by KG MacGregor
The raindrops tapping the windshield grew suddenly into loud pelts. Anna said, “There goes our chance to make it inside without getting wet. Sorry.”
“It’s all right. We can sit out here as long as you like, or I can run inside and give you some time alone. Just tell me what you want.”
Anna stretched over the console and kissed her softly on the lips. “I’m sure I’ll feel better once we get in the house. There’s not much five rowdy kids can’t cure.”
“Six, if you count your father.”
* * *
The Big House bore little resemblance to the elegant, finely appointed home Anna had known all her life. These days it was a hub of barely contained chaos, home not only to her father and stepmother Martine, but also to Kim’s family of four. They’d lost everything three years ago when a wildfire swept through Benedict Canyon. What started as a temporary shelter became permanent as Alzheimer’s ravaged Martine’s mind and body. Now in the end stages of the disease, she struggled most days even to recognize her loved ones.
“I’m off to find Kim,” Anna said to Lily as she prepared to exit her father’s study, having changed into jeans and a long-sleeved knit top that hung off one shoulder.
“I’ll be along in a sec.” Lily zipped her jeans and squatted all the way to the floor to stretch them out. “Tight jeans aren’t as desirable as they used to be.”
Anna eyed her up and down and winked. “They are to me.”
Eleanor met them at the door. Tall for a ten-year-old and gangly, she bore a striking resemblance to Anna but for the brown eyes of her Hispanic father, the anonymous sperm donor she shared with her brother Georgie. Grasping Anna’s hand, she exclaimed, “Come see what Alice got for her birthday!”
“Anna?” Lily tugged her back and whispered, “Ee i ee i oh.”
Alice proudly presented her prize, a tiny longhaired calico kitten with a white chest and feet. A patch of black covered one eye on what was otherwise a darling golden face.
“She’s adorable,” Anna said, unable to resist cupping it in her hands and nuzzling its fur. “Does she have a name yet?”
“Gracie.”
Eleanor added, “See how her face looks like a pirate? We looked up pirate names and there was this woman pirate named Grace O’Malley.”
“She looks like a Gracie, don’t you think?” Alice said, her natural voice low and husky.
“Gracie O’Malley. That sounds purrr-fect,” Anna replied with a laugh.
She and Lily loved that Eleanor looked up to her cousin Alice, who was outgoing and mature for her thirteen years. Good grades, fun personality, and she got on well with adults and kids alike, though she had zero interest in boys. Lily cautioned against drawing conclusions, but pointed out that Alice’s main pastimes—basketball and girl bands—were common among girls who later came out. Kim saw it too but Hal was clueless as usual.
“Where’s your mom, Alice?”
“I think she’s in the blue room with grandma.”
A cozy parlor off the seldom-used formal living room, Kim liked the blue room for its two chaise lounges, perfect for reading while Martine watched travel and cooking shows on TV. That was exactly how Anna found them, with a small space heater that kept the room at what felt like eighty-five degrees for Martine, who still shivered beneath a couch throw.
Kim lit up when Anna appeared. “Look who it is, Mom. Say hi to Anna.” She was usually careful to fill in blanks right away rather than quiz their mother about names and faces, which caused unnecessary anxiety and embarrassment.
“Hi, Mom. You look beautiful today. Did Kim fix your hair?”
Her hair was freshly cut and colored the same honey auburn as Kim’s.
Martine’s eyes darted between them with confusion until Kim signaled with a nod. “Yes.”
“It’s very pretty.” Anna took a seat at the foot of her mother’s chaise and stroked her leg. “Yours too,” she said to Kim.
“Thanks, I’ve discovered it’s just as easy to do two heads as one. We never know when some handsome fellow is going to ask us out on a date.” She clutched Martine’s hand and smiled.
Though Kim was the same age as Anna, she didn’t look a day over thirty-nine thanks to her delicate features. Years of yoga and a healthy diet had kept her trim and fit, and her sense of style was impeccable. Anna and Lily both sought her fashion advice.
