Page 64 of Love and Other Champagne Problems

Nancy’s bedroom door was shut when we got to it, and I raised my fist to the wood. “Nancy?”

No answer. Sumner reachedfor the knob for me, positioning himself in front of the door. He glanced at me as if for permission before pushing it open, its hinges creaking as if we were in a scene straight out of a horror movie. The bedroom was empty, though, and I drew in a breath that gave my lungs no relief.

“She isn’t supposed to be out of the house so often,” I said in a rough voice, fishing my phone out of my pocket. “That’s too many days in a row. She knows this. Everyone knows this.”

“Maybe she had a doctor’s appointment?” he offered as I scrolled through my contacts. I had just found hers when Sumner placed his hands on my shoulders and pivoted me toward the far wall in Nancy’s bedroom, facing the window. “Margot. Look.”

For a wild moment, I thought I’d look outside and find Nancy lifeless on the ground. The view from her room was half obscured by the giant hedges she had outside, but through the bristles of green, I could see what he made out. Barely. The worry replaced with a fiery annoyance that bloomed in its wake. Letting out a sharp breath, I ducked out of her bedroom and started toward the back door.

And there Nancy was, parked in her wheelchair by the pond, just as she’d been the first day I came to see her. The only difference was that there was no one here at all to make sure she was okay.

“What are you doing?” I demanded as soon as I pulled open the sliding door, voice a snap that carried its way to where she was sitting. I could tell, because she lifted her head ever so slightly. “You know you shouldn’t be out here by yourself.”

“Oh, I know that, do I?” she asked with a sigh, one that turned into a crackling cough. “Ally went to the store to get more pain relievers. I ran out.”

“You shouldn’t be outside when no one’s home to watch you, Nancy. It’s too hot?—”

“I’m old. I’m always cold.”

“Just because youfeelcold doesn’t mean you can’t get heatstroke,” I shot back. I came up behind her now, grabbing onto the handlebars of her wheelchair. “Or slide down the slope into the lake.”

I tried to tug her, but the wheelchair wouldn’t budge. “That’s what brakes are for, Margot,” she said in a voice that lacked all energy.

“Do you at least have your phone on you if you needed help?” I asked while looking for the clips on her brakes.

“It’s in the house.”

I closed my eyes. “Nancy?—”

“I’m not feeling too good today,” she mumbled. “Everything hurts.”

With my grip on the handlebars, I stopped. There wasn’t a breeze today, so the water in the pond was very still, algae blooming on the stagnant surface. Her words sounded more like a confession than anything else, one I selfishly wished she’d kept to herself. I couldn’t see her face, but I could see her hands where they were folded in her lap. The backs of her hands looked bruised, veiny, weak. I was surprised they could wheel her all the way out here. Surely, they wouldn’t have been able to wheel her back inside.

It was only then that I noticed that Sumner hadn’tfollowed me out to the pond, but still lingered by the back door by the house. “If you’re not feeling good, why did you come out here?” I asked.

Nancy coughed again, this time the hacking, body-wracking sound only lasted a moment. “I figured if I keel over, might as well have a nice view.”

This time, I thought she was joking. The words were designed in her normal ornery way; she was just lacking the strength in her voice. “I suppose you’re right,” I said, trying to be as lighthearted as I knew she wanted me to be. “Better out here than your bathroom.”

“What, you thought I keeled over in the bathroom?”

“I considered it.”

She gave a wheezing laugh. “What a sight you’d find. Hopefully I don’t go out that way—or, if I do, that Yvette is the one that finds me naked on the floor.”

I allowed myself to smile, but it withered away when what we were talking about sank in. The jokes and banter attempted to keep the truth at bay, but the reality broke through as Nancy’s laughs turned into labored wheezing. “You can’t leave me, you know.” I left no room for argument.

It could’ve been a shift in the wind if there’d been any, but following my words, all lightheartedness between us disappeared. I’d known Nancy Du Pont since before I could remember. As co-founder of the country club, everyone pressed close, but especially my parents. She was the one who allowed them to build the very first Massey Suites on the property beside Alderton-Du Ponte, allowed them to build grand dreams. They paid more attention to currying her favor than they didto me, but it was me that had captured Nancy’s attention. At every gala, every fundraiser, every event, she’d make sure she sat beside me. We were a pair of thieves, snickering at everything together.

In my world, there was no life before Nancy Du Pont. I couldn’t even begin to picture a world after.

“I can’t very well live forever, Margot,” she said.

My hands clutched the handles of her wheelchair tighter, the grooves in the plastic handles digging into my skin. “You could try. You’re stubborn enough.”

“I don’t want to be stubborn anymore. I’m… I’m tired, Margot.”

There was a ripple in the pond then, as if something stirred just underneath the surface.I don’t want to be standing here anymore, I thought, feet aching, throat aching.I wish I hadn’t come. I wish I could unhear this.

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