The Cousins - Karen M. McManus Page 0,19

to her feet and crossed the patio, opening the sliding glass door just as their mother stepped into the connected parlor. “Oh, Allison, thank goodness. There you are.”

Mother was already dressed for the evening in a white sheath, silver sandals, and canary diamond jewelry. She’d pulled her dark hair back into a loose chignon, a few well-placed wisps softening the sharp planes of her face. Her lips were signature red, her smoky eye shadow as flawless as ever. You’d have to look closely to notice the tightness in her expression. Mildred Story wasn’t a natural hostess; she’d always relied on her husband’s gregariousness to get her through social gatherings. “Could you go to the tents and let me know what you think about the flowers?” she asked. “Theresa ordered them from the new place on Hurley Street—Brewer Floral, I think? Something like that. We’ve never used them before, and I’m worried she only chose them because Matt works there now. I just had a look at the arrangements, and they feel a touch unbalanced to me.”

“Unbalanced?” Allison asked.

“Too heavy on the calla lilies,” Mother said. She twisted her hands together, looking down at them with a frown. That was another new anxiety; Mother had recently become convinced that her hands betrayed the fact that she was nearing fifty in a way her face still didn’t. Allison pried them gently apart with a reassuring squeeze.

“I’m sure they’re beautiful. But I’ll take a look,” Allison said, slipping through the door and closing it behind her.

She knew what her father would say if he were here: “Your job at this moment, Allison, no matter what your actual opinion might be, is to reassure your mother that each vase contains precisely the right amount of calla lilies.” This, she could do.

She padded on bare feet across the polished hardwood and marble floors of the house, stopping at the side entrance to slip on a pair of sandals she’d left by the door. The noise level was much higher when she stepped outside than it had been on the patio, voices mixing with the sounds of light construction and the occasional strum of a guitar from the band’s sound check. The smell of honeysuckle was everywhere, wafting from the bushes that nestled against the side of Catmint House. Allison turned the corner and nearly bumped into two people standing side by side, surveying the sea of white tents in front of them.

“Hello, Allison.” Her mother’s lawyer, Donald Camden, put a hand out to steady her. “Where are you running off to?”

“Oh, well…” Allison trailed off as she took in Mother’s assistant, Theresa Ryan, standing beside him. She couldn’t very well say that she was here to make sure Theresa hadn’t selected a subpar florist due to nepotism. “I just wanted to look around.”

Theresa smiled warmly. She was a widow too, but unlike Mildred, Theresa wasn’t afraid to show her age. She was gray-haired and a little plump, known for wearing simple dresses and comfortable shoes no matter the occasion. “Let me know what you think,” Theresa said, lowering her voice to a conspiratorial tone as she put a hand on Allison’s arm. “Between you and me, your mother’s standards are a bit terrifying.”

“Tell me about it,” Allison said with a laugh, relieved at the excuse to poke around.

Allison felt her spine stiffening and her shoulders straightening as she walked across the lawn through the deferential path that opened when people recognized her. Usually she tried to blend into the background at her parents’ parties, but tonight would be different. Her mother needed her to be a hostess, not a shy teenager.

When Allison stepped inside the nearest tent, she took a moment to appreciate Theresa’s skills. Everything was beautiful: the crisp white tablecloths, the cushioned chairs with gauzy white bows tied across their backs, the shining silverware, the sparkling crystal, and, yes, the flowers. They stood in gleaming white vases at the center of each table, bursting with creamy roses, lime-green orchids, some sort of feathery succulent Allison couldn’t identify, and striking magenta calla lilies.

She couldn’t imagine anything more perfect.

“Meet with your approval, Allie?” asked a voice behind her.

Allison turned to see Theresa’s son, Matt, wearing a Brewer Floral T-shirt, and all the carefully constructed poise she’d imagined for herself vanished. “Nobody calls me that,” she blurted out.

“Too bad,” Matt said. “It suits you. Maybe I can make it catch on.” Allison remained tongue-tied until Matt added, “Seriously, is everything okay? My mom is