“Murder?”
Julian laughed. “I doubt she’s even gotten a parking ticket.”
“Oh,” Betty said, almost disappointed. She would have liked to know that Julian could prove it, back up the claim, that he really could be there for her if shit hit the fan. “Well, it’s nice that she has you if she does decide to pull off some light larceny.”
“Fathers aren’t always what they’re cracked up to be,” Julian said, and closed his eyes.
Betty stared at the stars and had the unnerving feeling that he was talking about hers.
19
Night Six
Julian
Julian pretended tosleep on the chaise while Betty flipped through her phone, leaving the clatter and sociability to Sybil, Zeke and Sybil’s friend. He was trying to be delicate with Betty, rely on his instincts and not push her. He didn’t come off like a people person, he knew, but that’s what often lulled people into a sense of security with him: He was like white noise in the background of their confessions. It wasn’t until they stopped oversharing that they realized they’d overshared at all.
He fluttered his eyes open just a crack to watch Betty. She dug her hand into her pocket and retrieved a business card, then rested it on her lap and chewed the side of her lip. Suddenly, she sat up straighter, typed furiously into her screen, and he heard the swish of the sent text.
“Shit,” she whispered, and he pressed his eyes closed so she wouldn’t think he’d been spying. “Fuck,” she said louder, and now he pretended to rouse.
“You okay?”
She startled like she’d forgotten he was lying on the lounger beside her. Exactly as Julian had expected.
“What? Oh. Um. Yes.”
“Want to go inside? My bones are getting chilly.”
“How did your wife die?” Betty asked instead. It was blunt but not surprising coming from her. She hadn’t been raised attending cotillion.
He took a sharp breath in.
“Cancer,” he said. “How about your own parents?” He watched her carefully.
“Oh.” She paused and then looked appropriately bereft. “Farming accident.”
“That couldn’t have been easy.”
“I had four older siblings to raise me,” she said. “At least I wasn’t alone.”
“And where are they now?”
“Other than my brother Levi, I think they are all still in the exact same place I left them. North Carolina.” She fidgeted with her hands.
“Too cold?”
“A little.” Her phone buzzed and she grabbed it and concealed a grin when she read whatever had come in.
“That looks like good news,” Julian said.
She shook her head like she already regretted it. “A boy. Something dumb.”
“They usually are.”
She laughed at this and then so did he.
“Your siblings, are you guys in touch?”
