Cooper stepped back as Sunny returned and plopped down on the sofa, Mardi jumping up on her lap. “You’d better go. I’ve seen Sarah when she’s angry, and it’s not pretty.”
His attempt at levity didn’t fool me, but I went along with it. “If you’re referring to her spectacular tantrums, she has fortunately grown out of them. You’ve been gone a long time.”
His smile disappeared completely. “Yeah. I know.”
“Nola!”
“Coming.” I didn’t move.
“You go on. We’ll have time to talk later.”
I hesitated, then headed toward the kitchen, fighting the impulse to look back. If there was one thing I’d learned so far, it was that there was nothing to be gained by looking back; its only purpose was to make you stumble because you weren’t looking ahead.
CHAPTER 32
On Monday morning I awoke to the sound of the attic stairs being pulled down from the ceiling outside my bedroom door. I sat up, my breath creating white puffs in front of my face. Mardi and Eeyore lay curled on top of my feet, the only warm spot on my body.
“Jolene?” I called out. I didn’t get up because I didn’t want to disturb the dog.
My door opened to reveal my roommate already dressed, with perfect hair and makeup and holding a long-handled lighter. “Sorry—I was trying to be quiet, but I have to relight the pilot. Dangblasted cold snap snuck up on us last night and the dagblamed heat’s gone out.”
I’d never heard Jolene curse before—if that’s what you could call it—but because she was a true Southerner, it made sense that the cold would bring out her worst. “Shouldn’t we call someone?”
She raised a delicate eyebrow. “Sugar, I can gut a deer and bait my own fishing hook, among other life skills every woman should have, according to my daddy. I do not need help with a pilot light except for someone to hold my high heels so I can climb the ladder. But don’t worry—stay where you are. If you’ll keep Mardi away from my shoes, I’ll just leave them on the floor.”
As she began her climb, I reached for the sweater I’d worn the day before—it was conveniently on the floor next to my bed—and slipped it over my head. In typical Southern fashion, a day of hard winter was following a perfectly balmy autumn day that would more than likely be followed by a spike in the mercury. And hurricane season wasn’t even over yet.
The sweater helped slow down the shivering, but my teeth had begun to chatter as I picked up my phone to read my texts, tucking a corner of the blanket around Mardi as he continued snoring.
I felt a stab of disappointment reading the first text, from Cooper, letting me know that he had to fly to New York for work and would be gone the entire week. I’d wanted to have the conversation we’d been about to start when I’d asked him about the scar on his chin. He’d said we’d talk about it later, but it seemed later would have to wait. I also realized that I’d miss him, and that I was already looking forward to seeing him when he returned. I told myself it wasn’t because he reminded me of the young and naïve girl I’d once been, and a life I’d taken for granted. The Cooper Ravenel I was just beginning to know again was different, too, in ways I couldn’t yet explain but didn’t make him any less appealing. I found myself looking forward to getting to know him again.
The second text was from Sarah, with three full lines of a crying-face emoji and the words “I miss you.” I had enjoyed our time together as much as I thought she had, and my eyes stung as I saw her nickname on my text screen: Smatchen. It had been one of the vocabulary words I’d learned in high school, and as a typical older sister I had immediately assigned the name to Sarah, even though technically it wasn’t true—at least not all the time. And when JJ got his first phone, his name in my contact list became Cuisinier, one of my French vocabulary words, so that he wouldn’t feel left out.
Her next text made it clear that she’d been buttering me up with the first.
Sorry accidentally packed book will give bk at
I knew that she was referring to the clientele book with the same certainty that it hadn’t been an accident.
My thumbs were poised to reply when something hit the attic floor above. “Son of a bee sting!” Jolene shouted.
I dropped my phone on the bed, gently slid Mardi and Eeyore off of my feet, then ran to the bottom of the attic stairs. “Is everything all right? Do you need me to do anything? Like call an ambulance?”
“Could you please hand me my phone? It’s on the desk.”
I did as she asked, noticing as I did that the princess phone was perched in its usual corner. I stood on the third rung to hand Jolene’s phone to her, then quickly stepped back down. “Aren’t there roaches up there?”
“I’m sure there are. I just don’t show them any fear, so they leave me alone.”
I wasn’t convinced that was how it worked, but I was too cold to argue. After tossing around the question of which to do first, I headed to the bathroom intent on taking a long steaming-hot shower to help me thaw, and then having my first cup of coffee. By then Jolene would have fixed the problem and our heat would come back on.
I turned the hot water on full blast and let it run while I brushed my teeth and undressed. Then I stepped in without checking the temperature first, too frozen to care, and with happy anticipation of almost-scalding water.
The feeling of thousands of icicles pricking my skin had the same effect as a gunshot at the start of a race. In my haste to exit the icy shower, I managed to pull not only the shower curtain but also the rod down with me, bringing both Mardi and Jolene into the bathroom.
“Are you all right?” Jolene asked, tossing me my towel.
“Better than the shower rod, at least.” I stood, wrapping the towel around me.
“What were you doing? I told you the pilot light was out.”
“I know. That’s why I wanted to take a shower, to warm up.”
She stared at me for a long moment. “This apartment has gas for everything—including water. If the pilot light is out, then everything is out. Including the water heater. Did you not know that?”
My teeth were chattering too hard to speak, so I just shook my head.
“Well, bless your heart. It’s cold enough to freeze the balls off a pool table, and here you are naked as a jaybird. You go on and put you some clothes on, and I’ll get your coffee while we still have electricity.”