Alex was all out of warnings and Lydia all out of comebacks.
With a host of complaints muttered under her breath, shepushed back her chair, the legs scraping against the brick patio.
‘If the food comes while I’m gone, don’t eat all the chicken,’ she said before climbing directly over a planter box full of ferns instead of walking around to the exit. ‘And tell them to hold my coffee!’
A new server came over to deposit big plastic tumblers of ice water in front of each of us and Alex gave me an exasperated smile.
‘I’d love to say I don’t know where she gets it from, but I do. Only difference is, I would have never gotten away with speaking to my mother the way she does. Virginia would’ve grounded me for a month.’
‘You would need round-the-clock guards to keep Lydia in the house.’ I laughed nervously, picking up my napkin and rolling the edges between my fingers for something to do. ‘She really has been an incredible friend to me. I feel like we’ve known each other forever.’
‘In a way, you have. You and your mom were with me when I gave birth.’
‘We were?’
She nodded and I seized onto this new piece of information, tucking it away for safekeeping.
‘Was my dad there?’
‘He was around. Mostly he took care of the snack runs. Paul had no interest in what was happening at the business end. He stayed out of the way until me and the twins were cleaned up and presentable. Your daddy always was a little squeamish.’
‘That’s so true,’ I agreed. ‘You should’ve been there when I got my period for the first time.’
‘I know,’ Alex said softly. ‘I should.’
‘Oh, no, that’s not what I meant,’ I replied quickly. ‘I was only joking.’
‘I wasn’t.’ She lowered her head, a delicate pink flush colouring her cheeks. ‘Your mom and I made a lot of promises to each other when it came to you kids. I swore I would always look out for you if anything happened to her. At the time, I didn’t imagine anything ever would, not even for a second. But before I knew it, you and Paul were gone.’
‘He didn’t tell you he was leaving?’
‘He didn’t tell anyone. You’d been gone six months before I heard from him. We were all losing our minds.’ She picked up her glass of water and took a small sip. ‘You must forgive me for not coming to see you before now,’ she said. ‘Catherine and I have never gotten along well and I couldn’t imagine her being too thrilled at my being involved in your life. But when Lydia mentioned she was out of town … Do you happen to know when she’ll be back?’
I shook my head and she pressed her lips into a thin white line.
‘Willshe be back?’
‘I don’t know,’ I admitted. ‘We haven’t really been in touch.’
We both sat quietly when our coffees arrived, Alex watching me while I studiously avoided eye contact.
‘You really do look like her with that red hair.’ Alex’s words were whisper soft. ‘But I can see your mom in there too. Paul would be so proud of you.’
‘Were you in touch with him the whole time?’ I asked, so uncomfortable under her gaze, I felt the temperature drop by a few degrees as a heavy cloud blocked out the sun directly overhead.
‘More or less. Occasionally there would be gap when y’all were moving around, but I always heard from him eventually. Sometimes emails, mostly with letters, but never anything that came to the house. Paul always used a third-party address and he insisted I keep a PO box at a post office over in Hardeeville.’
‘Where’s that?’
‘Across the state line in South Carolina.’
‘Across the river,’ I said, more to myself than her. He kept water between Catherine and the letters.
‘Your daddy could be a little dramatic when it came to your grandmother.’ She picked up a sachet of raw sugar and flicked it three times before tearing the brown paper package open and pouring it into her coffee. ‘Said he didn’t want anything he had touched in my mother’s house, as though Catherine might smell the two of y’all on it, like some Eileen Fisher-wearing bloodhound.’
I spun the straw in my iced latte but said nothing. Alex leaned towards me, one hand hovering beside mine but not quite touching it.
‘Emily, I can’t pretend I know what happened exactly between your grandmother and your parents,’ she said. ‘Paul never offered the details so I didn’t ask, but I know it ran deeper than simple family disagreement. He went to great lengths to protect you from Catherine.’
