"Thank you," Dahlia said, her voice warmer than Sara Lee had expected. "We came to check on Ivy. After everything that's happened... we need to make sure everyone is okay."
Sara Lee felt Nana June's attention sharpen beside her, though her grandmother's expression remained pleasantly neutral.
"Of course," Nana June said graciously. "Family is so important at times like these."
The sisters moved to a table near the kitchen. Not the farthest one, Sara Lee noticed, but one where they could speak privately while still being close to the kitchen. Ivy emerged with their water glasses, and her whole face transformed when she saw her sisters. Not the careful neutrality of a server, but genuine pleasuremixed with concern. Ivy offered Petunia an enveloping hug.
"That's interesting," Sara Lee murmured once Ivy had taken their orders and returned to the kitchen. "They seem... closer than usual."
"Mmm," her grandmother murmured thoughtfully. "They do, don't they? Despite their different social circles, there's still genuine affection. Time has a way of healing old wounds. But also..." She paused. "Worry. Did you see it? All four of them are worried about something."
They finished their meal, but Sara Lee noticed Nana June angled her body slightly, positioning herself so she could observe the sisters' table without being obvious about it.
"What are you looking for?" Sara Lee whispered.
"Anything. Everything. The way they're sitting. Who's doing the talking? What they're worried about." Nana June took a sip of her water. "Body language tells stories, sweetheart. You just have to know how to read it."
Sara Lee tried to observe the way Nana June did. The four sisters sat close together, heads bent in conversation. Petunia's posture was still rigid, but she held Ivy's hand across the table. Rose kept glancing around as if checking who might overhear. Dahlia leaned in close, speaking in low, urgent tones. And Ivy looked troubled, her free hand twisting her wedding ring.
They weren't gossiping. This was no social call. Theywere strategizing. Or maybe... protecting something or someone?
"Should we try to hear what they're saying?" Sara Lee asked, feeling slightly guilty even as she suggested it.
"No need to be obvious about it." Nana June stood, collecting her purse with deliberate slowness. "Come on. Let's settle our bill."
They approached the counter, and June took her time counting out exact change while Sara Lee pretended to study the dessert case. From there, she could just catch fragments of the conversation from the booth. Dahlia's cultured tones. Ivy's worried responses. Jerry's low rumble. Petunia's measured words.
"...need to make sure we're all saying the same thing..."
"...don’t bring up the Christmas…"
"...twenty-five years is a long time, but still..."
“...Rose, are you sure no one knows about…”
“Dahlia, if he told anyone…”
Sara Lee's pulse quickened. Whatever the sisters were discussing, they sounded like they each had something to hide. Maybe even something that happened a quarter-century ago.
When she and her grandmother finally left the diner and stepped into the warm afternoon sunlight, Sara Lee felt like her head was spinning.
"That was..." She struggled for words. "What was that about?"
"That," Nana June said with satisfaction, "was the sound of secrets starting to crack. Come on. We're going to the library."
"Why the library?"
"Because we need to look at old newspapers. Twenty-five years ago, to be specific. But we need to go home first," Nana June said as they approached the Victorian house. “I’m sure Mister Smee and Pippi would like the outing.”
13
SARA LEE
The walk home from the diner felt different. Sara Lee's mind kept circling back to those fragments of conversation, the worried huddle of the four sisters needing to be "on the same page."
About what?
Nana June was quiet beside her. That thoughtful silence meant her grandmother's sharp mind was processing, cataloging, connecting the dots that Sara Lee couldn't quite see yet.
