“You too,” said Heather. “Maybe I’ll see you around. Once a fair-weather friend, always one, right? Do you like my earrings? I don’t have an official pair but I enjoy doing arts and crafts so I made these.”
She flicked one of the earrings around with her fingers. They were long, bold, and odd, and they didn’t look like any weather earrings Carol had ever seen. They had colored beads and buttons in all colors and a little mirror in the middle.
“Oh, um, beautiful,” said Carol, and between the earrings and the emotional-support teddy bear she was starting to wonder if Heather was also a crazy person she needed to appease, like Steve.
“I know the earrings probably don’t make much sense,” said Heather. “But to me they represent all of the colors Faith wore and the light and brightness she brought into all of our lives. Really I feel like I’ve had a death in the family.”
“Me too,” said Carol, and she moved Heather back into the “most likely sane but I’m still done with you” category. Glancing around the emptying parking lot, she was relieved to see their car, Jim in the driver’s seat.
“Oh, there’s my hubby. Goodbye now,” she said.
“Bye,” Heather responded, lifting the bear’s paw and waving it. Carol thought it was ridiculously silly but felt compelled to wave back at Heather and the bear.
As Carol walked to the car she felt as if Heather’s eyes were watching her. When she got there, Jim hopped out to put the camping chair in the trunk, and they climbed back in, the air-conditioning feeling fantastic as Carol turned it up a notch.
“How was it?” Jim asked. “I saw you talking to someone else in yellow so you must have met some fellow fans. Was that woman holding a teddy bear?”
“Yeah, she was nice but maybe a bit odd,” said Carol. She glanced out the window but Heather was no longer standing in the spot where they had said goodbye. Carol was relieved even though she truly had no solid reason to distrust this woman.
On the way home she told Jim every detail of the vigil and the gathering afterward of the Fair-Weather Friends Fan Club, including Steve, who had said he was Faith’s boyfriend.
“I bet all TV people have a few crackpots in their lives. Overall it sounds like a nice vigil,” summed up Jim. “Any word from Olivia yet?”
Carol pulled out her phone.
“Nothing,” she said. “I managed to get one photo of doves being released for her, but I was so broken up for most of the vigil that I forgot to take others.”
When they arrived home, Carol was tired. She made a quick lunch and took a nap. It wasn’t until later that afternoon that she thought to look on the Fair-Weather Friends Fan Club page to see if anyone had posted pictures of the event. There were a decent amount, and Carol was actually in some of them. She was squinting through her reading glasses looking at the photos when she got a Facebook Messenger ping. No one really wrote to her on Facebook, so curiosity caused her to open it right away.
Hi Carol, it’s Heather. We met at the vigil today. I wondered if you’d like to have coffee sometime to talk more about ways we can honor Faith? I’d like to maybe start a scholarship in her name or something like that. I’m looking for someone to brainstorm with.
What the heck? Carol didn’t know how to react. This woman just kept on level-jumping. Carol had to put a stop to it. Heather could collaborate with Chloe. Quickly, Carol fired off a reply:
Thank you. I am actually too busy for a coffee but you and others can keep me posted if the group does something.
She actually wasn’t too busy at all, but she needed the white lie, and she thought that by saying “and others” and “the group” she would show that she wasn’t interested in anything one-on-one.
Heather replied that she would keep Carol posted, and Carol sighed. Hopefully that put an end to that. Just as she was closing the laptop, her cell phone rang. Olivia. Finally!
“Liv, where have you been? I have so much to tell you.”
“Sorry, Aunt C. I was just having a hard time with all of this. I went into a little bit of a funk and needed some alone time honestly just to process what happened.”
“I understand, honey. Grief takes time, you know. I was at the vigil this morning. I wish I had taken more pictures, but I did get one and there are lots on the Fair-Weather Friends Facebook page if you want to see more.”
“I saw your text that you were going. I just couldn’t. I mean, I saw Faith Friday night. What if I truly was the last person to see her alive other than the killer? I just… I just can’t wrap my head around that. And then there’s the note she asked me to give to Tom. That was honestly kind of the other thing I was busy processing.”
“What do you mean? Why is that bugging you?”
Olivia let out a long sigh.
“How about I come over for the tea and cookies you mentioned? I have something to tell you.”
“Something to tell me? Is everything all right, Liv?”
“Yes, I think so, I mean maybe…”
“Honey, your voice sounds weird. Come over right now. I’ll start the kettle. It sounds like we definitely need to chat.”