“I was really sorry to hear about Scott,” Kim said. “How was the funeral?”
“About what you’d expect. Three or four hundred people, a lot of them from the business school at Southern Cal. Plenty of tears…especially for the kids.”
“Nobody’s ever ready, are they?” Kim said, her own tears welling as she gazed solemnly at their mother.
“No, they aren’t.” Anna took a deep breath to shake off the sadness of the moment. “So…I just met Alice’s birthday present. Thanks for that. Ellie’s going to want one now.”
“Lucky for you, I happen to know where you can get six more just like it.”
“I’ll give you a thousand dollars if you’ll keep that information to yourself.”
“Come on, don’t be heartless. I know you guys miss Chester. I still miss Peanut, if you can believe it.” Anna laughed softly at this reference to the rambunctious puppy they gave equally rambunctious Jonah for Christmas when he was four. He grew into a hefty border collie/pit bull mix who adored everyone and broke all their hearts when he died young from bone cancer. “As soon as Jonah heard we were getting Alice a kitten he asked for another dog, but no way we’re going down that road. Three years from now, he’ll either be off to college or in jail.”
Anna suppressed a laugh. Kim fiercely loved her children, but she wasn’t blind to her son’s behavior problems. Mostly it was simple mischief, like trying to sell his biology teacher’s car on Craigslist. Jonah’s saving graces were his charm and his talent for shooting a basketball, which kept him from being expelled.
“By the way, did Hal tell you Jonah got his driver’s permit on Friday? We’re entering a new phase of hell.”
“Ugh. Get ready to age twenty years in six months.”
“It can’t be worse than Alice getting her period at eleven years old. Wait till it hits you that your daughter’s old enough to bear children.” Kim crossed her eyes and rolled her head. “What’s wrong with Andy’s driving? Lily says he’s pretty good.”
Anna shook off traumatic thoughts of Eleanor reaching puberty. “Sure, but then he stopped being good at anything else. His grades went straight into the toilet. I let him practice driving whenever he brings home an A, but at this rate it’s going to take him another six months to get the hours in.”
“Come on, Anna. Give the poor kid a break. He’s like you. Cars are his life.”
The last thing Anna wanted was a parenting debate with her sister, who was far more permissive with Jonah than they were with Andy. And in her opinion, it showed.
She stood, wafting her shirt to cool off. “I don’t know how you can stand this heat.”
Kim raised a spray bottle and misted herself. “You should try it with hot flashes.”
“No thanks. I’m off to the family room. Apparently it’s the world championship of ping-pong doubles. By the way, did you book your flights to Los Cabos yet? We’re going down Friday night to check in since the villa’s in my name. I figure we’ll put the girls in one bedroom, the boys in another, and Dad and Georgie together.”
“Poor Georgie. Let’s hope he has earplugs. Oh, and speaking of Dad…did you get my note?”
Anna shuddered and shook her head. “I don’t have the capacity to deal with that right now. I’m choosing to ignore it in hopes it’s just a phase.”
* * *
After kicking off her shoes, Lily sat on the end of the bed and massaged her ankle, the one she’d broken two years ago when she slid off the bottom step in her sock feet. She’d felt a twinge that afternoon while running from the car to the house in the rain.
Despite the birthday cel
ebration, it had been a trying day. First the funeral, then an ugly fight on the way home between the boys over Andy’s insistence that Uncle Hal and Georgie had cheated at ping-pong. Georgie used to idolize his older brother and agree with everything he said, but lately the two of them had been pushing one another’s buttons. The result was lots of yelling and insults that upset Eleanor and made everyone miserable.
Anna appeared in the doorway to their master bedroom and called out over her shoulder, “Goodnight, urchins. Love you bunches.”
“Did you get everyone settled?”
“Hard to say. We have a truce if it holds.” She closed the door and retrieved her satin pajamas from the bureau.
“I have a feeling you won’t be needing those right away, lady.”
