Chapter 7
“Is everything okay?” Ms. Carolina asked as Lauren closed the door and rested her back against it, eyes closed.
“If there’s any unfinished business you have with your great-nephew, I suggest you think about finishing it.”
She pushed away from the door and headed up the stairs, pausing to face Ms. Carolina.
“If you don’t want me to stay here knowing that I intend to make your great-nephew regret every unjust word and action he’s shown me, please let me know.
I like it here. I like you. I want to rent my room for another week so I can finalize some things, but if you don’t want the headache, I understand and can make other short-term arrangements. ”
“I am a business owner with no other business, of course you can stay. Plus, I have a beautiful black dress that’s too elegant to wear to Sally Willoby’s funeral. No, my new dress, it must be reserved for the intimate spectacle of my nephew’s demise.”
Lauren laughed, dropping her head as tears overwhelmed her.
She couldn’t deal with another rejection. Even a slight one from a kind stranger.
Ms. Lina reached out and held Lauren’s hand between both of hers. Her touch warm and gentle.
“I look forward to seeing how you make Santi pay. Shrouded Lake hasn’t been this interesting in years, but be warned mija, my nephew is very good at fighting.
You may make him start to remember this.
” Then Lina waved off her words. “Oh, but it doesn’t sound like you’ll be here long enough to cause lasting damage.
I’m sure you’ll be well on your way before that happens. ”
On my way to nowhere.
“I’m sure you’re right,” Lauren said instead. “Good night, Ms. Carolina.”
“Good night, mija.”
Upstairs, Lauren shut the door to her bedroom and took a deep breath, the sound harsh in the surrounding quiet.
Opening her eyes, she undressed and ignored the sound of her phone vibrating for like the fiftieth time today. Crossing into the bathroom, she turned on the shower, then stood in front of the mirror behind the sink, which bared her nakedness down to her waist.
At forty-four she looked better than she did at twenty-four.
Her brown skin was more supple from years of self-care and genetics.
Her face had softly defined angles, and her breasts, though not as high and perky, were still full and firm.
She looked down at her lower body, strong and shapely from weightlifting.
To her there was nothing wrong with how she looked.
There was nothing wrong with how she’d looked twenty years ago, but she didn’t know that then, just like she didn’t know what Derrick and her family saw that confirmed that now was the time to show her how much they really didn’t give a shit about her.
And the timing of it all...fucking perfection.
Because really, less than two weeks from the wedding, a day and a half from officially moving into Derrick’s place. She hadn’t been able to execute corporate acquisitions with that much stealth. The level of hate they must’ve had held in all these years—
She held her own gaze in the fogged-over mirror, fighting to understand what inside her could’ve justified what they did. All she saw was her shattered soul staring back in fragments of hurt and pain.
Angrily swiping over her fogged-over reflection, she grabbed a bath and a body towel from the open cabinetry of linens and draped the large towel over the curtain rod. She stepped inside the tub, allowing the hot spray to dissolve the outer layer of shame and self-recrimination.
Two hours later she was in the center of the bed, three large fluffy pillows propping her up as she continued her reconnaissance.
“This is going to be good,” she promised her laptop.
Her phone vibrated somewhere inside her purse seconds before an incoming text popped up in the corner of her laptop screen.
Reese:
I have your location. You have one minute to call before I reserve my flight.
Lauren pushed her laptop away and scrambled to dig the phone from the bottom of her purse.
When she heard the vibration again, she looked at her laptop screen, terrified about the next message.
Reese
And I’m bringing Dream. Bet!
Lauren pulled out her phone and pressed. “Call Reese! Call Fucking Reese, Siri!” The phone barely rang once before Reese picked up.
“Codeword?”
“Cooch.”
“Fire or Rain?”
“Avalanche.”
“Oh hell no, I’m—"
“No, by the time you get here I’ll be gone,” she lied. “I just need time Reese. Alone.”
“So, the wedding’s off?”
Lauren frowned. “Nobody called you?”
“Not even to call me back, which is why I was freaking out! Not even Mr. Keith responded to my calls and that really just sent me over the edge.”
Understandable. Lauren’s father was the more understanding parent, the one who used to take her on walks around the neighborhood after standing as the buffer between her and Ma Mable.
