“What do you like to paint?”
“Flowers.”
“That’s lovely. Maybe you can show me sometime. I’d love to see your work.”
Margot shrugged.
We drove in silence for a while. I kept glancing in the mirror, watching Margot stare out the window. She hadn’t looked at me once. Not really. Not in the eyes.
“My other grandmother’s dead,” Margot said suddenly, breaking the silence. “She used to take care of me, but then she got sick and died.”
“Oh, I’m sorry to hear that. When was this?” Mama asked.
“When we lived in the other house. When Mom had bad people over at night.”
My hands tightened around the steering wheel. Bad people. God help me. What kind of nights had my little girl lived through while I slept oceans away?
“Before you moved in with Derek?” Mama asked.
“Yeah.” Margot sighed, turning back to the window. “Derek has money. He’s old. Mom knows that. I heard her say it to a friend over the phone. But she doesn’t care, because he’s rich.”
“You heard her say that to a friend?” Mama asked.
“I hear a lot of things,” Margot said.
“You must miss your grandmother a lot,” Mama said.
“Not really,” Margot said in that same flat tone. “She didn’t want me around either.”
Either.
“How do you know that?” Mama asked.
In the rearview mirror, I saw Margot’s gaze lift to meet my mother’s. Her voice was quiet but ancient. “It’s pretty obvious. I’m not stupid. Even though Derek says I am.”
“He says that?” I asked, gripping the steering wheel tighter, fighting the urge to turn the car around and punch Derek in that smug face of his.
“He wouldn’t let Mom give me my medicine. The one that helps me focus.”
“You have ADD?” Mama’s voice had sharpened.
“Yeah. I took a test.”
“Did the medicine help you?” Mama asked.
“It stopped the buzzing.”
“Why didn’t Derek want you to take it?” I asked.
“I don’t know,” Margot said. “But Mom does whatever he says. This month, anyway.”
“We’ll get you back on your medicine,” I said. “Buzzing’s no good.”
A slight change in her expression. Maybe a flicker of hope?
We continued on in silence for another few miles.
“Your dad’s been so excited for you to come,” Mama said. “He’s remodeling the house that’s been in our family for a hundred years. And there’s a room for you—a very special room decorated by a designer who’s on television. Isn’t that neat?”
