“Well, I’m glad you approve of the choices.” Teresa was in charge of décor, I was in charge of menu planning, and Lynne was in charge of paying her third and trusting us.
“So, enough chitchat. A little business before the festivities . . .” Lynne says. “And before either of you say anything, I have a confession.”
“Yes?” Teresa says, raising an eyebrow.
“I didn’t finish my list,” Lynne says. “Apparently the whole nomination process for the DuSable Museum board is both rigorous and endless, and I’m still being vetted, and have not actually even been nominated yet, so I failed.”
Teresa and I look at each other, jaws agape. Lynne was the hands-down favorite to win, and we all knew it, especially her, which was why she agreed to it to begin with. Lynne subscribes to the philosophy that you never ask a question you don’t already know the answer to, and you never enter a competition you aren’t sure you’re going to win.
“That’s okay, L, I didn’t finish my list either. I’ve been working on the cookbook, but it isn’t ready for me to send anything out that I’d be confident to share.”
Teresa starts to laugh. “There is no way I won this thing!” She slaps her head. “I was just shooting for second place.”
“Well, you totally won it, T, which is good since it was your idea anyway,” Lynne says. “Anyway, since Eloise and I kind of tied for losing, what should we do about the checks?”
“I think all three of us do the same five grand,” Teresa says.
“But you won—you’re off the hook!” Lynne says.
“Yeah, but it wasn’t ever really about that, you know? We were back together again, the Three Witches. We all had shit we wanted to accomplish that needed a push or two, and we needed to be back in each other’s lives in a way that honored Mrs. O’Connor. She always taught us that we were stronger together. I think this was sort of her final gift to us, so our final thank-you should be even all around.”
“I’m in,” I say.
“That’s sweet, T. I’m in too,” Lynne says, pulling out her checkbook.
We all write our checks to the Helene O’Connor Scholarship Fund. We’re going to give them to Glenn tonight. We agreed that this was just our private thing, so we aren’t making a big deal about it; we’re just going to tell Glenn that this is the way we wanted to mark our big birthday.
“To us,” Teresa says, raising her glass. “The way we should be.”
“To us,” Lynne says. “For better or worse.” She winks at me.
“To us,” I say. “Better together.”
And we drink.
? ? ?
I look around the room and can’t help but smile. Over at the kids’ section the Farber kids and Teresa’s brood are laughing and having a great time. Geneva is teaching the younger ones how to make animals out of the Rice Krispies Treats, the older kids are tossing M&M’s into each other’s mouths, trying to see who can do the most in a row without missing, and I think Darcy and Teresa’s youngest are quietly falling in twelve-year-old love. My mom and Claire and Glenn and Lawrence are all sharing a table with Shawn’s folks. Turns out that Cheryl and Darren know Glenn from way back, as Cheryl and Helene did some charity work together, so it was a bittersweet reunion. Teresa and Gio are chatting with Lynne and Gabriel and some of Lynne’s coworkers. The food has been fantastic and everyone gave really funny speeches, telling all their best stories about the three of us, and toasting us both individually and as a group. There has been a lot of laughter, and everyone seems to be having a genuinely good time.
“Hey there, beautiful. You having fun at your party?” Shawn comes up behind me, handing me a Negroni.
“Thank you, lover. I am.”
“Good.”
“How are you? Too weird?”
Earlier there was something of an awkward moment when Cheryl and Darren were saying hello to Lynne, and Darren called her Linda. But Lynne laughed it off and greeted them warmly, and then extracted herself gracefully. Later, she and Shawn had a quiet moment, and then she introduced him to Gabriel, who was all kinds of football-hero starstruck, and while I doubt the four of us will be vacationing together anytime soon, I do think we can be at social functions together without anyone coming to blows.
“Well, momentarily weird, but not awful. Plus, all I care about is that my baby is happy.”
“Being your baby makes me happy.”
He leans in and kisses me.
“Gack. You two are so gross,” Marcy says, swanning in. “Sorry I’m so late, had to get the sweets table set up for the wedding tonight before I could blow out of there, and we had something of a croquembouche disaster.”
“No worries. There is still plenty of pizza on the buffet if you’re hungry, or they can bring something fresh.”
“I’m all good. Just going to grab a cocktail and make the rounds.”
“She’s a good egg, that one,” Shawn says.
“Yeah.”
“Think she’d be up for a fix-up?”
“You playing yenta?”
“Well, there is a cool new resident at the hospital that I just get a vibe about, think they might click. Maybe I could invite him to the party next weekend?”
Shawn and I are hosting our first joint dinner party. Teresa and Gio, Marcy, Shelby and Brad, Lawrence, two couples that are pals of his. I wish I could say that choosing a date when Lynne and Gabriel were going to be on the West Coast was an accident, but I’d be lying. We’re better, but not perfect, and there is stuff I’m just not quite ready for.
“Sure, why not?” I smile at him, adoring that he wants to fix Marcy up. My mom once said that when someone is truly in love, all they want is for everyone else to be in love. I’d like to think that our happiness is what is inspiring Shawn to want to do that for Marcy.
Teresa comes over. “I think Glenn might be gearing up to head out. Should we do this?”
“Yeah. Shawn, I’ll be right back.”
We wave to Lynne, and she nods, extricating herself, and heads over to join us.
“Glenn, could we speak to you for a moment?” I say, pulling him away from his conversation.
“Oh, no, three gorgeous women want to chat with me? Now it feels like my birthday!” he says with a wink, following us to a quiet corner of the room.
“So, we wanted to do something special to mark this major birthday achievement,” I start.
“And we realized that we wouldn’t be here together if it weren’t for Mrs. O’Connor,” Lynne says.
“We owe her so much, so much about who we are, and why we make the choices we make. How much space we take up in the world,” I say.
“That is so lovely, girls—the three of you were always special to her. I know she is here right now in spirit, and she’s so happy.”