He was the one that mothered her and Lahn when they were sick.
Who chauffeured her and her friends to dances or to away track meets and volleyball matches.
But he didn’t call. He was the one person she would have spoken to if he had called.
“Lauren, you have to tell me something. Just say it sis, I won’t judge.”
Just say it Lauren, you didn’t do anything wrong, she told herself. But amount of shame she felt promised her she had.
“Derrick and Lahn had sex and they’re two months pregnant. My parents knew about it for over a month, and no one felt it was necessary to tell me until last Saturday.”
The line was silent for an uncomfortably long time. Then Lauren heard swift taps on the other end.
“Reese?”
Her friend didn’t answer immediately.
“I canceled the booking,” Reese said. Lauren laughed as she wiped tears from her face. She should have known Reese’s lying ass had booked a flight before she’d given her the one-minute warning.
“What do you need me to do?”
The question sent Lauren into sobbing tears.
She’d felt so alone; devalued and disregarded, like she was not an intrinsic part of her family, when what she cared about and fought for most were her family and the people she loved.
She heard her friend of nearly forty years crying on the other end of the phone while telling her that it was going to be okay, that they’d fight through this together like they’d fought every challenge all their life, together.
And that had been true, they’d also fought together knowing that in the background, if they ever needed help, Lauren’s parents would blow holes through the world to protect them.
Except when it came to Lahn.
Fatigue blanketed her sadness and Lauren reached for the Kleenex on the table and gathered herself.
“Where’s Dream?” she asked as Reese blew her nose.
“Where she’s most useful,” Reese eventually said, then disconnected the call.
“Oh, hell no,” Lauren muttered and called Reese again. The call went straight to voicemail. Another texted dinged as Lauren read the message.
Reese: Scorched earth.
Fresh tears welled in Lauren’s eyes but didn’t spill over.
Just a reaction to knowing how much her friend loved her.
She and Reese hated each other when they met in elementary school, each of them always wanted to be the one in charge.
By middle school they were blood sisters, cut palms and everything.
Their sisterhood had been stronger than the one she had with Lahn, the sister who…
At the tone, Lauren said, “Reesey, I’m not ready for scorched earth yet, but thanks for always having my back, sis. Don’t tell anyone where I am. I’m just…I need more time to get right. Love you, Reesey Cup.”
She stared at the phone after hanging up, then went to voicemail. It was all the calls from her mother that probably filled her voicemail to capacity, but there were calls from Derrick and Lahn as well.
Where they a couple now. Had they not told anyone that the wedding was off because they were going to move ahead with the ceremony, just substituting Lahn for her?
The welling of rage was instantaneous.
“Goddamn it!” she shouted, deleting messages and throwing her phone into the pillows.
“Are you okay, Ms. Green?” Ms. Lina called from downstairs.
No, she was not okay.
She opened her bedroom door and walked to the top of the landing.
Ms. Carolina stood at the bottom of the stairs in a pink night dress and robe. Her thick black and gray hair was platted in a braid that lay over her shoulder.
“I’m sorry for yelling. I didn’t mean to disturb you, I’m just so—”
“You don’t have to explain, mija; you’ve been treated very badly since you arrived here.”
“No, being treated badly is what brought me here. Your overbearing neanderthal of a nephew just continues to make it worse.” She gently thumped her fist against her chest as if it would dislodge the emotions from her heart.
“I never imagined I could feel so much hurt and anger at the same time. I just…”
“Don’t want to hurt anymore?”
Lauren teared up and looked away.
“Come down mija, let us ‘talk in silence’ as my idiot-nephew likes to say.”
Ms. Lina laughed, and Lauren pursed her lips together because she refused to smile at anything associated with Sheriff Stillwater, not until she was laughing maniacally at his downfall.
Ms. Lina walked Lauren to the sitting room and directed her to the cream chesterfield with mauve paisley swirls. The couch was more beautiful than the one she owned.
The frame woodwork was ornate, and the material was satiny to the touch. Lauren’s grandmother would’ve had this couch wrapped in so many layers of plastic no one would’ve been able to ever see its true beauty.
If Lauren had one kink, beautifully designed furniture was it, and Ms. Lina’s whole aesthetic for the bed and breakfast was decadent and lavish while still being comfortable and cozy.