In a Book Club Far Away(95)

“Book club.”

The point made it home quickly, and Adelaide paused. She perched on the bed. Matt wrapped an arm around her waist and rested his hand on her thigh. “I really messed up,” she said.

“Adelaide. You did what you thought was right at the time. You can only be better. That’s it. Go down there, and whatever they have to give, just take it, and learn from it.”

She ran her fingers through his short hair. “Thank you.” Leaning down, she planted a kiss on his forehead.

Adelaide left the dark room and descended the stairs. Voices sounded from the kitchen. The kitchen exhaust whirred. Her nose wiggled at the smell of something savory. Oh my God. Bacon. Butter. Which only meant…

“Breakfast?” Adelaide said, walking into the kitchen, squinting. Every single light was on. A pan filled with bacon cooked while the waffle maker dripped batter. On the table was an amber bottle of maple syrup and a powdered sugar shaker.

“I got hungry,” Regina said. “And Henry had nothing in his kitchen, typical bachelor. You’d think he’d have a fridge full since he’s a baker. But anyway, I still had your house key.”

Adelaide sat at the table, where a pajama-clad Sophie already waited, eyebrows raised, which meant that she, too, didn’t know what this was about, but was going with it.

“Here we go.” Regina flipped a waffle onto a plate and set it in front of Sophie. “So, now that we’re all together, I thought that maybe we should talk about the book, since you insisted we read it, Adelaide.” She laughed. “Okay, okay, so I didn’t really read all of the book, but I watched the movie the last couple of hours. And I get why you picked it. The story wasn’t only about their relationships with men. It was also about their relationships with themselves and the friends that supported them.”

Adelaide cleared her throat, tentative at Regina’s sudden change in demeanor. But she responded with gusto, because she would take any kind of communication from her. “I really like how the author tackled four different strong personalities of women who were there for each other rather than to bring each other down.”

“See? That’s the thing… toward the end I was ready to just give up on the book—I mean, movie—because each one of the characters, despite their differences, was sometimes too stubborn for her own good. It was frustrating that they couldn’t see what they could do to improve their situation.”

“It’s never that easy, though,” Sophie said.

“I know. It isn’t.” Regina turned off the stove, and grabbed her plate, already piled with food. She joined them at the kitchen table. “Because it takes a while to really understand who and what the real problem is. Back then, it was Logan’s affair—and now, my intent on blaming someone else for it.”

“Regina,” Adelaide started, because she had more to say, too. “This is not on you. This was on me. It was my fault then and it’s my fault now. I always so much want for things to be fine, when I should have allowed things to simply be, and accepted as such. I’m so sorry.”

“No, no, no,” Sophie said. “It was also on me. Back then, I should have gone to you immediately, Regina. But I wasn’t sure if I should intrude. If it happened today, it would have been different. I would have called everything out right there and then at the festival. I wouldn’t have hesitated.”

Regina clasped her hands together. “Adelaide, I’m still mad. I still have feelings, lots of them. But I also moved on long ago, and after this week, as painful as it has been being with other type A–ers in this little house, I realized that I can’t keep going without you both. Sophie, I know I said that I’d never forgiven you, but spending time here with you proved that not only was that not true, but I shouldn’t have written you off. It was wrong, but I can’t go back in time to fix things, though I wish I could. When it comes down to it, I missed you.”

Sophie pressed her lips together. “I really missed you, too.”

Adelaide’s eyes filled with tears.

“I can’t say it will be smooth from here on out, but I don’t want to miss anyone anymore. I don’t want to lose time,” Regina said.

“Really?” Adelaide asked. Her chest heaved with relief, with gratitude.

“We have years to catch up on,” Sophie said.

“Years together.” Adelaide said, “But can we really try again?”

Regina nodded. “We can. Try.”

Sophie sniffled. “Damn it. Why are you making me cry into my waffles?”

Regina put a hand in the middle of the table, and Adelaide clasped it. Sophie laid a hand on top of theirs.

It was their old tradition in a new age, tested by time, and strengthened by a book club far away.





EPILOGUE

Regina




One Year Later

Regina stepped down from her rented moving van and slipped the sunglasses off her face. The wind whipped with the start of spring, and she tightened her scarf around her neck. She stared at the red brick of an eight-hundred-square-foot town house in Old Town Alexandria.

The door on the passenger side opened, and Miko bounded out.

“Here she is,” she said. “Home sweet home.”

“It’s like Baby Bear.”