Page 79 of Let Sleeping Dogs Lie

“What the hell are you talking about?” Teddy said, sounding grumpy as all get-out. “There’s no way in hell I’d kick Summer out. It’sourland, not mine. We’ll share it, the three of us.”

Dixie dabbed at the corner of her eye with a napkin.

“I wanna be buried out by your pawpaw,” Meemaw said, still looking grim as her gaze landed on Luke.

“I’ll make sure that happens,” Luke said.

There were all kinds of laws regulating the burial of people outside of cemeteries, but it was considered a family plot and my grandfather had been buried out there a decade ago. Still, I wasrelieved to know that Luke would make sure that all the proper forms had been filed to make sure it happened.

“How long?” Dixie finally asked. “How long do they think you have?”

Meemaw went silent for a moment. “A month, maybe two. It’s gonna get bad pretty soon. I won’t be able to stay here.” Her upper lip curled in disgust. “They say the only way I can stay here is to bring in a hospital bed. I ain’t having no hospital bed messing up my living room.”

“Meemaw,” I said in a stern voice, “you’ll do whatever it takes for you to stay in your house. Unless,” I added, “you want to go to the hospital.”

“I ain’t going to the hospital either,” she said. “I’ll just head over into the nursing home and die in a bed there.”

“Not if you don’t want to,” my mother said, softer than I’d heard her speak in years. “We can have hospice come in so you could stay in your house. Then you can stay with the things you love.”

Everybody was thinkingand the people you love, but nobody said it, because I couldn’t remember one single time that my grandmother had told anyone I love you. Nevertheless, we all felt it. Even when she was being stern and gruff.

“We’ll do whatever it takes,” I said. “We’ll do whatever it takes to make sure you’re comfortable in your last days.”

Meemaw gave a stiff nod. “I appreciate that. Now, why isn’t anyone eatin’ this fancy cake?”

She’d just let us know that the matter was settled, and that we would not be discussing it again until it came time to do something. Then, because we all wanted to make her happy, we ate cake.

Chapter Twenty-Nine

Magnolia

“Are you sure you want to do this?” Belinda asked, shooting me a worried look as she searched for a parking spot close to the Darling Investigations office. “Who knows what this woman will say? For all we know, she’s staged this just to gawk at you.” She pulled into a space and turned to me. “Let me meet with her. I’ll screen her.”

We’d been surprised when Summer had called us the night before and told us that Rachel wanted to confess what happened but would only tell the story to me. Belinda had been dead set against it, but I’d said yes. Colt had been worried when I’d told him.

“Mags, you don’t have to do this,” he’d said. “How can you trust a single thing that woman says? There’s absolutely no one to dispute her claims. Everyone involved has either disappeared or is dead.”

“I don’t know that Icantrust her,” I’d admitted. “But I want to hear what she has to say.”

“Okay,” he’d said with a sigh. “If that’s what you want, I’m behind you one hundred percent.” Then he’d fretted when he found out we were meeting Rachel at three. “It’s a six-hour drive from Sweet Briar to Franklin. You and Belinda shouldstay somewhere tonight and drive the rest of the way home tomorrow.”

“No,” I said. “I miss you, Colt. I want to get back home. To you.” Maybe that made me too dependent on him, but so be it.

He’d been telling me for months that he was with me because he loved me and not because he felt sorry for me, but for the first time since before I’d nearly died, I believed him.

“I know this weekend has been hard, but I needed it to prove something to myself. And maybe for you to prove something to yourself too. But I’ve figured it out, Colt. Just because you and I need each other doesn’t make us weak. We’re strong on our own, but we’re even stronger when we’re together.”

“I love you, Magnolia.” His voice was tight. “I’ve been scared to death this was your way of leavin’ me.”

“No,” I’d said, starting to cry. “I’m coming home to you. I swear. But I need to do this one last thing first.”

Now, parked outside of Darling Investigations as Belinda offered to take my place, I shook my head. “She won’t talk to you, Belinda. She won’t tell Summer or Dixie her big secret; she’s not going to tell you.” I steeled my back. “I’m stronger now. I’m better. Ineedto do this.”

“Are you sure?” Belinda asked. “We can reschedule if you want.”

“We’re already here. Let’s just hear what she has to say, and if she’s full of shit or seems shady, we’ll leave.”

Belinda studied me for several seconds. “Okay.”

---