Goodbye Earl(18)

She considered responding to Trey from Caro’s phone. Properly telling him to fuck all the way off forever. Instead, Rosemarie looked down at her best friend’s thick river of red hair washing across the sunlit pillow and put the phone back on the bed.

*



Rosemarie was at her parents’ place now. Home. Her parents were out of town for a couple more days, playing a folk music festival in Tennessee. So, for now, the whole colorful, cozy house was left to her and her Australian shepherd, Basie. The dog demanded Rosemarie’s total, undivided attention when she met her at the door, so Rosemarie gave her some love and let her out to do her business in the backyard grass.



Basie was sleeping warm across Rosemarie’s feet on the couch when her phone woke her up. She’d opened the windows and climbed into the conversation pit, even though it was a tad too hot to have turned off the AC. She felt better than she had earlier in the day, and it seemed like a bit of magic, how good her body could feel in the sun when she ate the right things, drank enough water, got enough rest. Sometimes all she needed was her dog and some softness, some color to make her feel like everything in this world was going to be okay. The humidity had plunged her into an even deeper sleep, and now she found herself pleasantly dreamy and drowsy, stretching as much as she could without disturbing the dog, when she answered the phone and heard her mom’s voice.

“Hey, baby, I was gonna leave a voicemail. I didn’t think I could catch you, considering little Miss Taylor is basically holding you hostage the whole week,” Leilani Kingston said to her.

“I’m napping in the sunny conversation pit. Basie and I are worthless right now, two lazy summer pups.” Rosemarie rubbed the dog’s head, and the dog returned the love with a deep groan of pleasure.

“Sounds lovely. Your dad and I have, like, a two-hour break until we need to be on stage again. It’s been fun! Almost everyone else is younger than us, but we’re trying not to let it make us feel too bad about ourselves.” Rosemarie could hear the high lonesome sound of a fiddle somewhere behind her mom’s voice, some scattered applause and birdsong too. She put the phone on mute so she could yawn properly.

“You will always be young and beautiful to me,” Rosemarie said when she was finished.

“Thank you. Esme’s not there yet?”

“No. Everyone keeps asking me about her, though. This is why I don’t like telling people things. Too much fuss.”

“I’m sorry. Do you not want her to come?” Leilani asked. Rosemarie heard her dad’s gruff voice in the background. “Your daddy says hi.”

“Hi, Daddy. And sure, I want Esme to come. Sure, I do. I’m just tired of talking everything to death. Who has the time?”

“I know that’s right.”

Rosemarie had stripped out of her linen suit before her nap. She slid her bare legs from underneath the dog and rolled over to stand. She turned her phone on speaker so she could read her text messages while her mom chatted away.

From Kasey.

Should we let Caro sleep?

I’m not drinking much tonight. Are

you?

I feel too old for this already.



From Ada.

Are you still at home?

What time are you going to Duke’s?



From Esme.

I hope you have/had a nice nap!

Proud of you for resting, honestly.

Resting is healing and don’t forget

how much you need it. You never

turn your little engine off!

Love you.



After seeing Kasey’s texts, Rosemarie got pissed all over again about Trey’s messages to Caro. She bent to snatch her suit off the floor.

“Well, that’s about it. Call us tomorrow. Try to enjoy yourself. We love you so much it hurts,” Leilani said. “Oh! If you talk to your brother, tell him to call or text his damn mama. It’s been, like, two weeks now.”

Her brother was a DJ based mostly in London, and he was terrible at communication. Eventually, when he did finally pop up in the group chat, he’d announce he was somewhere else, like Seoul or Athens. Or Barcelona. A year ago, she and Esme had met him there and gone to one of his shows.

“I will. I talked to him Wednesday. He’s fine. He’s been in Spain since Monday. Love y’all so much it hurts,” Rosemarie said.



She texted everyone back. Asked Kasey to try getting Caro up in about two hours and told her she wasn’t planning on drinking much tonight either. Told Ada she’d meet everyone at Duke’s at seven. Told Esme she loved her too and sent her the train emoji because of its little engine. Then, Rosemarie headed out the door for a short walk with Basie excitedly prancing on her leash.

*



Goldie Golden Hour came early. It was steamy, but the sky was a dream—wildly blue with fat puffy clouds slowly shadowing the hills. Rosemarie strolled through the town square in the comfy clothes she’d put on after her nap—a pair of cutoffs and the black, threadbare Amnesty International T-shirt she’d had since college with her Birkenstocks—knowing full well Taylor and her girls would be dolled up like bachelorette piñatas. She’d smudged some red lipstick across her mouth and given Basie an extra treat as an apology for leaving again.

Caro and Kasey were standing outside of Duke’s waiting for her.