Of course William would blame her for this. She was already blaming herself.
And what if Olivia really was pregnant? June was not ready to be a grandmother!
Not that June could have asked at this moment. Or bring up Olivia’s father. Olivia was too happy. Her smile was so wide, the rest of her face disappeared behind it. June recognized that ear-to-ear grin. When your happiness couldn’t be contained. It exploded out of your eyes, your face, your walk. June had felt that way about a man once too. Not William. Someone before him.
“What’s his name?” June asked.
“Zachary. Well, Zach. I call him Z most of the time.”
Z.
“What’s he like?” June asked, as her mind drifted. She wondered what had changed for Olivia. She’d viewed her oldest daughter as a staunch feminist who wore her ten-year life and career plan around like a medal of honor. A plan that Olivia had always been quick to remind June had zero room for marriage until after she was gainfully employed as a lawyer. Was Italy to blame? Had Olivia been hypnotized by the romantic Amalfi Coast? What had June recently read? That it was one of the top honeymoon destinations in the world?
“He’s …” Olivia paused, a deep blush spread across her cheeks. “He’s so great. He’s kind. And smart. He’s so well read that he makes me look like I hardly ever pick up a book. You’ll love this—he’s finished over half of the one hundred classics you should read before you die! Including, wait for it, Moby-Dick! I was like, my mom challenged me to read that, and after seventy-five pages of harpoons and whale blubber, I felt like my soul had been sucked out of me and I gave up. And you know what he said?”
June shook her head.
“But it’s based on a true story!”
I said that to you too, a million times.
“You said that to me!” Olivia echoed June’s thought.
“I did.” But did he make it through Infinite Jest? June thought. Then tried to shake her internal dig away. As a bookstore owner, June should have been happy to hear this part about her future son-in-law. But she couldn’t get there. Not quite yet.
Olivia pressed on, seemingly oblivious. “And he’s funny—like witty funny. There’s so much to love. You’re going to adore him. And not only because he’s so adorable!” Olivia giggled.
June twisted her lips into a smile. “Of course. Yes. When you get back, we’ll—”
June stopped. A handsome man with dark hair that curled around the ends, a long nose, and green eyes sat down next to Olivia. June hadn’t thought she was going to meet him right now. She sat up straighter and pulled her duvet over her loose top.
“It’s so nice to meet you. V has told me so much about you,” he said. His incredibly white teeth made June squint.
V?
V and Z?
Will their future kids be named W, X and Y?
Zach—Z—was still talking. “As Olivia said, I’m a bibliophile. I can’t wait to see your bookstore. Well, the inside, anyway; Olivia showed me the exterior online. I’m impressed you’re an entrepreneur.”
Oh, he’s good. Using the word bibliophile.
Zach was talking with his hands, the leather bracelet wrapped around his wrist swinging as he spoke. “But you just met me, literally seconds ago, so maybe I should tell you a little bit more about myself before I crash your workplace?” He laughed awkwardly, and Olivia squeezed his bicep. He studied June’s face, searching for what, she didn’t know. Acceptance? Scrutiny?
June was doing her best to keep her face neutral, but William always told her she would make a terrible poker player.
“Thank you,” June managed.
“I’m sure you’re shocked. I’m a perfect stranger who’s now going to be your son-in-law!” He looked at Olivia as if he still couldn’t believe it was true.
That makes two of us, June thought.
“You must have questions. I know my parents will, for Olivia. Ask me anything!” He thumped his chest and flashed a smile, again revealing two rows of bone-white teeth. “I’m an open book—which I’m sure you appreciate.” He laughed at his own pun.
Do you tip well? Do you want kids? Who did you vote for in the last election? June knew she couldn’t ask these things. But had Olivia?
Olivia leaned against his shoulder. The two of them were sitting so close together that June wasn’t sure where Olivia ended and Zach began.
“Mom?”
June knew that voice. Olivia was pleading with her to ask him something.
“Sorry, I’m taking it all in.”
“I get it,” Zach placated her.
But he didn’t get it. There was no way he could get what June was feeling. June could barely comprehend it herself.
June forced her mind to stop spinning and focused. “I always love a good story of how couples met.”
His entire face brightened. “I was taking pictures—I’m a photographer—and there she was—”
Olivia jumped in. “Like with an actual camera, Mom. Not an iPhone. He’s been the one taking my Insta pics. The secret is out—he’s the reason my feed is the bomb now.”
June sighed quietly as she absorbed his career, feeling like that was the real bomb. Photographer. How were they going to afford to live in Southern California? Olivia still had three more years of school before she would be able to make a living.
As if Zach had read her mind, he added, “That’s not what I do to pay the bills. I take pictures for fun. I’m in real estate, Mrs. Abbott.”
“Mrs. Abbott,” Olivia groaned. “That sounds so old-school. You can call her June, right, Mom?”
Or J?
June nodded again, because she didn’t know what else to do. Was this how things worked now? Out with the old school, in with the new? You meet your daughter’s fiancé on FaceTime while wearing a ratty Depeche Mode T-shirt and he calls you by your first name?
Thankfully, Zach didn’t call her June when he continued. She wasn’t ready for that. She wasn’t ready for any of this. “I was reloading my film—there’s this spot where I love to take pictures on Via Arienzo. You have an amazing vantage point of the beach, the port, and the west side of Positano. And I looked up, and there she was. The most beautiful woman I’d ever seen.” He smiled at her. “They say it’s impossible to meet someone without a dating app these days, but we’ve beaten the odds!”
“I deleted my profiles the first day I met him!” Olivia told June. “I had a feeling.”
June had never been on a dating app, although Olivia had encouraged it many times. But June wasn’t interested in dating. She liked her easy, predictable life that would only be disrupted by a man. But June had listened patiently as Olivia walked her through it. Tinder was for one-night stands. Hinge was for relationships. Olivia had shown June her profiles—giving her a tutorial on how they worked. June couldn’t remember it all now, but it had involved a lot of swiping, liking, and matching. It seemed like a lot of work.
“Anyway, I walked up to her and said hi.”
Olivia picked up the story. “He scared the shit out of me. I was looking at something on my phone and didn’t see him. I dropped everything I was holding—the phone, my bag, my coffee. He was, like, a total stalker!”