How Sweet It Is (3 page)

Six pounds.

She’d gained six pounds in addition to the two gray hairs.

Wonderful.

Now on a fact-finding mission of horror, Molly turned next to the mirror. She studied the lines on her face up close, and what she found there made her want to just curl up into a little ball and abandon the evening altogether. Just as she suspected, the early signs of crow’s feet. At least when she smiled just wide enough. She blew out a defeated breath. She was getting old and fat and there was nothing she could do about it. Okay, so maybe she was indulging her dramatic side a little. She was allowed in such a moment.

Gathering her courage, she swallowed solemnly and shook herself out of the downward spiral. No more time for this. Downward spiraling would have to take five.

Instead, plan B.

She shimmied into her loosest pair of dark blue jeans and capped it off with a white dress shirt, and simple heels. Less is more when the going’s rough. Plus, she was going to see family, who loved you no matter what, right? There was no one there she needed to impress.

Jordan Tuscana felt strange as she drove through the streets of Applewood. Perhaps she should have prepared herself more. It was home, but it wasn’t. So familiar, yet so much had changed at the same time. Her old high school had an electronic marquee now. The hardware store looked to have been remodeled, and then there were the sidewalks through the center of town. They’d been repaved and had kind of a winding quality to them now. A nice touch. She studied the faces of the people she passed, recognizing many and some not at all.

It looked great, she thought, the town. She’d known Applewood practically her entire life and though it felt different, it was still close to her heart. Still hers.

But this wasn’t going to be easy, the whole being back thing. There had been a reason she’d stayed away for so long, and the weight of that sadness now sat heavily upon her heart. She’d avoided it for as long as she possibly could. Declining invitations, evading family gatherings, and ignoring phone messages. She’d exhausted every tactic in her arsenal, and it was time to face what lay ahead.

But this time when she pulled into the driveway, there would be no Cassie to hug her until they both fell to the ground outside of their parents’ home. She wouldn’t be there to tease her mercilessly or call her “kiddo.” They wouldn’t spend hours together on the old soccer field knocking the ball back and forth while they talked about every aspect of each other’s life. Shooting the breeze, they’d called it, when those talks were actually so much more than that to Jordan.

Of course, there’d been no Cassie for years now, but Jordan had done everything she could to avoid the places she’d recognize her sister’s absence the most.

And that meant Applewood.

Her phone buzzed and she clicked it to speakerphone just as she stopped at one of the town’s two traffic lights. A line of elementary school kids was led across the crosswalk in front of her car by, wouldn’t you know it, Mrs. Altschull, her teacher from back in the day. This was seriously the twilight zone.

“You still alive?” Her best friend George’s voice filled the car. He was in LA for another week or so at the premiere of a film they’d worked on together.

Jordan sighed. “Thus far. But the day is young.”

“Don’t be dramatic. That’s my job. Just wanted to check in on you, stroke your head from afar if that’s what you need.”

“I’ll be fine. I’ll call you when I’m settled and you can tell me about all the fashion catastrophes at the premiere.”

“Will do. Wish you were here.”

“Yeah, well, I don’t think the studio shares that sentiment. Plus, I need some time away.”

“I know, sweets. I love you more than Prada. We’ll talk soon.”

“We better. Bye, Georgie.”

It was five minutes later when she took a deep breath and eased her car into the driveway of the Tuscana home. As she looked up at the house she’d spent most of her childhood nestled inside, her heart thrummed nervously in her chest.

Yeah, this was gonna be rough.

Rallying, she reminded herself of all the reasons she’d come. The biggest of which was easy. She missed her family. It was her father’s sixtieth birthday in a few weeks, and her mother had begged her to not let it go by without a visit. Then there was the fact that her own life was radically off-kilter. She’d spent much of the year on location shoots from LA to Austin and hadn’t seen her apartment in Chicago in months. Her love life was a joke. And then there was the fact that the studio had her banned from her own movie set when she’d shown her highly inappropriate lead actor she wasn’t his personal blow up doll.

So here she was, needing to take a few steps back, assess her life, and find a way to put it all back together again. And that meant going back to basics. She had to remind herself of who she was before she could figure out where she was going. Deep down, she knew her family, her old friends, and this town would do that for her…if she could just let them.

