Page 69 of The Manor of Dreams

“How was the trip?” Ada asked.

Before Ma could answer, Rennie piped up. “Did you go see the Eiffel Tower? Can you speak French now? What kind of food did you have? How was cans?”

“It’sCannes,” Lucille said pointedly.

Dad laughed. “Save the questions for dinner.” He looked around. “Ma is going upstairs to get some rest for now. How did you girls do by yourselves? Seems like the house is still in one piece.”

“We were okay,” Lucille said quickly. “I cleaned the kitchen.”

She spent the rest of the afternoon in the library, reading. She could barely register the words on the page. Occasionally she looked over at the phone and willed it to ring. Two nights ago at her party, Reid found her before he left and made her give him her number. He called her that next morning and invited her to another party that night, this time at a house in Laurel Canyon. It was a friend of a friend’s, he said. They’d gone together and pulled away from the din of the crowd and sat at the edge of backyard pool, talking as the night cooled. He’d driven her back at two in the morning. They kissed in his car for what seemed like hours before she snuck back into the house. On the way to her own bedroom she passed Ada’s empty room. Was she out even later with Sophie? In that moment it didn’t matter to her much anymore.

Reid had said he would call. He wanted to take her to the beach this weekend, maybe. Lucille tried to read her book and not think about it all, which meant that this was actually all she thought about.

At some point they reconvened for dinner. Edith and Josiah were still up in San Francisco with Elaine, so Ma reheated dumplings from the freezer and made potstickers. Rennie kept asking questions about their trip. Ma seemed tired. Dad couldn’t stop talking about France; how beautiful the weather was, how everyone seemed more relaxed there. “I think we should live there,” he said. “I mean, it really is fantastic. How would you girls feel about living abroad for a few years?” He glanced around. “A nice international school? We spend our winter break skiing in the Alps, spend the summers traveling? You get to come with me on set? Rennie seems in, yeah?”

Lucille hesitated. This was coming out of left field. What, were they just going to uproot their entire lives? Dad had certainly been acting a little more spontaneous—or maybe Lucille would say harebrained—these days. He often skipped dinner because he was working. He wanted Rennie to star in his movies. He wanted to produce one movie after another, each one sounding more bizarre than the next. Sometimes he left on trips with little to no notice and it took Ma some time to figure out where he’d gone. And now this.

“So tell me,” Ma said when the dishes had been cleared away. Sophieleaned over and said something to Ada. Ma looked around the table. “Did you girls do anything this weekend?”

Ada and Sophie stopped whispering to each other. Lucille set down her chopsticks. “No,” Rennie said quickly. “Not much. We just hung out.”

There was a long silence. “Hm,” their mother said, turning back to her plate. There was a pause. She didn’t eat. She looked back up. “Then would anyone like to explain the three vases in the corner of my closet?”

Lucille’s heart dropped.

“And why there’s a whole shelf of wine missing from the cabinet?”

Everyone stared at Lucille. Dad shot her an incredulous look.

“I—” The words faltered on Lucille’s tongue. She was not the one who usually got scolded. “We—invited some friends over this weekend.”

“Whose idea was it?” Ma asked immediately.

Lucille looked around the table. Ada didn’t meet her eyes or jump to her defense. Sophie raised an eyebrow. She looked almost smug.

“Did—” Dad looked at Lucille, his expression unreadable. “Did our daughter… throw a party?”

Lucille swallowed.

And then he burst out laughing.

Ma’s gaze darted to him.

“Oh, come on, Vivian,” he said. He glanced over at Lucille, his eyes twinkling, his crow’s feet deepening. “She threw arealparty.”

“This is unacceptable,” Ma hissed.

Dad was still laughing. “Now I really am surprised you didn’t burn the house down. Was it good?”

“Everyone is underage,” her mother practically spat. “Rennie is fourteen.”

“Rennie didn’t drink,” Lucille said quickly. “I made her promise.”

“Swear,” Rennie said, her eyes wide.

“Oh, what about the others, then?” Ma turned to Sophie. “Did you?”

Sophie raised her hands in innocence. “Ididn’t do a thing at this party.”

---