Taffy looked at Hanna and then at Maya. The two seemed to be having a silent private conversation with just their eyes.
Hanna’s body went tense as they stood there in awkward silence for a beat too long. She feared she had made the biggest misstep of all with the Evangeline Oaks moms: being too eager. She wanted to crawl into her new king-sized sleigh bed and curl up under the covers in the fetal position.
Finally, Taffy spoke. “Oh, I’m sure you can come tonight if you wanted.” Her words sounded polite.
Hanna’s whole body relaxed. Maybe they didn’t hate her.
But worst-case scenario, even if Taffy’s invitation was forced, it gave her another chance to change their minds about her. And if anyone knew books, it was her. They’d be so blown away by her riveting insights, they’d welcome her into their mom clique with open arms. “I’d love to!”
Maya pulled out her rhinestone-encrusted iPhone and handed it to Hanna. “Why don’t you give me your number, and I’ll text you the invite.”
Hanna’s fingers couldn’t type the digits fast enough. She was so excited she hoped she didn’t make a mistake when entering the numbers. But when she heard the text message ding moments later, she knew she was officially in.
After drop-off was over, she walked briskly back to her newly leased Land Rover and opened up the text. There was no actual message, just an attached image of the digital invite which depicted a delicate teacup sitting on top of a stack of old hardcover books. “BOOK CLUB” was written in big script letters with all the details listed below, including the name of the book: The Firefly Nights.
Shit, she thought to herself. She had never read—let alone heard of—this book before. She high-tailed it to the local bookstore on Main Street and picked up the last copy they had on the shelf. Its matte black cover featured specs of gold, representing the fireflies in the title. The hardcover book felt heavy in her hands.
As she approached the checkout counter, she flipped to the last page. Four hundred fifty-four pages? Are you kidding me? Hanna considered herself a fast reader, but there was no way she was fast enough to read this whole book in one day.
Still, she sure as hell was going to try.
She went next door to the café and doubled down at an outdoor table with the book and an extra-large iced latte. As she skimmed the pages, she used the back blank page to scribble notes on things she thought might be good to discuss with the others that night. Was Dempsey’s courtship of Abilene believable? Did anyone else think the setting reminded them of Brady? Was anyone else angry with Abilene’s mother? The next time Hanna looked up, nearly three hours had passed. She dug back in, determined not to be the only one left out this time.
* * *
Walking into Genevieve’s house later that night felt like walking into an art gallery. White walls, white upholstered furniture, white rugs on the hardwood floors… Hanna carefully took her black flats off at the front entryway and left them in the neat pile of designer shoes. She noticed a pair of black Louboutin leather pumps among them.
Taffy, who had opened the door and greeted Hanna immediately with a glass of Genevieve’s spiked sweet tea, led her into the den, where fifteen ladies stood around mingling while wearing cocktail dresses. Hanna looked down at her jeans and fitted blazer, making a mental note that for book club, the attire was apparently black-tie optional. At the rate she was going, she’d unlock the secret dress code of Evangeline Oaks by the time Lucy graduated, she thought.
A group of women huddled around the black marble wet bar, scooping whatever they could of Genevieve’s famous baked brie onto their white ceramic plates. As Hanna finally made her way to it, she recognized Diana, the blazer-wearing lawyer from the PTA meeting last week. Tonight, she was wearing a rose gold jacquard dress with a simple string of pearls around her neck. Ugh. It looked like her former partner in dress code mishaps was in-the-know tonight. “Hi, Hanna,” she said cheerfully. At least she was friendly.
“Hi!” Hanna grabbed some grapes from the fruit tray. She noticed the baked brie was already gone.
“How’s everything been going with the transition?” Diana effortlessly juggled a plate of crudités in one hand and a drink in the other.
Hanna wondered what transition she was talking about. Becoming millionaires overnight? Her kids starting the new school? Her first weeks navigating this incredibly cliquey group of moms?
“It’s good,” she said, bobbing her head. “How are you?”
“Busy as always. I’m working on a big merger right now, and my client is being a pain in my side. Plus, my assistant just quit to move to Houston for a guy she met online. Oh, to be young and impulsive again.…”
Hanna figured Diana had to be about five years older than she. She had two other kids who were in grades above Drake. As busy as she was, she seemed so on top of everything. Hanna remembered back when she was working at the nursing home and barely had the energy to feed herself, let alone attend parties like this one on school nights.
“And on top of all of that,” Diana continued, “Genevieve somehow managed to get me on the carnival committee.” She rolled her eyes playfully and gestured for Hanna to follow her to the green velvet sofa, which they both sat down on.
As soon as they were seated, Diana bit into the baked brie on her plate and moaned with pleasure.
Hanna’s mouth salivated at how delicious it looked.
“But enough about me, I want to hear about you,” the woman said warmly.
Hanna sat forward. This was the first genuine question any of the Evangeline Oaks moms had asked her. Usually they just made small talk about the kids or made snide remarks about her lottery win.
Just as she was deciding how to answer, Hanna heard the clinking sound of a knife tapping a crystal cocktail glass. A hush fell over the group and everyone turned their attention to Genevieve, who stood next to the grand piano in her long pleated burgundy dress and gold jewelry. “Attention everyone, thank you so much for coming tonight. As always, I love seeing your gorgeous faces.”
The women all began clapping. Hanna quickly put her plate in her lap and joined in.
Genevieve continued, pointing in Hanna’s direction. “We have a new face in the group tonight.…”
Her heart began beating fast. Was this really happening? Embarrassment washed over her as all of the women turned their beauty pageant hairdos toward Hanna.
“For those of you who haven’t met Hanna Peck, she just enrolled her two kids at Evangeline Oaks.” She put her hands together and the rest of the women followed suit. It was awkward, humiliating even. Hanna could sense their eyes shooting across the room to their various friends, with an unspoken question: Is that the lottery mom? She shook it off.
“My family and I are so excited to be at the school. We love it so far.” She looked around the room at all the smiling faces, many of which were stiff. “And thank y’all for including me tonight. I can’t wait to discuss Dempsey and Abilene’s tragic story.”
Taffy snickered from the corner. “Oh my god, you actually read the book?” She tilted her head to the side and scrunched her nose up. “That’s so cute!”
Everyone in the room giggled. Hanna didn’t know what to say so she just laughed with them.