.
“Well, as you know, I’m trying to get the work-study program off the ground so I can get a full-time job, and then I need to sell my house in Connecticut. My life isn’t exactly stable at the moment, and I think adding a relationship into the mix just makes it more confusing.”
Vera patted her hand. “Bella, dear. Your life is stable. You’ve always been stable. You’re just in a transitional state of your stable life. Sometimes having a relationship makes everything else easier to deal with. Sometimes all it takes is that one piece of the puzzle to pull the rest of them together and have them all make sense.”
A transitional state of my stable life. Bella looked away and let those words settle in. Could Caden be the missing piece in my life? No. I don’t need a man. But Vera wasn’t saying she did. “As much as I’m trying to deny what you’re saying so I can stick to my no-commitment rule, I know what you’re saying makes sense, Vera.”
“You mentioned to me that the man you were dating in Connecticut had lied to you about getting back together with his wife, and I know you well enough to realize that you probably have had enough of men lying to you.” Vera leaned closer to Bella and lowered her voice. “Sweetie, if you live your life afraid to be hurt, you’re not really living your life, are you?”
Bella sighed. “Tell me this, Vera. Does wisdom really come with age, or did you have all this figured out when you were our age?”
“No, honey. At your age I was fumbling through my emotions just like the rest of you. Once you have more wrinkles than orgasms, that’s when wisdom sets in.” Vera smiled, as if she knew she’d just blown them all away.
Bella laughed. “Hopefully, I have a long time before that happens. I really do like Caden, and I like Evan. Maybe I should just bite the bullet and stop fighting my feelings for him.” Vera had just given Bella the validation that she hadn’t realized she was waiting—maybe even hoping—for. “Yes, you know what? You’re right, Vera. I think it’s time for stable Mable to throw caution to the wind and give this thing between us a name. I’m going to date him.”
“Good for you, Bella. I know it’s hard for you to feel like you’re breaking your promise to yourself, but think of it as renegotiating the plan. That’s how it was with me and Kurt,” Leanna said. “You guys remember how scattered I was, trying to make things work, and Kurt sort of brought all of my chaos into focus.”
“Trust me, Leanna. We all hear him bringing your chaos home a little too often.” Jenna wiggled her eyebrows.
Leanna blushed.
“Now, now, girls. You’re not kids anymore. Making love is part of coming together as a couple. It’s a beautiful part, and…Oh, now, there’s a thought. Bella, does it bother you that Caden has a son?” Vera’s voice was serious.
“Bother me? No. It’s not like it’s an option for him to not have a child.”
Vera smiled warmly. “That’s a very smart way to look at things. I think some women might feel jealous.”
“Of his son? I guess some women might, but Evan was there before me, and he’s Caden’s world. Besides, I don’t think a person has room only to love a child or another adult. If they did, marriages with children would never work.” She thought about Caden and how he’d changed his whole life for Evan, and she wondered if he would have turned out to be the man he was if Evan hadn’t been in his life.
“I think you can tell a lot about a man by his children, and Evan is a lovely boy.” Vera had known Bella and the others since they were toddlers and their families first bought the cottages. She’d always been careful about injecting her opinions on Bella and the others. The fact that she was offering her opinion now meant a great deal.
“Evan is lovely, but I’ve been working with teenagers for a long time, and if there’s one thing I know for sure, it’s that even good parents can have delinquent kids.” Bella stretched her legs in the sun. “And the opposite is true, too. Delinquent parents can have really well-behaved kids. I don’t think there’s a formula.”
“Maybe that’s the answer for your project,” Vera suggested.
“What do you mean?”