Winter Solstice (Winter #4)(48)
“I’ll do just that,” Ava says. “Thank you for calling. I mean… thank you.”
Harrison smiles. He’s such a hero! She can’t believe he orchestrated this!
“The pleasure was ours,” Harrison says. “Bye-bye, Ava.”
“Bye-bye, Ava,” PJ says.
The screen goes blank.
Ava can’t wait for seven, when Potter is finished teaching his class. He is going to flip when he hears that Ava was invited to Thanksgiving in Palo Alto.
Or is he? Ava wonders. He may be angry that Harrison, of all people, reached out. Ava never told Potter that she and Harrison had a conversation in the lobby that afternoon, and she certainly didn’t tell him that she gave Harrison her cell. Potter’s obvious first question is going to be How did Harrison get your number?
Ava’s elation subsides, then morphs into worry. She needs to think about how to handle this.
When Potter calls after class, he sounds weary. Ava forgot that it’s midterms, so he has papers to grade for two classes and an exam to administer to a third. He says, “This is why I want you to move in with me. So you’re here when I get home.”
Ava smiles. She loves that he wants more of her. “You’ll be fine. You need some sleep.”
“I won’t be able to see you until Friday. I’m coming there for dinner?”
“Yes,” Ava says. “No! Wait! I forgot Friday is my mother’s last broadcast. We’re going to the studio. There’s going to be champagne in the greenroom after the news, then Drake is taking us to dinner at Upland. Not just us, but Lee Kramer, who heads the studio, and his wife, Ginny, who is the editor of Vogue, and Darcy, my mother’s former assistant, who is flying in from Atlanta. And Roger, her wardrobe guy, and a few of the producers, and Raoul, my mother’s driver, and his wife. There will be twenty of us, I think.”
“Just tell me when and what to wear,” Potter says. “Vogue sounds intimidating.”
“You’re not intimidated by anyone,” Ava says—except, of course, his own son. Around other adults, however, he shines. She can introduce him to anyone—lowbrow or highbrow—and he always fits in. She brought him to Margaret and Drake’s wedding, where he knew no one but Ava and Margaret, and he did so well that now he is basically part of the family.
Family reminds Ava of the FaceTime call from Harrison and PJ. Clearly Harrison hasn’t reached out yet; Potter would have mentioned it. Should Ava tell him? She decides to follow her gut and think about it overnight. She’ll tell Potter tomorrow if he doesn’t mention it first.
The next day Ava gets a call from Bart saying he wants to use his Acela tickets and come to New York for the weekend. With Allegra Pancik!
“Wow!” Ava says. “So are you two a thing, then?”
“Yes, we are a thing,” Bart says. “I took her out to dinner last Friday night, and I’ve seen her every day since then, and I want to surprise her with a weekend in New York. I didn’t tell her where we’re going, but I asked her to take off of work.”
“Okay!” Ava says. She hasn’t heard Bart sound this animated since last Christmas, when he was still high on his newfound freedom. She’s happy for him, but the protective big sister in her wants to advise him not to move too fast or get too serious too quickly. Girls Allegra’s age can be flighty, shallow, and opportunistic. Allegra is very pretty and, if Ava remembers correctly, she has a wild streak; she’s the polar opposite of her serious, quiet sister. “Do you two want to stay at Drake’s apartment? Because if so, I can set that up.”
“I don’t want to seem like I’m showing off,” Bart says. “I want to get a hotel room. Something nice, too. I have my checks from the government saved up. Do you have any recommendations?”
“Let me research it for you,” Ava says. “And you and Allegra should plan on coming to Margaret’s last broadcast on Friday night. Dinner after—Drake is paying, so you can save at least part of your government checks. It’s a group of people. I’ll add you and Allegra to the list.”
“That would be beyond amazing,” Bart says. “Thanks, sis.”
Ava finds Bart a room at the Warwick New York on Fifty-Fourth and Sixth for a very reasonable rate, and she adds Allegra and Bart to Drake’s guest list. She is busy with all the details, and so she doesn’t have time to talk to Potter about the FaceTime call with Harrison and PJ, and Potter doesn’t mention it so Harrison must not have called yet. But Thanksgiving is only two weeks away, and Potter will need to book a flight. She worries that Harrison has reconsidered the invite, or that perhaps she misunderstood and she was supposed to be the one to pass the invite along.
She’ll broach the topic over the weekend, she decides. After things have calmed down.
Margaret’s final broadcast is a big deal, despite Margaret’s wish that it not be made a big deal. A story runs at the bottom of the front page of the Times on Friday, and Margaret’s photo is splashed across the front of the New York Post with the headline ANCHORS AWAY. There’s also a piece in Time magazine and a spread of Margaret’s best outfits in Women’s Wear Daily.
Margaret’s only nod to the occasion is that she has chosen, for the first time ever, to wear black on the air. She looks beautiful and Ava tells her so.