Page 52 of Reckoning

Briar was satisfied with the color and quality of the replacement shingles, and now she needed a timeline from the carpenters who were replacing rafters and decking. As soon as the sales rep left, she walked to the back of the house to find the roofer.

“Hey, Mr. Arnold, I have the shingle style picked out. He knows we’re redoing the whole roof, and I gave him the dimensions you gave me, but I didn’t give him a delivery date, so how far out should I schedule the delivery?”

“Weather permitting, I’d guess at least another week. We’re waiting for those rafters to be delivered. They’re due tomorrow. Does that help?” he asked.

Briar nodded. “Yes. Perfect. Do you have everything you need for now?” she asked.

“Yes, ma’am,” Arnold said, and eyed her closer. “You’re doing a real fine job managing this project. I can’t say as if I’ve worked with any man that did better.”

Briar beamed. “Thank you, sir. What with Daddy being the only insurance agent in town, he’s up to his eyeballs dealing with everyone else’s disasters. He needed help, and I’m it. If you need me, just give a shout,” she said, eyed the boarded-up doors in the back, and circled the house to get back inside. But as she started up the front walk, she saw her mother sitting on the porch.

Mariah stood as Briar came up the steps. “Do you have a minute?”

“Yes, ma’am,” she said.

“Ma’am? So, that’s what I am to you now?” Mariah said.

Briar frowned. “What do you want, Mariah? If you’re hungry, there are sandwiches in the refrigerator.”

“Since I am no longer welcome here, I wanted you to know that I’m leaving. Your father and I are getting a divorce. I’m moving back to Savannah. I’ll be living with your grandparents. They are at the age of needing someone to look after them.”

“Okay,” Briar said. “Are you leaving now?”

Mariah shrugged. “I have no place here.”

Briar didn’t buy into what felt like an opening to another argument. And then she remembered something. “Wait! Before you leave, I have something you’ll want to take with you. It’s upstairs in my room,” Briar said, and bolted past her and into the house, then hurried up the stairs.

Mariah followed, but at a much slower pace, then entered Briar’s bedroom just as her daughter was backing out of her closet with something clutched against her breasts.

“I almost forgot! In all the chaos of demo, I found your jewelry box and brought it up here for safekeeping. Sorry I couldn’t save any of your clothes. Couldn’t save any of Dad’s either. Here you go,” she said, and put the mahogany jewelry chest into her mother’s arms.

“Oh my God,” Mariah cried. “Oh my God. I thought it was gone too. Thank you, darling. Thank you.”

Briar shrugged. “I found it inside the big armoire. I guess you hid it in the armoire before you left, for the same reason you locked the basement door. A total lack of trust in me. You should probably wrap it back up in this old blanket and put it in the trunk of your car for safe travels.”

Once again, Briar’s lack of emotion and her matter-of-fact acceptance of her parents’ divorce hurt Mariah more than she expected. Clearly, there was nothing left to say.

As she started back down the stairs, she glanced across the vista of chaos on the floor below and realized this wasn’t just a bad dream. It was a bitter reality. She was leaving this house, her marriage, and her daughter, and would never come this way again. And in a moment of honesty, she knew to the day when it began to unravel. On a sunny summer day in the town park, a whole lifetime ago.

When she reached the front door, she grabbed her suitcase with one hand, clutched the jewelry chest with the other, and walked out with what was left of her worldly goods.

It took a few minutes to load up and secure the chest, but when she turned to wave goodbye, Briar was gone. There was no one to see her off.

She got in the car and buckled up, drove by the bank and withdrew five hundred dollars from their joint checking account, and then sent Roger a text.

I withdrew five hundred dollars. File the papers. You have Mom and Dad’s address. I’m going home.

Roger heard his phone signal a new text. He read it and, for a few moments, was sorry it had come to this then was reminded that he would never have to put a drunk to bed again. He called Rocky Morris and told him to file the divorce papers, then he left Rita in charge long enough to make a run to the bank and take Mariah’s name off the savings and checking accounts and deactivate her debit card before she decided to help herself to all of it. His last task was to go back the office and deactivate her credit cards.

What was done, was done.

* * *

It was Tate’s fourth day home from the hospital. Briar had been coming by every evening to see him. He knew she was standing in for her dad as an on-site manager, making sure repairs were done properly and orders for new materials went out and deliveries came in. But he did not know the day’s drama with her parents until Briar came knocking.

* * *

The moment the last tradesman left the Lowe property, Briar went upstairs to shower. She’d had her fill of sweat and sawdust, and her ears were still ringing from the power tools she’d heard all day. Her phone rang while she was stripping out of her clothes. She saw it was from her dad and answered quickly.