Chapter 10
Briar was satisfied with the color and quality of the replacement shingles, and now she needed a timeline from the carpenters who were replacing rafters and decking. As soon as the sales rep left, she walked to the back of the house to find the roofer.
“Hey, Mr. Arnold, I have the shingle style picked out. He knows we’re redoing the whole roof, and I gave him the dimensions you gave me, but I didn’t give him a delivery date, so how far out should I schedule the delivery?”
“Weather permitting, I’d guess at least another week. We’re waiting for those rafters to be delivered. They’re due tomorrow. Does that help?” he asked.
Briar nodded. “Yes. Perfect. Do you have everything you need for now?” she asked.
“Yes, ma’am,” Arnold said, and eyed her closer. “You’re doing a real fine job managing this project. I can’t say as if I’ve worked with any man that did better.”
Briar beamed. “Thank you, sir. What with Daddy being the only insurance agent in town, he’s up to his eyeballs dealing with everyone else’s disasters.
He needed help, and I’m it. If you need me, just give a shout,” she said, eyed the boarded-up doors in the back, and circled the house to get back inside.
But as she started up the front walk, she saw her mother sitting on the porch.
Mariah stood as Briar came up the steps. “Do you have a minute?”
“Yes, ma’am,” she said.
“Ma’am? So, that’s what I am to you now?” Mariah said.
Briar frowned. “What do you want, Mariah? If you’re hungry, there are sandwiches in the refrigerator.”
“Since I am no longer welcome here, I wanted you to know that I’m leaving. Your father and I are getting a divorce. I’m moving back to Savannah. I’ll be living with your grandparents. They are at the age of needing someone to look after them.”
“Okay,” Briar said. “Are you leaving now?”
Mariah shrugged. “I have no place here.”
Briar didn’t buy into what felt like an opening to another argument. And then she remembered something. “Wait! Before you leave, I have something you’ll want to take with you. It’s upstairs in my room,” Briar said, and bolted past her and into the house, then hurried up the stairs.
Mariah followed, but at a much slower pace, then entered Briar’s bedroom just as her daughter was backing out of her closet with something clutched against her breasts.
“I almost forgot! In all the chaos of demo, I found your jewelry box and brought it up here for safekeeping. Sorry I couldn’t save any of your clothes. Couldn’t save any of Dad’s either. Here you go,” she said, and put the mahogany jewelry chest into her mother’s arms.
“Oh my God,” Mariah cried. “Oh my God. I thought it was gone too. Thank you, darling. Thank you.”
Briar shrugged. “I found it inside the big armoire. I guess you hid it in the armoire before you left, for the same reason you locked the basement door. A total lack of trust in me. You should probably wrap it back up in this old blanket and put it in the trunk of your car for safe travels.”
Once again, Briar’s lack of emotion and her matter-of-fact acceptance of her parents’ divorce hurt Mariah more than she expected. Clearly, there was nothing left to say.
As she started back down the stairs, she glanced across the vista of chaos on the floor below and realized this wasn’t just a bad dream.
It was a bitter reality. She was leaving this house, her marriage, and her daughter, and would never come this way again.
And in a moment of honesty, she knew to the day when it began to unravel.
On a sunny summer day in the town park, a whole lifetime ago.
When she reached the front door, she grabbed her suitcase with one hand, clutched the jewelry chest with the other, and walked out with what was left of her worldly goods.
It took a few minutes to load up and secure the chest, but when she turned to wave goodbye, Briar was gone. There was no one to see her off.
She got in the car and buckled up, drove by the bank and withdrew five hundred dollars from their joint checking account, and then sent Roger a text.
I withdrew five hundred dollars. File the papers. You have Mom and Dad’s address. I’m going home.
Roger heard his phone signal a new text.
He read it and, for a few moments, was sorry it had come to this then was reminded that he would never have to put a drunk to bed again.
He called Rocky Morris and told him to file the divorce papers, then he left Rita in charge long enough to make a run to the bank and take Mariah’s name off the savings and checking accounts and deactivate her debit card before she decided to help herself to all of it.
His last task was to go back the office and deactivate her credit cards.
What was done, was done.
* * *
It was Tate’s fourth day home from the hospital.
