Brick snorted…as if he doubted her.
“I mean it,” she added.
Jo Ellen stood and yanked the belt of her silly robe even tighter. “Maggie Lawson, I have lived seventy-eight years on thisearth and I have never been to a hurricane party. I heard they’re fun!”
“So’s skydiving. That doesn’t mean we’re doing it.”
“Well, I am,” she said. “Can I, Brick?”
“She ain’t your mother. You come and we’ll dance and Mags will miss all the fun.”
Maggie looked from one to the other, the old feeling rising up when one of her kids dared to disobey or disagree. Rare, but it had happened, and it rankled.
“We will go where Eli tells us to go.”
“Youwill go where Eli tells you to go,” Jo Ellen fired back. “I’m going with Brick.”
“Jo.”
“Mags.”
Brick watched the exchange with open amusement. Then he said, “It’s an open invitation. You bring whoever. Eli, too. Plenty of room. It’s safe and smart and we’ll have power all night, and it’s not a hotel.”
“It’s a flophouse,” Maggie said.
“Suit yourself, Mags.” Brick stood slowly. “I’ll let you ladies get to bed. Jo, you want me to?—”
“Okay.” The word came out of Maggie’s mouth like she was possessed.
Did she just sayokay?
They both looked at her for a split second as if they were thinking the same thing.
“Oh! I’m so excited!” Jo Ellen exclaimed. “I’m going to go figure out what to wear right now. We’ll dance and laugh and have so much fun we won’t even know there’s a storm outside.”
“You’ll know,” he said. “But you’ll be safe with me.”
“Night, Brick!” Jo Ellen practically floated to her room.
Maggie closed her eyes and pushed up, walking Brick to the door.
For a moment, they didn’t speak, but under his wiry gray beard, his smile grew. “You’re a good friend.”
“To you?”
“To her,” he whispered. “I know why you said yes.”
Did he? She wasn’t even sure, but after a quick hug goodbye when he left, she walked to Jo’s room, finding her humming as she brushed her hair.
“Did you have a fun date?” Jo Ellen asked, looking up at Maggie.
“We did. We’re friends.”
“Oh,sure.” She dragged out the words.
“We are,” Maggie insisted, taking a step closer and seeing Jo Ellen in the light of the sweet stories she’d shared earlier. “You and me,” she clarified. “The best of friends.”
Jo Ellen gave her a strange look, but it slid into a grin. “Yes we are, Mags. And we’re going to a hurricane party!”
