Chapter 14 #3
“Gemma, I’m so sorry,” Nell began, gently placing a comforting hand on Gemma’s shoulder. “I had no idea I would open that
can of worms. I really—”
“No,” Gemma replied while brushing her dark bangs away from her sweaty forehead with the flick of her wrist. “It’s okay.”
“My ex-husband was always putting me down,” Erin admitted, her tone reflecting the pain of her past. She shoved her hands
into her hoodie’s pockets after a sudden gust of crisp morning air swarmed them, causing a shiver to run down her spine.
“Tyler doesn’t always put me down,” Gemma said to reassure herself. “It’s true that he makes fun of my weight. But he really doesn’t mean anything by it. He’s just a kidder. A funny guy, you know? You tease the one you love, right?”
Even though Gemma defended him, she couldn’t help but remember that while she was packing for the weekend on Allyson Island,
he had stood in her closet and tugged on hanging shirts and dresses. “Look at this thing!” He pulled a white sundress off
the hanger and laughed. “I could cover my boat with it. I mean, how many yards of material is this, Gemma? This is a whole
roll!” And when he caught a glimpse of her getting into the shower before bed that night, he didn’t even smile when he called
her a “disgusting pig.”
As Gemma, Erin, and Nell slowly resumed their walk, Celia Kate continued to distance herself from the group, her steps quickening.
Gemma watched her best friend get farther away and chewed on her bottom lip.
“Maybe she’s right. I don’t know why I keep defending him. It’s just habit, I guess. I’ve defended him since I met him thirty-one
years ago,” Gemma admitted, her voice barely above a whisper. She looked out at the beautiful marshland, where elegant herons
flew gracefully against the gray sky. Each movement was a testimony to their freedom. The beauty of her surroundings certainly
did not match her inner struggle.
“Anyway, enough about me and my fat-shaming husband,” Gemma said with a chuckle, brushing off the topic. “May I ask you a
question now, Erin?”
Erin felt a rush of nervousness as the attention shifted entirely to her. “Well, yeah,” she replied, her heart quickening
a little.
“I know you are loyal to Mo, not only as a friend, but also because you work for her, and I don’t want to make you feel uncomfortable with what I’m about to ask.
So if you don’t want to answer, I get it.
I really do. I just have a nagging concern for Mo after watching her drink like a fish yesterday. ”
Erin’s stomach tightened. “Okay, what’s your question?”
“Was she really tied up with Bradford on the phone this morning, or was she too hungover to join us?” Gemma asked.
Nell was especially eager to hear Erin’s response and leaned in closer, her eyes scanning Erin’s pale face for any hint of
the truth.
“You’re right, Gemma. I don’t feel comfortable answering that,” Erin finally admitted, her voice barely above a whisper. “If
you’re concerned about her, you should ask her. I don’t mean to sound rude, but it isn’t my place.”
“I respect that.” Gemma nodded in understanding. “Maybe you can answer this for me, then?”
“Yeah?” Erin’s heart fluttered.
“The cats killed her in her sleep, didn’t they?”
Erin and Nell giggled.
Although Nell respected Erin’s decision to decline answering, she felt that the refusal spoke volumes.
The trio finally met up with CK, who was standing where the loamy path ended at a grove of bald cypress trees that had not yet shed their needles.
She kicked her sneaker at one of the many surrounding cypress knees—scraped, cone-shaped mounds that jutted up from the roots of the trees—and looked across the dark water to the boggy shore on the other side.
A breeze stirred the gray clouds above them as they stood quietly watching a wood stork, with its hefty, football-shaped body perched on slender legs, wading in the shallow water before them.
Erin pulled her phone from her pocket to take a picture of the serene view and said, “I have never been this far down the
trail before. It’s just beautiful.”
“I would like to put a hammock right here,” CK said, gesturing between the gray trunks of two cypress trees. “Let the wind
lull me to sleep like a baby.”
“I have been blessed to travel a lot,” Nell shared. “I’ve been out west, to Europe, and to the Caribbean, but this is my favorite
place. The brackish water, the cordgrass, the egrets, the smell of salt—I don’t even mind the scent of the pluff mud so much.”
She laughed. “The low country is home, and there’s no place like it.”
“Thankfully we don’t smell that pluff mud today.” Erin winced at the thought of the sulfurous scent.
“You’ve mentioned the low country a few times, Nell. What’s that mean?” Gemma asked.
Nell cleared her throat as if she were about to give a school lesson and said, “My mother’s family comes from the Low Country,
so I know all about this. Now, that’s the Low Country with a capital L and C, and it’s the coastal part of South Carolina that includes Beaufort, Colleton, Hampton, and Jasper counties. Depending on
who you’re asking, it might cover some nearby counties too, but it definitely doesn’t include us up here in Savannah—only
the area north of the Savannah River. Now, the whole area from South Carolina to Georgia is called the low country, but that’s
with a lowercase l and c, because it’s at sea level or even lower. If we ever get hit by a hurricane like the ones back in the early 1890s, it’s likely
that this whole place would get flooded again.”
The ladies nodded at the cultural lesson, and Gemma said, “Whether it’s capitalized or not, I could go for a low-country boil right now.”
“Should we head back? Maybe Moira is waiting for us,” CK said as she pulled her phone from the pocket of her joggers. She
checked the notification volume to ensure it was set to high, just in case one of her kids or Sean needed her. The volume
was still up, just as it had been the last time she checked ten minutes earlier.
“Can we talk first?” Gemma asked.
CK shrugged nonchalantly in response.
“Erin and I will head back,” Nell said, nodding to Erin before tapping her elbow. With that, they left CK and Gemma alone
beneath the light green canopy of the cypress trees.
“CK.” Gemma cleared her throat and crossed her arms over her Atlanta Braves sweatshirt. “I appreciate how protective you are
of me; you always have been. You came to my rescue when I was bullied on the playground, and I still have the card you made
for me when I didn’t make the middle school cheerleading squad. It’s like your role in our friendship has always been to stand
up for me.”
“You make it sound like you’re defenseless,” CK said. “There have been times when you have done the same for me. Remember
the creepy guy who kept hitting on me at the Bush concert? You scared him off.”
Gemma flexed her arm like a bodybuilder and said, “We protect each other. Look, I understand why you don’t like Tyler. I know
you’ve never liked him, and believe me, I know he can be a bit crude. But he’s my husband, CK, and I wish you would respect
that.”
Celia Kate looked at her dearest friend on earth and said, “I wish he would respect you.”
Gemma sighed and gazed back out across the Ogeechee, admitting, “You’re right. He doesn’t respect me; sometimes he is downright cruel. I know, I’ve known, that I deserve better.”
CK, pleasantly surprised by Gemma’s realization, placed her arm around Gemma’s shoulders. “Thank the Lord you finally recognize
it. Now what are you going to do about it?”
Gemma pulled away, wiping her tear-filled eyes. “I’m not going to do anything about it right now. I agree with you that my
husband is mean. Let’s leave it at that, okay?”
“But, Gemma, you cannot allow him to—”
“I’m not divorcing my husband just because he calls me fat and isn’t attracted to me, CK. The truth is, I am fat, aren’t I?
Can we please drop the subject? I want to enjoy the rest of the weekend. Dwelling on the fact that my husband finds me repulsive
is not how I want to spend my time. So once again, can we agree to drop it?”
CK didn’t want to let it go. She was a fixer, and she was determined to address the issue right there on the riverbank in
the September breeze. Reluctantly, she nodded in concession, and they began the walk back to Allyson Island.