Seventeen
They worked until late. Well, late for them—it was eleven-fifteen when Frances begged off, her head killing her.
Irene was yawning so hard and so loud that she was annoying them.
“Sorry!” Irene said defensively. “I’m never up this late.
” She handed out facial masks to everyone.
It had become their bedtime routine, and she seemed to have an endless supply of them.
They had so much work yet to do, but they’d made some decisions.
One, that they would head to Las Vegas as soon as they could.
Two, they would drive and pay cash to avoid leaving a trail.
The truth was that none of them really understood how digital trails worked, but they knew how to drive.
Three, they divvied up some preliminary tasks.
Irene was going to do a deep dive on the Pelican casino.
Joan was making an ID for Edie and getting them some credit cards in their fake names.
“How are you going to do that?” Frances asked.
“Leave it to me,” Joan said mysteriously.
Frances’s task was to find a place they could rent. For cash, if possible.
“That’s going to be hard,” Irene said. “No one wants cash anymore. Everything is an app these days.”
“Who doesn’t want cash?” This one really confused Frances.
“The Roccos of the world,” Edie reminded her. “There’s a lot more of them than you think.” She was already wearing her hydrating mask. This batch looked to be left over from a recent Halloween—the sheets were all pumpkins.
“Where are we getting cash?” Irene asked.
Frances waved a hand at them. “Leave that to me.”
“You’re sure?” Edie asked.
“Absolutely. I can’t take it with me.” Oops, there she went again, letting her internal thoughts slip out. But if anyone thought it was a strange reason to give, they gave no indication.
Finally, they agreed they would all head home first, to take care of things and plan for a trip of a couple of weeks.
They would need to establish alibis. Edie in particular needed time at home—her absence from Songbird Hill would be felt.
Estates didn’t run themselves, she informed them.
Joan said she wasn’t worried, but she needed to check on her mother before she took off for another two weeks.
“The good thing is, she keeps forgetting I’m gone,” Joan said.
Edie mulled over what she considered acceptable alibis. “What about a cruise?” she suggested.
“Okay,” Joan said. “Where to?”
“I don’t know. One of those places in the Gulf,” Edie said with a shrug.
“I’m out. I get seasick,” Irene said.
“We’re not really going, Irene.”
“Yeah, but my friends and clients know that I get seasick easily and won’t buy it.”
“You have friends?” Frances asked sincerely.
“Don’t look so surprised,” Irene said. “I can be nice when I have to.”
“I’m out, too,” Frances announced. “When Nick and I went on a river cruise down the Danube, we had to book months in advance. I don’t think anyone will believe you could just get on a cruise the next day. And besides, I don’t think I could even pretend to go on a cruise without inviting Marge.”
Everyone paused. “Who?” Edie asked.
Frances waved a hand. “My good friend who likes to direct my life. If I tell her we’re going on a cruise, she’ll have a bag packed before I get off the phone.”
“Okay, no cruises,” Joan said. “And I don’t think my brother would be too excited to stay another two weeks while I was boozing it up on the high seas.”
“How about this?” Edie said. She looked ridiculous in her pump kin face. “What if we said we were going on a genealogy trip?”
“A what?”
“Genealogy. You know, researching your roots.”
“Why would we do that?” Joan asked. She wore her pumpkin better than the rest of them.
“Because some of us don’t know our roots, Joan. I could say I wanted to find out where I come from and my friends are going to help me.”
“I don’t get it,” Irene said through another loud yawn. It was so big that it dislodged her mask and she slid it back into place.
“It’s kind of brilliant,” Edie said. “Everyone knows I don’t know who my family was.
I can say someone reached out to me with a clue, and now I want to go research it and my friends want to help.
It sounds so old fogey that no one from my family will want to tag along.
Who wants to visit cemeteries, libraries, and county clerk offices? ”
“I’m out,” Irene said. “Sounds lame.”
“Again, Irene, we’re not really going to do it.”
“That does sound incredibly boring,” Joan said. “Which is why I think it could work. The more ancient we sound, the less anyone will suspect us of anything.”
Frances thought about it. A genealogy trip did seem like something Marjorie would buy.
“Hold on,” Irene said. She was supine on the couch now, her feet propped on the arm, encased in big yellow happy face slippers. “Why would the rest of us want to go do something so boring with a friend?”
“Girl time,” Frances said. “No one ever questions girl time. Except Simon, apparently.” She side-eyed Edie and got a withering look in return. “What do you think, Joan? Will that work for you?”
“I think so. Now, when we start running out of Love Island episodes, I might have trouble. But Fred and Mama are very much into it.”
