"Okay," Bridget said.
Greta poured them both more iced tea. Even though Bridget had said she didn"t want it, it turned out she really did.
"Honey?"
"Yeah?"
"Your folks know where you are?"
Bridget"s face felt warm. "Yes." It was true. Her one folk, anyway.
"You know you can use my phone if you ever need to."
"Okay. Thanks."
"They"re traveling, you say?"
Bridget nodded, staring into her iced tea. She didn"t want Greta her to ask more questions. Sure, lying was easy, but Bridget wasn"t enjoying it anymore. She wished her lies would just evaporate when she was done with them.
Bridget cleared her throat. "Did Marly go to college around here?" she asked.
Greta seemed to like talking about her daughter. "She went to Tuscaloosa. That"s where her father went too."
"Did she enjoy it there?"
"Well ..." Greta thought about this. Bridget knew she"d be honest about it, even before she opened her mouth. "She had some troubles there."
Bridget sipped her iced tea.
"Marly was real moody. High as a kite one week, and couldn"t get out of bed the next."
Bridget nodded again and put her feet flat on the kitchen floor. It was hard for her to hear this. It sounded too familiar.
"She fell down hard in her first year of college-I"m not exactly sure of all the details. A doctor diagnosed her with a mental disease and put her in a hospital for a few months. I think it helped her, though she hated it at the time."
Bridget knew this was the Shepherd"s Hill part.
"The next year at school, she fell in love with her history professor-a young man from Europe. It was crazy behavior for a girl of nineteen, but I"ll be darned if she didn"t marry him."
Bee was surprised. She had known her father had taught in Alabama, and that her parents" paths had first crossed then, but she had had no idea it was like that.
"It was sad, really, because Franz-that was her husband-he lost his job because of it."
Bridget nodded. That explained why her father had gone from a university job to teaching at a private high school.
"He got a job in Washington, D.C., so that"s where they went."
"Oh."
Greta studied her thoughtfully. "You look tired, honey. Why don"t you have a nice shower in the guest bathroom and lie down and take a little nap?"
Bridget stood up, feeling so grateful she wanted to kiss Greta on the head. Because a nap and a shower were exactly, exactly what she most needed.
Bee,
I wish I could call you. I hate not being able to e-mail or call you fifty times a day. I"m not patient enough for letters. But I"ll keep writing anyway, because I have to be with you somehow.
I loved hearing about your grandma and about Billy. You mighta mentioned, though, that your grandma still doesn"t know who you are. (Heard it from Tibby, btw.)When are you going to tell her? How is it going to help if she doesn"t know?
Can"t bear to bore you now with tales of my bad behavior toward my mom, or my fizzling love life. Maybe later. Call me this week. Otherwise, no more brownies, ya hear?
Love, Carma
Time is what keeps things from happening all at once.
-Graffiti
Now Lena was the one trying to get time with her mother instead of the other way around. For days she had eagerly awaited a call to sit in the car while her mother returned videos or whatever. By now she"d realized that her mother was avoiding her.
What could it be? she wondered. What did Eugene mean to her? Why did she need to be so secretive about him?
She continued her streak of diabolical behavior when she finished her shift at work that evening and called her mom for a ride. The truth was, she really didn"t have a car, and it really was raining. And there really was a fairly attractive blouse-beige, of course-that she thought her mom might want to see.
Once they were in the car together on the way home, Lena pounced.
"Hey, Mom?"
"Yes?"
"I know you"re uncomfortable about it for some reason, but could you please tell me who Eugene is? It"s just me. I won"t, like, put it on Sixty Minutes or anything. I won"t say anything to anybody-not even Dad-if you don"t want me to."
Her mother"s lips pressed together. This was not a good beginning.
"Lena." She sounded like she was trying to be patient but it wasn"t easy.
"Yes," Lena said timidly.
"I don"t want to talk about it. I think I"ve made that pretty clear."
