“You should see the place. It’s so great. Holy cow. No pun intended.” Gen was lying on Kate’s sofa and munching from a bowl of popcorn. Lacy was sitting on the other end of the couch, with Gen’s legs across her lap. Kate and Rose were both sprawled on the floor with blankets and pillows around them, as though they were thirteen-year-olds having a slumber party. They all were dressed in either sweatpants and T-shirts—Lacy and Rose—or pajamas—Kate and Gen. An episode of Gilmore Girls was playing on the wide-screen TV, but they were only paying attention to the show sporadically. There was no need, as they’d all seen it many times before.
“Sounds like a pretty cool project,” Rose said. She sipped from a glass of chardonnay. “Artist on a cattle ranch, painting in a big barn. Sweet.”
“The visuals of this place, I’m telling you, it’s going to get me featured in all the art magazines.”
“And then there are the visuals of Ryan Delaney,” Kate remarked.
“Ah, God. Don’t remind me. I could barely focus on the real estate,” Gen said.
Emily Gilmore said something rude to Lorelai, and Lacy threw a piece of popcorn at the screen. “Shut your trap, Emily. Some kind of mother you are. Jeez.”
“Speaking of Ryan Delaney,” Gen said, nudging Lacy with her toe. “You were all he could talk about at Kate’s party.”
Lacy’s forehead scrunched up in sympathy. “Aw. That’s sweet. But it makes me feel bad.”
“No chance there, huh?” Gen said. She tried to sound like she was idly curious, tried not to betray the fact that her heart was hammering as she waited for the answer.
Lacy shook her head regretfully. “No. I mean, he’s great. I like him. But …”
“But what?” Gen probed. “He’s really sexy.”
“Yeah. He is. I can see that, objectively. But he doesn’t ring my bell.”
“Ah, the Lacy Jordan Hotness Detector Bell,” Rose said knowingly.
“The bell is never wrong,” Lacy said.
“I think it’s wrong this time,” Gen admitted. “I think that bell of yours should be ringing right off its damn holder thingie. Whatever you call the thing that holds up a bell.”
“Really.” Lacy looked at Gen with interest. The messy bun atop Lacy’s head was askew, and strands of her long, blond hair were falling into her face. She had no makeup on, and she was wearing an old pair of grey sweats, but even so, she was so beautiful—so radiant—that Gen could hardly blame Ryan for being taken with her.
Gen sighed. “I just think it’s unfair, is all. Here he is, all smoking hot, all doe-eyed and tall and … and … and so Ryan, and all he can think about is you, and your bell won’t even ring!”
Lacy put a hand on Gen’s shin. “If I could make the bell ring, I would.”
“I know.”
Kate propped herself on one elbow and faced Gen. “Maybe this project of yours will give you a chance to get to know him better. Maybe get his mind off of Lacy and onto a certain curvy, red-haired art goddess.” Her eyebrows wiggled.
“Ah, I don’t know,” Gen said.
They all watched the screen in silence for a few minutes. Lorelai was making jokes at the dinner table in a futile effort to cut the tension.
“There’s no point anyway. It wouldn’t make sense to start anything,” Gen said. Her heartbeat sped as she prepared to say what she’d been keeping from them for weeks. She swallowed hard. “I really need to go back to New York anyway.”
Rose looked up from her place on the floor. “Ooh, a trip to New York. We should all go. Hit some clubs, see some shows. Do some shopping. That would be fabulous.”
“I’m in,” Lacy said.
Gen sat up and cleared her throat. “I mean … What I’m saying is, I really need to move back to New York. You know … permanently.”
Kate sat up straight from her position on the floor. “What?”
Rose, who had been lounging on the floor beside Kate, popped up and put her hands out in front of her in a classic traffic-cop gesture. “Stop. Wait. What are you talking about?”
“Gen?” Lacy prompted. She sounded hurt. Lacy reached for the TV remote and turned off the set.
“It’s just … I don’t want to leave you guys. I love you guys. You know that.” Gen could feel herself starting to get teary-eyed. “But New York is where everything happens in the art world. I can’t make a career here in Cambria. Not really.”
“I thought the gallery was doing okay,” Rose said. “If you need money …”
“It is,” Gen said. “It is doing okay. But … that’s all it’ll ever be. It’ll never do better than okay.”
Kate got up abruptly. “I just … I need to …” She went into her bedroom and closed the door.
“Kate?” Gen called after her. “Kate, come on.”
Lacy put her hand on Gen’s arm. “She’ll be all right. She just needs a minute.”
“I thought you were hiding out,” Rose said. “I thought that big-deal New York guy was intimidating you, and …”
“He died,” Gen said.
Lacy’s eyebrows shot up. “He died?”
“Yeah. A couple of months ago. And now there’s nothing keeping me here.”
“Oh, really? Nothing? That’s nice,” Rose said. “Yeah, maybe you better go, then. Good luck with that.” She got up, hunted for her shoes, and slipped them on her feet. Then she grabbed her purse.
“Aw, Rose. Don’t go,” Lacy said.
“Well, you know, there’s nothing keeping me here.” Rose shot Gen a look that was one part hurt, one part anger. “I gotta go. Bye, Lacy. Tell Kate I’ll see her tomorrow.” She went out the door with a slam.
“Shit,” Gen said, wiping at the tears that were now starting to fall. “That went well.”
Lacy rubbed Gen’s upper arm. “They’ll be okay. They’re just sad. And maybe a little hurt. “We thought …”
“Thought what?” Gen prompted her.
“Well … We thought we were like a little family. The four of us.”
“We are.” Gen pulled her feet up onto the sofa and hugged her knees. “We really are. But families are supposed to support each other in doing new things … in … in reaching their goals!” Gen threw her arms up. “Where’s the support? I have goals!”
“What about this new artists’ thing you’re planning? Is that off, then?” Lacy asked.
“No! That’s why I’m doing it. If I can just have some success with an emerging artist, that’ll set me up to go back to New York, open a gallery there, have some real influence. It’s all part of the plan.” She sighed, feeling miserable. “Hurting people’s feelings and getting everybody pissed at me wasn’t part of the plan.”
“No, I guess not,” Lacy said.
Gen peered sideways at Lacy. “Why aren’t you mad?”
“Me? I don’t know. I guess because I get it.”
“You do?” Gen made a snuffling noise and blew her nose with a tissue she’d grabbed from a box on the side table.
“Oh, hell yes. I’d love to get out of here.”
Gen raised her eyebrows. “Really? I had no idea. I mean, you’ve been here your whole life, your family’s here …”
“Exactly. I’ve been here my whole life.” Her expression took on a mixture of frustration and grit. “I mean, Cambria’s great. And I love my family. But … there’s more out there. I want to try other things, see other places. And I don’t want to be a barista for the rest of my life.”
“Huh,” Gen said. “I didn’t know.”
“Yeah, well, I don’t think anybody does. It’s not like I can talk about it with my family. You can imagine how they’d react.”
Gen gave Lacy a half grin. “Kind of like Kate and Rose?”
“Exactly. But with plate-throwing. There’d probably be plate-throwing.”