“I love you, Flora. OK, dear. I’ll talk to you later, OK? Bye, now, honey. You enjoy your yummy, yummy pizza.”
Charlotte replaced the phone, put her hand on the counter, and dropped her head, as if she were dizzy or had lost her balance. Then she straightened, put her shoulders back, and began to perform her favorite role, “Charlotte-without-a-care.” (It was no mystery where Lee’s performative talent had come from.)
“What is it?” asked Lee. “What happened?”
“Well,” said Charlotte, sitting back down and sipping her coffee, “Regan went on a little…” Charlotte waved her hand in a circular motion. “A little ‘Mom-cation.’ ”
“What does that mean?” said Lee.
“That’s what they’re calling it now, a Mom-cation. Anyway, she went to a scrapbooking event or some such. What could be more dull…but anyhoo. She left the girls to fend for themselves. I didn’t like her plan, but whoever listens to little old me?”
“Why did Flora call?” said Lee, impatiently.
“Flora’s a nervous Nelly. She just is. I’m sure everything’s fine.”
“But…” said Lee.
“I do hate them being so far away,” admitted Charlotte. “Remember when they lived on She Crab Circle? Six minutes by golf cart! Now the girls don’t haveanyone.”
“Yeah,” said Lee. This thought made her sad.
Charlotte sighed. “Why did she go all the way to Greece, Lee Lee?”
“Because of her Vision Board Workshop,” said Lee.
“Greece is so far away,” said Charlotte, looking old.
All this sadness, and nothing you can do about it,said Depression.
Lee went to her mother and hugged her.
8
Lee
Charlotte emerged from the depthsof her attic crawl space, brushing dust from her hair. She held a large pink duffel bag in her hand. “I thought I had a suitcase in here,” said Charlotte. “But there’s no suitcase. I did find this monogrammed bag from L.L.Bean!”
“That’s going to be heavy for you, Mom,” said Lee.
“Oh, pish!” said Charlotte.
Pish? Lee swallowed her annoyance. She tightened the sash of the paisley-print bathrobe she’d borrowed from Charlotte, then sat on the floor outside the crawl space, sipping coffee. “What did Flora say, exactly?”
“Regan said she’d be home Sunday, but Flora’s convinced Regan is in danger because…something about finding her phone,” said Charlotte, continuing to rummage through mountains of holiday decorations. “Or maybe it’snotfinding her phone? I didn’t really understand the nitty-gritty. But Flora is very worried and honestly, I can’t stand it that they’re all alone over there!” Charlotte sighed. “She’s like you,” she added.
“What does that mean?”
“Just that Flora worries more than she needs to.”
“Oh,” said Lee.
“I’m sure that’s a hard way to be,” said Charlotte. Lee was surprised and touched that her mother was acknowledging an uncomfortable subject.
“Yeah, it is,” said Lee.
Itwasa hard way to be.
Charlotte proclaimed, “I never worry!”
