“That is sure gonna be tough on Ellie.”
“I know. But he’s not budging.” I’m shrinking down, feeling as small as a sparrow. Maybe I should have put my foot down with Haynes. “Besides, I don’t have any extra clothes with me.”
“Memphis isn’t far. Come back tomorrow.”
It occurs to me that I cannot ask Haynes to pay for a hotel room every time I come to Oxford for a meeting. “Where do the advisors stay? Hotels?”
“Several people have condos here in Oxford. Gage and I have one. You’re welcome to stay with us.”
“That’s really sweet of you. Thanks.”
“Okay, so you’re in?”
“I’m in.”
“Fantastic! There are two other great women on the Recruitment Advisory Board. Sallie Wallace has been on it for five years. You remember her, don’t you?”
“Sure I do. Wasn’t she Miss Tennessee?”
“Yes indeed.” From the smirk on Lilith’s face, and the rapid way she’s nodding, I’m not sure if she’s proud or jealous. “And Gwen Lambuth has been on the board two years. She’s a lot younger than us. You’ll see them both tomorrow.”
“Sounds great.” I wonder if Lilith knows how much this board appointment means to me. Our conversations over the summer never included our thoughts on becoming empty nesters so late in life. Surely she feels the same melancholy I do. Annie Laurie is her only child.
Ellie pokes her head out of their door. “Mom, do you have any scissors?”
“I think we packed some. Check your Vera Bradley bag.”
She taps the doorframe. “Thanks.”
“Our girls are gonna be best friends. I can already tell,” Lilith says.
I think back to Lisa. We were definitely best friends. “I sure hope so. That’ll certainly make college more fun.”
“So you’ll come back tomorrow?”
“I’ll be here.”
“We have plenty of food and wine at the condo. So don’t feel like you have to bring anything.”
“Oh, well, I can’t show up empty-handed.”
“Of course you can.” She shoos away my offer. “Our pantry is stocked. Plus I’ve got several bottles of thank-you wine left over.”
“Thank-you wine?”
“You know… for all the recs my friends wrote for Annie Laurie. What’d you send?”
She may as well have asked me which trailer park I grew up in. Ellie sentthank-you notes to all the ladies who wrote her recs, but I didn’t think to include a gift. I’d like to melt into a shame puddle at her feet. Lilith is a force of nature. One minute she’s got me convinced I’m her new best friend, and the next she’s trapped me inside a sticky web of humiliation.
Right then, as if his instincts had fired up to save me, Haynes steps out of Ellie’s room. His hands are stuffed inside his pockets. “Ready?”
“I guess so,” I say, nauseous at the mere thought of my oversight.
Lilith reaches out to hug me from the side. “You go on. We’ll probably hang around a few more minutes. I want to absorb this dreaminess a little while longer.”
Haynes and I go back into the room, give our final good-byes to all, and I slink out the door behind him.
***
