He clapped a hand on his brother-in-law’s shoulder. “Hey, bro. Thanks for coming.”
Ben hugged him. “Man of the hour! Congratulations. What an honor. You deserve every accolade. Honestly, I don’t know how you manage these miracles.”
Alan, Helen’s husband, stood smirking on Ben’s other side. Why Phoebe insisted he include this jerk in tonight’s affair was beyond him. “From Flatbush Avenue to the Waldorf,” Alan said. “We bow to thee.”
Sarcasm and sour grapes laced Alan’s words. He and Helen were in a small group of people blackballed from the Club. Phoebe brought it up repeatedly, how much Alan and Helen wanted to open an account with the Club, and just as often, Jake gave a flat no.
“I don’t understand,” she’d said only last month. “All of the family, all our friends, you let in. What’s wrong with Helen? She’s my oldest friend—my best friend.”
“Enough with Helen and Alan already!” He’d stomped over to the kitchen cabinet and grabbed a handful of Sugar Wafers. “He works for Fidelity. What does he need me for? He lives inside the giant.”
“Helen said they’re so big, it’s like having fifty million choices for dinner.”
“I thought Alan was the big expert.”
“He’s a lawyer, not a stockbroker. They could really benefit from you.”
“I told you before: he’s a pain in the ass. Always asking questions. Always wanting to ask why I do this or say that. I don’t need his bullshit.”
“How can I keep saying no?”
“You don’t have to. I just did.”
“Will you at least explain the reasons to him?”
Jake had walked over to where she washed the dinner dishes and squeezed her shoulder with kindness. He wasn’t a fool. Helen and Phoebe went back to grade school, and his refusal to let Alan and Helen into the Club embarrassed his wife. But worse would be letting them in; the combination of Alan’s ferrety curiosity and his knowledge of financial legality with his oversized brain was lethal.
“No. Not wanting to talk to him is exactly the point, including not talking about his not joining. That he keeps badgering you just proves how I’m right.”
She’d scrubbed a small pot. “I feel so weird. Everyone is a member except her. What do I say?”
“Tell her this, and say it’s a secret you shouldn’t be telling: the Club board doesn’t allow members who have positions of internal authority at financial institutions. For reasons of security.”
“Is that true?” Phoebe asked.
“I just said it, didn’t I?”
“How come you never told me before?”
“How long before you realize how much I hate talking about business? Why do you think you, me, the kids, none of us has an account with the Club?”
Phoebe appeared puzzled. “What position of authority do I have?” Underestimating her intellect tripped him up every time.
“Oh, baby. Business is all about appearance,” he’d said. “Can we simply drop this? Don’t I get enough aggravation at work?”
Facing Alan’s attitude tonight was proof he’d made the right decision. “And I bow back to you,” Jake responded. “Phoebe says you and Helen bought a house out on the Island. Congrats. Sounds like both of you are doing terrific things.”
“Chicken feed to you, eh?” Alan swept a hand over the room.
Jake clapped a hand on Alan’s sloped shoulder. “Life is all about family, right? A beautiful family who loves you makes a good life. You’re a lucky man.”
CHAPTER 17
Phoebe
Phoebe exhaled as she merged onto the highway. Even the massive trucks bearing down like dinosaurs on wheels didn’t bother her. Being alone in the car for a blessed half hour, longer if the traffic stayed heavy, sounded excellent.
She headed to the Cupcake Project in Westport, Connecticut, which was managed by Eva. Linh was in charge of the original Greenwich shop; Zoya would oversee number three, getting readied in Westchester. They planned to open in a month, in time for Halloween. The three shops made a ragged triangle, with Phoebe linking the three points.
Two new stores in such a short time seemed a sure recipe for disaster, though after his reservations about the first store, Jake had pushed them like crazy. He had gone from being jealous of Ira and resentful of Mira House to acting as though the settlement house deserved historical treasure status and Ira was his best friend, including asking Phoebe to invite him to the award ceremony the previous week.
She hadn’t.
Her worlds had already collided. Mira House invested all of its profits with Jake, taking out the money they needed for day-to-day operation and, with Jake’s guidance, saving the rest for a long-range capital campaign. After Mira House had become Jake’s poster child for what he called his long arm of charity, he had anointed himself the savior of nonprofits, with the Club representing the perfect stew of growth and safety. He forced Phoebe to step in anytime he couldn’t fill a request to sit on a board. At this moment, her name decorated the stationery of a breast cancer research institute, a repertory theater, and a wild bird fund.
When juggling everything threatened to topple her, her link to sanity was inventing new cupcake flavors or updating menus. Katie called from college three times a week to talk over everything from papers due to how much her roommates drank at parties. Other friends couldn’t pry a word from their daughters, while Phoebe lived every minute of Katie’s life, including her romance with the boy she hid from Jake: a punk band musician. She couldn’t be happier about Katie acting out; far worse would be getting involved with someone Jake thought perfect. He’d tie a bow around the pair before poor Katie knew the boy’s middle name.
Noah grew from hiding on the beach with sea creatures to wringing himself inside out to earn Jake’s pride. He ran track until he led the pack and debated until he hit the state championship.
Academically, he stood at the top of his class.
Socially, he could date any girl in the school.
Emotionally, only Phoebe could help Noah when panic attacks plagued him. Jake, with his obsessions about privacy, wouldn’t allow therapy, insisting that anxiety was genetic. Jogging was Jake’s version of a prescription.
Phoebe’s solutions for Noah ranged from pathetic to terrible, including slivers of Valium, binging on VCR movies together, and, oddest and most soothing to him, trips to Brooklyn to hang out with her parents.