brick ranch house, but that was the last thing she would have wanted to talk about, even if Maddie hadn’t been sick and a prime candidate for their services.
“Are you ready to go back to the B and B now?” Loran asked the question, but she wasn’t offering alternatives. She wanted Maddie accounted for and resting in a warm and comfortable place out of the cold wind, and, as far as she was concerned, it wasn’t up for discussion.
Maddie looked up at the sky. “Beautiful,” she said, supposedly admiring the last tinges of orange and purple in the sunset but in fact studiously trying to avoid answering Loran’s question. “Look.”
Loran looked. Briefly.
They walked by an abandoned backhoe and a newly dug grave, and Loran shivered as much from the dread the sight of it evoked as from the cold. She didn’t like anything about this place.
“So you and Oscar are new best friends,” she said as they crossed the road to where she had parked in the circle drive in front of the church.
“Oscar?”
“The guy with the truck who takes my mother off to God knows where when I’m not looking.”
“Oh, that Oscar.” Maddie suddenly smiled. “Oscar. Meyer. I get it. Does he know you call him that?”
“Yes, he does, and whatever you do, don’t start tap dancing.”
“I’m too tired to tap dance.”
“Which is exactly the point, Mother. Why are we here? What are you doing?”
“You mean besides hoping to convince my lovely daughter to buy me a hearty meal before she locks me in my room for the night?”
Loran gave a sigh. “There is no talking to you, is there?”
“Nope. You’re not going to ground me, are you?” Maddie asked, smiling.
“Oh, very funny. I would if I could, believe me. I would have brought you out here, you know.”
“I…needed to see it alone.”
“Alone—with Meyer Conley along.”
“Meyer is a very unobtrusive person,” Maddie said.
“It’s his job to be unobtrusive or anything else the guests or Mrs. Jenkins want him to be.”
“Maybe so. But somebody definitely took the time and the trouble to teach him how to behave. You don’t see much of that anymore.”
Loran didn’t miss the not-so-subtle dig at Kent, and once again she felt the urge to cry. No. Not just cry. To throw her head back and wail, like some big overgrown child who had dropped her ice cream in the dirt, lost her nickel, torn her best dress and broken her favorite doll—and who was completely out of options.
“He’s been all over the world, in the military,” Maddie said. “I think there’s something a little sad about him, too. Did you notice that?”
“Everybody I’ve seen here looks sad. Are you trying to change the subject?”
“Not…very,” Maddie said.
“You’re not well, Mother—”
“No, I’m not. So humor me. Tell me what you bought on you shopping spree.”
“Deodorant,” Loran said, fumbling with the remote on her key ring so she could unlock the SUV doors. She glanced over her shoulder. Meyer was standing at the same place in the cemetery where they’d left him.
“Lucky me,” Maddie said as she opened the door, smiling until Loran smiled in return—in spite of herself.
“What else?” Maddie said when they were both in the SUV.
“A toothbrush and toothpaste, a three-pack of men’s undershirts, a red flannel nightgown, socks, a pair of jeans, a three-pack of ugly cotton panties, some weird shoes and a shirt, royal-blue plaid, also flannel.”
“Going for the Oscar look, are we?”
“Ha, ha. I didn’t have much choice if I wanted to be comfortable. Really, Mother, if I didn’t know better, I’d think you were making fun of him.”
“I wasn’t making fun of him. I was making fun of you and Kent. I wonder what he would say—if he saw you dressed like that?”
“Nothing. He wouldn’t recognize me.”
“I hope he’s getting along all right without you.”
“I hope his hair catches on fire,” Loran said as she pulled the SUV onto the road. “What?” she asked pointedly, because of Maddie’s startled look.
“Well, me, too, then,” Maddie said, making Loran smile again in spite of her worry. Her mother might be difficult to contain, but she was blindly loyal.
“Don’t ask me why,” Loran warned her.
“I don’t care why. If you want his pin feathers singed, that’s good enough for me. I think Meyer thinks you’re cute, by the way.”
“I am cute.”
“And so modest, too. Oh—” Maddie said, suddenly grabbing the door.
“What is it?” Loran asked, reaching out to steady her.
“I’m feeling a little…wobbly….”
“Wobbly? What do you mean, wobbly?”
“Just…tired all of a sudden. It happens sometimes.” She leaned back and closed her eyes, then took a deep breath. Then another one.
Loran was already slowing down the SUV, looking for a place to pull off the road.
“No, don’t stop,” Maddie said, opening her eyes. “Keep going. Just take me back to the house. I can rest while you go find us something good to eat. Maybe that place Meyer mentioned.”
“I’m not leaving you by yourself. This trip has been too much for you. Maybe we should find a doctor. I’ll ask Mrs. Jenkins where the closest—”
“I don’t need a doctor. I need to eat. Just drop me off at the B and B. It shouldn’t take you long. I’ll be fine while you’re gone. It’s already starting to pass.” She took another a deep breath. “Buy something with a lot of onions, will you?” she said as if it were all settled. “And watch the road, not me.”
“Mother—”
“Loran, stop worrying. Will you please just return me to my room? I’ll feel much better after I shower and eat something.”
“I wish I could believe you—you have no idea what it’s like having such a liar for a mother,” Loran said, and Maddie laughed.
“Ah, well. We all have our heavy burdens to bear.”
Loran
