Chapter 49
I find her in the kitchen, waiting right where I left her. Magnolia’s eyes are red-rimmed, and she looks up hopefully.
“I finally get it,” I say. “It doesn’t excuse what you did, but I see why you’re the way you are.”
Magnolia nods slightly. “I never wanted it this way, I promise. It wasn’t supposed to go this way— any of these ways. I... I wanted Theo to stay too.”
It rocks me, watching my mother sit in the same pain I did after Lincoln left. How many times I’ve said the same thing, with
Lincoln’s name instead. Somehow, in her attempts to save me from suffering, she landed me right in it.
I begin to gather my purse and pat around the counter for my sunglasses. “We’ll have plenty of time to talk it through. Right
now, I’m going to find him.”
“At his home?” Magnolia asks.
“At his business,” I say.
No one answered my call to the office, so I’ll go in person. I’m not in the mood for emailing and desperately hovering over
my inbox until someone—who likely won’t be Theo—replies.
Magnolia rushes to me and pulls me into a deep squeeze. “Are you sure?”
I’m not sure at all. Honestly, this could just make it worse. “What other option is there?”
She looks at me with a tenderness I’ve never seen from her before. She understands that this has already lived underground
too long. She knows there’s no sense in keeping it buried.
“Do you want company?” she asks.
I shake my head. “I think I need to do this on my own.”
“Very well,” she says. “But please , be careful.”
I nod once and turn to go. I’m not sure there’s any amount of care possible to shield me from whatever is about to happen,
but I appreciate her sincerity. Theo Hartman, though—really? Hours ago, I would’ve said he was a sweet old-man gardener, the owner of a landscaping company who was humble enough to come
touch up my border flowers on a big day. But now, it’s all muddled.
On my phone I search again for the address for Hartman Landscape and paste it into my maps app. Twelve minutes, it says. Twelve minutes away for all those years. Twelve minutes from every first, every spelling test, every T-ball game, every prom.
I crank the engine and roll back down the driveway. I go through the twists and turns of the quaint business district to a
more industrial section of town. When I arrive at the address, I pull into a large parking lot with a fleet of trucks lined
up. There is a one-story office with the logo I remember on the sign above.
I park and walk up to the entrance. Only then do I notice it’s dark inside and there is a sign on the door: Closed Until Further Notice.
I pull a face and see it reflected back at me in the dark window. Companies like these don’t just close on a Friday. It isn’t a holiday. I see movement inside, and I raise a hand to peer through the glass. I see a woman cleaning with a cart of supplies. I knock on the window, and she sees me. I wave and point to the locked door.
Slowly, she comes over, flips the lock, and cracks the door.
“Yes, ma’am?” the cleaner says.
“Sorry to disturb you,” I say. “I wasn’t expecting the office to be closed. Online it says these are open hours.”
The cleaner’s face drops. “You didn’t hear.”
I shake my head slowly. “I don’t think so.”
She pulls in a breath. “I’m sorry to be the bearer of bad news, but the owner recently died in an accident.”
The owner. My mind rushes to protect me as it wonders if someone other than Theo could qualify as an owner.
“Are you talking about Theo Hartman?”
She nods. “There was an accident at the home of one of our longtime customers. An incident with a flatbed truck.”
My gut flip-flops. “You can’t be talking about the Suffolk property?”
“You know them? Mr. Theo was on the mower that day,” she says. “He and Mr. Suffolk have a close relationship, so he agreed
to fill in when one of the crew called in sick. He was always like that, happy to get back on the truck when help was needed.
The flatbed was backing up after being given the all clear, and Mr. Theo saw one of his guys step in the way with a loud leaf
blower going. The guy couldn’t hear over the noise, so Mr. Theo ran over to warn the guy, to get him out of there... and
he ended up putting himself in harm’s way instead.”
My vision blurs as tears pool in my eyes, but I have to make sure there’s no room for misunderstanding. “Theo’s really...?”
The cleaner shuffles her feet, her head dropping for a moment, like she’s reluctant to restate the ugly truth.
“Yes.” She meets my eyes briefly, then looks away. “He’s no longer with us. I’m so sorry. It was a horrible accident. There was nothing anyone could have done.”
The lovely cleaner says some other things in a gentle voice, but I hear nothing as I turn and walk away to the curb where
I can catch my breath.
“I’ve got you, Mack.” It’s my mother’s voice, and her arm loops around me and supports me. “I followed at a distance, in case
you needed me.”
I barely hear her as my ears start ringing, but the cleaner perks up, looking between us. “ You’re Mack?”
I keep moving to the curb, and Magnolia helps me there. It doesn’t matter who I am right now.
“I’ve got something in here that I think is for her,” the cleaner says gently.
Magnolia waves her away, distracted. “ Please , can’t you see? Another time.”
The door closes behind us with a click , and the cleaner is gone.
I drop onto the curb. Traffic rumbles by on the road, life impossibly unchanged for everyone else.
“What happened, doll?” Magnolia asks.
I look up at her, and she looks as different as she sounds. And thank God for it. “He’s gone, Mama. Theo’s dead.”
Magnolia goes white. “No,” she says. “When? How?” She springs back and begins to pace.
I recount the story to Magnolia, of the accident at the Suffolks’. I watch my mother to see how she’ll react. Because yes,
this is a lost opportunity for me to meet my father. Miserable timing and a tragic event. But if Theo was Magnolia’s Lincoln,
it will hit her differently.
“Hang on now.” Magnolia freezes and turns to me. “The Suffolks have been using Hartman?” She goes to the door and raps on
it.
The cleaner opens it, wide-eyed. “Did you want the—?”
“Tell me,” Magnolia demands. “How long have the Suffolks been using Hartman?”
“For a while now, ma’am,” the cleaner replies. “It started when we were crowned ‘top landscapers’ by the local newspaper,
and Mr. Suffolk called wanting to employ the ‘premiere’ service. We were swamped with new calls at the time, but he offered
to pay a premium—like all those rich people do to make sure they get the best and nothing less.”
Only then does Magnolia seem to crack. She wraps her arms around herself. “I never wished any ill will on Theo, despite what
happened between us, but this? This with the Suffolks is a whole other thing.”
The cleaner retreats tentatively into the office, bracing the door until it closes without a sound.
Magnolia resumes pacing in front of the small storefront, muttering to herself. She stops and peers inside, then pulls away,
still distressed. She looks wild and unleashed, and surely, I can see now, she never stopped loving Theo.
I’ve been— I am —that person too.
I come to her side. “Mama?”
She stops at my voice, and when she looks at me, there’s a fresh glassiness over her eyes. Rage.
“Mama.” I say it firmer.
“It’s Delta,” she says in a whisper I barely hear.
Magnolia raises her head and opens her mouth and lets out a devastating cry into the sky. Wounded is what it sounds like.
“Here.” I go to her side and gently take her arm. “Let’s figure this out.”
“Oh, I’ll be figuring this out.” Magnolia whips away from me and marches to her car.
“Mother, stop!” I call behind her. “You can’t drive. You’ll wreck in this state.”
She tosses me the keys. “Fine, you drive.”
We hop into the vehicle with the efficiency of departing bank robbers.
“On one condition,” I say as we buckle our seat belts.
She glances over.
“Tell me what the hell is going on.”