Page 33 of The Weekend Crashers
“Oh yes, I did!” Maggie sits up, even more awake now. It’s like the old days when they lived together. Even on school nights, sometimes they fell asleep in front of the living room television streamingGilmore Girls.
She feels silly for begrudging their time apart earlier in the day. What does an hour, or a day, or even a month apart here and there matter? Those times are temporary, whereas their fundamental, blood-deep mother-daughter connection is forever.
“Okay, so no ghost stories,” Piper says. “How ’bout a little harmless gossip?” She launches into what Kalli Dimitriou told her, some drama about a soon-to-be ex-husband and a former lover she can’t get over. It all sounds very messy and complicated, and Maggie is thankful her own personal life is simple. Frankly, hearing Kalli’s story, she can’t imagine being so consumed by any man. She wonders if she’s even capable of experiencing enduring romantic love. She always told herself things might have been different if she hadn’t been a single mother in her twenties. But maybe she never would have met The One, regardless. Maybe for some people, that simply doesn’t exist. She tells herself she’s fine with that.
“I saw you talking to Belinda for a while,” Piper says. “What’s her deal?”
“She and Max used to live in Philadelphia,” Maggie says.
“I thought they’d had this inn forever.”
“No, just twenty years.”
“That’s what I mean.”
Maggie smiles to herself. A twentysomething thinks twenty yearsisforever. But as a woman in her forties, she’s already experiencing the phenomenon of life chapters. She can already identify two of her own: BP and AP—Before Piper and After Piper. She’d never really thought much beyond those two, because there’s noafterAfter Piper. She’s always going to be a mother. Except she’s starting to realize motherhood looks a little different from the other side of forty. Again, the fear creeps in, and she pushes it away.
A stripe of moonlight comes through the gap between the window curtain and the wall. Maggie gets out of bed to pull them more tightly closed. Their room overlooks the front of the inn, and she sees a few guys from the bachelor party clustered together, bundled up in jackets. She can’t tell if they’re coming or going, but she notes Aidan Danby isn’t among them.
She still hasn’t told Piper about the bet with Aidan, the little competition tomorrow, but she should. She feels her way carefully along the unfamiliar space back to her bed thinking how to explain the conversation with Aidan without it sounding ridiculous—not an easy task. But before she can bring it up, Piper says, “Mom, thanks for this weekend. I really needed something to help me clear my head.”
Maggie feels a swell of happiness. “It’s my pleasure. Last week was rough, but we’ll tackle this temporary professional bump in the road together.”
“I’m not thinking aboutwork,” Piper says, her tone incredulous.
Maggie is confused. “Oh. I thought when you said ‘clear your head’... So what’s bothering you?”
There’s silence for what feels like a full minute, then Piper says, “I think something’s going on with Ethan.”
Maggie sits up. “What do you mean?”
She hears the squeak of Piper’s bed as she sits up as well.
“Well, during the summer we had lots of conversations about the future—our future. But lately, we don’t. So I wonder if he’s changed his mind.”
“About what?”
“About me. About us.”
“He’s hasn’t,” Maggie says firmly. “I’m sure of it.”
But she can tell by Piper’s silence that she’s not convinced. Well, she’s just going to have to take her word for it. She can’t very well tell her that Ethan is thinking about proposing. For one thing, it would spoil the surprise. And for another: Maggiediscouragedhim.
Wait—she hadn’t discouraged him from proposing. She’dencouragedhim not to rush. To wait for a better time for Piper.
“Piper, I know he loves you,” Maggie says carefully. “But maybe right now you should just enjoy what you two havetogether and focus on your career. That’s what this stage of life is all about. When the time is right, I’m sure those conversations about the future will pick up right where they left off.”
Piper lets out a sigh. Maggie’s eyes have adjusted to the dark, and she can make out faintly that Piper is propped up on one elbow.
“What does that mean, when the time is right?” Piper says, her voice pinched. “Life is only going to get busier, get more complicated. People who blame timing are just making excuses. It was like, our relationship had this forward momentum, and then it stopped.”
“Is it possible you’re imagining that?”
“I found a ring,” Piper blurts out. “A diamond ring.”
Maggie’s heart starts to beat faster. If she’d known this before Ethan spoke to her last week, she might have said something different. But it’s too late now.
“When?” she asks, trying to sound nonchalant.
