“Mom said you hurt yourself.” He furrowed his brow. “What happened?”
Jasmine tried to make a joke out of it. “I’m old!” she said, sliding into the passenger seat.
Alyssa and Jade leaned forward to smile at her.
“Hi, Grandma!” Jade said. “You look pretty today.”
Jasmine laughed and swatted her youngest granddaughter. “How are you girls doing back there? I hope your mom didn’t pull you away from your homework.”
The girls said they were done with homework for the day. It was still early in the school year, and their teachers were being lenient on them.
“By October, it’ll be crazy,” Chase said, squeezing the steering wheel authoritatively.
As they drove toward Jasmine’s place, her back eased the slightest bit, and her mood improved tenfold. This was always what it was like when she was with her grandchildren.
“Have you eaten?” she asked them.
They said they hadn’t, which might have been a lie. Still, Jasmine decided to take them at their word and suggested they go to a little fish taco place down the road from her apartment. She made so little money that she usually liked to spend what she had left over, if only so she could squeeze a little enjoyment out of her life. She shared most of that enjoyment with her grandchildren and her daughter.
At the fish taco place, they ate guacamole and chips and waited for their order. Chase talked about the drama of doing online classes and teaching surfing to “tourists who don’t know anything.” Alyssa and Jade made fun of him, giggling a lot. When their tacos arrived, they happily ate and watched the sunset unfold across the water. Jasmine told herself that her back pain was a distant memory and wouldn’t return.
That was when she saw Jenny and Walton, moving across the sand. Their faces were marred with anger. Walton opened his mouth, and out came a barrage of what seemed like insults. Theywere fighting publicly, in a way that made everyone on the beach and in the surrounding restaurants turn to stare.
“Oh no,” Alyssa murmured, looking down at her unfinished tacos.
“What’s going on here?” Jasmine asked.
Alyssa and Jade exchanged meaningful looks.
“They’ve been at it all week,” Chase said, answering boldly for his sisters.
“It’s been scary,” Jade said.
Jasmine squeezed her eyes shut. She’d never known her daughter and son-in-law to get along well all the time, but the argument there on the sand seemed like something else, something more sinister. She could tell that Walton was insulting her daughter and whittling her down. She knew, because she’d seen it before, again and again, with old friends and family. It had happened to her once, too.
Jasmine stood and walked to the edge of the beach, hoping to catch Jenny’s attention. But Jenny and Walton barreled past, still bickering. Walton’s left hand formed a fist that paralyzed Jasmine. She wanted to scream “Watch out!” But then, he loosened his hand and put it in his pocket, still fighting in a way that made Jenny look like she was getting smaller and smaller. Jasmine had to talk herself down. She wanted to call the police, but she knew that sometimes, calling the police on something like that only made things worse. It only made people like Walton angrier.
After the grandkids finished their meals, Chase drove them back to Jasmine’s. Alyssa and Jade popped out first to open the doors for their grandmother and make sure she got situated. Jasmine guessed that to them, she was looking older and older. She sat in the chair in front of the television and told them to leave. But Alyssa said they wouldn’t until they’d set Jasmine up for the night.
“You want us to get your snacks ready for you?” Alyssa asked, heading for the cabinet.
Jasmine sighed into a smile. The grandkids knew that she liked to watch an hour of television or read at night with a few dried fruits and a couple of crackers or peanuts. Alyssa put together a small snack plate with all her favorite treats and kissed her goodbye. Jade kissed her second.
“Girls?” Jasmine called right before they disappeared through the door. They froze, waiting. “Will you tell me if your father goes after your mother again?”
Jade and Alyssa were stunned into silence. It seemed that they didn’t like talking about their mother and father’s disputes. Perhaps their mother had asked them not to speak about it. Maybe specifically, they’d been told not to talk to Jasmine about it.
Jenny never liked Jasmine to get involved in her business. She knew that Jasmine didn’t like Walton.
“Promise me, girls,” Jasmine said.
“We promise,” Alyssa said, her voice flat. It was clear she was lying, that their ultimate allegiance was to their mother. “Love you, Grandma. See you tomorrow?”
Jasmine said she loved them back and watched them go. Her heart thudded with a mix of exhaustion and sorrow. Very soon, she knew, she’d fall asleep in front of the television, get herself to bed, and start a new day—a day that probably would feel entirely like this one had.
Chapter Three
Ten days after Oriana’s chance discovery of Larry Calvin Johannes, Oriana and Reese boarded a plane from Boston to Denver, where they planned to pick up a rental car and drive to Nederland. According to Kendra, Larry was floored to learn that his paintings had been rediscovered. He’d assumed that his “moment of fame” was over.
