Page 79 of Rest In Pink

“Liz?” she said. “Is Peri there?”

“Right here,” I said and passed the phone to Peri and watched her face light up when she realized it was her mother.

I got out of the car to give her some privacy, although I could hear her little voice rise about swimming the length of the pool underwater and the bears and Marianne’s food.

I let my head fall back, eyes closed, as the sun beat down on me, feeling its warmth.Please let this work,I thought.Please let Margot sober up so she can come home to Peri.

When I heard Peri say, “Liz?” I got back in the car and took the phone from her, smiling at her woeful little face. “Mom’ll be home in three weeks,” she told me,doing the kid version of the stiff upper lip.

“Good,” I said and spoke into the phone. “Margot?”

“She sounds good,” Margot said, sounding pretty woeful herself.

“She misses you a lot,” I said. “And she’s very excited about you coming home feeling better. How’s it going?”

“It’s hard,” Margot said.

“It’s for Peri,” I said.

“I know. Is Faye still at my house?”

“Yes,” I said, and then on an impulse said, “You can’t go back there, she’ll have you . . . “ I shot a glance at Peri, “feeling sick again. You should come to the Blue House. It’s very safe, you’ll have backup right there for Peri, and Marianne cooks like you wouldn’t believe. And Anemone won’t let Faye through the door. Come home to us.”

“I hate that house,” Margot said.

“The Blue House?”

“No, my house, that hideous McMansion that Navy built,” Margot said. “I don’t ever want to see it again.”

“Well, that’s decided then,” I told her. “We’ll go get your clothes and move all of it into one of the bedrooms so it’ll be here when you come home. You won’t have to go back there at all. We can hire somebody to pack up the other stuff—“

“I don’t want any of it,” Margot said. “They talk about new starts here. I don’t want anything from that house but my clothes. I don’t even want all of them.”

“Done,” I said. “We’ll go get the rest of Peri’s stuff and your clothes this afternoon. And in three weeks you’ll be back and moved in with Peri and Anemone and me, and you’ll be eating fabulous food, and having a wonderful time.”

“YES!” Peri said.

“Did you hear that?” I asked Margot.

“Thank you,” she said, her voice breaking. “Thank you for taking such good care of her.”

“Actually, I’m having a blast with her,” I told her. “I’m grateful you trusted us with her. Although I do have questions about your plans for these lessons.”

“What?” Margot said, and I said, “Nothing. Get well. We’ll be waiting for you here.”

Margot hung up and I put my phone away. “You okay with all of this?” I asked Peri.

She nodded. “I just want my mom back.”

“Three weeks, kid. In the meantime, you’re stuck with me.”

She grinned at me, and I laughed.

Then we went back to the Blue House to tell Anemone there would be another person at dinner in three weeks.

Chapter Thirty-Six

I drove over to check on the Shady Rest and was surprised to see a cleanup crew in the parking lot. They were keeping away from the police tape and the damaged units, but they were filling dumpsters up with stuff from the unburned rooms. And they were all wearing brand new green t-shirts that saidECOmena. Extremely fast work.

---