“How many episodes are there?”
“Oh,” Joan said with a flick of her wrist. “Fifty? Sixty? And then the reunion after the end. The point is, I’ve got time.”
“What about you, Frances?” Edie asked.
“My son won’t question it. He never questions anything. I think he really is completely uninterested in my life. But Marge, well. I’ll have to finesse it.”
“Irene?” Joan asked.
“No problemo,” Irene said. “All I have to do is get someone to cover my classes. Fortunately, there are a lot of beach bums in Florida looking for extra cash.”
The pumpkins looked around at each other. “So, it’s decided?” Edie asked.
“Decided,” Joan confirmed. When she grinned, her pumpkin face took on a very Halloweeny tint.
They decided they would meet up in Dallas, which was within reasonable driving distance for everyone. From there, they would take the Cadillac to Vegas.
They were pleased. They had just completed the first step in the journey back to who they’d once been.
The next morning, Irene and Joan dropped Frances off at the Nashville airport for her flight to Houston. Irene, Frances discovered, was going with Joan to Colorado.
“But I thought you had to make arrangements for your classes,” Frances said, eyeing her with suspicion.
“I can do it over the phone, Franny. Don’t sweat it,” Irene said.
“But, Joan, what about your mom and brother? What are they going to say?”
“My brother won’t question it, and Mama won’t remember she’s met Irene. It’s all good.” Frances did not miss the little smile Joan gave Irene when she said it. Really, what was going on with these two?
Edie seemed the most nervous when they split up. Frances had followed her out to her car to make sure she was okay before she returned to Songbird Hill. “Is Simon going to believe you?” she asked.
Edie gave a snort. “He won’t care. He’ll be thrilled to have more time with his mistress.” At the mention of a mistress, she threw her bag into the trunk of her sports car with some force behind it.
“I’m so sorry,” Frances said. She’d been lucky with Nick, but men could be so terribly disappointing. “I didn’t realize.” That remark was more of a manner of speech than anything else, but Edie smiled wryly.
“Didn’t you though, Fran? Even back then, you saw him for what he was. I didn’t, but you did. I got what I deserved.”
It was true that Frances had seen a lot back then. A man who wanted to take advantage of Edie, who in turn desperately needed to be loved and wanted. Preferably for something other than her looks.
“It’s Marcy I’m worried about,” Edie interjected.
“She’s been so clingy lately. I can’t even get her to go home to Nashville.
” She sighed skyward. “Of all my kids and grandkids, it’s been hardest for Marcy to find her way.
She’s had a couple of bad relationships.
Her first job didn’t work out and she ended up being let go.
Then she started a PR firm, but I don’t think she has any clients.
And then this thing with Rocco. She really needs a win, that girl.
But mostly, I worry about the clinginess.
When I got pushed down, I had to get up.
I didn’t have anyone to hold on to. I don’t know how to teach that. ”
That stung a little. Frances thought she’d been someone to hold on to.
Edie shook her head and looked at Frances. “Are you okay? You look so … wan.”
Frances laughed. “Wan? What is this, 1905?”
“You don’t look well, Fran.”
Frances took an unthinking step backward.
She and Edie had always been frank with each other, and she didn’t want her friend eyeing her too closely, lest she see the neon sign across her forehead flashing cancer cancer cancer.
“I’m fine! It was a late night, that’s all. I’m usually in bed by nine-thirty.”
Edie’s gaze flicked over her, but she nodded. “You’re probably dehydrated, too. The number one symptom is fatigue. Make sure you’re drinking enough water.”
Again with the dehydration. “It’s the number one sign of any malady,” Frances said. “But I will drink plenty of water. See you in a few days.”
“Yeah,” Edie said. She closed the hatch of her car and walked to the driver’s side. She opened the door and got in, but before she closed the door, she looked up at Frances on the walk. “It’s really good to see you, Fran.”
Frances’s heart swelled. Her eyes immediately began to water, which she blamed on the cocktail of drugs she was taking. “You, too, Edie,” she said, and stepped back up on the curb with a wave goodbye.
She stood there long after Edie’s car had turned a corner, her heart and mind filled with growing amazement and joy that this was actually happening.
She hadn’t believed it would. It had started as a desperate grasp for something, anything, to hold on to before she died, but she’d really had very little hope of getting them all on board.
Much less hope of coming up with a plan.
But here she was, and despite the fatigue and headaches, she hadn’t really thought about cancer in many days.
In the end, she might look back and regret it, but she thought that going out with a bang might be the only way to go.
She was just going to need a little more oomph if she was going to survive this thing.