I heard an engine then, turning my head to see an old blue truck puttering through the gate. Clark looked at Liz. “She knew about this?”
“She does now.” Liz wiped her brow, then started up the stairs of the house. The porch was wide, facing the water, awooden door etched with glass in its center. “Let’s at least go inside and stop shouting at each other in the yard.”
Just then, I felt something buzz by my head. Instinctively, I flinched, but it was already gone, a blur in my side vision. A bug? If so, it was big.
The truck parked behind the minivan, the engine rattling to a stop. A woman with curly hair in a topknot got out. She had on cutoffs and an oversized blue golf shirt, yellow galoshes on her feet. She looked at Clark. “Came for the toolbox.”
“Already on it,” he replied. He bent down, picking it up, and started over to the truck. As she opened the tailgate, he said, “Is it still leaking?”
“Slower, but yeah.” She pushed her hair back, finally looking over at us. This was Kasey, I realized. Despite my limited knowledge of the family, I did remember there were about four years between her and Liz. “Cat? Is that you?”
“Surprise,” Liz said from the porch, where she now had the door open.
“Hi, Kase,” my mom said. “You remember Finley.”
She looked at me, tilting her head slightly to the side. “Long time,” she said. “You’re all grown-up.”
“Right?” Liz called over her shoulder as she went inside. “Oh God. It’s a million degrees in here.”
A moment later, she was opening windows, a ceiling fan on the porch slowly beginning to turn. Kasey looked at my mom. “You’re here to sell?”
My mom took a beat. “That’s the plan, isn’t it?”
Instead of replying, Kasey turned to Clark. “Take the truckback and deal with the leak. I’ll be over in a bit to close up.”
Clark looked at my mom again before saying, “Fine.”
“Oh God,” Liz’s voice came from a nearby open window. “Who left bananas here?”
I heard another buzz, passing overhead. I looked up to see it was a bird, moving so fast, it blurred. Kasey was now climbing the steps, her galoshes clomping. I watched her go inside, before I turned back to my mom.
I’m not sure what I was expecting from her. Maybe an explanation of some details, finally, about why we were here. Or a moment of reassurance, that something was familiar among all this newness. Instead, she just started up the stairs, walking into this strange house like it was home. All I could do was follow.
CHAPTER FOUR
Sorry it’s just the powdered kind,” Liz said, putting a glass of lemonade loaded with ice down on the table beside me. “We’ve been cleaning stuff out. I don’t have the fridge stocked.”
I had not asked for a drink, wasn’t thirsty at all. When I picked it up, though, I drained the entire thing. Immediately, she refilled it.
We were all on the back porch, at a wooden table circled by straight-backed chairs. To get there, we’d first passed a large living room with a big bay window and a fireplace. All the furniture was draped in sheets, shrouded, giving it a heavy, still feeling. The hall then led to the kitchen, which had a wide steel sink and white cupboards. The porch, just beyond, was lined by windows and ran across the entire back of the house.
Liz’s phone chimed as she pulled out a chair to my left. My mom was a few seats down from us, bent over her own screen. Her chosen distance was obvious not just to me but also my aunts, who had waved me to the head of the table before sitting on either side.
“Do you need to get that?” Kasey asked her, as Liz’s phone again sounded. Her own lemonade was untouched.
“No, it’s just Anne,” Liz replied. “This wedding planner Kathy hired is making her crazy.”
“Kathy?” my mom asked.
“Mother of the groom,” Kasey told her. “Jonathan’s mom. They’re Tides people.”
I wasn’t sure what that meant. But my mom seemed to.
“She claimed,” Liz added, “that it was an engagement gift. To make things easier, so Anne could enjoy it! Now I’m not so sure.”
“Stop stressing. It’s going to be a perfect day.” Kasey reached over, patting her sister’s hand.
“So, Cat,” Kasey asked. “Where are you staying?”
