Page 83 of The Lady on Esplanade
“Death,” Beau finished for her.“I know.I smell it, too.It’s been getting heavier and heavier and sometimes I feel like I can’t breathe.Like I’m being buried alive.”
“Me, too,” Sarah said.She took his hand.I thought I’d imagined the ripple of static electricity that smudged the air around them, but then I saw them jerk their hands apart as if they’d both been shocked.
Beau stared at her.“What was that?”
“We’re stronger together,” Sarah said, echoing what I’d heard Melanie, Jayne, and their mother, Ginny, say whenever it was time for battle.
“Oh, no,” he said, holding his hands up between himself and Sarah.“I’m not getting you involved in my family drama.You’re just a kid.”
Sarah looked back at me for encouragement.“She is, Beau,” I said, “but she wants to help.”I paused.“Adele asked her to.”
Beau began to shake his head.“No.No, Sarah.That’s not okay.She doesn’t have the right—”
“You need Sarah’s help,” I said.“You’re in real danger.And so is your dad.From the same people who killed Adele.You don’t have much time, and if we can keep Sarah safe, I think we should let her help you.”
“Keep her safe?I don’t even know if I can keep you safe.You almost died in that attic—remember?Because you wouldn’t listen to me to stay away.And let’s not forget the car accident.”He scratched the back of his head.“This is nuts.I can’t believe I’m even having this conversation.”
“She’s your mom,” I said.“And hasn’t she already saved your life once?Maybe she thinks she has to do it again so that you will believe that she and your dad love you and that they didn’t abandon you.You should be jumping at the chance to find out what really happened tothem so that you can finally stop blaming your parents for your abandonment issues.”
I didn’t realize how cruel the words sounded until I’d already spoken them and it was too late to call them back.But they were true.And sometimes the truth hurt.
His eyes darkened as he glared at me, his expression exactly what I imagined he’d wear if I’d physically struck him.“You would know, wouldn’t you?”
I sucked in my breath and held it until my lungs burned.“Touché,” I said.
He pulled out a clear baggie from the breast pocket of his jacket, the two rings visible inside, and handed it to Sarah.“I don’t have time to argue right now.Please hide these until Mimi asks for them.I’ve got a funeral to get to.”
Beau walked quickly to the door and I felt the thud of each angry footstep.
“You’re wrong,” Sarah said quietly.
Beau came to an abrupt stop before turning to face my sister.
“She said good-bye when she left.You were sleeping but you heard her, even though you always tell people that she didn’t say good-bye.”
He looked back at Sarah, his anger dissipating when he realized he was looking at a child.Without a word, he headed down the stairs and out the front door, slamming it behind him on his way out.
—
Sarah and I spent the day parked on the sofa, bingeing HGTV’sHouse Huntersand the Investigation Discovery channel, which was having aSouthern Fried Homicidemarathon.We also watchedThe Sound of Musicfrom start to finish, something I didn’t think I’d ever done.We spent at least twenty minutes arguing over whether the song “My Favorite Things” is about Christmas and, if not, how it shouldn’t place the movie in the same category asHow the Grinch Stole ChristmasandChristmas Vacation.It was as if we were both looking for a distraction from the lingering unease following Beau’s abrupt departure and Sarah’s unsettling last words to him.
I’d expected him to text or call, and I’d found myself constantly checking my phone until I caught Sarah watching me and forced myself to ditch the phone face down on the floor.When Sarah retreated to the kitchen to make yet another batch of microwave popcorn I checked my phone again but found only more pictures from JJ’s bake-off, along with the news that he’d made it into the next round.These messages had been sent by Melanie to the family group text chain that Sarah had named “Addams Family.”Melanie had yet to figure out how to change it, so it remained.I tapped out a string of thumbs-up emojis, then found myself hesitating before hitting Send.I could easily tell Melanie now that I had been in a fender bender and had hurt my ankle, if only to appease Mimi and everyone else who kept insisting that I needed to tell my parents about the accident.
I hit Send without adding anything, then put my phone down on the floor again and shoved it under the sofa so I wouldn’t be tempted to pick it up.I’d call Melanie and Jack on Sunday, when Sarah was on the plane flying back home and Cooper and Jolene were back in town, so they wouldn’t think that I’d been abandoned to my own devices.The last thing I wanted was for Melanie and Jack to fly to New Orleans and try to fix everything.As many times as they’d told me that they had faith in me, my recovery, and my dogged determination to see my transition through, they were still my parents.I had a strong feeling that, no matter how many years had passed and how much older I’d become, they still saw me as that lost little thirteen-year-old wearing a halter top and a bad attitude and standing on Melanie’s porch.
The rings lay on the coffee table, where Sarah had put them while she considered the perfect spot to hide them, which she’d promised she’d do before bedtime.She’d held them in her hands for a long time, hoping to feel a spark.
“Nothing,” she’d said.“I think it’s a matter of dialing the right channel, like on Grandpa’s old radio when he tries to find his favorite AM talk station.Ginny can always fine-tune it, which makes sense, and I’m sure she could read these rings, too.But they’re on a frequency I can’t find.”
“Good, because that’s not something I want you to be doing.If Melanie didn’t disown me outright, she’d find another way to punish me—like making me wear Kate Spade and Lilly Pulitzer for a year.”
“Where do I sign up?”Sarah asked.
I rolled my eyes.“Bottom line is that Beau and Mimi will take care of Adele.You did your part and told Beau what you needed to.The rest is up to him.”
“But we still get to go to the Esplanade house, right?”
“Yes.With Cooper.But if we see that guy from my backseat, we’re noping right out of there, okay?”