“Jordana Avery Tuscana,” her mother practically shouted from the front porch. “You come here this minute!” She held her arms open and smiled widely as Jordan approached. Once her mother’s arms enveloped her, she instantly sank into that feeling of comfort they always provided. It felt good, and in response, her eyes welled up at the long forgotten feeling. She pulled back enough to meet her mom’s sentimental gaze. She wiped away a tear from Jordan’s cheek and Jordan laughed at herself and the unexpected emotion.

“Hiya, Momma. I missed you.”

“Hi, sweetheart. It’s been too long since I’ve seen this face; you know this, don’t you?” She shook Jordan’s chin slightly.

“I know.”

“And you should be ashamed of yourself for not coming home in so long. Now that you’re here, I’m not letting you get away again so quickly. You’re staying for a while. Understood?”

“Feisty. But yeah, that’s the plan. If that’s okay with you and Dad.”

“We insist. Daddy’s taking care of some of the details for dinner at Gibson’s. Your brother will be there, and Teresa and the kids along with the rest of the family.” She paused, studying Jordan a moment. “How are you? And don’t kid a kidder.”

Amalia Tuscana had aged since Jordan saw her last. Not a great deal but enough that it caught her attention. Small lines had sprung up around her eyes. She was thinner than ever before, and most of her hair was now white, not just the subtle streaks she remembered. She decided to answer honestly. “I’ve had better months. I think I just need a little break from everything. The studio thinks so too. Actually, they’ve insisted on it, which is kind of the problem. I was pulled from the movie. They’ve brought in another producer to fill my slot.”

As her mother opened her mouth, probably in question, Jordan held up a hand. “Can we maybe talk about it later? I don’t think I have it in me right now.”

“Of course. I’m here if you want to…talk.” Jordan nodded. She’d not had many heart-to-hearts with her mother over the years. It had always been Cassie she’d turned to for advice or to confide in. And more recently, George. He was pretty much her go-to. Her parents, though always well intended, had never understood what motivated her and disapproved of many of her choices. Okay, all of them. They disagreed with all of her choices. But then she hadn’t been exactly helpful in that department either. Not the easiest kid to raise.

“Thanks. Maybe.”

Her mother’s eyes dimmed in defeat. “Well, your room is waiting for you if you’d like to take an hour or so before dinner to rest or freshen up.”

Jordan leaned in and kissed her mother’s cheek. “It’s good to be home.”

*

Gibson’s Steak House was the most expensive restaurant in town, and it was bustling with Tuscanas and their closest friends by the time Molly arrived. She was pulled immediately into one big bear hug after another, an Italian family imperative.

Cassie’s older brother, Michael, swooped in, took her coat, and placed a big, sloppy kiss on her cheek. “Molly’s here; the party can begin,” he called over his shoulder to the room at large.

She smiled happily at her brother-in-law and held up the brown paper sack. “Chocolate chip cookies for the kiddos. I promised and I always make good.”

“Nicely done.” He dipped his face deep into the bag and inhaled. “Wow. Are you sure we have to let the kids in on this little deal?”

She popped him playfully on the shoulder. “Mikey, don’t you dare play cookie monster. Come by the shop tomorrow and I’ll hook you up. Those are for the munchkins, who I have to kiss at least a million times right this very minute. Directions, please?”

“About fifty feet in. Kids’ table is on the left.”

“On it.”

Molly said a few passing hellos as she made her way to the kids’ table where she found her six-year-old nephew, Zachary, and her four-year-old niece, Risa, coloring before dinner was served. “There are my two favorite small people.” She ruffled Zach’s hair and received an adorable smile in response. Risa, however, bounded from her seat and leapt easily into Molly’s arms. She had a special bond with the little girl, who now clung to her gleefully. “What’s up, little Risa? How was your week? You married yet?”

Risa giggled. “No, silly. Zach and me got to help Grandpa at the clinic and he let us pretend to be the doctor. I was the best one. Oh, and Aunt Jordan is here.”

“She is?”

Risa nodded and pointed across the room. Molly followed her gaze and paused. There was Jordan, speaking quietly in the corner with one of her elderly aunts.

