“Wow! Tessa!” Andrea, who stood against the car, exclaimed the minute she saw her. “You look…incredible,” she further stressed, looking her up and down.
“Yeah, Tessa, you look beautiful.” Cora poked her head out from the driver’s seat to compliment her.
Tessa felt her cheeks warm over. “Thanks, guys.” She smiled before getting into the back of the car with the others. After Andrea and Kerry entered the car, Cora pulled out of the driveway and headed for The Anchor on SE Pioneer Way.
When they entered the building, music streamed down from overhead speakers and the silhouettes of bodies in the space between the bar and the sunken diner jived to the rhythm of some current pop song. Tessa squinted, trying to adjust to the low-wattage disco lights that replaced the usual warm glow of the low-hanging ceiling lamps.
She felt someone nudge her and turned her head to see Kerry with a knowing smile on her lips. She cut her eyes back to the scene before them. The place was more crowded than usual, and she could feel her social anxiety beginning to stir as goose bumps prickled her skin.
“Let’s get a drink by the bar first, then go find the others,” Andrea leaned closer and shouted over the music.
Tessa eagerly nodded. If she were to get through this night, she would definitely need a glass of something stronger than cider. She followed the others to the bar area, dodging the bodies dancing with abandon and crowding the space as she did so.
“Hey, Jack. Can we get a round of drinks? Cider for me, though,” Cora called out to the owner and one of their high school friends manning the bar with another bartender.
“Sure thing, Cora.” He smiled before placing a dish with lime slices and salt on the counter. He then put shot glasses before them and filled them with tequila.
“Bottoms up!” Kerry shouted excitedly before licking salt from the back of her hand, raising the glass to her lips while tilting her head back and finishing the content in one go. She then sucked on a lime slice. The others followed suit.
Tessa enjoyed the smooth burn of the alcohol on her tongue before it hit the back of her throat and the tart taste of the lime that balanced out the sting of the drink.
“That was good, right?”
She only managed a nod to her sister, grinning at her. She then ordered a more subtle drink before they headed for their usual booth closer to the back of the building. The music was a few decibels lower there, which she was grateful for. It meant they wouldn’t have to compete too much with it to be heard in their circle.
“Hi, Shelby, Sharon, Kirsten. We’re sorry we’re late,” Cora greeted the women already seated in the booth.
“That’s fine. We only got here like fifteen minutes ago,” Kirsten assured them.
“Marg couldn’t make it. Date night with Ben and the kids,” Josephine relayed.
“That’s lovely. They deserve this time together, especially now that they’ll be a family soon,” Sharon said. The others nodded their agreement.
“How is Sara managing with that broken leg?” Tessa inquired about her niece as she slid into the booth.
“She’s miserable,” Sharon replied, her lips pursing together and her eyes taking on a look of anguish. “She has always been a responsible person, and for this to happen to her because of a mistake made by someone who isn’t and doesn’t follow instructions... It could have been a lot worse.” Sharon shuddered.
“I’m glad it wasn’t, and she’s still with us,” Tessa reassured as she placed a hand over the one her sister-in-law had on the table.
“We all are,” Kerry agreed. The others nodded in agreement and reached over to touch her arm in encouragement.
Sharon smiled gratefully. The conversation shifted to lighter topics, and after a couple of sips of her drink, Tessa was laughing with abandon and sharing in the jokes.
“I swear our children are living reminders that we were once rebels who caused our own parents a lot of grief,” Shelby said, garnering chuckles from the table.
“Not all of us.” Tessa grinned proudly.
“Of course not. We couldn’t all be the perfect daughter who could do no wrong, right?”
Tessa’s eyes widened at the realization that her words had caused offense, and when she glanced at her sister, whose eyes burned with hurt and anger, she wished she could have swallowed them back. The closed-lip silence that fell at the table while the music danced around them made it even more apparent that her words had been ill-advised.
“I didn’t mean…I’m sorry.” She tried to apologize.
“Have you spoken to Diane?” Kerry stepped in to ask, her lips set in a grim line.
Tessa furrowed her brow. “What about Diane?”
Kerry’s arms folded across her chest as she stared across the table at her sister for a long time. “Maybe you should try talking to her more instead of gloating about being the perfect daughter for Mom and Dad.”
