Tara hadn’t considered this idea at all. “There will be both, but I don’t think we have any say in what they name anything. That’s pretty much up to the city.”
“Well, I think they should name something after him. Johnathon built half of the new buildings downtown. He’s attracted businesses here. And he was a fixture of the community.”
Tara looked to Astrid for help, but Astrid didn’t say a peep. “I’ll ask. That’s really all I can promise right now.” Tara hoped that was a diplomatic enough answer.
A timer in the kitchen began to beep. “That’s dinner,” Miranda said, slowly getting up from the sofa.
“Let me help.” Tara followed her up to the open kitchen, which overlooked the great room. “What can I do?”
“I’m pregnant. I’m not an invalid.” Miranda pulled a large sheet pan from the oven with parchment packets of something wonderful-smelling. She pulled three dinner plates from the cabinet and began piercing the paper bundles with a paring knife. “There’s a salad in the fridge, if you can get that for me.”
Astrid had joined them and was first to jump into action, leaving Tara to feel as though she was in the way. She brought over a large white ceramic bowl with elaborate relief work along the edges depicting fruit and vines. Everything Miranda chose was beautiful, and Tara silently told herself that she might need to up her game when it came to home decor.
The three of them went out to the patio by the pool, settling at a round scrolled iron table. Miranda’s housekeeper had already set the table for them with exquisite silvery linens and water glasses. The meal was delicious—roasted red snapper with citrus and a touch of coconut milk, along with basmati rice. Miranda only picked at it, keeping her ginger ale close. The three shared polite conversation, but Tara couldn’t ignore that it wasn’t a natural thing for the three of them to be together. They’d all married the same man. They’d all had a very intimate relationship, good and bad, with Johnathon. They were as unlikely a trio of allies as could be.
It brought everything into focus. Not in theory, but in reality. Their arrangement was tenuous and Tara had better not count on any of this working out. Astrid’s secret could come out and alienate Miranda forever. Astrid could decide that no one at Sterling would ever take her seriously and she could bail. And as for Tara, well, she was trying very hard at something she desperately wanted to be good at, but she wasn’t quite there. Her decade in real estate might not have been her most loved, but at least she knew what she was doing, all the time, and she was exceptionally good at it. That just wasn’t the case when it came to development.
Still, Tara had to cling to hope that things would somehow work out for all three of them. Johnathon had brought them together for a reason, and despite his many faults, he was a very good judge of character. There had to be a common thread between them, one that went beyond their love for the same man. Tara was eager to find it. It would make their pact that much more solid. The first thing that came to mind for them to bond over was the baby.
“Miranda, have you started working on the nursery?” Tara set her dinner napkin across her plate. She wouldn’t have brought this up in front of Astrid if she didn’t think she could handle it. After all, it had been Astrid who’d reached out to Miranda. It was Astrid who’d wanted to forge a friendship.
“Are you kidding? I started picking stuff out the minute I found out I was pregnant. I just had it painted this week, but it’s a work in progress.”
“May we see it?” Astrid asked. Tara took that as confirmation that she could manage seeing the baby’s room.
The three took their plates inside and left them on the kitchen counter, then Miranda led them to the central hall and up the stairs to the third floor. When they arrived at the landing, Tara remembered that this was the floor with the master bedroom, and it was to the right. Miranda led them to the left. Inside was a generous and quiet space, with butter-yellow walls and creamy-white carpet.
“I haven’t picked out a crib yet. I don’t want to jinx myself.” Miranda’s hands went to her belly. “It’s still so early.”
Tara put her arm around Miranda’s shoulders and gave her a squeeze. “There’s no rush. You have plenty of time. It’s a beautiful start though. I’m sure this room will be amazing when it’s all done.”
Astrid, who had yet to say a word or give any sign as to what she was feeling, wandered to the far side of the room, where a black-and-white photograph in a lovely white wood frame sat atop a small bookcase. She picked up the picture and looked at it, rubbing her thumb along the edge of the frame. When she looked up at Miranda and Tara, there were tears in her eyes. “Is this Johnny? When he was a boy?”
Miranda nodded and walked over to join Astrid. “It is. His brother Andrew sent it to me a few days ago. He was in town a week or so ago and came by the house.”
Tara could hardly believe that Andrew had actually followed through and reached out to Miranda. And he’d visited her. That was a surprise. “Grant and I ran into him at a party.”
“He told me,” Miranda said. “I was glad that you and Grant asked him to contact me. This baby won’t have a lot of family. Johnathon’s parents are gone and so are mine. I have my brother and that’s it. I hated
