Page 8 of Feels Like the First Time
“It’s stunning, very unique,” Gail said, walking over to take her seat at the table, in the same place she’d sat for the first eight years of Ali’s life.
And there was something about seeing her there, in Ali’s childhood home, finally claiming the seat Ali had been waiting a lifetime for her to claim, that sent a warm burst of hope into her chest. “Thank you.”
“Is it similar to the one you sold Mr. Landon?” Bridget asked, referring to the piece that was to be showcased inArchitectural Digest.
“Nolan wanted something more modern,” Ali said about her biggest customer to date. He’d seen the town arch during his last visit to see Hawk and hired her on the spot. Her assignment had been to design an elaborate fifteen-hundred-square-foot pergola. “He wanted steel beams, stone, and local woods to match the feel of his house.” Estate really. Fifty acres of manicured gardens and rugged woods with a view of the ocean that was worth the eight-figure price tag. “It’s a structure actually, a piece of functional art where he can host gatherings.”
“It took her six months to build,” Gail said, and Marty snorted.
Ali was touched that her mom was so interested in her work, she really was, but to be honest, her mother didn’t know a thing about her work—or Ali’s life. If it hadn’t been for the puff piece written up about Nolan in theSeattle Timeslast month, Gail wouldn’t have even known about the biggest piece of her career.
Before the divorce was even final, Gail and Bridget had moved to Seattle. Ali stayed with her dad in Destiny Bay, and her mom, too busy enjoying her green pastures being married to a plastic surgeon, didn’t have the time for Ali.
They might as well have been nothing more than acquaintances, for as much interest as Gail took in Ali’s life.
But she’s here now, Ali told herself. Not allowing herself to be naïve didn’t mean closing herself off to the potential of what the evening could mean.
“It took almost a year from beginning to end.” It had also taken sixteen steel beams, thirty-four rods, shiplap from an old barn, and a roof made of stones and sea glass, but the result had been stunning.
The centerpiece for Ali’s portfolio.
That one referral from Hawk had gained her access to a unique group of clientele. In fact, the client she was making the keg fountain for was a friend of Nolan and Hawk’s.
“I bet you really got to know Nolan well, working with him that long. Maybe even became friends,” Bridget said, in that singsong tone that always had Ali’s ears bleeding.
“We’re cool with each other, and yeah, he’s a nice guy, but I wouldn’t say we were friends.” She paused, because the longer she talked, the bigger her sister’s eyes got—and the worse Ali’s headache grew. “Oh no. No way. I am not playing matchmaker and introducing you to Nolan!”
Been there, done that, still had the bridesmaid dress hanging in the closet.
“I’m not looking to date Nolan,” Bridget said, sounding disgusted. “I already did thelocal guy makes it bigthing. It wasn’t for me.”
It would have been nice if she’d figured that out before she married Hawk. Then again, Bridget always did have a hard time settling on which flavor of ice cream she wanted. She’d order strawberry and Ali would order pineapple sherbet, then Bridget would decide she’d wanted the pineapple sherbet. One lick in and she’d remember she hated pineapple anything.
But tossing a cone away and tossing a relationship away were two very different things. Bridget’s inability to know her own mind had left a wake of disappointment and disillusionment in her past.
Gail claimed her older daughter was merely particular. Ali tended to think of her sister as lost. Someone who relied on other people’s dreams, mainly men, to fill the emptiness and find validation. A series of drive-through dads could do that to a girl. And with the split-custody arrangement, she rarely saw Marty after the divorce. Which was why, even though Ali hadn’t had a lot in terms of money growing up, she valued the importance of a father’s love.
Understood how influential that kind of stable foundation was to a girl’s self-worth.
“Well, good because dating Nolan would be”—she thought of Hawk and his friendship with Nolan—“awkward.”
“I don’t want to date him. I want to meet him.” Bridget scooted to the end of her chair, and that was when Ali noticed that while Bridget and Gail sat at the family table, Marty and Ali were standing awkwardly in their own house. “So I can see if he’d be open to having an event there.”
A thin strip of panic slowly coiled itself around Ali’s throat. “I already told you, my friends will have one in town, probably at Hawk’s bar.”
Speaking of friends, Ali looked at the door, wondering where her backup was.
“I’m talking about an event that needs a bigger venue. One that could host five hundred people.”
The panic gave a sharp tug, making it really hard to breathe. “Five hundred people?”
It had taken Ali all week to be okay with the idea of a fun girls’ night at the local watering hole. The only thing she disliked more than parties were parties for her.
Oh, and people.
Ali really, really didn’t like people. Especially when they were gathered in big groups and smiling—at her. As if it were her duty to entertain them. Which, in Ali’s opinion, was the stupidest expectation ever.
First, the only party trick she’d ever mastered was a one-handed keg stand, and this didn’t seem like a keg stand kind of event. Second, the last time Gail threw Ali a party, it had been her sweet sixteen, she’d been forced to dress up like a dust ruffle, and no one from her school could make it.
