I smoothed the hair off her forehead like I’d done when she was a little girl. “No. Not this time, anyway. When you’re older and more experienced, maybe. But not now.”
She smiled with relief. “I won’t tell Mom, either.”
“Smart girl,” I said, scratching her behind the ear as if she were Porgy or Bess and making her squirm away from my hand. “I guess it runs in the family.”
Jolene glanced at the bedside clock. “My carriage is about to turn into a pumpkin, so I’m going to bed to get my beauty sleep.” She paused at the door. “If I hear the baby crying again, would it be all right if I brought my pillow and blanket and slept on your floor?”
“Of course. Just leave the Barbie head in your room, okay? That’s the last thing I want to see when I open my eyes in the morning.”
* * *
• • •
As we prepared to leave the next day, Michael found me sitting alone by the pool in the backyard, watching leaves and pine needles drift into the water. He sat on the lounger next to me, leaning his forearms on his knees. His olive skin was still tanned from the summer, his dark hair glossy, with sun-lightened strands.
“Have you enjoyed yourself?” he asked.
“Very much. I really like your aunt and uncle.”
“Me, too. They’re good people. I’m glad you could see that. I’m hoping you can convince Beau and Mimi.”
“All I can do is tell them what I think and share your aunt’s story. Then it’s up to them.”
He nodded, looking away toward the pool. “That’s a start.” When he turned back to me, his face was contemplative. “Do you think now that we—you and me, that is—could be friends?”
I couldn’t help but recall the moment when I’d first discovered his betrayal and he’d ghosted me with no explanation. That came later, only after I’d confronted him. It wasn’t a feeling that I ever wanted to experience again. Or remember.
“Maybe. After some more time has passed, I think.”
He took a deep breath and expelled it slowly. “That’s fair. And honestly, more than I expected.”
I nodded. “We can never be more than friends.” I said it with a conviction I didn’t quite feel.
He tried to smile, but it faltered. “I understand. I wish that weren’t the case, and I’m not going to lie and say that it doesn’t hurt. But I understand.”
He stood, then leaned down to kiss me gently on the cheek, leaving me alone to watch the leaves fall soundlessly into the still pool.
* * *
• • •
When we returned to our apartment in the early afternoon, Cooper was waiting on the doorstep with Mardi. I felt a reassuring warmth at seeing the two of them together, and it was unclear which one I was happier to see.
“Carly called Jaxson and said she was going to be staying a couple of extra days because the resort was so nice, and she asked Jaxson if he’d join her. He called me figuring since I was new in town I wouldn’t have any plans, and he was right.” Cooper grinned. “But I was happy to do it. Mardi and I have become good buddies, haven’t we?” He held up his hand and I watched as Mardi high-fived him.
Mardi was dressed in a hunter green sweater—one of his best colors, according to Jolene, who had “done his colors”—and it made me smile to imagine Cooper dressing the dog to make us happy. Well, Jolene at least. I just went along with it.
Jolene hid her disappointment at Jaxson’s absence by scooping up Mardi and covering him with kisses before grabbing a bag and heading upstairs. We had barely finished bringing in all of our luggage from the car when Sunny arrived. She said she’d been shopping on Magazine Street when she’d received my text that we were on our way back, and she’d decided to stop by and discuss anything new we might have discovered.
I was surprised to see her so soon, since even Sam had said that to give me a chance to breathe she’d wait until the following day. I hadn’t heard from Beau at all, making me wonder if he might be with Sam and too busy to text. Not that it was any of my business.
Sunny plopped herself down on the sofa while Mardi dug Eeyore out from behind the end table and brought it to her. Bending down to scratch him behind the ear, she said, “I can’t believe he doesn’t object to Mambo’s cat hair all over me. And I know I must be covered in dander, because Mambo is like my shadow. He even sleeps on my pillow.”
“Probably because Mardi is an equal opportunity attention seeker. If you pet him or scratch him behind the ear, he’ll love you forever,” Jolene said. “Just be glad he doesn’t seem to have any Mississippi leg hound in him. My uncle Virgil once had a dog that even a piece of furniture wasn’t safe from him humping the varnish off. Once, he—”
“Thanks, Jolene,” I said, cutting her off. “We get the picture.”
She disappeared into the kitchen to “whip us up something tasty” for supper after getting a count of how many were eating. Cooper was a yes, but Sunny declined, saying she already had plans.
“I’ve been dying to hear how the weekend was! I can’t believe I agreed to radio silence while you were in Mississippi. It was torture worrying about you all and dying of curiosity all at the same time.”
Cooper and I joined her in the living room, sitting down in the mismatched chairs. “It wasn’t what we expected at all,” I said. “In a nutshell, Angelina and Robert claim they had nothing to do with your kidnapping and weren’t even around when it happened. I’m going to ask Christopher to verify that, but if it’s true . . .” I shrugged. “And I really liked them. They’re very nice people and have deliberately kept a low profile over the years in deference to Mimi’s and Beau’s grief. They have even tried to reach out to Mimi over the years to tell their side of the story, but Mimi hasn’t been interested in hearing it, which is why they’re in a stalemate.”
Jolene entered the room to place a creatively displayed charcuterie board on the coffee table. “I liked them, too. But nice people can be criminals, too. John Wayne Gacy was a clown for children’s parties, remember.”
“Thanks for that, Jolene,” I called out to her departing back. Turning to Sunny and Cooper, I said, “I didn’t get serial killer vibes from them at all.”