All the Little Lights
Page 38

I ducked out of the Chrysler and ran to the house, only stopping long enough to open the gate. Before I reached the porch, the front door opened.
“Goodness, child. Don’t you own an umbrella?” Althea asked, brushing me off with a tea towel.
I turned to see Elliott wave at me, and I pulled Althea inside, closing the door behind us.
“How’s it going with the boy?”
“Pretty great, actually,” I said, raking back my half-wet hair. I looked around, noticing that everything seemed to still be in order. I knew I had Althea to thank for it. “Elliott has a football game tonight. I’ll be home late. Did Mama say she needed anything?”
“I’ll tell you what. If she does, I’ll take care of it.”
“Thank you,” I said, trying to catch my breath from the short sprint to the house. “I have to change. I’ll be down in a second.”
“Get an umbrella, baby!” Althea called after me as I climbed the stairs.
In my room, I peeled off my sweatshirt and replaced it with a blue sweater and a coat. After combing my hair, brushing my teeth, and running ChapStick over my lips, I stopped just short of my bedroom door, snatching my umbrella from the corner.
The sound of my shoes squeaking against the stairs was unavoidable, but Mama was bound to say something about it.
“Catherine Elizabeth,” Mama lilted from the kitchen.
“I’m sorry, I have to run. You have everything you need?” I asked.
Mama was standing in front of the sink, washing potatoes. Her dark curls were pulled back away from her face, and she turned to me with a smile. “When will you be back?”
“Late,” I said. “It’s senior night.”
“Not too late,” she warned.
“I’ll have everything ready for the morning. Promise.” I kissed her cheek and turned for the door, but she held me back by my coat sleeve, her happy expression gone.
“Catherine. Be careful with that boy. He doesn’t have plans to stick around.”
“Mama . . .”
“I mean it. It’s fun, I know. But don’t get too caught up with him. You have responsibilities here.”
“You’re right. He doesn’t want to stay here. He plans to travel. Maybe with National Geographic. He asked if you . . .” I trailed off.
“Asked if I what?”
“If you’d like to come to his aunt’s house for dinner.”
She whipped around, taking a potato in one hand, a peeler in the other. “I couldn’t. Too much to do. We’re at capacity.”
“We are?” I asked, looking up.
Mama grew quiet, raking the peeler against the potato, skinning it bare. The faucet was still running, and she raked faster.
“Mama?”
She turned, pointing the peeler at me. “You just be careful of that boy, you hear me? He’s not safe. No one outside of this house is safe.”
I shook my head. “I haven’t told him anything.”
Her shoulders relaxed. “Good. Now go on. I have work to do.”
I nodded, turning on my heel, and walked toward the door as fast as I could, opening the umbrella once I was outside. The Chrysler was still idling at the curb, the windshield wipers swaying back and forth.
Sitting in the passenger seat and shaking out the umbrella without bringing the rain inside was a delicate maneuver, but I somehow shut the door without making a mess.
“Did you ask about dinner?”
“I asked,” I said. “She’s busy.”
Elliott nodded, resting his arm on the back of the seat. “Well, we tried, right?”
“I can’t stay too long after,” I said.
“What? Why?”
“She’s being weird. Weirder than usual. She’s in a really, really good mood and has been for a while, but she said the Juniper is full.”
“What does that mean?”
“It means I should get home early . . . just in case.”
“In case of what?”
I looked at him, wishing I could tell him the truth, and then settling for a version of it. “I don’t know. It’s never happened before.”
I sidestepped down the walkway in front of the bleachers where Elliott’s aunt Leigh and his mom sat. They seemed to recognize me right away.
Leigh smiled. “Hi, Catherine. Can you sit with us? Elliott said you might.”
I nodded. “I’d love to.”
Leigh scooted over, directing me to sit between her and her sister-in-law. I could see where Elliott got his rich skin, dark hair that shined even in the moonlight, and beautiful cheekbones.
“Catherine, this is Elliott’s mom, Kay. Kay, this is Elliott’s friend, Catherine.”
Kay response was wooden. “Hi, Catherine. I’ve heard a lot about you.”
I smiled, trying not to shrink under her intense stare. “Elliott said you’re having a dinner for him tonight. Should I bring anything?”
“That’s nice, but we have it covered,” Kay said, looking forward. “We know what he likes.”
I nodded, doing the same. Elliott was sure that I would feel comfortable sitting next to his mother. Either she was a good actress, or he didn’t see how cold she was to unwelcome strangers.
“Should I go down now?” Kay asked.
“I think it’s at halftime?” Leigh said.
“I’m going to go check.” Kay stood and carefully stepped around Leigh and me, descending the stairs. People from the stands called her name, and she looked up and waved with a contrived smile on her face.
“Maybe I should sit with Mrs. Mason,” I thought aloud.
“Don’t be silly. Take it from me, it just takes Kay a while to warm up. That, and she’s never happy to be back in Oak Creek.”
“Oh,” I said.
“I remember when John and I first started dating, Kay was fit to be tied. No one in the family had dated anyone but Cherokee before. Kay and their mother, Wilma, were not happy, and it took a lot of assurances from John that they’d come around.”
“How long?”
“Oh, you know,” she said, brushing off her pants. “Just a couple of years.”
“A couple of years? But . . . Elliott’s dad is . . . ?”
Leigh snorted. “Cherokee. And German, I think. Kay doesn’t talk about the German, even though he’s lighter skinned than I am. And yes, two years. They were long, but it made John and me inseparable. It’s good, you know, for things not to come easy. You appreciate them more. I think that’s why Elliott spent the last two years grounded trying to get to you.”
I pressed my lips together, trying not to smile. Kay returned, looking annoyed.
“You were right. Halftime,” she said. Someone else called her name, and she looked up, waved twice without smiling, and sat down.
“It was your idea to let him finish high school here,” Leigh said.
“It was his idea,” Kay said. She looked at me, unimpressed. “I wonder why.”
“Elliott said to be nice,” Leigh warned.
“He also said she’s an Aquarius,” Kay said, smug.
Leigh shook her head and laughed once. “Lord, not that again. You tried that with John and me, remember?”
“You’re both on the cusp,” Kay said. She forced a smile and then focused on the field.
The band began to play, and then the cheerleaders and Pep Club ran out onto the field, creating a pathway for the players. Another minute later, the team burst through a paper banner, and Kay immediately picked out Elliott from the dozens of students and pointed, a real smile lighting her face.