Chapter 13
Josie stood in her kitchen and stared at Kendra. “So, you’re going to prom?”
Kendra smiled broadly. “Yes.”
“With who?”
“His name is Scotty. He’s cute, smart, and nice. And he’s on the spectrum, which makes him quirky.”
“On the spectrum? What exactly does that mean?”
“Look it up, Mom. Honestly,” she said, rolling her eyes in true teenager fashion.
“We have to get you a dress, then!”
“This girl at school told me about the best dress place in town. She said they’re super reasonable.”
Josie put her hands on Kendra’s shoulders. “I’m so happy for you, honey. I’m glad you’re enjoying school.”
Kendra sat down on one of the bar stools. “I am enjoying it. It’s so different from the huge schools I’ve been to. I actually like my classes, especially math. Isn’t that crazy?”
“I’m proud of you. I really am.”
“What are you doing?” Kendra asked, looking at the papers spread out over the counter.
“Well, I’m looking over Nana’s books. I’m trying to figure out how to pay for these repairs, but I can’t make these numbers make sense.”
Kendra reached for the binder that was on the counter and opened it. “Which numbers don’t make sense?”
“The last few months. I can’t balance them.”
Kendra reached for her cell phone and opened the calculator. She furiously typed in numbers, and Josie was impressed. She had no idea her daughter was so gifted in math. “You’re right. This number and that number should match. Money is missing, but from where?”
“I don’t know. Nana was never great with numbers, but I think something else is going on here.”
Kendra put the binder back on the counter. “Where’s Grandma?”
Josie cleared her throat. “She’s getting settled into her room. Listen, Kendra, I don’t want you getting too attached to my mother. She can be a bit... unpredictable.”
“Mom, people change. I think Grandma is really different now.”
Josie chuckled. “People don’t change. How many times have I told you that? When they show you who they are one time, you should never forget that.”
Kendra reached over and took a muffin from the container, pulling off a piece and putting it into her mouth. “You’re so cynical. Don’t you ever get tired of that?”
Her daughter sounded so grown up in that moment. “I do get tired, but I’ve been burned so many times in my life. I won’t let it happen again.”
Kendra stood up and kissed her mom on the cheek. “I hope you find the kind of life where you don’t have to think everyone is out to get you, Mom. You deserve that.”
Josie fought back tears. “Thank you, honey. Where are you going?”
She held up her backpack. “Homework.”
“Wow. You actually do your homework now?”
Kendra smiled. “I know, right?”
As she walked up the stairs, Josie was left with her thoughts. Maybe her daughter was right. Maybe there was hope that she could relax one day and not always be on the defensive. It was an exhausting way to live, but it was the only way she knew. She’d grown comfortable in her discomfort.
“Hey.” She turned to see her mother standing in the doorway. “Mind if I come in?”
“It’s the kitchen, not my bedroom. Anyone can come in here. Speaking of, how did you get in this morning?”
“I have a key,” Diane said, pulling it from her pocket. “Sorry for intruding like that. I wasn’t quite in my right mind after such a long night.” She sat down on the same stool Kendra had just left.
“It’s fine. Do you want something to drink?”
Diane smiled slightly. “Sure. Got any sweet tea?” she asked, as she reached for a muffin too. They certainly were popular.
“Of course.” Josie poured them both a glass and then slid one over to Diane.
“These muffins are good, but not nearly as good as Momma’s. I remember when she used fresh blueberries from her garden in them. They were the best muffins I’ve ever had.”
Josie smiled. “Sometimes, when I was a kid, she’d used them in my pancakes too.”
“She was an exceptional mother. She was the kind they write about in sappy novels.”
“Yes, she was.”
Diane’s face fell a bit. “I should’ve been there for you, Josie.”
“Let’s not do this right now.”
“I need to say it. Please.”
“Okay,” Josie said, leaning against the counter.
“I don’t know when I became an alcoholic. I started drinking when I was about thirteen years old, but I didn’t think it was a problem until you were born, honestly.”
