Then there was a strip of images from a photo booth. They kissed again, they smiled at the camera, they looked at each other, and the last one, the guy made a funny face while Mom was laughing. She seemed happy. I wasn’t sure I had ever seen my mom this happy. She was typically uptight and difficult to deal with. The girl in the photos didn’t appear that way at all.
The last picture was just of the boy. He was on a motorcycle, no helmet, looking at the camera but not smiling. Mom had said he died in a motorcycle accident. Rio’s mom said he overdosed. Emily had said he died in a car accident or motorcycle accident. Was “he” the same guy in these photos?
I set them all to the side and put the rest of the pictures back in Mom’s box. The letters would hopefully tell me more. Just as I reached for the box of letters, there was a knock on my door. Looking up, I saw Rio and suddenly felt guilty for going to the attic without him.
I put the letter box back down and went to let him inside.
“I went to the attic,” I said and waved a hand toward the boxes.
He nodded. “Good. Find anything?” he asked, but he seemed distracted.
“Yeah, I think so,” I replied, not sure how to explain Hillya’s son and if I should tell him until I had spoken to Hillya. I wasn’t sure what the right thing to do was.
“Okay, uh, you can fill me in later. I don’t have much time. Pop is expecting me to unload the strawberry truck that is coming in. The Strawberry Festival is this weekend and he’s gearing up.”
“Oh, alright. I didn’t know there was a Strawberry Festival here,” I said, surprised by the fact he didn’t seem interested in what I had found out.
“This will be its fifth year. It’s new. But have you seen Saul?”
I shook my head confused as to why he would come ask me if he couldn’t find Saul.
Rio sighed and ran his hand over the top of his head. “Shit,” he muttered.
“What’s wrong?”
“It’s his mom. She’s,” he paused and looked torn about saying any more.
“Is Lily on another binge?” I asked.
He nodded. “Yeah, he woke up late last night at her place and she was gone. He texted both me and Drake around one in the morning, but we were both asleep and missed it. Now we can’t get him on the phone and he’s not been back all day. She gets into some dark shit and I’m worried he’s in trouble.”
“As in drugs?” I asked, fear slowly crawling up my spine.
He nodded. “Yeah. Last time he had to pull her out of a drug house. We went with him. That shit ain’t pretty.”
“Drug house?” I repeated horrified. I thought she took pills and drank too much. Saul had said nothing about drug houses. I wasn’t sure what drug houses were exactly. My sheltered life had made sure of it.
Rio nodded. “I’ve got to go unload the strawberries. If you hear from him, let me know. If no one hears from him by the time I’m off work, I’ll have to call his dad.”
“Dad?” I asked. I hadn’t realized he had a dad around here. Not that I knew much about Saul. I didn’t even know his last name.
“Yeah. Saul will be pissed. He was last time I had to call his dad, but dammit he needs to respond to my text or answer my calls.” Rio sounded frustrated with the entire situation.
“I take it he and his dad aren’t on good terms,” I said.
Rio grunted. “You could say that.”
“Does his dad live here?” I asked.
Rio laughed then shook his head. “No.” He reached for the door knob. “I gotta go. I’ll let you know if I hear from him.”
I wanted to ask why he laughed when I asked if Saul’s dad lived in town, but he was in a hurry. “Okay, bye,” I said instead.
Rio left and I looked at the letters again. My mind was now on Saul and Lily. I wasn’t sure I could focus on the letters right now. How could I help? How had Gran helped them?
“You could have left me a journal or something, Gran. If you were planning on bringing these people into my life, then a little direction would have helped.”
Eighteen
A shower, a change of clothes, and a batch of caramel oat cookies later, there was still no word from Saul. I had considered going to Lily’s penthouse and seeing if they were there more than once, but I didn’t. I kept waiting for Rio to text that Saul was okay.
After putting the cookies on the cooling rack, I topped them with oat-milk chocolate chips so that they would melt slowly and coat the tops then walked over and picked up my card to the Hendrix IV. They may not be there, but I could at least give it a try. Sticking it into the back pocket of my cut-off jean shorts, I headed for the door.
I didn’t get far. Saul was coming up the stairs when I stepped outside. I wasn’t sure if I should hug him, ask if he was okay, ask about Lily, or tell him to call Rio immediately. Instead of any of those things, I just said “Hey.”
He stopped at the second step from the top and looked at me. There were dark circles under his eyes. “Hey,” he replied.
We stood there like that, neither of us saying anything. He looked so defeated. We barely knew each other, but I realized I cared for him. I had been worried about him. I liked him. More than I should. More than was smart.
“Where’s Lily?” I finally asked.
He sighed and rubbed his temples. “Hospital,” he said. “She’ll be okay.”
“I’m sorry, Saul,” I told him, not sure what I should say. I had never known anyone who dealt with something like this. My mom no longer seemed difficult. I would call her tonight and see how she was. Her vanity and selfishness I could live with. There were much worse things that she could have done.
“Yeah,” he replied. He dropped his hand back to his side. “I don’t know why I came here.”
I didn’t say anything right away. I waited to see if he was going to say more. He didn’t.
“Maybe coming here is a habit. Gran used to be here and I assume you used to come to her for help with Lily.”
He glanced off into the yard then back at me. “That would make sense,” he said. “But it’s not why.”
“Oh,” I replied.
“She talked about you. Honey did,” he said, his gaze coming back to mine. “She talked about how sweet you were and how sheltered your life had been. She spoke about how although you were born to a teenage mother that you both had made it work. You had a plan for life and were on the right path.” He smiled then but it didn’t meet his eyes.