A Week at the Lake by Wendy Wax Page B

microphones toward them. If not for the bodyguards positioned around the family, Serena had no doubt the crowd would have already surged, surrounded, and swallowed them whole.
    They looked, Serena thought, like a family of superheroes. All four of them tall, long limbed, and elegant with varying shades and lengths of the trademark red-gold hair, and aquiline-nosed, square-jawed faces dominated by high cheekbones and wide-set green eyes that looked incredible in person and even more so on camera.
    In theatrical terms they were the antithesis of Georgia Goodbody, pure gold versus brass; glowing lights on aBroadway marquee, not popcorn and Jujubes. They walked red carpets and won Oscars, Tonys, and Emmys. Any crowd that gathered around them, professional or otherwise, would be throwing roses and shouting “bravo,” not cracking jokes.
    â€œImpressive.” Zoe couldn’t take her eyes off them.
    â€œDefinitely impressive,” Serena agreed. If only everything that glittered so brightly were actually gold. From what Emma had shared and even more from what she had not, Serena knew that Eve and Rex had always been a unit, faithful not necessarily to each other but to their joint ambitions and public persona. Their parenting had been aggressive in all things acting, but highly conditional in terms of approval—leaving their offspring to compete for scraps of their attention, typically won only through dramatic achievement. Emma, who’d been far smaller, younger, and seemingly softer than her siblings, had found the playing field uneven and unforgiving. Serena knew firsthand that all actors were rife with insecurity, but Emma who could
act
the movie star as well as anyone, had always been a veritable Swiss cheese of self-doubt. Serena, whose parents had been demanding but who had nonetheless showered her with love, could only imagine what kind of courage and determination it had taken to overcome having parents like Rex and Eve.
    Physically, Zoe would have fit perfectly into the Michaels tableau.
    â€œHow often do you see them?” Mackenzie asked.
    Zoe’s gaze remained on the family members her mother had divorced. “They always send me a Christmas and birthday present. And I always write them a thank-you note. We’ve run into them a couple of times at awards things and parties. Once Eve and Rex came to one of my shows at school and everybody went crazy.” She pulled her gaze away. “Em . . . my mom told me I could visit with them anytime I wanted. But I never really wanted to. And even though she would never tell me much about it, I figure there’s a reasonshe divorced them. I mean, that’s not something you do to parents who just irritate you the regular amount.”
    â€œVery true.” Serena motioned the cab to pull around to the back entrance.
    â€œYou don’t think they’re going to make a scene, do you?” Zoe asked as they got out of the cab. “Or try to tell the doctors what to do?” Her voice had grown tentative. She seemed to be shrinking inward.
    â€œI’m not sure they know how not to make a scene,” Mackenzie said as they ducked into the hospital. “Especially when they’re all together vying for top billing.”
    â€œBut we’ll do what we can to manage the visit,” Serena promised. “Okay?”
    Zoe nodded.
    â€œI guess we should warn Dr. Brennan,” Mackenzie said, pushing the freight elevator call button. “And make sure he and Rhonda and the rest of the staff understand what Emma’s relationship is with them.”
    â€œI don’t think there’s anyone in the free world who doesn’t know about Emma’s legal emancipation,” Serena said as Zoe pushed the eighth-floor button.
    The doctor’s first words confirmed Serena’s hypothesis. “I understand we have VIPs headed up.”
    â€œYou know they’re not close to Emma,” Mackenzie said