“I don’t want a nurse in the house. I don’t even want to see her.”
“Then if you get yourself sick, you’ll have to take care of yourself, Clara Sue. I can’t be running up and down the stairs for a while, and My Faith will be busier than ever.”
I turned away from her and pouted.
“It’s all right to be angry, but don’t punish yourself,” she added. “Are you listening?”
I sucked in my breath and nodded. Of course she was right. It was also like a door had been opened in my mind. I understood now what Uncle Bobby meant when he had told me my grandfather was full of rage and wanted revenge. Grandpa was running on anger. It was helping him survive the grief. Maybe it would do the same for me. “I’ll be down in a little while,” I said, just as the phone rang.
Myra left when I picked up the receiver.
“What was it exactly that I did to you?” Lila asked.
“Nothing. It wasn’t your fault. I was just frustrated and angry at everything and everyone. I’m sorry,” I said. “I shouldn’t have taken it out on you.”
I could almost hear her sigh of relief. “All I was doing was trying to get everyone to understand.”
“If they don’t, that’s their problem. If something horrible happens to them, they will for sure.”
“I know. You’re right, and I’m sorry. Should I come over? You didn’t look like you were listening too well to anything we did in classes today.”
I laughed to myself. That was an understatement. “Yes, you’re right. Come over and enjoy some of My Faith’s cookies, too,” I told her.
“Good. I have a story for you. Ellie Patterson’s parents might be getting a divorce. Her mother caught her father cheating with his secretary. Wait until I tell you how she let him know she had found out.”
“I’m holding my breath,” I said, and hung up.
Would I ever care about gossip anymore, delicious or otherwise?
As usual, I hurried to get out of my school clothes, tearing them off as if they were on fire. Our school had a boring dress code. At least we didn’t have to wear uniforms like students in other private schools, but the restrictions for ours were strictly enforced. More than one girl and boy in my class had been sent home to change and warned that if it happened continually, they could be expelled, and their parents wouldn’t get a tuition refund.
Our school required that we not dress in anything that revealed underwear or bare skin between the upper chest and mid-thigh. No spaghetti straps, strapless tops, or halter tops and especially no see-through mesh garments. No one could wear shorts
, and girls could be sent home if their clothes looked too tight. Girls could not wear skirts shorter than knee length. The only makeup tolerated was some lipstick if it wasn’t put on thickly. If it was, you were sent to the girls’ room to wipe it off entirely. Everyone hated the rules, and every girl I knew couldn’t wait to get home and change into something else.
I put on the sloppiest-looking sweatshirt I had and a pair of jeans that were way too tight on me to “pass muster” at school, as Myra put it. I slipped into a pair of sandals without socks and, after unpinning my hair and shaking it around so it hung loose and wild, hurried downstairs. Even though I hated to admit it to myself, I was looking forward to seeing Lila now. Being alone only sharpened the pain and sorrow.
It was obvious that she had rushed to get here, because she was at our front door almost the exact moment I stepped off the stairway. Myra could be heard bawling out one of our two maids about the poor job she had done polishing furniture in the living room. The look on Lila’s face at the sound of Myra’s voice almost made me laugh. I shrugged to indicate that it was no big deal and led Lila to the kitchen, where My Faith eagerly piled up a plate full of her cookies. We grabbed some sodas and headed up to my room. As we passed Willie’s room, I saw Lila pause to look at it. The door was open. The words wanted to come pouring out, describing what my grandfather intended, but I bit down on my lower lip, and we went to my room.
“So,” Lila immediately began when we sat in lotus position on my rug, “I was in the girls’ room after school when I heard someone crying in one of the toilets. I listened for a moment and then realized it was Ellie Patterson. I called to her, and she was quiet, and then she threw open the door and, still sitting on the toilet, began to tell me about her parents. She had been holding it in all day, and you want to know one reason?”
“I think I know.”
“Yes, because of you. She thought her problem was . . .”
“Meaningless compared to it,” I finished. “It is.”
“Anyway . . . these cookies are fantastic. Anyway, her mother must have had a spy or something in her father’s law offices. Somehow she knew to be at this motel outside of Prescott at lunchtime. She was waiting right outside the motel-room door when he came out with his secretary. How’s that for being caught with your pants down?”
“They’ll all live,” I said dryly. I turned over to lie on my stomach and braced myself on my elbows. I couldn’t keep it in any longer. I was thinking about it even when she was revealing her hot gossip. “He’s coming here,” I said after a few moments.
“Who’s coming here?”
I turned over and looked up at the ceiling. “The poisoned boy.”
“Why?”
“My grandfather has decided he should stay here to recuperate. He’s hired a private-duty nurse for him, and she’ll move in to live with us, too.”