On the way home, Haynes is uncharacteristically quiet for the first several minutes of our drive. He turns on our Memphis classic rock station, and sings along with the Stones, but without the normal zeal for his favorite band. I notice his hands gripping the steering wheel. When he finally opens his mouth he says, “What’s a Jimmy Choo?”
I can’t help it, but that strikes me as hilarious. And knowing he’s dead serious makes it even funnier. I laugh so hard I snort. “Jimmy… Choo is… a…shoe.” I can barely get the words out between gasps for air. And hearing the rhyme I made makes it worse. Now I am truly about to wet my pants.
One of the best things about us is we can’t watch the other laugh for too long without the other cracking up. I see Haynes grin. Then his eyebrows wiggle. And pretty soon he’s laughing. Now we’re both cackling and holding our stomachs. I drum my feet against the floorboard. He bangs his head against the steering wheel. We both have tears streaming down our cheeks.
“Jimmy Choo is a shooooe,” Haynes repeats, and we fall to our sides against the windows, heehawing our brains out. He whips into a rural gas station and screeches to a halt. We both run for the toilets holding ourselves.
When we get back into the car and have settled down, about five minutes down the road, he confesses he’s skeptical about Ellie rooming with Annie Laurie. He goes on and on about what a milquetoast Gage Whitmore is and calls Lilith a “bulldozer control freak,” but the only thing he says having to dowith Rhonda Taylor is, “I assume Gage paid Mr. Robinson. But we could have done all that stuff ourselves.”
“I know.”
“I mean that’s pretty ridiculous. Did you know they were hiring someone?”
“No.” My half-truth. I had no idea Rhonda Taylor employed an installation team.
“Lifestyles of the rich and very rich,” he says, shaking his head. But he looks over at me with a twinkle in his eye. Thank goodness.
I tell him about my conversation with Lilith and how she’s asked me to be a Rush Advisor. Once he sees how happy I am about seeing Ellie more often he’s very supportive, despite his concerns about the Whitmores.
But the fun I was having moments ago is replaced with a gut-wrenching fear of doom. All I can think about, while watching the hot Highway 78 pavement stretch out in front of us, is the money I borrowed from Mama to pay Rhonda Taylor. The loan I’m hiding from Haynes, with no clue how to make the first payment.
TEN
WILDA
When I drag myself out to the coffeepot the next morning, before I’m awake enough to know my own name, Haynes, who is usually long gone by this time, is sitting at the kitchen counter reading the paper. The sound of him snapping it shut as soon as he sees me is my first indication that there may be a bump in our morning. Even so, I calmly pour myself a cup of the coffee he’s already brewed and sit down on the stool next to him. From the corner of my eye I watch him take a long sip of his, then put his cup down softly. “I don’t know, Wilda.”
Alarmed by his tone, I meet his eyes.
“I’m—” He looks off, as though searching for the right words, then drums his fingers on the counter. “I’mconcernedabout our daughter.”
I reach over and place my hand on top of his. “Is this about the Jimmy Choos?” My desperate attempt to add a little levity into his mood.
It doesn’t work.
Haynes rubs the back of his neck, while stretching out his shoulders. Then he looks me in the eye. “Children learn from their parents. Later, when they go out on their own, parents hope and pray their children remember thevalues they’ve been taught.” He gets up and paces from one end of the room to the other. He’s in the courtroom.
“But…” He points a finger high in the air. “Teenagers are heavily influenced by the company they keep. Ellie is living with a girl who has two whack jobs for parents. Who the hell sends their kid off to college with enough valuables that requirea safe? They have locks on their doors, for God’s sake.”
I let out a sigh. “I don’t know. But I agree with you. Taking a safe to college is way over the top.”
He stops pacing, moves back to where I’m sitting. “Where did you find this girl?”
“I’ve told you this already. Lilith calledmewhen she heard we had daughters the same age.”
Leaning down, he grips the counter. The veins in his hands look like planting mounds in a garden. “I get it. But didn’t you research the family before you committed our daughter?”
“Haynes. I’m not a lawyer. I don’t research.”
Instead of commenting he just peers at me over his glasses.
NowI’mgetting confused about our decision. “At the time, I thought it made sense. So did you. We talked about it.”
He sighs, releases a heavy breath. “Maybe I’m overreacting. But she’s our baby, Wilda. My little Punkin. I can’t help it if I still want to protect her.”
“Me, too.” He’s not the only one who wants to protect Ellie.
“If it’s not the right situation for her surely she’ll figure that out and move out next year,” he says with another sigh.