“Thirteen? Did Nana know?”
“Eventually.”
“Why did you start drinking that young?”
“I had so many reasons, but something happened to me when I was around that age.”
Josie had never heard that before. “What happened?”
“I don’t like to talk about it, but suffice it to say that I had a best friend whose house I would stay at sometimes. She had an uncle come to stay once...” Her voice trailed off.
“I’m sorry. I didn’t know.”
“That’s when it started. I never told anyone. Nana never knew. She just thought I was a rebellious kid.”
“You never told her? Ever?”
“Nope. I knew she’d blame herself for allowing me to sleep over there, and it wasn’t her fault.”
“It wasn’t your fault either.”
“I felt so guilty that it happened. I felt dirty and unlovable. Later, I felt responsible for any other kids he did it to because I was too scared to tell.”
“You were a kid. You weren’t responsible for that.”
“He died about eight years ago. I saw the obituary in the paper. I just remember feeling so sick thinking about how many other girls he...” Her voice broke, and Josie didn’t know what to do. Instinctively, she reached across the counter and held her hand.
“I’m so sorry.”
“That night when I saw the paper, I went on one of the worst benders of my life. I just couldn’t bring myself to think about all of it. I ended up in the hospital with alcohol poisoning that time. It was one of the last times I was truly drunk.” She wiped her eyes and continued. “I’m not telling you this so you’ll feel sorry for me, Josie. I want you to know that I didn’t just decide to start drinking so I could ruin your childhood. Even though there were reasons, that still doesn’t excuse my behavior or me not getting it together once I knew I was having a baby.”
“So you were already drinking when you got pregnant? Did you drink while you were pregnant with me?”
“No. Absolutely not. I was a good mother at the very beginning.”
“I’m glad you told me the story, but there’s nothing we can do to change the past between us. You know there was a lot that happened.”
She nodded. “I do. And I also know you have no reason to trust me. I get it. All I can do now is show you who I am today and maybe remind you that we had some wonderful memories when I was sober for short bursts of time.”
“What do you remember?” Josie asked, taking a sip of her tea.
“I remember when you were about four years old, and I took you to see my friend’s horses. You held out your hand with a piece of carrot in it, and the horse bit your little finger. It wasn’t funny at the time, but it’s kind of funny now.”
Josie looked down at her right hand. “Is that where I got this scar on my pinky?” She held up her hand, and Diane laughed.
“Yes! The horse’s name was Danger. I guess that should’ve been my first clue.”
“Oh my gosh.” Josie couldn’t help but laugh right along with her.
“Then there was the time when you were about seven. I took you to a local carnival that was set up in the Super Saver parking lot. You got away from me and grabbed some other woman’s hand. You said you thought she was your mommy, which I never understood because she was a completely different race and about six feet tall!”
Memories started flowing back into Josie’s brain like a raging river. “I remember that! She bought me a funnel cake and told me we were going to sit at the picnic tables until my mommy found me.”
“And I did. It was only a few minutes, but I remember being so frantic. I rarely got to spend time with you, and I didn’t want my mother to keep me from seeing you. Of course, shortly after that, I met Dan and started drinking again.”
Dan, her mother’s longest-running boyfriend back in those days. He wasn’t just a drinker; he was a mean drunk. It was one reason her nana had taken the reins and kept Josie away from her mother so much. When she was dating Dan, Diane wasn’t allowed around her daughter.
“What ever happened to Dan?”
“Last I heard, he was living back home with his mother, taking care of her while she had cancer. That was at least ten years ago.”
“Do you remember my first ballet recital, and you stood up in the middle of the performance and yelled, ‘That’s my kid!’?”
Diane covered her face with her hands. “No, I don’t remember that.”
“Or the time that you streaked, buck naked, across the football field during the homecoming game?”
“I did not!”
