Reva’s eyes twinkled with amusement. “Oh, you mean that one with the rather…striking bow on the hip?”
“That was the year you went to the prom with the kid who was so short, his nose seemed to settle right between your breasts when you danced,” Charlie Grace reminded Lila.
Lila groaned. “Ugh, don’t remind me.” She took a sip of her champagne. “I wonder what ever happened to him. I don’t even remember his name.”
Charlie Grace lifted from her spot on the sofa and moved to the kitchen counter. She carried the tray of food to the coffee table and set it down, along with a stack of paper napkins. “Wasn’t it Milton something?”
“Milton Barrett!” Capri cried out. “He moved in the spring of the following year with his folks.”
“To Alaska,” Reva added.
Capri nodded. “Yeah, that’s right,” she said, pausing as a reflective expression crossed her face. “He was odd.”
Reva reached for a cheese-topped cracker. “Speaking of odd…”
Charlie Grace offered a sympathetic glance. “I heard your date didn’t go exactly as planned,” she said gently.
Reva sighed. A wry smile formed. “That’s putting it mildly. Listen to this—for our second date, he proposed we go treasure hunting with his metal detector.”
“He sounds like a keeper,” Capri teased with a playful roll of her eyes. She turned to Charlie Grace. “That was the same year you snuck out with Gibbs Nichols. We all had to lie for you when your dad showed up early at the gymnasium to drive the two of you home.”
Reva scowled. “Drive you home? Why didn’t Gibbs take you home?”
Charlie Grace chuckled. “He’d temporarily lost his driver’s license for drag racing out at the garbage dump, remember?” She refilled her champagne glass, nearly letting the bubbly spill over the top of her flute. “Too bad Gibbs wasn’t the one who moved to Alaska. Would have saved me a lot of headaches. The only good thing to come out of that marriage was my sweet Jewel. She made it all worth it.” She swiftly brought the glass to her lips, taking a quick sip to prevent the champagne from spilling over and causing a mess.
“By the way,” she added. “I’m giving a baby shower for Lizzy. I want you all to come.”
Reva’s eyebrows lifted. “You’re throwing a shower for your ex-husband’s wife? After you caught them in the hay…literally?”
Charlie Grace’s shrug was nonchalant. “Life moves on, and so have I,” she said with a lightness that belied the depth of her journey. “Besides, holding onto grudges is like carrying old, heavy luggage—it just slows you down. Lizzy and I have found a way to coexist, for Jewel’s sake. And well, every baby deserves a celebration, right?”
The others exchanged glances, a mix of surprise and admiration in their eyes.
Capri leaned forward, her tone laced with respect. “That’s incredibly big of you, Charlie Grace. I mean, with the history you have with Gibbs and all that drama, it’s amazing how you’re able to just let it go and extend such a gesture.” She looked at the others. “Girls think they can fix him….but it’d take an entire construction crew to overhaul that bag of nothing.”
Charlie Grace raised her glass slightly, the light from the fire catching the champagne’s effervescence. “True, but here’s to new beginnings and burying old hatchets. Life’s too short for anything less.”
The soft crackling of the fire filled the room as Charlie Grace’s words lingered, prompting a contemplative silence.
After a few seconds, Capri lifted her flute in the air. “Yes, here’s to old proms and bright futures.”
With a collective sigh, they clinked their glasses in a quiet salute to the heart’s resilience and the promise of bright days ahead.
9
Reva glanced at her Escalade’s dashboard clock, noting she was a full fifteen minutes early for her meeting. Her girlfriends called her penchant for punctuality quirky. Perhaps, but her habit of arriving early was practical and afforded her precious time she used to tick tasks off her ever-present list.
Among today’s priorities was reaching out to Carlene Baker, a valued member of her community facing health concerns. Delving into her bag, Reva retrieved her phone to send Carlene a message, kindly offering a ride for Carlene’s doctor’s appointment the next day.
Carlene’s response was immediate, tinged with polite refusal. “Oh, that’s not necessary. You’re far too busy. I can drive.”
Reva knew better. Carlene, with her white hair and petite frame, struggled to peer over the steering wheel due to severe osteoporosis, which had further diminished her already small stature.
With a smile, Riva quickly tapped out a firm reply. “Nonsense, I’ll be there at eleven.”
Turning off her phone, Reva’s mind shifted to her schedule, mentally calculating the time needed to return from her morning hearing to fulfill her promise to Carlene.
A tap on her window drew her attention. She pressed the button and waited for the glass to lower. “Hey, Van. What’s up?”