“Is that so?” Anna struck a coy pose for about a second, but then disappeared into her walk-in closet. “I need them in case someone breaks the ceasefire.”
“Still that tenuous, huh?” Lily followed her into the bathroom and kicked off her slippers to enjoy the heated porcelain floor tiles. “What’s up with Andy? I saw you guys talking out by the pool. He’s been on such a short fuse lately. Are you sure he hasn’t got wind of you selling the business?”
“I don’t see how. I think what pissed him off today was Jonah talking about getting his learner’s permit last week, and Hal’s already let him drive three times. Now Andy’s freaking out over the possibility of Jonah getting his license first. I told him he needed to start taking more personal responsibility for his own life and quit worrying about everyone else. Naturally, he took exception to that. He says we baby Georgie and Eleanor, but I pointed out that we babied him at that age too.”
“Growing pains…I remember those. You want to be treated like an adult, but without having to take on the responsibilities that come with it. And deep down you’re scared you won’t be able to cut it.” Lily considered her words and added cheekily, “I bet you never experienced that. George says you were thirty years old when you were born.”
“That would make me, what? Seventy-eight? Some mornings it feels that way.”
As Anna tossed her clothes in the hamper, Lily seized the moment and wrapped her naked body in an embrace. “Don’t go talking about my wife like that. She gets more beautiful every day.”
“Says the woman who admitted she needed new glasses just last week.”
“The better to see you with.” Lily snaked her fingers through Anna’s hair and guided her head down until their lips met. Intimate kisses such as these—slow and intense—were their usual prelude to lovemaking. She was heating up when Anna broke off their kiss and pecked her forehead before turning away to dress.
* * *
Anna blinked at the darkness and weighed her options. She could remain still and hope Lily would finally fall asleep, or she could speak up and try to help settle whatever was keeping her awake. Lily made the decision for her when she rolled over yet again, this time nearly knocking foreheads.
“Honey, what’s wrong?” Getting no immediate reply, she snuggled closer and ran her fingertips along Lily’s collarbone. It worried her that she might have hurt Lily’s feelings when she brushed off her romantic overtures as they were getting ready for bed. With Scott still on her mind, she hadn’t been in the mood. “Can I help?”
Lily sighed deeply and turned to face her. “Sorry, I just…I was almost asleep and it hit me that we’re in for such a hard time with Martine. It’s going to be tough on the kids to lose their Gran. You and Kim too…all of us, really.”
To Anna’s thinking, the kids had already lost her. She hadn’t been Gran for several years. “I’m worried about how Georgie will handle it. He’s so sensitive. But we’ve always gotten through hard times by leaning on each other. Like when your mom died, and the Benedict Canyon fire. We’re teaching our kids they can always count on family, yeah?”
“But can they?” Lily snatched a tissue from the bedside table. “Scott’s kids were counting on him and now they can’t. What if…”
“No, do not torture yourself with that.” Anna’s own thoughts had gone there during the funeral but she’d shaken them off. Sitting up in bed, she drew Lily into a firm embrace. “None of us knows what life’s going to throw at us, but here’s what I do know: The biggest challenge I’ve ever faced was getting out from under that mall after the earthquake. I thought it was over. Then you showed up and made me fight through it. It’s why I married you, because you were the strongest person I’d ever known. I knew I could count on you.”
“Oh, Anna…I love you.”
They held each other and rocked gently before settling back beneath the covers. Anna delivered a long kiss to Lily’s temple and added solemnly, “Honey, if anything should ever happen to me, I know you’ll get our family through it. And you can trust me to do the same.”
Chapter Four
Lily blinked several times before squinting at the bedside clock: 5:28AM. Untangling her limbs from Anna’s, she stretched to turn off the alarm before it pierced the quiet, and eased herself out of bed.
“Please don’t tell me it’s morning already,” Anna mumbled, half her face still buried in the pillow.
