Page 52 of Butterfly Sisters
“You poor thing,” Ruby said. “And I can’t imagine what your mama’s going through. She’s lost so much already, with your dad and her mother… And now to have this kind of unrest.” She put her palms on her face and shook her head. “I feel awful for her.” Then Ruby took Leigh’s hands. “Life is a strange thing. Somehow, when you’re able to look back on this, you might just be able to see the reason.”
“I can’t imagine ever understanding the reason for this,” Leigh said.
Colton’s voice interrupted their conversation. “Fish’s done,” he said, holding a platter of blackened seafood, the buttery spices sailing over to her.
Insisting on bringing the food to Mama, to give her more time in the cabin, Ruby burst into Nan’s kitchen behind Leigh with excited flair. Paul wedged the door a little wider with his foot before Colton caught it, holding it open for him as his father walked in with three of Ruby’s casseroles and a tray of grilled fish covered in foil, teetering in a stack in his arms. He gingerly set them one by one onto the counter and then straightened, his tall frame towering over them all.
“I’ve got a bottle of Chardonnay open,” Mama offered, sending Ruby into a frenzy of assistance as she grabbed stemmed glasses and commenced pouring.
“Who wants one?” Colton’s mother called, making herself at home and holding up the first glass.
Leigh took it gratefully, the buzz of the evening settling in before the alcohol had even hit her bloodstream. The two families used to get together quite often when Leigh was young, and they fell back into the rhythm of it easily, as if no time had passed at all. But that was how people were on Old Hickory Lake—they were all family, no matter how long they’d been apart.
Meredith hooked her arm through Colton’s. “Wanna see something I’m painting?” she asked, grabbing them each a glass of wine from Ruby and then leading him out of the kitchen toward Nan’s studio.
Leigh got into the drawer of the hutch where Nan kept her tablecloths and retrieved the blue-and-white checkered one, along with a pair of scissors, taking them out to the porch. She spread the cloth along the dining table at the end and grabbed three candles that sat in silver buckets, placing them in the center of the table. Then, with the scissors in hand, she went out to the tree line past the patio to cut a few magnolia bunches to lay around the candles, like Nan had done. The soft scent of them always lingered in the air deliciously against the warmth of the flames.
As she finished, her phone went off in her pocket. Setting down the last of the greenery, she pulled it out and took a look at the email: Top Mountain Supply Co. Leigh left through the screen door and went down to the hammock, lowering herself onto it and opening the message.
They were interested. And they wanted to talk more next week.
She fired off a response, letting them know she was meeting with others as well next week, but she could certainly find a time to answer their questions, just to make them feel that there may be competition—a tactic she’d used at McGregor on a daily basis.
“Hello.” Meredith waved a hand in front of her sister’s face. “Want to join the land of the living and get off your phone?”
“Sorry,” she said, looking up at Meredith and Colton, hiding her annoyance for the sake of their guests who had now settled on the porch. “I had to do something quickly for work. The table’s set and ready to go.” She slipped her phone back into her pocket.
“Mama’s bringing all the food out now,” Meredith said. “Let’s eat!”
Leigh got up, Meredith leading the way. When she reached Colton, she questioned him silently, mouthing to him to ask if he’d said anything about having renters to Meredith, but he didn’t answer. Colton was a tiny ray of hope in all this. Maybe he could make Meredith see…
With the empty dinner plates still on the table and the candles flickering in the moonlight, Leigh, Meredith, and Colton sat on the dock like they had when they were kids, their parents chatting away on the porch.
Leigh leaned back on her elbows and gazed up at the stars in the inky black sky, the moon a bright crescent above the trio. They’d had a few glasses of wine, the alcohol casting a net of calm on them all.
“I still remember the first summer when y’all didn’t show up here,” Colton said. “That was when it hit me that I’d lost my best friends.”
Leigh’s heart squeezed with his confession.
“For a while, I was angry because I wanted it to be the way it used to be, but then I realized that both of you had things you needed to do in life. It made me feel a little better knowing you were busy building the lives you’d always wanted.”
“I’m sorry I didn’t come back,” Meredith said.
Colton nodded, accepting her apology. “Promise you won’t leave again without coming back?”
“I promise.” Meredith flashed a wide, relaxed smile. “We’ll make it up to you,” she said, her eyes glassy from the wine.
“I want a Henderson-family party at least twice a year at the cabin,” he demanded.
“Okay,” Meredith said easily.
“And how will you do that if there are renters in it?” he asked gently.
Meredith squinted as if trying to force sobriety upon herself. Then she scowled at Leigh. “She told you.”
Colton faced her. “Mm-hm.”
Meredith looked past him at Leigh again, rolling her eyes. “It’s just like her to run whining to you when things don’t go her way.”
