Goodbye Earl(11)

“Why didn’t he come? Why don’t we get to meet him?”

“You will—I promise. He’s busy. He’s a workaholic.”

“Environmental law for the PineLight Project,” Caro said, proud of herself for remembering exactly whom Devon worked for, even in her tipsy state.

“Right. And I don’t know if I’m ready for Devon in Goldie, honestly. Being here alone is overwhelming enough.” Kasey took her phone back and they both waved at a short line of girls in swishy pink dresses slinking past.

“You’re not alone! You have us, whether you want us or not,” Caro said.

“I want y’all. Of course I want y’all,” Kasey said, sounding like she might cry again. Caro held her hand.

One of Ada’s twin brothers walked by with Ada’s youngest thrown over his shoulder.

“Hi, Auntie Caro!” her little boy said.

“Hi, boys,” Caro said. Kasey smiled at them. It’d only been about an hour since Kasey had met Ada’s babies in person. The girls regularly shared pictures of their lives with one another, but this morning was the first time Kasey had ever seen Ada’s boys in the flesh. Caro felt those all-mixed-up flickers of frustration and abandonment, anger and sadness. Those leftover feelings that crept up whenever she thought about Kasey leaving without a real goodbye, days after their high school graduation.

“I’m still mad at you, though,” Caro said once they’d passed.

“I know, I know. I’m sorry.”

“Stop keeping secrets and stop keeping everything bottled up. You know we’re here for you and we’ll do anything for each other! Talk to us!” Caro said, dodging the hypocrisy of her own words. She’d been feeling like a shook-up bottle of pop lately—violently bubbling with the cap on, waiting to explode. She thought for sure Kasey would have been able to sniff it out, but if she had, she didn’t let it show. They put their arms around each other and hugged tight.

*



still @ work



Trey never texted with sweetness anymore. He rarely used any punctuation. When they were dating, he’d tried harder and given Caro no reason to think he’d stop trying, but the sweetness had faded away like the end of a song.

He sent two more not long after the first one.

Busy



not gonna make it



Caro felt relief, cool on the back of her neck, when she read those texts. She didn’t respond. She left her phone in her bag upstairs and was glad to be outside now with her girlfriends and more cupcakes. She grabbed a full flute, deciding to quit the bourbon and switch to something non-Foxberry: champagne.

“Come here. Quick!” Rosemarie said to her. Caro had always been wild with love for Roses, RACK’s heartbeat. Rosemarie also left Goldie after high school and traveled the world like Carmen Sandiego, but she returned as often as she could. Most of the time her visits were a surprise, and Caro loved to find herself at the end of a long shift at the bakery—flour snowing her hair as she boxed up the hundredth birthday cake, the millionth cupcake—and suddenly see Rosemarie’s pretty brown eyes in front of her.

When Caroline walked to her, Rosemarie subtly signaled to the right, then did it again.

“What?” Caro asked, confused.

“Well, lookee there who Miss Kasey found,” Rosemarie said, nudging her.

Caro leaned over to see Kasey talking to Silas Castelow. He was behind the portable bar shaking a drink and smiling so much Caro thought maybe his face would split open like hot fruit. Silas loved women and women loved Silas, but Silas had really loved him some Kasey Fritz since they were teenagers, and everyone in Goldie knew it. The girls watched Kasey giggle with her whole body at something he was saying.

“I knew he wouldn’t be mad at her. He never could stay mad at her. He’s probably as crazy about her now as he was back then. Do you think this will be a problem?” Caro asked, taking a sip of champagne, which felt like water after all that bourbon. She put her flute down and got a pink cupcake off the table, removed the paper. She and Ada had spent two full days with their team at the bakery making those cupcakes.

“I think our Kasey might be full of surprises. Who knows? There’s a whole chunk of her life we know nothing about, and right now, all I see is two lovebirds yukking it up in the grass,” Rosemarie said. Caro offered her the cupcake and she took a bite. “Trey’s not coming? Figured this would be his kind of thing. Isn’t he usually Mister Popular, Never Misses a Party?”

“Pretty much, but he’s at work. Where’s Esme?” Caro asked about Rosemarie’s girlfriend of three years. “I’m sorry I forgot to ask earlier.”

Rosemarie waved her apology away with a quick flick. “She’s stuck in Seattle. Plus, this is the exact opposite of her kind of thing.”

“Well, Trey and I got in a big ol’ fight last night, so…” Caro trailed off for a moment. “Let’s just say I’m thankful for the space,” she finished. Her stomach dropped again as she thought of how angry he’d been over nothing. How hard she’d cried, still standing her ground. Part of her wanted to go upstairs and get her phone, text him back to test the waters, but she killed that impulse real quick by finishing the cupcake and letting the champagne glitter her mouth before downing the rest of it.