Page 51 of Always

“Mom’s set looks nice on you,” Stella said stiffly.

Anika was wearing the sapphire necklace and earrings as always.

“Thanks,” she said. “Do you remember when she used to let us put on all her pieces at once? With her furs and her heels?”

Stella actually smiled. “I was too old to be playing dress-up,” she said. But Anika could tell it was a happy memory for both of them.

“You lost one of her diamond pendants that way,” Bennet reprimanded Stella, “Probably fell down the heating vent, or else the maid took it when she was pretending to look for it.”

The smile fell from Stella’s face.

“Lena wouldn’t have done that,” Anika said.

“No matter how well you pay them, they’re never above taking something if they think they can get away with it,” Bennet said.

Usually Anika would have let this go, but she wasn’t in the mood to let that kind of statement go unchallenged anymore.

“But we didn’t really pay her all that well, did we, Dad?” she said coolly.

Bennet, never one to admit a point, switched effortlessly to another point of attack, “Why should we? It’s a job a trained chimp could do.”

“Lena was lovely,” Anika persisted. “She used to help me with my homework during her break time.”

Bennet looked like he wanted to press the argument—perhaps with a comment on how a chimp could also have completed Anika’s grade school homework without much trouble—but he swallowed his retort and began swiping through his phone as if too bored to even respond to her.

Under that cloud, they arrived at the banquet hall where the dinner would be held. It was less luxurious than the Red Line gala. The budget for the dinner wasn’t nearly as large, but Anika, Hannah, and Gwen had tried to make it as festive as possible with enlarged photographs of all twenty-six graduates, along with short bios describing why they had been selected for the program, and their various achievements to date.

The guest list was also less grand, comprised mostly of friends and family of the graduates, many of whom came from poor and broken homes. Still, everyone had at least an aunt, and uncle, a sibling, or a grandparent in attendance, and in rare cases, two happily beaming parents carefully dressed in their best apparel.

Hannah had set up an elaborate backdrop with black and gold glitter, and a massive banner reading, “Congratulations Graduates!” The attendees had lined up with their families so the photographer could take their pictures on his camera, as well as on their proffered cellphones. Other guests were sampling the hors d’oeuvres or getting a pre-dinner drink from the bar.

“I think I overdressed,” Stella said sourly, looking around at the motley crew.

Anika ignored her, leading Stella and Bennet to their table.

“I’ll come sit with you after I’ve welcomed everyone,” she said. “Keep an eye out for Marco, there’s a seat for him as well.”

Marco had texted her earlier to say that his father wasn’t feeling well enough to join them, but he would be coming alone as soon as he wrapped up a few things at work.

Anika went up on the raised dais at the front of the room to welcome the graduates and their families. She tried to keep her remarks simple, since she knew everyone was there for the students and not to hear her talk.

“We’re so proud of you all,” she said. “And we can’t wait to see what more you’ll accomplish in the years to come! To give you a little inspiration, we’re going to have a couple of our most distinguished alumni come up to speak. But I know you’re all probably starving, so we’ll serve dinner first. Bon appetit!”

The catering staff began to bring out the first course, a harvest salad with roasted squash. Anika joined her father and sister at their table.

She saw that Aunt Molly and Liam had arrived as well, and that James was with them. She was surprised to see him, especially since he had apparently not come with Hannah, who was sitting alone at a different table with Gwen and Calvin.

Bennet was making awkward conversation with Liam. He seemed to think that as landlord, he owed his tenant a certain amount of friendliness. On the other hand, he didn’t like remembering the financial crisis that had led to his removal from the Hamptons estate. It had sparked a painful time-period for Bennet, one that had not yet concluded in any satisfactory way. Though Liam had been the reliever, not the instigator, of his troubles, Bennet nonetheless seemed to resent him.

Liam showed nothing but warmth and gratitude for the house, which he complimented in every way possible. Unfortunately the features that he most cherished were those that Bennet barely noticed: the grounds, the horses, and the greenhouse. Bringing up the parts of the house that Bennet actually missed—the billiards room, the sauna, the master closet—only reminded him of the amenities lacking in his penthouse suite.

Aunt Molly had similar luck with Stella. Though she tried not to show any favoritism between her two nieces, making conversation with Stella was like hitting a deflated tennis ball against a brick wall. She could swing with all her might, but every comment fell flat.

As awkward as these conversations were to witness, they did free Anika up to do what she wanted, which was talk to James.

Honestly, she would be content just to sit and look at him across the table. He had such an easy confidence to his movements—the way that he tore a piece of his roll and buttered it, his large, flexible hands manipulating the knife. It gave her a little shiver, remembering how warm those hands were, how strong.

Even though it was a smaller dinner, he had taken just as much care in his appearance as he had for the gala. He looked tall and trim in his nicely cut suit. The suit was light gray, no tie, the collar of his shirt slightly open at the neck to show just the smallest bit of his throat. He had shaved earlier, his jaw clean and sharp below the soft line of his lips.