Page 21 of The Light Year (Stardust Beach #6)

barbie

. . .

"Surprise!"

Barbie stops short, looking around her. The restaurant is filled with everyone she knows in Stardust Beach--save for Frankie and Ed, who are still in the hospital with the baby--and at one table, she sees her father, her brother, his wife, and their children. Everyone is standing and cheering.

"What's going on?" Barbie turns to Todd. They had been, ostensibly, having dinner out a day late for her birthday, but now, standing in the entryway to Olives he's looking deeply into his own glass.

"Wait--you flew down here not for my birthday, but to discuss the foundation?"

George gives an amused chuckle. "Well. It's not really a foundation yet, Barbara. It's more of a concept--an idea--at this point."

Barbie makes a move to stand up; she’s already had enough of this discussion.

“This is my birthday party,” she says evenly, putting her fingertips on the table as she stands there, watching her brother take a swig of his whiskey.

“I think family discussions about money can take place at a different time and place.”

“Now, Barbara.” George Mackey runs a hand over his knee as he sits there with one leg crossed over the other.

“I think what you’d like to do with your mother’s money is a lovely gesture.

I just think you can do it in a manner where you’re not throwing good money to the wind.

There’s a strategic and a right way to do things, and I think we can come up with that if we put our heads together. ”

“Barbie,” Ted says, speaking for the first time.

He leans forward in his chair and puts his elbows on the table, steepling his hands as he looks at his younger sister.

“Dad and I only have your best interests at heart here. You don’t necessarily have a mind for money, and that’s okay—no one expects you to.

But we do, and we have some vested interest here. ”

Across the room, Vance Majors slaps Todd on the back, and the two men talk as Jude and Carrie stand nearby, watching over the group of children. Barbie drags her eyes back to her brother. “What vested interest? It’s my money to spend as I wish.”

“Well, that right there, Barb,” Ted says, trying to sound brotherly, but instead just coming across as bossy.

“It is your money, and Mom would have wanted you to do something for yourself with it. She might have been less pleased to know you were just giving it away to poor people who can’t be bothered to do an honest day’s work for themselves. ”

Outrage grows in Barbie’s chest and she blinks a few times, ready to say the things that are roiling inside of her.

Instead of yelling and making a scene at her own surprise party, Barbie lowers her voice, venom dripping from each word.

“Neither of you knew her at all,” she says, hot tears stinging her eyes.

“She would have been completely behind my decision, and I know that for a fact.”

George pulls a cigar and a lighter from the breast pocket of his jacket and holds them in his hands, preparing to light the cigar.

“Go compose yourself,” he says to Barbie, sticking the end of the stogie in his mouth and glancing around for an ashtray.

As if on cue, a waiter appears with one, setting it on the table.

“Here you are, Senator,” the waiter says genially, then vanishes.

Barbie stands. Her father isn’t wrong about the fact that she needs to compose herself, because she’s on the verge of losing her temper right here in front of everyone she knows.

“I’ll be back,” she says tersely, turning to make her way to the bathroom.

As she walks through the restaurant, Barbie spots her boys and smiles at them.

Todd is still engrossed in conversation, and everyone looks to be having a good time.

Servers in white shirts and black pants are ferrying covered trays from the kitchen, and Barbie realizes that they’re all going into the room that’s been set aside for her party.

A buffet , she thinks. That’s good. Informal .

The expense of things is always on her mind, and she doesn’t want to be wasteful.

It never occurs to Barbie that her father might pay for this entire event, and instead she imagines Todd has put it all together, which makes her feel warm inside.

He’s always been so good to Barbie—even when they were teenagers—so thoughtful and kind.

Of course Todd would have arranged a surprise party for her, and paid for a buffet dinner for her friends and family.

That would be so like him, and even though this is nothing she would have dreamed up for herself, she’s committed to having a fabulous time in order to thank her husband for the effort.

But when she returns to the party room a few minutes later, it’s clear that Todd is not the master of ceremonies at all. The moment she walks back in, George Mackey stands, setting his cigar in the ashtray and holding a fork to tap against his glass. The room quiets down.

It feels like slow motion to Barbie as the pieces fall together, and later she will think how stupid she was for not realizing before now how the evening was going to play out.

“Ah, Barbara,” her father says, holding out a hand in her direction.

Barbie pauses in the doorway like a deer in headlights.

Every head in the room turns to her. “The woman of the hour.” George Mackey pauses as a smattering of applause fills the room.

“Happy birthday to my little girl, who is turning thirty and joining the rest of us at the grown-up table.” Polite applause comes from every table as the senator speaks in his booming voice.

“Barbara, you make me so proud, and your brother and I are more than happy to be here to celebrate a momentous occasion like this with you.”