Goodbye Earl(106)

Rosemarie looked really good considering what they all knew, and she felt okay enough to sing with Leo a song they’d been working on in secret. A song about a small town in the sun and a group of girlfriends who would love one another forever. Rosemarie could barely get through it because it made her cry, but Ada heard every word loud and clear. They were all crying by the end. Esme sat on the floor in front of Rosemarie, with her hand on her bare foot, and Leo kept his wet eyes on Rosemarie as he sang.

Not wanting to stay too long and tire out Rosemarie, the rest of the girls left after picking at their lunches, and Ada dropped Caro off at Grandma Mimi’s first.

“Everything is too much,” Ada said in a thin voice. Her minivan was parked right outside of the trailer; Mimi’s wind chimes brightened the air. Silas had told them that Mimi had given them an alibi just in case and that Nosy Nancy came forward to say she’d seen Trey fall into the water. The investigation felt close to being closed, but they still had to hear official word. Ada couldn’t worry about the investigation and Rosemarie at the same time, so she shifted it all to Rosemarie. Once she did that, she realized she preferred worrying about going to prison over worrying about Rosemarie dying. Ada’s sleep schedule was nonexistent, and she couldn’t focus on anything. Grayson had been doing most of the work taking care of the boys, but she was trying her best. She was trying and trying and trying.

“She could live five more years…she could,” Kasey said, nodding.

“Fuck that. That’s not enough,” Caroline said.

“Of course! Of course I know it’s not enough, Caro, but it’s better than thinking she’ll die tomorrow!” Kasey snapped.

“So then let’s not talk about her dying at all!” Caro snapped back. “I don’t want to.”

“Okay. I don’t want to either,” Kasey said. A dark, soft energy coursed through the car.

“I’m…I’m so scared y’all are gonna get in trouble for what you did for me; I can’t even process anything right now. It’s too much. I’m gonna lose this baby—I know it. It’s bad enough I was drinking when I was pregnant, but I didn’t know. I didn’t…” Caro said, crying again.

“Of course you didn’t. Stop that. This baby’s gonna be just fine. You’re not gonna lose this baby,” Ada said, touching Caro’s hand. “And you know about all the women who are going down to the police station in your defense, and Trey’s not even here to be on trial. They can’t help themselves. Kasey, tell her what Silas told you.” Caro’s chin was trembling as she looked out the window.

“It’s true, Caro. Leo’s sisters, Rosemarie’s mom, Nosy Nancy…all of them. Everyone wants to make sure the police know Trey’s not the victim here. We had to do what we had to do, yes, but that’s only because women know that men always get away with this shit, and we’re tired of it,” Kasey said.

“You know good and damn well Nosy Nancy saw us do it,” Ada said. Nancy made it her life’s work to know everything about everybody in Goldie. Ada pictured her with those military-grade night-vision goggles, watching it all go down. All those women waiting in line to defend them gave her so much hope she could feel it steadying her, soothing her heart, even when it was racing.

Kasey nodded. “She’s on our side, Caro. All the women in town are.”

“Did y’all ask them to go down there and do that?” Caro asked with tears in her eyes. “I mean, Grandma Mimi and Myrtle…they all knew what happened to Trey…I didn’t even have to tell them. I started to and Mimi stopped me. But what about everybody else? Did y’all say anything to them?”

Ada shook her head. “Girl, we didn’t have to.”

*



Kasey was talking to Ada about Devon on the drive to the farmhouse. How he was feeling now that she’d sent him away and he was back in New York.

“He’s a little…confused, but he’s not mad,” Kasey said.

“Well, he’s not mad, because you didn’t tell him about the kissing,” Ada said, driving down the road that led to the long farmhouse driveway. On the left—the Coxes’ white picket fence and horses. On the right—rows and rows of knee-high-by-the-Fourth-of-July corn on the Markel farm. The greens and golds of summer in Goldie were as dependable as the heat. Ada turned up the AC. The stress, the past two weeks, everything was overloading the heating and cooling system in Ada’s body too and surely sending her into an early menopause.

“Ada…I’m aware.”

“I’m a big fan of the kissing, by the way. I’m just sorry that it’s going to be a mess when you do eventually talk to Devon about it. There’s enough going on without you having to do all that too. I get why you’re putting it off!”

“Wait. Did Silas say anything to you about the kissing? Do you think he said something to Grayson?”

“No, and he won’t. He’s probably in a daze right now, thinking he dreamt it.”

“He is not! Why do y’all act like I’m the only girl in the world when it comes to him?”

“Because you kind of are,” Ada said, taking the turn up the driveway. She thought of the dark night they killed Trey and the police investigation and Rosemarie’s cancer ticking her life away and taking time from them. She shoved those thoughts aside again. She’d much rather talk about Silas and Kasey kissing, so she leaned into that. “Why do you think he hasn’t gotten married and hasn’t kept a girlfriend for more than, like, a year?”