“Yes, you did. Nana grabbed her purse and hid in her car. She was so embarrassed!” Josie heard herself laughing about it all, and she couldn’t believe it. Something had shifted inside of her that allowed her to find humor in some memories. Some of them.
After Diane caught her breath, she looked at Josie. “I’m sorry I did those things. I wish I could take them back and be that cookie-baking PTA momma you deserved.”
“It made for colorful memories.”
“How about this? I promise to never streak buck naked anywhere for the rest of your life.”
“It’s a deal. I’m still a little traumatized.”
“Can I help you make dinner?”
Josie paused for a moment. Spending time with her mother felt dangerous, but she would be living with her for at least a few days. “Sure. I’m making spaghetti. It’s Kendra’s favorite.”
“Oh, I love spaghetti. Do you know your nana’s secret sauce recipe?”
Josie’s eyes widened. “No! What is it?”
Diane leaned in and whispered, “A big jar of Mama Luna’s pasta sauce with three extra cloves of garlic.”
Josie laughed. “That lying little woman! She made me think she had some secret recipe, and all this time she was using jarred sauce? Wow.”
“She was a funny lady.”
* * *
Josie sat at her desk in the home office she’d set up. The restaurant had reopened, although with limited capacity. Diane and the rest of the staff were handling the morning rush while Josie went over the finances yet again.
Dinner the night before had been pleasant. It was just Josie, her mother, and her daughter, and the conversation had been surprisingly easy. Of course, they steered clear of talking about the past and mostly focused on Kendra’s prom dress and how she was doing at school.
This morning was another story, however. Something just wasn’t right with her grandmother’s accounting. She had even hired a special accountant to go over the numbers for her because something was missing. Josie couldn’t figure out what it was exactly, but the numbers were off, like her grandmother was hiding something. It didn’t sound like Nana, but apparently she didn’t always tell the truth, at least about her pasta sauce.
For her whole life, Josie had put her grandmother on a pedestal, as if she could do no wrong. Now that she was an adult, she knew no one was perfect. Her nana must’ve had flaws like everybody else, but Josie never saw them. She was a saint in her mind.
After poring over the books for more than an hour, she called the insurance company and sat on hold for a half hour, listening to some of the worst hold music she’d ever heard. Just as she was dozing off with her chin resting in her hand, the house phone rang so loudly that she almost jumped out of her skin. Nana still had a landline in the house, but Josie hadn’t realized it until recently. She was planning to shut it off since she only used her cell phone, but she hadn’t gotten around to it yet. It was on her ever-growing list of things to do.
“Hello?”
“I’m looking for Adeline Campbell, please.” The woman on the other end was markedly Southern, her drawl thicker than Nana’s had been, which was hard to do.
“I’m sorry, but Adeline recently passed away. This is Josie Campbell, her granddaughter.”
“Oh dear, I had no idea she’d passed. Please accept my condolences, sugar.”
“Thank you. What can I help you with?”
“Well, my name is Eunice Whitehead, and I’m with Lowcountry Lending. Your grandmother took out a loan with us a few months ago.”
“She did? I don’t see that in my files anywhere.”
“Then, darlin’, you probably don’t know your grandmother was four months behind on her payments when she passed.”
Josie froze in her seat as her stomach churned.
“Four months?” she finally said.
“Yes, ma’am. I spoke to Adeline a few months back when the first couple of payments were late. She was really trying to get caught up, but nothing ever came. Now I know why, I suppose.”
“I haven’t seen any statements,” Josie said, rummaging around in the stack of mail on Adeline’s credenza. Then she noticed a smaller stack on the corner of the desk, pink papers peeking through the windows on the envelopes. “Oh, wait. I think I see it here.”
“You should have an updated statement there. I show one was mailed just a couple of weeks back.”
Josie opened the most recent one and suddenly felt like she couldn’t breathe. Five figures? “How much time do I have to get caught up?”
“Not much, I’m afraid. You see, Adeline put up the restaurant as collateral. The investors are ready to take it and sell it.”