"But whyyyyy?" Lena knew she could only sound that whiny with her mother. She very purposely did not summon Kostos or his new girlfriend into the car with her at that moment.
"Because I don"t want to. It"s my business, and I don"t feel like sharing it. Understand?"
"Yes," Lena said, quietly defeated. What else could she say?
"I don"t want you to bring it up with me again."
"Okay."
Rain began to splash against the windshield. Lightning cracked the sky. This had the makings of a great summer lightning storm. Lena loved those.
"What about the next time I don"t want to share something in my life with you?" Lena asked. She couldn"t help adding that. She couldn"t come away totally empty-handed.
Ari sighed. "It depends what it is. But just so we keep things straight, I"m the mother, you"re the daughter."
"I know that," Lena mumbled.
"It"s not always fair."
It"s never fair, Lena felt like saying, but for once she managed to keep her mouth closed.
Her mother pulled into their driveway. She turned off the engine, but she didn"t make a move to get out.
"Lena, can I ask you something?"
"Yes," Lena said, wishing and hoping her mother had suddenly decided to alter her course.
"Who told you about Eugene?"
This was not what she had been hoping for. She kneaded her hands and cleared her throat. "I don"t think I feel like sharing that with you."
Joe, the baby, was playing with cars on the floor, and Jesse was watching a TV show involving cats that spoke English with a Chinese accent. Carmen felt a little guilty, not doing more to earn her money, but Jesse liked the show a lot and it was on channel thirteen, so that meant it was good for him, right?
Besides, she had a lot of things to worry about, and she could do that better when the kids were quiet. She wanted to call Bee because she hadn"t heard her voice in eight days, but she couldn"t, so she called Lena at work.
"My job is much harder than your job," Lena said accusingly when she picked up.
"You are so wrong. Have you ever spent time with a four-year-old boy?" Carmen demanded. This was part of a running argument.
"So how come you"re always calling me, if it"s so hard?"
"Because I care about you so much."
Lena laughed. "Seriously, the Duffer is withering my soul with her eyes right now. I can"t talk."
"Have you heard from Bee?" Carmen asked.
"No."
Suddenly a howl filled the room. Then two louder ones. Jesse was taking Joe"s cars. "See?" Carmen said smugly to Lena before she hung up.
"Jesse!" Carmen intervened. "Let Joe play with the cars!"
"Nooooooo! They"re miiiiiiiine."
"Come on, Jesse. Just give him the cars. Don"t you want him to be quiet so you can hear the TV?" Carmen felt nefarious, as if she were offering him a cigarette.
"No!" Jesse shouted. He wrenched the car out of Joe"s fat hand. Joe"s cry was so pa.s.sionate it made no sound. His face turned purple, except for the creases around his nose and forehead, which turned greenish.
"Jesse, can"t you share?" Carmen begged.
When Joe"s cry finally picked up noise, it nearly blew the roof off.
Carmen scooped Joe off the floor and ran him around the room. "Want to play with my cell phone?" she asked in desperation.
It was Joe"s favorite off-limits pastime. He had once called Carmen"s father at work.
She thrust the phone at the baby, wincing as he accessed her speed-dial menu. Joe"s face returned to a normal color instantly. "Careful, honey, I"m over my minutes," she pleaded as he pressed all the b.u.t.tons.
Jesse stomped over and stuck his hand out. "I want the phone," he said.
Carmen sighed. She was out of her depth here. What did she know about sharing? She was an only child. She never shared anything. She"d missed that lesson.
Carmen was ready to give up all hope when Joe magnanimously handed Jesse the cell phone. Jesse didn"t actually want the cell phone if Joe didn"t, so he dumped it on the floor. Then Jesse kindly handed the yellow car to Joe and kept the blue one for himself.
Five minutes later, both boys were crawling happily around the floor, one car apiece. Carmen sat on the couch and watched the boys play, wondering if maybe that lesson she"d missed had actually contained something valuable.