Golden Girl(100)

But Willa can’t lie like that. She’s a rule follower. She likes to do the right thing, not the easy thing. Calling Brett isn’t easy, but she has to do it.

She tells Brett that she sent the video of him singing “Golden Girl” to Vivi’s publicist. (Did she overstep in doing this without his express permission? Probably.) The publicist then forwarded the video to the producers of Great Morning USA, who showed it to Tanya Price, and now Tanya Price wants Brett to sing on the show.

Brett laughs. “That’s crazy,” he says. “We put Great Morning USA on in our lobby every day. And you’re saying she wants me on to sing?”

“You may have to talk a little bit about your relationship with my mom,” Willa says. “But…if you do that, I think you should exercise discretion.”

Brett is quiet. Willa needs to make herself crystal clear.

“I’m not sure you should tell the nation that my mom got pregnant in high school. Or that she told you she got pregnant.”

“Willa,” Brett says. “I would never do that. I’ll just stick to talking about our romance and the song.”

Willa exhales. “Thank you.” She wonders if she can trust him. Willa has watched Tanya Price enough to know that she’s a serious journalist who finds the heart of every story like a heat-seeking missile, and although Brett seemed pretty sanguine about the whole Vivi-maybe-probably-lying situation, if he wanted to get revenge, this would be the way to do it. “Can I trust you?”

“Willa,” he says, and she feels bad for even asking.



Brett is scheduled to appear on Great Morning USA the following Monday at eight thirty. Willa realizes she has to tell her siblings, her father, and Savannah. She would prefer just not to mention it; Carson and Leo don’t watch TV, JP is busy at the Cone in the morning making ice cream, and Savannah is so busy running her nonprofit and caring for her parents that she has even less free time than JP. Brett could appear, sing his song, and tell the story about dating Vivi, and none of them would ever know.

Lucinda watches Great Morning USA. Penny Rosen too. Probably a lot more people watch than Willa realizes—ten million people. There’s no way to keep this quiet.

Willa sends a text to her siblings: FYI, turns out Mom had a boyfriend in high school back in Ohio named Brett Caspian and he’s going on Great Morning USA to play the song he wrote for Mom at 8:30 a.m. Monday.

There’s no response from either Carson or Leo—no surprise there. They’re absorbed in their jobs, their friends, plus Leo has Marissa, and Carson has her controlled substances. Willa thinks she should check on them tomorrow but then she reasons that they’re both adults, and if they need her, they’ll let her know.

She wonders if she should tell her father or Savannah next and easily decides on Savannah. Since Savannah’s house is only two blocks away from the Whaling Museum, Willa stops by after work.

She sees Savannah’s car in the driveway so she knows she’s home, but nobody answers when Willa knocks. Willa opens the door. “Hello? Savannah, it’s Willa!” She hears vague people noises coming from the back, so after a quick pit stop in the powder room (the walls are covered in photographs, including some of Willa, Carson, and Leo when they were growing up and some of Vivi and JP when they were still married), she heads to the kitchen. Through the window, she can see Savannah’s back. She’s sitting on the edge of the pool.

Willa pops outside. “Hey!”

Savannah whips around. “Willie! Willie, hi.” Her voice sounds strange, strained, and Willa realizes that Savannah has company. There’s a man in the pool; Willa can see his form underwater.

Before Willa can even think, Oops, I interrupted something, the man surfaces. It’s JP.

“Dad?” Willa says. “What are you doing here?”

“Came for a swim,” JP says. “Before the mad after-dinner rush at the shop.”

“Oh,” Willa says. She tries to process this. It makes sense, sort of. Savannah’s house is even closer to the Cone than it is to the Whaling Museum, and Willa knows that her father and Savannah have bonded since Vivi died. But this feels like a thing. Is this a thing?

“How are you?” Willa asks. “How’s Amy?”

“Amy and I broke up last week,” JP says. He clears his throat. “I’m sorry. I should have told you.”

“You…what do you mean, you broke up? Did she move out?”

“She did,” JP says. “She’s living at Lorna’s.”

Willa blinks. “Wow. Okay.”

“I apologize, honey. I honestly didn’t think you’d care.”

“I mean, I don’t care,” Willa says. “But also, it feels weird that we’re all living on this island and major things are happening and nobody is talking to one another and we’re supposed to be a family.”

“You’re right,” JP says. “I planned on killing three birds with one stone and telling you all at Grammy’s birthday dinner a week from Tuesday.”

Ugh! Willa thinks. August is moving way too fast, as it always does. She has completely spaced about Lucinda’s birthday dinner at the club. Now she’ll spend the next ten days dreading it.

“Did you stop by for a reason, Angel Bear?” Savannah asks. “Do you want to talk? Can I get you a glass of wine?”