At exactly two o’clock, my doorbell rang. Avery stood there in an expensive charcoal suit—the Tom Ford I’d bought him last Christmas. At forty-five, he’d kept his father’s strong jawline and dark hair, though gray was starting to thread through it. Behind him, Taylor wore a cream cashmere sweater that probably cost more than my monthly utilities, fresh from their third vacation of the year in Turks and Caicos.
“Mom.” Avery kissed my cheek, his familiar woody cologne enveloping me for a moment. Taylor’s smile was bright, perfectly white teeth against her tanned skin. “Your home looks beautiful as always, Mrs. Rivers.”
I ushered them into the living room—the space David and I had decorated together over forty years of marriage. The mahogany coffee table we’d found at an estate sale in Connecticut, the Persian rug from our anniversary trip to Istanbul, the Tiffany lamp that had been his mother’s. Taylor’s eyes lingered on each piece, and something flickered in her expression that I recognized but couldn’t quite name. Not appreciation. Something else. Calculation.
“Coffee’s ready,” I said. “And I made those lemon bars you like, Avery.”
“Mom, you didn’t have to do that.” But he took three, I noticed.
For a moment after we sat down, nobody spoke. Avery glanced at Taylor. She nodded almost imperceptibly, some silent communication I wasn’t privy to.
“So,” I said, unable to bear the silence any longer, “what did you want to talk about?”
Avery set down his coffee cup carefully, like a man about to deliver difficult news. “It’s about Sophie, Mom.”
My heart lightened. “Sophie? How is she? I haven’t seen her in—goodness—must be three weeks now.”
“She’s great,” Taylor cut in warmly. “Finishing her last semester at Columbia Business School. Top of her class, actually.”
Pride swelled in my chest. My granddaughter—twenty-five years old and brilliant. I still remembered teaching her to bake cookies in this very kitchen, her tiny hands covered in flour.
“Mom,” Avery continued, and I saw something cross his face. Hesitation. “Sophie’s getting married.”
The world seemed to tilt sideways for a moment. “Married? But she never told me she was seeing anyone seriously.”