“Okay, I won’t tell you. Go back to sleep. You’re not the one who has to be at work by seven.” LA traffic was both horrendous and unavoidable, which was why Lily tried to stagger her work hours when she could. Early in, early out.
Anna threw back the covers and sat up. “Nope. That’s not the deal, Your Honor. My days start and end with you.” Though she usually didn’t go to her office until nine, Anna always said she liked keeping the same sleep schedule as Lily.
Lily relished their morning routine, the forty-five minutes they had to themselves before she had to leave. While she showered, Anna fetched coffee and a protein bar from the kitchen, allowing Lily to eat as she dressed for the day.
With a towel cinched around her torso, she applied face cream and a touch of makeup, especially mindful of how she looked on days she appeared in court. “Sweetheart, thanks for talking me down last night. You always know exactly what to say.”
“I had all the same thoughts during the funeral, so it was good for me to work through it too. I finally got to sleep by thinking about Los Cabos. Nineteen days and counting.”
Their spring break family retreat was a highlight of the year. They’d long ago given up ski trips to Tahoe since the cold weather sometimes triggered asthma attacks for Lily and Andy. Besides, it seemed a bigger treat to hit the sunny beaches after what had been an unusually chilly and wet winter in LA.
“Like you need another excuse to think about Los Cabos. You’re even more excited than the kids.”
“Guilty as charged,” Anna replied. Wrapped in a terry robe, she sat on the marble deck of the spa tub sipping her coffee. “Kim’s a little anxious about leaving Mom this year but I doubt she’ll even miss us.”
“I think Kim’s more worried that being gone a week might break that tiny thread that still holds them together.”
“It could happen. She didn’t have a clue who I was yesterday. Or Dad either. Kim said she calls him Claude sometimes.”
“That’ll bruise the old ego,” Lily said, remembering Claude as Martine’s first husband, Kim’s father. He’d been dead almost forty years. “Is George coming with us to Los Cabos?”
“He hasn’t said for sure. We need to have lunch or something this week, assuming he can make room for me on his busy schedule. It’s time to talk about the Pinnacle deal…and the other elephant in the room.”
George was harboring a secret that wasn’t as secret as he thought.
“Sure you’re ready for that conversation?”
“I guess,” Anna said drearily. “Though I’m thinking about wearing earplugs so I don’t have to actually hear it.”
* * *
Teen heartthrob Sawyer Clarke and his entourage cheered as the showroom doors opened so Jeremy could drive the i8 roadster out to the delivery circle. Outside, paparazzi were on hand to captu
re the pop singer and his supermodel girlfriend driving off the lot. Money couldn’t buy advertising like that.
Anna, taking it all in from the second-floor landing, thought it a shame such a powerful, precision machine was rolling out beneath a nineteen-year-old kid who’d only started driving a couple of years ago. He would certainly enjoy the i8, but he’d never appreciate it the way an experienced driver would.
Andy looked positively despondent as the sports car rolled out. Cutting edge vehicles like those were hard to find, but as a high-volume dealer in Southern California, Premier Motors always managed to secure a few. In fact there were two on a container ship set to dock in Long Beach tomorrow, but they would take a week or more to clear customs.
“Anna, your cell phone’s ringing,” Hal called from the hallway behind her. “Want me to bring it to you?”
“Thanks, I’ll get it.” She wasn’t quick enough to catch it, but seeing it was Lily, she called back. “Hey, babe. You on your way home?”
“Not quite. That’s why I’m calling. Can you leave work a little early and pick up Georgie from the tennis center?”
Anna checked her inbox and the clock. There was nothing that couldn’t wait till tomorrow. “Don’t see why not. Andy’s here already so we can leave whenever.”
“Thanks. I, uh…I haven’t been to a meeting lately. Thought I should check in so people can see that I haven’t fallen off the wagon and rolled down the hill.”
With nearly fourteen years of sobriety under her belt, Lily seemed confident in her recovery. The only time she attended AA meetings was when something got under her skin and stirred her anxieties. Clearly Scott’s funeral had done that.
