How is she ever going to survive them? When will they leave for Barbuda, Bequia?
The dinner with Mick was…illuminating. Ayers wonders if, in her parents’ minds, Mick is still her boyfriend. Maybe they haven’t yet fully absorbed the news of the breakup or the idea that Ayers is pregnant by someone else. At dinner at the Longboard—which unfortunately evoked the evening of their engagement—Mick was his most charming self, sucking up to Phil and Sunny in every possible way, asking about their travels, begging to see their pictures, giving Sunny too much encouragement about her prospective blog. Ayers bit her tongue and thought, Fake it to make it, all the while hoping the staff at the Longboard weren’t getting out their phones in the back to broadcast the news that Mick and Ayers were together again.
What Ayers realized while being smushed up in a booth next to Mick was that her feelings for him had changed.
She’d broken the engagement because she was smart—Mick would never stop cheating—but it hadn’t changed the fact that she loved him. Being pregnant with Baker’s baby hadn’t canceled out her feelings for Mick either. It was amazing the things that love could endure; nothing demonstrated this more than her ups and downs with Mick had. But at dinner with her parents, Ayers had been pleasantly surprised to find that she felt nothing for Mick other than a mixture of mild annoyance and nostalgic fondness. After Phil and Sunny headed back to Caneel, Mick walked Ayers to her truck and tried to kiss her. She ducked out of the way; she felt no attraction to him. Finally, she thought. The vine Mick had wrapped around her heart was withering. She had spent much of the previous six months hating Mick for what had happened with Brigid—but hate was not the opposite of love. Indifference was the opposite of love, and for the first time, Ayers felt like she could take Mick or leave him. Tonight, she would leave him.
“Good night,” she said.
Later, when Ayers was home in bed with Winnie snoring softly at her feet, she’d texted Baker. Survived dinner with Mick. Sorry about that; my parents wanted to see him.
There was no response, which was unusual. Ayers wondered if maybe she’d blown it. At noon the next day, Baker still hadn’t responded, and she nearly sent a second text asking if he wanted to grab lunch—but she decided this would be confusing. She was the one who had asked for space; he was giving it to her.
When their visit enters its second week, Phil and Sunny decide it’s time to introduce themselves to Irene Steele. Ayers tries to dissuade them; Irene is reserved. She may not appreciate being ambushed without warning. But Sunny waves Ayers’s concerns away like incense smoke. They see Baker and Floyd get back from school, and the instant Irene arrives home with Cash, they gather up Winnie, a bottle of champagne, and a charcuterie platter from Island Cork.
“Come over after you shower, Fred,” Sunny says, which bugs Ayers. She doesn’t want to shower and she doesn’t want to socialize.
She says, “I’m tired, Mama. I’m going to lie down for a little while.”
Sunny immediately changes her tune. Yes, Ayers should sleep, the first trimester is so taxing on the body. Sunny starts talking about being in western Australia on an ostrich farm that was owned by a woman who was also a potter, she made the most beautiful bowls…
“Mama, please,” Ayers says. She lies down on her bed and pulls the comforter over her head. The last thing she hears is Sunny saying to Phil, “Leave her be, honey.”
When Ayers awakens, it’s dark outside and her parents are back, laughing, whispering, bumping into things, shushing each other. Ayers checks her phone—ten thirty. They went across the street at five. “Mom?” she says. “Dad?”
They erupt in giggles. Ayers feels like she’s the parent right now. “Have you been across the street this whole time?”
“Oh, Freddy,” Sunny says. “It’s going to be so great!”
“What is?”
“Irene took a while to warm up,” Phil says. “But by the fourth bottle of wine…”
“Fourth?”
“Plus the champagne,” Sunny says. “So, technically, five.”
“Irene likes her chardonnay,” Phil says.
“What is going to be so great?” Ayers asks.
“Our family!” Sunny says. “The family we’re creating with the Steeles. And that Cash—what a cutie!”
“Your mother has a crush on him,” Phil says. “She made that much obvious.”
“He’s single,” Sunny says. “I’m surprised you didn’t end up with him, Freddy. He’s much more your type. Outdoorsy.”
“Cash and I are friends, Mom. We work together.” Ayers sits up in bed and pats the comforter. Winnie leaps up. “So you all had a great time and you drank the night away…”
“Baker made fish tacos,” Phil says. “That guy can really cook.”
“Floyd let me read to him before bed,” Sunny says. “I feel like a real grandma already.”
“We discussed our grandparent names,” Phil says. “Irene is Grammy, so Mom will be Mimi. I’m torn between Pop-Pop and Granddaddy.” He clears his throat. “It’s a big responsibility, being this child’s only grandfather.”
“We heard the whole story about Russ,” Sunny says. “Very interesting.”
“If by interesting, you mean ‘tragic,’ then yeah,” Ayers says.
“I think what’s interesting is the way Irene has come to terms with the situation. She blames Russ, but she also blames herself for taking Russ for granted, for not paying attention to the marriage, for all kinds of things.”
“Wow, you guys really got into it,” Ayers says. “Did you talk about me?”
“When we first got there, we told them you were tired,” Sunny says. “And we talked about the baby.”
“But other than that, your name didn’t come up,” Phil says.
Ayers is both relieved and bothered by this. Her parents and the Steeles are out forging a new family together but somehow the most important person—the person carrying the baby that will unite them—doesn’t matter.
Her parents gather their things to return to their room