Briar had been coming by every evening to see him.
He knew she was standing in for her dad as an on-site manager, making sure repairs were done properly and orders for new materials went out and deliveries came in.
But he did not know the day’s drama with her parents until Briar came knocking.
* * *
The moment the last tradesman left the Lowe property, Briar went upstairs to shower.
She’d had her fill of sweat and sawdust, and her ears were still ringing from the power tools she’d heard all day.
Her phone rang while she was stripping out of her clothes.
She saw it was from her dad and answered quickly.
“Hello? Dad? Is everything okay?”
“Yes, honey. Everything’s fine. After the day you’ve had, you must be exhausted, so don’t go walking all the way to the Bandy house. I’ll be home in a few, so you can take the car.”
“Thanks. I’m just about to get in the shower. Remember we’re still on the sandwich wagon until the kitchen is put back together. You might want to pick something up for yourself from Sparks’s deli, if the deli is back up and running,” she added.
“Oh, good call. See you soon,” he said, and hung up.
Briar tossed her phone on the bed, made sure her bedroom door was locked, and then headed for the shower. She would have loved a long soak in the tub, but she wanted to see Tate more.
She thought briefly of her mother as she stepped into the shower, wondering how far down the road she’d gone.
She didn’t wish anything bad to happen to her, but she already felt a difference in the energy of this house.
It felt lighter. And then a thought slid through her mind.
Maybe the tornado destroyed more than the house?
Maybe all of the contention and anger, and all of the darkness that had gathered beneath this roof, was blown away with everything else, and that’s why Mariah made the decision to leave.
Because she knew she didn’t fit here anymore.
But none of it was Briar’s problem to solve. Her dad would either be sad or relieved. Or a little of both. But that was for him to figure out. When it came to her and Tate’s relationship, both of her parents had lost the right to complain.
She hurried through the shower, then dug out a pair of clean shorts and a T-shirt and, since she didn’t have to walk to his house, decided on sandals instead of sneakers. She put her hair up in a ponytail and, as she reached for some lip gloss, saw the ring on her finger and smiled.
How had he put it? A piece of me will always be with you. She shivered with a sudden longing to be in his arms, swiped the gloss across her lips, and grabbed her shoulder bag, checking to make sure her wallet with her driver’s license was in it.
As she was going downstairs, she heard her dad in the kitchen. His timing was perfect. He was putting food in the refrigerator when she walked in to get the car keys.
“My clipboard is on top of the microwave. You can see what all was done today, what’s on the schedule, and what’s left to be done while you eat,” she said.
Roger gave her a quick hug. “You’re a marvel. One of my clients today was talking about her son going to retake his SAT test this year, hoping for a better score. You took your SAT in the spring, didn’t you?”
“Yes. Most of the junior class took it,” she said.
“So, did you ever get your results back?”
Briar nodded. “It’s with the other college info in my room. I’m really lucky my room and the stuff in it wasn’t damaged.”
Roger reached for a paper plate and a fork from the cutlery drawer.
“So…how did you do?” he asked.
Briar shrugged. “Well, the school counselor flipped out, so I guess it was good enough. She told all of my teachers what I scored.”
Roger stopped. “You never told us.”
“Dad. Neither you nor Mom ever asked me anything about school. All you two could do was worry what Tate and I weren’t doing.”
He flushed. “God…I didn’t realize…” He sighed. “I suppose it’s too late for ‘sorry,’ but what was your score?”
“Fifteen hundred and ten.”
Roger stared. “Wait! What? Isn’t that a really, really high SAT score?”
She nodded. “Well, sixteen hundred is perfect, so…yes.”
“My God! How did I not know my daughter is so freaking smart?”
“You signed my report cards for years. I have eleven straight years of all A grades. Best guess would be that you weren’t paying attention,” she said.
“And…I’m just book-smart because I made it my business to be good at what I do.
Tate is the one with a genius IQ. After it became apparent to so many people that he had a gift, the science teacher asked Tate and his parents if the school could test him. They agreed, so he did it.”
“When was this?” Roger asked.
Briar’s brow knitted. “Umm, I’m not sure, but I think it was right after his birthday this past January.”
“So how did he do on the test? What was their conclusion?”