Because there are only nine guests, Coco assumes the party will be low-key—but she’s wrong. Leslee ordered five thousand white string lights that Coco hangs around the arched gate and near the stone benches. Zoe Alistair sets up a very cool curved bar and high round-top tables along the cinder paths.
“I’m going for a swingers-in-the-summertime vibe,” Leslee tells Coco. “I wanted to put that on the invite but Bull didn’t want people to get the wrong idea.”
Presumably, Leslee means swingers like the movie, Coco thinks, that new-old Sinatra feel. The cocktails are retro: bourbon sidecars, raspberry mules, and, yes, French 75s made with juice from the Amalfi lemons (this was Coco’s suggestion). They’re serving only finger foods—appetizers and desserts—because Leslee claims people don’t want to put on bathing suits when they feel full.
Coco thinks: A swingers theme, strong cocktails, tiny bites of food, a hot tub—what could go wrong?
Leslee wears a long halter dress printed with pink flamingos. It has white rickrack down the front that reminds Coco of icing on a Hostess cupcake. Leslee makes a point of mentioning that Beth from Current Vintage put this dress aside for Leslee the second it came in. (Beth apparently bought it from an estate sale in Palm Beach and thinks it might once have belonged to Lilly Pulitzer herself.) Coco makes the appropriate exclamations, then regards Bull, who is wearing hibiscus-orange pants with a bright turquoise linen shirt. (Coco reminds herself the man is color-blind, and Leslee clearly doesn’t care what he looks like.) If Bull and Leslee walked down the street in Rosebush wearing these outfits, everyone would go to their windows and stare. Some might grab their shotguns.
The first guests to arrive are Addison and Phoebe, then Eddie and Grace. Addison is wearing a green and yellow Lilly blazer that matches Phoebe’s A-line skirt. Do people have this stuff in their closets? No—the Wheelers also went to see Beth at Current Vintage. Grace is wearing a cute Lilly halter top—“It’s not vintage, sorry”—and Eddie is wearing a tan linen suit and a panama hat. “I brought Lilly bathing trunks for later,” he says.
Busy Ambrose shows up in a yellow and pink shift dress with a pink kerchief on her head. Romeo is wearing navy and pink Lilly pants, and the Chief shows up in a white shirt with a Lilly bow tie.
Leslee asks the Chief where Andrea is and he says, “She’s had a little too much summer; she’s taking a night off. And I can only stay an hour.”
“Don’t say that!” Leslee links her arm through the Chief’s. “Let’s get you a sidecar.”
Sharon appears wearing green pedal pushers printed with white daisies and a white blouse knotted at her midriff. She’s piled her blond hair on top of her head and done winged eyeliner and a hot-pink lip. Another surprise is that she enters the garden on the arm of Benton Coe, who is wearing jeans. Not on theme—but he’s so hot it doesn’t matter.
The music kicks in with “You and Me and the Bottle Makes Three Tonight,” and at the same time all the lights in the garden come on. Coco passes out sidecars in coupe glasses, mules in copper mugs, and the French 75s in flutes. Addison and Phoebe say they want to try all three, then Busy says she does too. Zoe Alistair dropped off platters of deep-fried olives stuffed with sausage and tiny cucumber sandwiches, a chafing dish of grape-jelly meatballs.
Coco gets a text from Lamont. How’s it going? He got a pass from tonight’s party. Leslee told him to skip it, and Coco fears this is because Leslee has figured out they’re seeing each other and she wants to keep them apart. Lamont thinks Coco is paranoid. Tonight he’s chauffeuring Glynnie to her book group.
Coco watches Leslee insist the Chief have a drink and sees Benton show Sharon the hollyhocks. Busy is telling Romeo that her Subaru mysteriously disappeared from the Steamship’s standby list, and is there anything he can do?
Calm and civilized, Coco texts back.
That’s disappointing, Lamont says.
Check back later, Coco texts.
Sharon has pulled out all the stops: She got a mani-pedi, she had Lorna at RJ Miller style her hair in a cute updo, and her blouse shows off both her cleavage and her midsection. Even Sterling and Colby gave her a compliment: “Total smoke-show, Mom.” But will she look as hot as Leslee?
As Sharon is walking down the driveway, she hears, “Hey, Sharon, wait up!” She turns to see Benton Coe jogging toward her.
“Well,” Sharon says, “if it isn’t the man of the hour.”
Benton scoffs. “I can’t believe I was invited. The Richardsons aren’t happy with how long it took me to finish.” He shakes his head. “I wasn’t happy with how long it took them to pay me. If I had it to do over, I would have turned this job down.”
“Oh, really?” Sharon says.
“Leslee is a lot,” Benton says.
Isn’t she just, Sharon thinks.
“I know you know what happened years ago between me and Grace Pancik—”
“Ancient history,” Sharon says.
“It’s hard to live something like that down on an island this size,” he says. “And Leslee is such a touchy-feely person that I felt uncomfortable showing up here.”
“Well, I think you’re safe,” Sharon says. “At the last party, Leslee moved on to someone new.”
“Would you mind if we walked in together?” Benton asks.
“Not at all,” Sharon says. “Don’t worry, I’ll protect you.”
They reach the arched wrought-iron gate. “This is gorgeous,” Sharon says. “Is it antique?” The gate looks like it came from an English manor or a French monastery.
“It’s brand-new but fabricated to look authentic,” Benton says.
Sort of like the Richardsons themselves, Sharon thinks.
There’s nothing phony about the garden, however. Sharon admires the stone wall and benches, the bright bursts of color from the flower beds. And although she’s prepared to be underwhelmed by the octagonal hot tub, she has to concede that it’s magnificent. Can a hot tub be considered a work of art? It’s deep mahogany with a glowing cobalt interior, and the curved copper ladders are divine.
Coco approaches them with a tray of drinks; Sharon selects a French 75 and Benton takes a mule garnished with mint and fresh raspberries. “Cheers,” he says. “You look beautiful tonight, by the way.”
“Thank you for noticing,” Sharon says. Only after she takes a sip of her drink does she allow her gaze to wander to the other guests. She was right—Leslee has moved on to someone new, only it’s not who Sharon expects. It’s Chief Kapenash. Leslee has him by himself on the far side of the hot tub, her arm through his. Sharon spies Romeo locked in conversation with Busy Ambrose. Serves him right, she thinks.
Romeo looks up at Sharon. His eyes flick over to Benton and he frowns. It is, unmistakably, a frown of jealousy. Sharon beams at him and waves. He nods in her direction and glares at Benton. Sharon couldn’t be happier.
The Chief decides to take advantage of Andrea’s absence and eat whatever he wants. Leslee basically forces a cocktail on him—the bourbon sidecar—and it hits just the right way. After a few sips, he feels like he’s floating. Zara Washington is going to excel as police chief, that’s clear only a few days in, and Ed will be able to relax for the first time in thirty-five years. He swipes a cracker through the pecan-crusted cheese ball that’s sitting on the bar, then indulges in a deep-fried olive stuffed with sausage. Andrea would definitely disapprove of these. Ed takes a second.
A server comes around with a platter of oysters Rockefeller, and the Chief remembers a party he attended as a teenager, his grandparents’ fiftieth wedding anniversary. It was held at the Park Plaza in downtown Boston (his mother’s parents, the Bryants, were a good deal fancier than the Kapenashes). Ed was introduced to oysters Rockefeller, the most delicious thing he’d ever tasted.
These are even better. The oysters, the server says, were harvested off the fifth point of Coatue that very morning.
The Chief helps himself to a second oyster. Okay, that’s it, he tells himself. “I should go,” he says to Leslee.