Josie felt like running out into traffic, but there wasn’t any traffic in Happy Harbor, unless you counted golf carts and mothers walking with expensive strollers.
“I need time.”
“Sweetie, time’s just about up. I can get you two weeks, but that’s about it. I wish I could do more.”
“Only a couple weeks to get four months’ worth of payments? That’s impossible!”
“Again, please accept my sincerest condolences, dear. I know this is an awful time.”
“Even more awful now,” Josie said, slowly hanging up the phone. She sat there, staring out over her nana’s rose garden, and allowed tears to fall for as long as they wanted. She was home alone, after all.
How could Nana have done this? Did her mother know? Where did the money go? Was this why the accounting looked so weird? There were so many questions and not nearly enough answers.
Why did life have to be so dang complicated?
* * *
After calling her mother and letting her know she wouldn’t be in for a while, Josie headed straight to Joe Strand’s office. Surely he had to know something about the situation, since her grandmother seemed to confide in him about a lot of things. And just in case he didn’t, she’d called Ethel Boniface and asked if she could join them as well.
“Hey, Josie,” Joe said when she arrived, a hint of sympathy in his voice. As she followed him to his office, she found Ethel already sitting in one of the two chairs across from his desk.
“Hey. Thanks for meeting me. Hello, Ethel.”
“Hi, Josie. How are you doing, sweetie?”
“Not great. I’m hoping maybe you can shed light on a situation.”
“What’s going on exactly?” Joe asked, his eyebrows furrowed together.
“I received a phone call this morning from a lender. Nana apparently borrowed a lot of money a few months ago. She was four payments behind when she died, and I had no idea. There’s nowhere near enough money to catch it up in the two weeks they’re giving me. The investors can foreclose on the restaurant and just take it.” She rattled everything off so fast that she was out of breath by the end.
“Oh, my.” Ethel held her hand to her mouth.
“Do you know anything about this, Joe?”
He shook his head. “I didn’t know, Josie. I would’ve told you if I did. Your grandmother could be a bit tight-lipped about certain things.”
“Ethel?”
Ethel’s face turned a shade of crimson as she shifted uncomfortably in her seat. “Well, I... uh...”
“Ethel, please. I need to know what happened here.”
“Your grandmother was my very best friend, and I take that seriously, even though she’s gone now. She swore me to secrecy, Josie. I just can’t talk about it. She’s the type of lady that might just haunt me until the good Lord takes me home.”
Josie was angry, but Ethel was right about that. Adeline Campbell was just the type to haunt somebody.
“I can’t save her restaurant if I don’t know what’s going on. She wanted me to run the place, so why would she leave me in the lurch like this?” It was hurtful to Josie in ways she couldn’t put into words. That her grandmother would ask her to leave her life in Atlanta behind, and then make it so hard for her to keep the restaurant afloat.
Ethel sucked in a sharp breath. “I can tell you a little, but I won’t betray her confidence. I just can’t.”
“Fine. Tell me something then.”
“A few months back, your grandmother was making plans for you to inherit the house and the restaurant. She had some money in savings, and she was excited to gift everything to you. Then... well, something unexpected happened. She used her savings to keep the restaurant going and took out a loan for the unexpected thing, and that’s where the money went.”
“Something happened? What?”
“I can’t say, Josie. I’m sorry.”
“Can you at least tell me how to get that money back?”
Ethel shook her head. “You’re never getting that money back, dear. It’s gone.”
She stared at Ethel for a long moment. “Does this have anything to do with my mother?”
Ethel froze in her seat, pursing her lips. “I can’t say.”
“I’m going to strangle that woman!” Josie said, standing up. “It always comes back to her. I swear.”
“Josie, it’s not like that. Your grandmother loved your mother—” Ethel said.
“Thank you both for your time. I have to get to work.”
With that, she rushed out of the office so quickly that papers blew off the receptionist’s desk.