Receiving line completed, JP guides Vivi with a hand on her back to a server holding a tray of champagne flutes. He gives one to Vivi and takes two for himself. “Let’s get this over with.”
They find Lucinda standing in a circle of people out on the lawn. Vivi wore ballet flats at Savannah’s suggestion and now she’s grateful. She glides over the grass and stands at Lucinda’s elbow, waiting to be introduced. Lucinda no doubt notices her son and his date lingering but she’s in a conversation with the woman to her left about a disagreement she had in the A and P parking lot that morning. A man heading to the ferry had pulled his suitcase over Lucinda’s espadrille.
“Mother,” JP says.
“Jackie!” she says. She turns. “And you must be Vivian. JP hasn’t stopped talking about you and now I can see why. Aren’t you enchanting!”
Vivi offers her hand but her voice has left her.
“We’ll see you at dinner,” JP says. He wheels Vivi back inside to the bar and Vivi thinks, That’s it? It’s over? It was the blink of an eye. Vivi hadn’t uttered a single word.
She wonders if she’ll be seated next to Lucinda at dinner—but no, proper placement is boy-girl-boy-girl, and Vivi finds herself between JP and Walter Rosen. Lucinda is all the way across the table, so there’s no opportunity for conversation. Initially, Vivi is dismayed by this. Her main goal of the evening was to impress Lucinda, and her first chance was squandered. She might have looked enchanting but she stood there like a lamppost.
Vivi needs to be enchanting. She won’t fret about Lucinda; she’ll be present in the moment. There’s wine at dinner and warm rolls with pats of butter that look like roses. Walter asks Vivi about her time at Duke. He’s a basketball fan, so she throws around the names of the players she says she used to drink with at the Hideaway—Laettner, Hurley, Hill—and Walter laps it up like a kitten with cream. (It’s only a bit of an exaggeration; they were at the next table.)
Before dinner is served, the orchestra starts to play. Walter offers Vivi his hand. “Dance?”
Now? Vivi thinks. Yes—there are already couples out on the dance floor, and Vivi and Walter Rosen, commodore of the Field and Oar Club, join them. Walter is in his late fifties, Vivi guesses, and he’s a skillful dancer; all she has to do is let him lead. She feels light as a feather; the skirt of her dress twirls, and she smiles at Walter, smiles at the bandleader who is snapping his fingers as he sings “Mack the Knife,” smiles at the other couples on the dance floor and the guests who are still seated. She sees Bob and Mary Catherine Hamilton. Mary Catherine waves to Vivi and gives her the thumbs-up, which is very unlike her. An outward sign of approval!
The song ends. Vivi claps politely, then Walter offers Vivi his arm and escorts her back to the table.
JP leans over and whispers in Vivi’s ear, “You were dazzling. Luminous. I couldn’t take my eyes off you. Nobody could.”
Vivi glances across the table. Lucinda is deep in conversation with Penny Rosen.
There are other things Vivi remembers about that evening: The classic filet mignon and jacket potato dinner with a side of asparagus and grilled tomato. The baked Alaska for dessert. Twirling in JP’s arms until Bob Hamilton cuts in for a dance.
“You’re the belle of the ball, Vivi,” Bob says. “Mary Catherine and I are proud of how you’ve created your own summer here. Though, frankly, I would have preferred it if you’d stayed with us. Savannah still isn’t speaking to me.”
“It was for the best,” Vivi says. “I’m happy I made it work.”
When the band takes a break, JP heads to the bar to freshen their cocktails and Vivi goes to the ladies’ room to powder her nose.
There are two stalls occupied. A voice from one says, “I wasn’t sure what to expect but she’s lovely.”
“A breath of fresh air,” the voice in the other stall says. “This club can feel so…inbred at times, everyone’s children marrying one another. We need new blood. Do you think it’s serious?”
“It’s a summer romance,” the voice in the first stall says. Vivi has by now figured out that it’s Lucinda and Penny Rosen behind the doors. She should leave immediately—they’re talking about her; how awkward!—but she wants to hear the rest of the conversation.