CHAPTER NINETEEN
The next day at the Egg, a fuse blew in the kitchen, taking out both the grill and half of the stovetop. At the same time, a huge extended family of twenty-three that was renting a nearby house showed up and insisted on all being seated together. We’d barely gotten that under control when Lana and I collided hard at the food window. Neither of us was hurt, but I knew I’d feel it the next day.
“Sometimes I hate this job,” Lana grumbled as we limped home. “I’ve got to find something else before it kills me.”
“Something else?” I stepped gingerly over a tree root. “Like what?”
“There’s a few options,” she said. “Retail. Office work. Even fast food wouldn’t be bad, other than the hairnet.”
“If anyone could make a hairnet work, it’s you,” I told her.
“True,” she agreed. I laughed. “The Egg issuchgood money this year, though. By August I should have enough to finally get out of my mom’s and the couch surfing and get my own place. Even if it’s just a room somewhere.”
Just as we reached the yard of the Woods, I heard a car coming up behind us. I turned, expecting Kasey or someone else in the truck, but it was my mom. She’d returned late thenight before and been asleep when I’d left that morning. Now, phone to her ear, she just waved as she rolled by before parking next to Liz’s van, facing the water.
“So she did come back,” Lana observed as the car idled, my mom still talking. “Clark owes me five bucks.”
“You guys bet on her?”
“Idid,” she said pointedly. “He thought she’d use the diagnosis to get out of returning for the sale. Which was stupid of him. I mean, you’re here.”
“I don’t think that’s why. She’s never exactly had a problem leaving me.” My mom was getting out of the car now. I watched as she went to one of the back doors, pulling out her bag.
“Well.” She paused. “She’s here now. Right?”
Yes. But only to do something final so she could leave again. Maybe this was a picky detail and I was splitting hairs. I doubted it, though.
“Cat, this is delicious.” Liz dabbed her mouth with a bright yellow paper napkin. “Although I still can’t believe I’m eating it so close to the wedding.”
“Ican’t believe you brought a Cluck Trunk,” Kasey said. “Remember how we used to have them every Sunday? The Judge loved them.”
My mom made a face. It was clear she hadn’t thought of this when she picked up a huge cardboard carton from Chicks to provide us all an early dinner. I was surprised, too, but for different reasons. The rare times we’d done carryout, it was sushi or expensive salads, not fried chicken and biscuits with all the fixings.I had to admit, though, the mashed potatoes were amazing.
It was just me, my mom, and my aunts at the table. Lana, taken down by the cumulative effects of her hangover and our collision, was asleep in our room. The boys were at Bly Supply, restocking everything we’d run out of in the rush that morning.
“I was driving right by a Chicks,” my mom said now, balling up her own napkin and dropping it to the plate in front of her. “It just seemed easier than coming up with something later.”
I knew this was supposed to be an offhand explanation, but even it felt different. Since when did she think ahead to feeding a crowd?
“We’ll need the sustenance.” Liz sat back, sighing. “From all I’ve heard about it, the sale should be huge. Trav said some of his clients had friends in antiques coming in just for it.”
“Hopefully they’ll wait until nine.” My mom got to her feet, picking up her plate. “We were very clear about early birds.”
“They won’t,” Kasey told her.
“She’s right,” Liz said, nodding. “Around here that’s a suggestion, not a mandate.”
My mom said nothing to this as she turned and went with her plate into the kitchen. Liz glanced after her, then muttered to Kasey, “A Cluck Trunk? Of all things?”
“I know.” Kasey picked out another biscuit from the box. “So strange.”
I got up, taking the remains of my own dinner to the kitchen. At the same time, I heard the front door bang shut. My mom had gone outside, where I could now see her, walkingtoward the water. Once I’d tossed my plate, I followed.
I found her standing where the hill sloped toward the dock, her hands on her hips as she studied the water. “Hey,” I said. “Thanks for dinner.”
In response, she nodded, silent.
“You okay?” I asked after a moment. “I’m sure the tests were a lot.”