Except it wasn’t Jordan, not exactly.

This Jordan was…different. Not at all the kid Molly projected in her mind whenever she thought of her. She was so grown up. It was startling.

In reality, she knew that time had passed and Jordan was no longer a wayward teenager. Hell, she’d seen her several times throughout her college days, but the young woman before her now was so much more than all of that. Somewhere along the way, Jordan had gone from attractive to absolutely stunning. Her long dark hair was pinned back on one side, keeping her bangs from falling into her face. She wore faded designer jeans and a V-neck dark green T-shirt that somehow made her look cooler than all of them.

As Molly absorbed the confident carriage, the easy smile, the finesse with which Jordan moved and spoke, she couldn’t help but feel a little proud of Cassie’s little sister. It was then that Jordan lifted her eyes and smiled at her.

And there she was, the Jordan she knew.

Molly gently lowered Risa to the ground and closed the distance between them, grinning and pulling Jordan easily into a hug. “Well, look who decided to grace us with her presence at long last.”

“You know me, Mol, always forgetting the time.”

As Jordan released her, their eyes met and something moved between them. An understanding. An acknowledgement of the difficult years that had passed since they’d last joked in this way. Jordan’s smile faltered briefly, her eyes brushing the ground before she raised them back to Molly’s soberly. “I should have called you more. Or been here. Something.”

Molly squeezed her hand. “It’s okay, Jordy.” And it was. The accident had changed life as they knew it, and everyone had reacted in different ways. “You’re here now and sure to unleash all sorts of trouble on the unsuspecting citizens of our small town.”

Jordan narrowed her gaze. “Who told you?”

“We’ve met, remember?” That earned a grin. This was more like it. They’d all spent too much time being sad. “Hope you brought your appetite. Your parents ordered the menu eighteen times over.”

“My kind of meal.”

They settled down to dinner. The seventeen adults present were seated at a long table and the children at their own circular table off to the side, allowing their parents easy access. It was whenever they all got together like this that Cassie’s absence was noticed the most. Almost like a gaping hole that no one quite mentioned anymore, but everyone still felt. Molly offered up a silent smile to let Cassie know she was remembered and missed on the day of her sister’s homecoming. She found if she made Cassie a part of her everyday life, it made her feel somehow closer.

Molly was ushered to a chair next to Mikey’s wife, Teresa, and across from Jordan. The early stages of the meal involved lots of questions about Jordan’s job as a producer in the film industry. She seemed to field the inquiries as matter-of-factly as possible, but didn’t give an abundance of information.

To accompany the prime rib, the family style platters of green beans, garlic mashed potatoes, and seasoned squash were flowing freely down the table now. Mikey loaded his plate. “So do you have a lot of famous friends now?”

“A few,” Jordan answered. “The films I work on are not exactly blockbusters, but we do have some notable names on occasion. I worked with Jenna McGovern recently and she was nominated for a Golden Globe for our film. She’s pretty great and we’re still in touch.”

Teresa grinned. “Ohhh, I love her. It all sounds so exciting.”

Her mother-in-law took a sip of wine. “It does, but there are plenty of exciting careers that are a bit more stable. And allow you to stay in one place. Like at home. I wish you’d give that some thought, Jordan.”
And here we go
. While the heads of the Tuscana family were warm people, they certainly came with a lot of opinions. Molly knew Amalia’s thoughts on Jordan living apart from the rest of the family. She also made no secret that she didn’t love her chosen career path. If it were up to her, all her children would have followed in her footsteps and gone into medicine. Mikey had done just that and now had his own practice, while also working two days a week alongside his parents at their clinic. Cassie had come close and studied medical management. But Jordan had showed little interest, and that had disappointed her parents outright.

“It would be nice to live in town,” Jordan conceded cautiously. “But it’s just not as easy with my line of work. In fact, it’s near impossible.”

“We could always use your help at the clinic,” her father-in-law, Joseph, pointed out. “You could look into medical school. We’d be willing to support you financially in the meantime. You’ve had your fun. Maybe it’s time to settle down, get serious. You’re so smart, Jordana. Don’t you think you’ve wasted enough time as it is?”