Summer Island

We will . . . we will . . . rock you blared through the old speakers. Ruby had the volume so high the windows rattled and knickknacks seemed to dance spasmodically across the mantel.

Ruby took a laughing gulp of her drink, wiped her mouth with the back of her hand, and slammed the drink down onto the coffee table. Then she snapped a hand toward Caroline. “Come on, Miss America, dance with Hollywoods worst comic. ”

Caroline frowned. "Thats not true.

"Dance with me.

Shaking her head, Caroline grabbed Rubys hand and let herself be pulled into a twirl.

Nora cautiously sipped her cocktail and leaned forward, mesmerized by the interplay between her daughters. They were standing side by side, both sweaty from dancing, and they looked so happy and carefree it actually hurt Noras heart. These were the adult versions of the girls Nora had borne, the women shed imagined her daughters would have become if their mother had never left.

The girls danced and drank and laughed together; bumping hips and holding hands, until Caroline held up her hands and said breathlessly, "No more, Ruby.

Im getting dizzy. "

“Ha! Youre not dizzy enough, thats your problem,” and with that proclamation, she handed her sister her margarita “Bottoms up. ”

Caroline wiped the damp hair off her face. It looked for a moment as if she were going to decline.

“Oh, what the hell. ” Caroline drank the rest of her margarita without stopping, then held out the empty glass. “Another one, please. ”

“Yee ha!” Ruby danced into the kitchen and started up the blender.

On the stereo, the next album dropped down, clicked on top of the first one. With a whining screech, the arm moved to the beginning and lowered.

It was an old album by the Eurythmics. Sweet dreams are made of these pulsed through the speakers.

Caroline stumbled unsteadily to one side and held her hand out. “Dance with me, Mom. ”

Mom. It was the first time Caroline had called her that in years.

“If I step on your foot, Ill break every bone. ”

Caroline laughed. “Dont worry, Im anesthetized. ” The last word came out hopelessly mangled, and Caroline laughed again. “Drunk,” she said sternly, drunk. "

Nora grabbed her fallen crutch and limped over toCaroline. She slipped one arm around her daughters tiny (too tiny; frighteningly tiny) waist and used the crutch for support.

Caroline pressed her hands against Noras shoulders. Slowly, they began to sway from side to side.

“This is the last song they played at the senior prom. I had them play it at my wedding, remember?”

Nora nodded. She was going to say something impersonal, but then she noticed the way Caroline was looking at her. “Do you want to talk about it?” she asked gently, tightening her hold on Caros fragile waist.

“Talk about what?”

Nora couldnt help herself. She stopped dancing and released Carolines hand, then touched her daughters cheek. “Your marriage. ”

Carolines beautiful face crumpled. Her mouth quavered as she released a heavy sigh. “Oh, Mom. . . I wouldnt know where to start. ”

“Theres no-”

Ruby spun into the room, singing, “Margaritas for the senoras. ” She saw Nora and Caro standing there, and she stopped in her tracks. “Jesus, I leave you two for five minutes and the waterworks start again. ”

Nora shot her a pleading look. “Ruby, please. ”

Ruby frowned. “Caro? What is it?”

Caroline took an unsteady step backward. She looked from Nora to Ruby and back to Nora. She was weeping silently, and it was a heart-wrenching sight. It was the way a woman wept in the middle of a dark night with her husband beside her in bed and her children sleeping down the hall.